Luke Beardsworth, 30


Publisher, LancsLive


Luke had worked within the Reach plc


organisation on titles such as the Birmingham Mail and Bristol Live before being chosen as editor for the newly launched LancsLive in 2019. He oversees a team of journalists covering issues from around the county, including reporting on its major football teams.


Jamie-Jack Gidley, 22, and Jordon Thornber, 22


Jordan Thornber


Founders, New Vision Games Studio


This pair of passionate gamers met on an Advanced Level Games Design course at Burnley College Sixth Form Centre and joined forces to launch their own studio. To date, they have already released two mobile games available through Google Play, with a third on the way, and their business is in profit while much bigger names in the industry suffered a difficult year.


Jason Govindji- Bruce, 33


Managing director, NORI HR &


Employment Law


After working as an employment law and HR consultant for other companies, Jason established his own business in 2018. NORI has already established a solid customer base, ranging from microbusinesses through to McDonald Restaurant franchise and national property facilities providers. The company is on the fast-track to growth, with ambitious plans to add more than 30 recruits to his team of seven this year. Jason is a champion of Boost Lancashire, supporting local business owners with webinars and free HR support content. He is a community supporter, raising over £4,500 and awareness for local causes.


Sam Riley, 33


Chief executive officer, North West Skills Academy


Sam founded North West Skills Academy


in July 2013, when he was just 26, to deliver qualifications for workers in the construction sector. The business has since grown to generate £2.8m per year, employing more


than 20 staff and 10 freelancers, and establishing assessment centres across the North West, Yorkshire and West Midlands. He recently founded The Construction End Point Assessment Company to provide assessment for construction apprentices, and UK Skills Academy, which provides cyber and digital apprenticeship training. These two employ a further 10 members of staff, with plans to recruit 15 more in the future.


Lucy O’Gorman, 31


Director, PM+M Solutions for Business


At just 31, Lucy has


already been a key member of the PM+M team for almost a decade. Since joining as an AAT qualified accountant, she has played an instrumental role in supporting the Blackburn- based firm’s growth and has been rewarded by being appointed its youngest director.


Matt Simmons, 27


Digital and training geek, Sales Geek


Since joining Blackburn-based


sales training firm Sales Geek in early 2020, Matt has taken on a variety of projects with enthusiasm, including delivering training sessions for the Department of International Trade and several national bluechip clients as well as representing the company by delivering training in Japan. As a digital specialist, he has also played a vital role in the development of the Sales Geek app which has proven so successful that he has earned a leading role in all future tech- related developments.


Andrew Robinson, 32


Director, Specialist Taxation Services (Europe)


Andrew’s ascent at


STS Europe has been a rapid one, joining the company as a trainee tax analyst in 2012, achieving promotion to director level in 2018 and becoming an official associate of the Chartered Institute of Taxation this year. One of his greatest achievements to date has been leading an asset tracing exercise of $52m dollars through 119 bank accounts, which spread through 20 jurisdictions, during a bribery and corruption case. He has also implemented a variety


of important growth strategies within STS Europe including a rebrand and broadening its portfolio of services.


Matthew Ringland, 27


Mechanical design engineer, Spiroflow


Matthew possesses a strong combination


of engineering skills including lateral and natural problem solving, expertise in 3D modelling, communication with customers and great attention to detail. He is eager to share his passion for his work, fronting a hands-on display at the Blackburn Festival of Making, and becoming a STEM ambassador in 2019 to give talks to inspire school-aged children. He was one of four nominated for the Young Engineer of the Year Award at the British Engineering Excellence Awards in 2019 and was named Solids Handling and Processing Equipment Association Newcomer of the Year in 2020.


Matthew Catterall, 35


Corporate partner, Taylors Solicitors


Matthew began his career in law with


Taylors as a trainee more than 10 years ago, moving his way up the ranks to be made up to partner in 2019. He now leads the firm’s corporate department from the Blackburn head office and is also responsible for the firm’s IT infrastructure, overseeing the recent move to a bespoke new cloud-based practice management and accounting system. After his appointment to partner, the department’s billings increased 34 per cent in the first full year.


Rebecca Jane, 34


Head of group operations, The PH7 Group


Rebecca founded The


Lady Detective Agency in 2009, selling it eight years later and writing a best-selling book about her experiences in the private investigation world. More recently she has campaigned to raise awareness of mental health issues. She helped establish Burnley- based PH7 Health, which offers training, workshops and around-the-clock support for businesses and their employees, and she runs PH7 Health, the charity which delivers counselling services on behalf of the NHS.


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