Last night, UCS and the Suffolk Business School were out in force at the annual East Anglian Daily Times Business Awards 2016, hosted at Trinity Park Conference and Events Centre.
The weather was with us, and we were able to enjoy the start to a fantastic evening outside, meeting and greeting the familiar and the new. It was a great opportunity to catch up with colleagues and associates, and make new contacts outside the normal ‘business networking’ event. Everyone was dressed to the nines in tuxedos and ballgowns, and the whole event had the air of celebration.
Suffolk Business School Honorary Graduate Karen Hester, Executive Director at Adnams, gave an inspiring and entertaining keynote speech, entitled ‘From Mop to Top’, extolling the virtues of organisations that nurture and develop their staff, encouraging them to reach their potential. Suffolk offers so many opportunities to such a wide variety of people from different backgrounds, and Karen’s was a fitting story to tell in the uncertain times we now face. Anyone can achieve great things – they just need the drive and opportunities to do so. It is an ethos that we at UCS promote county – and country – wide.
UCS was proud to present the Outstanding Achievement Award at this year’s event. Provost and Chief Executive Richard Lister presented the award to Paul Winter, CEO of Ipswich Building Society for his contribution to Ipswich and the surrounding area since he started working for Ipswich Building Society in 1982. Unfortunately, Paul was not able to join us all on the night, so Richard presented the award in a short video filmed last week.
Once the fourteen winners of the various awards were announced, it was time to wrap up the celebrations and head home. A full list of the winners can be found here.
Overall, it was an amazing night, celebrating the great talent and entrepreneurial spirit of Suffolk. UCS and the Suffolk Business School were proud to be a part of such a well established and prestigious event, and we all look forward to seeing what the year ahead has in store for businesses across the county. Thanks also to Trinity Park for hosting such a fantastic event.
We’ll see you all again this year… this time as the University of Suffolk.
