Finalists have been named for the prestigious Institute of Directors Wales Director of the Year Awards. The awards, which celebrate the best of Welsh businesses and leadership, will be held on May Friday, 11^thand are sponsored by Cardiff Business School.

Finalists for eight categories have been announced, with a further four being announced on the day. The Director’s; Judges’ and Chairman’s Awards will be awarded at the lunchtime award ceremony at SSE Swalec. An Inclusivity accolade, sponsored by Legal & General, will also be awarded at the Awards Lunch.

Robert Lloyd Griffiths, Director of the Institute of Directors in Wales said:

“As ever, we are very impressed with the standard of entries received – business leaders across Wales are really having an impact on their workforces; products and services and are leading by example. Each finalist has a different story and route to success, but we are grateful to all for taking the time to get in touch to let us know about their companies, teams and organisations.

“We are very optimistic that several of our Wales winners will also be selected as finalists in the UK-wide awards which take place in London in the Autumn. This has always been a great way to prolong the celebrations and to let the wider IoD community know about Wales’ success stories.

Professor Martin Kitchener, Dean of Cardiff Business School said: “We are very proud to continue our support for the IoD Wales Director of the Year Awards and to participate in a celebration of Welsh business and leadership.

“Recent winners and nominees have demonstrated outstanding skill, creativity, innovation and ambition. They are a credit to Wales and continue to deliver excellent results in a challenging economic environment.

“As a School we are committed to a bold and progressive public value strategy to deliver social and economic improvement. In addition to maintaining our economic impact (contributing £200 million to the local economy) we are working to address the many grand challenges facing society in the 21^st century, directing our research and resources to helping find solutions to intractable social issues such as inequality, poverty and access to decent work. The overarching ambition of our strategy is to provoke positive and long-term change to business practice and society for the benefit of communities locally, nationally and internationally.

“We look forward to further success this year and the opportunity to engage with Wales’ pioneering business leaders at the 2018 IoD Wales awards.”

Director of the Year Awards Wales Finalists

[accordions]
[accordion title=”Family Business – Director of the Year” load=”show”]Catherine Butler, Hugh Phillips Gower Butcher
Daniel Shepherd, CanDo Laundry Services.

Sponsored by sponsored by RMS / Retail Merchandising Services[/accordion]
[accordion title=”Corporate Responsibility – Director of the Year” load=”hide”]Danni Watts-Jones, DWJ Wealth Management.
Lynsey Hollins-Matthews, Jehu Group.

Sponsored by Welsh Government[/accordion]
[accordion title=”Innovation – Director of the Year” load=”hide”]Richard Purvis, Crunch Simply Digital.
Rob Dance, Rock IT.
Steve Jones, Comparison Creator.

Sponsored by ACCA Cymru Wales[/accordion]
[accordion title=”New / Emerging – Director of the Year” load=”hide”]Daniel O’Toole, Retail Merchandising Services.
Jo Foxall, PTI Cymru Ltd (Traveline Cymru)