16


WOMAN OF THE YEAR IN BUSINESSES UNDER £10M


WINNER


AMANDA PHILLIPS, VOLUME


Above: Finalists from back left – Emily Bendell (CEO BlueBella); Clare


Wright (MD Connect Reading); Nick Sassow representing Sandra Sassow (CEO Seab Energy); and Nusrat Shah (CEO Backbone 2 Business) with winner Amanda Phillips (front left) and Blake Lapthorn’s Kath Shimmin


Right: Winner Amanda Phillips (left) with Kath Shimmin


Amanda Phillips, managing director of Wokingham creative communications agency Volume, was named as the first winner of Woman of the Year in Businesses under £10m.


Presenting her with the trophy was Kath Shimmin, head of banking and finance, Blake Lapthorn.


A delighted Phillips said: “I was thrilled to be given the 2013 Women in Business award for businesses under £10m turnover.


“While I believe all my fellow finalists in this category could have made worthy winners, the important aspect about these awards is to raise the profile of women in the workplace and, in particular, to focus on women in leadership roles.


“We need to show the next generation of women that ’leaning in’ is happening and working to great success. Many thanks to The Business Magazine for helping us to do this.“


Phillips has spent the past 20 years working within marketing services agencies and over the past five years has worked as a coach and mentor to senior people within the industry, advising on leadership, management, business and strategic planning.


Having graduated with an honours degree in psychology, she recently completed a masters degree in social science, using her academic understanding in behavioural psychology to develop a planning approach which helps clients make more informed decisions about marketing.


During her career, Phillips has run businesses of up to £30m gross revenue with 300 staff and has won more than 100 industry creative and strategic awards, including Agency of the Year. In one previous agency role, she used her expertise to grow profits by 150% over a three-year period.


She joined technology-driven marketing agency Volume in November 2012, taking on the role as managing director and head of strategy in order to help the agency reach its world-class vision and further develop its client base, both within the technology arena and new market sectors.


Wearing an entrepreneurial hat, she also launched her own consultancy, called An Abundance, specialising in applying behavioural insight and co-creation to marketing problems and, within two years, had won clients including Barnardos and Royal Mail.


As well as championing women in her chosen field through involvement in organisations


such as Women in Direct Marketing, Phillips was one of only a few females to be appointed to the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising board, and was nominated in 2007 as a Woman of the Year for services to the advertising industry. In 2008 she was made both an honorary fellow of the Institute of Direct Marketing and nominated as Marketing Direct’s Agency Person of the Year.


She is a regular on industry judging award panels and a familiar face at speaking events.


In October 2012, Phillips joined the board of trustees for international children’s charity Plan, advising on marketing and helping the charity to improve its fundraising activities.


She says it was the charity’s “Because I am a Girl“ campaign which attracted her as half of Plan’s campaigns are aimed at helping young girls by fighting for their right to an education and lobbying to protect them from an early marriage.


This month, Phillips will also be supporting Volume’s chosen charity Action Aid, with a local fundraising initiative called Byte Night, which sees people from technology companies sleeping out to raise awareness and funds to support homeless people within the UK.


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