CEO OF THE YEAR AWARD (under £25m turnover) Judges’ shortlist


CV-Library, Lee Biggins, MD: Lee Biggins set up the Fleet-based company in 2000 when he was looking for a job after leaving his father’s carpet fitting business and today has a team of 115 employees. CV-Library is the UK’s leading independent job board, handling 16 million job searches per month and 2.9m job applications. It hosts over 150,000 jobs across all sectors. A sister company, Resume-Library, was set up in the US in 2014.


Christopher Avery, head of Thames Valley office, Gateley plc with Lee Biggins, MD, CV-Library


Sponsored by:


Roc Technologies, Matt Franklin, MD: Roc Technologies is a business and technology services provider to companies, government organisations and partners of all sizes. Its 200-strong workforce provides services that support 250m consumers and $500 billion of annual revenues. Roc has developed its own cloud computing service and mobile apps. Matt Franklin previously built up and sold his own systems integration business and joined Newbury-based Roc Technologies in 2014.


Direktek Distribution, Trevor Marshall, CEO: Trevor Marshall founded the High Wycombe company in 1990 and today its team of industry experts build critical supply chain infrastructure


for retailers. Direktek connects leading brands with retailers and their customers worldwide by acting as their strategic platform. It is used by a wide range of optical product brands and a network of over 3,000 resellers and retailers to deliver products to their customers.


Retail Marketing Group, Warren Richmond, MD: RMG was set up in 2004 by Warren Richmond with a vision to change how eld marketing is delivered. The field sales and marketing agency specialises in consumer electronics, helping brands to understand their customers, retailers and marketplace. It provides training, merchandising and demonstrations, which create positive in-store experiences that build brand reputations. Sindlesham-based RMG is a Times 100 Best Small Company to Work For.


Our winner...


... has developed one of the fastest-growing businesses in the UK – and indeed the pre- eminent site for live vacancies in the country. A true entrepreneur, he has built this highly successful company from a standing start. He is Lee Biggins of CV Library.


CEO OF THE YEAR AWARD (over £25m turnover) Judges’ shortlist


Intersurgical, Howard Bellm: Howard Bellm founded the Wokingham-based medical and orthopedic equipment designer, manufacturer and supplier in 1982. The company provides exible patient solutions for airway management, anaesthesia, critical care, and oxygen and aerosol therapy. Its products include airway devices, face masks and breathing systems for use in hospitals and at home. Intersurgical’s ‘in-house’ philosophy for making products enables it to respond quickly to meet customer requirements.


Jon Stradling,managing director, large corporates, south region, HSBC with Peter Harrison, Furniture Village


Sponsored by:


Xtrac, Peter Digby, CEO: Peter Digby’s career includes a spell at the Williams Formula One team before joining Xtrac in 1986, two years after it was founded. The company is recognised as a leader in the design and manufacture of transmission systems for virtually all the world’s top motorsport team as well as the automotive industry. Xtrac’s facilities in Thatcham and the US use advanced computer-aided engineering systems and state- of-the-art machine tools and processes.


Furniture Village, Peter Harrison, MD: Founder Peter Harrison opened his first Furniture Village store in Abingdon in 1989 with his business partner David Imrie. Since then, he has grown the Slough-headquartered business into the UK’s largest privately-owned furniture chain, with 50


THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – SEPTEMBER 2017


stores throughout the country. The company has a £200 million-plus turnover and has won six Furniture Retailer of the Year accolades.


Xeretec, Steve Hawkins, MD: Xeretec has grown tenfold since Steve Hawkins took ownership of the business in 2005. Today, it is Xerox’s largest partner and provides managed print services in the UK and is renowned for the breadth and depth of its expertise in office and heavy production print technology. As well as Xerox, it is growing its business selling HP products and services.


Westcoast, Joe Hemani, CEO: Theale-based Westcoast was founded in 1984 by Joe Hemani and has grown to become the number one UK and Ireland distributor for many global vendors’ technology products across the whole consumables, software and electrical spectrum. Westcoast’s 1,100 staff and 10,000 daily vehicle deliveries underpin a £1.6 billion turnover and many of the business functions and lifestyle activities of the UK population.


Our winner...


... had a vision in 1989 to establish a company that provided quality high-end furniture at the best price. He has led the business to be the largest privately-owned independent UK furniture retailer with a team of over 900 staff. He is Peter Harrison of Furniture Village.


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