Entrants must complete the entry form by 5 December. A shortlist of 20 businesses will be invited to the Guardian on the 15 January for the judging day, when they will be interviewed by our panel of expert judges and asked to present their products. The 10 winners will then be announced on 19 January and will travel to Atlanta in March to take part in a five-day trade mission.
George A Willis, managing director (UK, Ireland & Nordics) – UPS
George Willis is managing director for the UK, Ireland and the Nordics with responsibility for operations, business development and strategy.
Willis began his UPS career in 1984 and has served in various management positions. Before taking up his current position in May 2013, Willis served as vice president for US Operations, where his role encompassed strategic planning and implementation along with responsibility for delivering the domestic network of 13 million packages daily. In addition to domestic shipping, Willis also had responsibility for The UPS Store franchise network which offers a variety of services to help manage the logistics of running a small business.
Willis has recently accepted a position on the board of Big Brothers and Big Sisters International, which promotes and supports the development of one-to-one mentoring programmes for children and youth around the world. Willis was highlighted as one of the Top 10 CEO Ready Leaders in the Forbes Magazine 2013 feature series “The Next Generation of CEO’s.”
Willis holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Trinity State University and attended Morehouse College in Atlanta. He has also participated in the Columbia Executive Education Program and Yale CEO College Program.
Chris Ives, founder – Ilkley Brewery
Chris Ives is a former chartered surveyor with a 25 year career in commercial property and property fund management. He founded Ilkley Brewery in 2009 after the recession destroyed much of the UK property market and Chris wanted a change of direction. Chris hadn’t brewed before and the resulting success of Ilkley Brewery is all the more remarkable as Chris taught himself how to brew, testing it first on family and friends before having the confidence to sell to local pubs.
A major award for his flagship beer Mary Jane followed in August 2009 and the business has not looked back, growing from brewing 5,000 pints a week in 2009 to over 50,000 a week in 2014. Ilkley Brewery now sells its beers in cask, keg and bottle all over the UK and exports to five countries including the US and Canada.
David Pemsel, deputy chief executive – Guardian News & Media
David Pemsel has worked in many senior roles within advertising and marketing for the past 20 years. He was head of marketing communications at Hutchinson Telecom, before going on to become one of Ogilvy and Mather’s youngest account directors.
In his next role at the fledgling St Lukes, he helped to build it into a top 10 UK agency and win agency of the year in 1997. He was then headhunted by Elizabeth Murdoch to launch Shine Entertainment in 2000.
He joined ITV in 2005 as marketing director, and became group marketing director in 2007. He was promoted onto the ITV PLC executive committee in 2009.
David joined Guardian News and Media in 2010, and became chief commercial officer, taking on responsibility for all revenues, marketing and insight. In December 2013 he was made deputy chief executive, to lead on all GNM commercial operations across the globe.
He is a member of the IPA Client Council, a fellow of the Marketing Society, Council member of the Marketing Group of Great Britain, and a Voting Member of BAFTA.
Roger Wade, founder – Boxfresh & Boxpark
Roger Wade is the founder and ex CEO of British street fashion brand, Boxfresh. After graduating from university, Roger started Boxfresh in 1989. He grew the brand from a market stall, to an international brand selling in over 12 different countries. Boxfresh were renowned pioneers of the British street scene, and were the first to import labels like Carhartt, G-Star and Penfield into the UK. In 2005, Roger sold Boxfresh to Pentland Brands and formed his own brand consultancy, Brands Incorporated, specialising in the development, financing and licensing of UK fashion brands. In 2010, Roger founded and created the world’s first Pop Up Mall, Boxpark Shoreditch, www.boxpark.co.uk, and in 2013 created a revolutionary multichannel solution for small independent retailers, Boxpark Marketplace, allowing customers to buy or share items in store, online and on their mobile.
Roger was a regular columnist for Drapers and has spoken at various conferences including World Retail Congress, Futuretail, Imagine 2014, Digital Shoreditch, Drapers Fashion Summit, to name a few. He also was an associate lecturer at London College of Fashion, and a member of the Cool Brands Council. He was featured on the BBC2 Robert Peston Goes Shopping program on the future of retail. He currently sits on the eBay Enterprise Exec advisory board.
Roger is a creative entrepreneur. He believes that all brands should be special, and identifies those special brands/projects and adds values to them. He is passionate about independent brands, the future of retail, and thinking outside the box.
Annette King, CEO – Ogilvy & Mather UK
Annette King is CEO of Ogilvy & Mather UK, responsible for all ten of O&M UK’s operating companies.
King has enjoyed a rapid rise through the ranks since joining in August 2000 to run the Amex Europe business. She then ran Ogilvy Interactive UK before becoming managing director and then CEO of OgilvyOne UK.
In May 2012, King became CEO, OgilvyOne EAME and also joined the Worldwide Board. She was promoted to CEO of Ogilvy & Mather UK in May 2014.
She is a member of the Women’s Advertising Club of London (WACL) and the IPA. She lives in West London with her husband and two young children.
Mike Ahanchian, head of consumer insight – British Retail Consortium
Mike Ahanchian is an insight and information specialist with over 20 years’ experience working in consumer and business research. His fields of expertise include retail, technology and brand development. As part of the Business Information Team at the British Retail Consortium, his brief includes consumer insight, and he has worked with the UK’s leading retailers on a range of consumer research projects.
Shaun McCabe, international director – ASOS.com
Shaun McCabe began his career at Whitbread and Ernst & Young, later moving to a home retail group to take on a variety of finance roles including two years as head of customer marketing. He later became trading finance director for Homebase. He moved to Amazon in 2007 as CFO for European Business and UK financial director, and was also a non-executive director of Lovefilm.
McCabe joined ASOS in 2013, and now oversees all facets for ASOS International. His remit at ASOS includes building global business, and he also has responsibility for the digital marketing team.
Emma Sinclair, entrepreneur and co-founder of EnterpriseJungle
Emma Sinclair is the youngest person to have floated her company on the London Stock Exchange, having done so aged 29.
She has a background in investment banking, having spent her formative years in mergers and acquisitions and latterly moving into real estate and specifically, parking. Emma founded Target Parking, a car park and facility management business in 2009, which she sold in May 2014 to focus on tech.
She co-founded enterprise software business EnterpriseJungle in 2013, now an SAP Partner company. EJ sits on enterprise platforms to find experts, knowledge and opportunities for the workforce.
A firm believer that health is too often overlooked, she also co-founded Wakeman Road, a health and wellbeing members’ space. A true passion project, it hosts a collection of leading therapists and practitioners alongside niche brands with integrity and wellbeing at their heart.
Emma is also active within the world of media. Selected by The Telegraph in 2012, she launched a twice weekly business column in the Wonder Women section. She contributes to other papers and is a frequent commentator and public speaker. She also regularly comments on business for channels including ITV, London Live and Sky News.
Denise Harris, assistant director at UK Trade and Investment (UKTI)
Denise Harris is a career civil servant, with twenty years’ experience in management positions in international business development, working within the field of international trade for the British Government.
She has been International trade director for a number of sectors, including energy, infrastructure (rail, airports, ports and logistics) and currently leads on UKTI’s e-Exporting programme, helping UK retailers and brands accelerate their global growth through online channels.
Denise recently returned to the UK following a six year appointment as Her Majesty’s consul and director of UKTI for the South Eastern & North East regions, USA, and as UKTI’s International business ddvisor to the UK’s Ambassador to the United States, based in Washington, DC.
Prior to joining UKTI, Denise held management policy positions within the UK Government. She was also instrumental in developing the UK Government’s International technology transfer strategy, which focused on international partnering/joint ventures within the science and technology field.
Jo Confino, an executive editor of the Guardian and chair and editorial director of Guardian Sustainable Business
Jo Confino has been a journalist for more than 30 years, starting out as a business writer on regional newspapers before working for the Daily Telegraph’s business and finance section as Questor columnist and then news editor.
After a spell as a Wall Street correspondent, he joined the Guardian and ran the day to day news operation for the business and finance section, managing a team of 40 journalists.
Jo created and managed the Guardian’s sustainability vision and strategy, including supporting the creation of the environment and global development websites. Four years ago he set up Guardian Sustainable Business, which covers the relationship between business and issues ranging from climate change and resource scarcity to social inequality and biodiversity.
