Awards 2022 Chairpers n Chairperson Awards 2022 International People Services Chairman of the Year 2022: Con Kittos Every day, governments all over the world are being challenged to develop progressive, innovative newways of ensuring their workforces are employable, skilled, and competitive in an era of rapid and unprecedented social and economic flux. Through its international footprint, the team at Asuria supports tens of thousands of people every year into jobs, to develop new skills, and to help start or improve their new businesses. Asuria Reputation Age: Best Digital Branding Chairman & President 2022 (France): Philippe Lentschener
Welcome to Chairperson Awards 2022 In recent years the roles and responsibilities of a Chairperson have evolved. An effective Chairperson is expected to be fully equipped with skills ranging from clear communication and a solid knowledge of their business, to providing all Board members with a voice. However, a successful Chairperson is able to inspire strong relationships founded on trust and confidence, and to drive forward the company’s climate and diversity commitments with proactive and thoughtful direction. Now more than ever assertive investors and stakeholders are willing to vote for change, and such increased scrutiny on the Board has brought about enhanced effectiveness on equity, diversity, and inclusivity, and in particular has raised the stakes on climate disclosure and action. The bar is higher than ever, and we are here to spotlight the cream of the crop! Sofi Bajor, Editor Website: www.ceo-review.com AI Global Media, Ltd. (AI) takes reasonable measures to ensure the quality of the information on this web site. However, AI will not assume any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, correctness or completeness of any information that is available through this web site. If errors are brought to our attention, we will try to correct them. The information available through the website and our partner publications is for your general information and use and is not intended to address any particular finance or investment requirements. In particular, the information does not constitute any form of advice or recommendation by us or any of our partner publications and is not intended to be relied upon by users in making or refraining from making any investment or financial decisions. Appropriate independent advice should be obtained before making any such decision. Any arrangement made between you and any third party named in the site is at your sole risk and responsibility. Chairperson Awards 2022
4. Asuria: International People Services Chairman of the Year 2022: Con Kittos 8. The Seventy Ninth Group: Asset Management Chairman of the Year 2022: Dave Webster 10. Chase & Partners LLP: Retail & Leisure Property Chairman of the Year 2022 (UK): Graham Chase 12. SCL Education Group: Best Executive Education Chairperson 2022 (UK): Carole Carson 14. Footfalls and Heartbeats (UK) Limited: Textile Manufacturing Chairman of the Year (Western Europe): David Whelan 16. KKC Berater: Leading Recruitment Chairman 2022 (Germany): Prof. Ashok Riehm 18. Springfield City Group: Property Founder & Visionary Chairman of the Year 2022 (Australia): Maha Sinnathamby 20. The Space Maker: Organising & Decluttering Business Leader of the Year 2022 (Southern England): Helena McBride 21. West Coast Regional Inshore Fisheries Group: Best Fishing Management Forum Chairman 2022 (Scotland): Simon Macdonald 22. Lux Modus: Pioneering Geospatial Technology CEO of the Year 2022: Joseph Hlady 23. iPolitics: Best Political Media Chairman (Canada): Brian Storseth 24. Cities Today Institute: Civic Technology Chairperson of the Year 2022: Bob Bennett 26. Reputation Age: Best Digital Branding Chairman & President 2022 (France): Philippe Lentschener Contents
CEO MONTHLY / Chairperson Awards 2022 4 International People Services Chairman of the Year 2022: Con Kittos Every day, governments all over the world are being challenged to develop progressive, innovative new ways of ensuring their workforces are employable, skilled, and competitive in an era of rapid and unprecedented social and economic flux. Through its international footprint, the team at Asuria supports tens of thousands of people every year into jobs, to develop new skills, and to help start or improve their new businesses. In CEO Monthly’s Chairperson of the Year Awards, Con and the Asuria team have demonstrated incredible success. Here we take a deeper look to find out how. The team at Asuria is committed to helping governments to deliver world-leading outsourced Human Services. In 2022, Government demand for a new model of innovative outsourced Human Services saw Asuria become one of the world’s most expansive and trusted providers. The team has helped more people than ever around the world to reach their job and career goals, including parents, young people, mature-aged job seekers, Indigenous job seekers, and those with a mental or physical disability. Delivering Government awarded contracts, Asuria unites the public and private sectors with the ultimate goal of getting people into jobs they can thrive in. Asuria now has more than 200 offices around the world. Based in Australia, Sweden, Saudi Arabia, and the United Kingdom, the team provides frontline public services that make a real difference to people’s lives. They do this by fostering a strengths-based approach to job seeker personal empowerment, uncovering the values that individuals can bring to businesses. For those who are both new to job seeking, and the long-term unemployed, this pioneering approach often provides the foot in the door that has been desperately needed. The team’s ability to do this is based on its application of the latest thinking in cognitive and behavioural science. By focusing on individuals’ strengths rather than their experience alone, Asuria is able to find much stronger matches for their abilities in the marketplace. The team licenses, and has developed, best-in-breed technology in order to deliver the maximum possible impact at all times. What is truly remarkable, however, is the speed at which this was achieved. Con only took control of Asuria in 2016, and in the last six years has transformed the business from a loss-making human resources company to a global, top-tier provider of employment services. “My achievements with Human Services organisation, AngusKnight, which I joined in 1999, laid the groundwork for the journey I would later embark on with Asuria,” Con tells us. Just a year after joining the company, he would go on to become CEO of the firm. During his tenure there, he oversaw the transformation of the small, registered training organisation, generating less than $10 million USD in annual revenue, to become one of the largest providers in its space, with close to $100 million USD in annual revenue. The business that would become Asuria first came to Con’s attention in 2012 when he joined as Non-Executive Director for the UK-based multinational A4E Limited, and later was appointed Chairman of the Board following A4E’s acquisition by Staffline Group Limited, and subsequent rebranding to PeoplePlus. “Then in 2016, with the financial support of Gold Tiger Management, I acquired PeoplePlus Australia and set out on the path to turn the business into Asuria, transforming the company culture and focusing on a vision to be a progressive provider of employment services to governments all over the world.” The growth of Asuria is in no small part due to Con’s vision and tenacity as a leader. “Asuria is in the business of serving governments,” Con explains. “In order to be among the best at doing that, our job is to understand the immediate and justover-the-horizon challenges of governments, and to build solutions that respond to what they need to transform their countries, communities, citizens and their businesses. “We deal in macro issues like immigration, education, unemployment,” Con continues. “These are trends that shift the ground that governments stand on, and even influence how Sep22329 T
CEO MONTHLY / Chairperson Awards 2022 5 they’re elected. These are typical long planning cycles and can span periods of five plus years. After that, it’s about the purchasing cycles of governments in terms of tendering for the services that Asuria is setup to provide. That means researching and developing solutions fit for purpose for their immediate purchasing requirements.” Of course, finding ways forward in such a complex environment is by no means easy. The team has made it their mission to work as closely as possible with governments to help them understand the problems that need solving. “That means consulting with politicians and bureaucrats to understand the needs of Government,” Con tells us, “and engaging with academia to co-create innovative solutions to meet those needs, now and in the years to come.” Such engagement means that the team’s plans are futureproofed and are carefully designed around where nations and their citizens are headed next. “And a chief part of my role as Executive Chairman is ensuring governments are better informed and advised today and tomorrow than they were yesterday,” Con adds. In terms of where Asuria’s international expansion is headed next, Con is quite clear. “I have little interest in becoming the largest employment services provider in the world just for the sake of it,” he says. “My goal is for Asuria to be the best. That means constantly striving to be the most innovative provider of solutions, and a world-class thought leader in human capacity development.” When looking at how Asuria has positioned itself, it’s clear that this is a business which is designed to evolve. Con brings an awareness of this goal to the table, and has used his leadership to collaboratively address challenges and obstacles, rather than dwell on successes. “I encourage managers and leaders to come to their board meetings with things that keep them awake at night so we can fix them together, rather than bringing me vanity metrics and shallow success stories that paper over problem areas,” Con tells us. The cultural shift at the company, something which Con tells us has been central to Asuria’s transformation, was by no means straightforward to implement. Since 2016, the ways in which the various teams at Asuria operate have been polished to perfection. Before, people struggled to stand out, and the business underperformed as a result. Under Con’s leadership, success has been a shared source of pride for everyone who has signed up to the journey. By focusing on what they call their ‘Enterprising Heart’, combining empathy with a strong focus on business outcomes, Asuria has become an invaluable partner to governments, employers and job seekers around the world. On what ‘Enterprising Heart’ embodies, Con says: “From a leadership point of
CEO MONTHLY / Chairperson Awards 2022 6 view, it means being brave and authentic enough to challenge ourselves. It also means being comfortable with being challenged – in a respectful way – by those who believe in a better way of doing things.” The value of being challenged to be better is at the core of Con’s ideology, and is something he is passionate about instilling throughout the company. “I want to be challenged by those with ideas or criticisms to share,” Con elaborates, “and I have invested a considerable amount of time and energy in giving everyone at Asuria the freedom and confidence to have their voice heard across every level of the organisation, right up to my desk.” This passion for moving forward and finding solutions lies at the heart of Asuria. “What makes Asuria truly unique is that all of our people are truly enterprising at heart,” Con says. “The Asuria culture drives a sense of innovation, excitement and passion in all programs and services we deliver, as well as a commitment to ensuring all Asuria employees treat every citizen with empathy, dignity and respect.” Nowhere is this better demonstrated than through Con’s approach to supporting people with a disability into employment. “I’m a tireless defender, on a global scale, of access to work for people living with a disability,” Con tells us. “Economies all over the world are failing to properly tap into an immense talent pool of driven, capable people, because the needs of those with mental and physical disabilities are not properly understood and catered for.” Con also invests a considerable amount of his time to addressing the employment challenges posed by the changing nature of work around the world and the supply and demand of labour in the post-COVID world. “Pre-COVID economies, which were addicted to a steady supply of migrants to fill labour shortages and skills gaps suddenly cut off during COVID, are once again in a position to fill vacancies with foreign workers,” Con explains. “The effect this could have on the domestic unemployed runs the risk of shutting homegrown workers out of employment, leading to the kind of social unrest and anti-immigration sentiment that only serves to fracture and divide societies.” The growth of Asuria shows no signs of slowing, with Con continuously exploring opportunities for further international expansion. There are billions of people left on the side-lines of economic opportunity, with Con and Asuria invested in helping to lift them out of poverty, through work, selfemployment, education and training. Looking forward, Con and the Asuria team intend to bring Asuria’s industry-leading brand of progressive human services to governments’ management of human capacity development on a global scale. “Unlike some of our competitors, that doesn’t mean we need to acquire existing businesses entirely in order to establish a footprint in new territories,” Con explains. “Nor does it mean we want to establish new entities entirely from scratch. Instead, we are interested in partnering with established, local organisations that are already experts in their markets, and in a position to benefit from Asuria’s global expertise, IP, and balance sheet.” While Asuria is not alone in the services it provides to governments and employers, it is demonstrating an unparalleled aptitude for helping partners in their native countries to reach their full potential. “Our goal is to bring together the best local market knowledge, with best-in-class employment services solutions, and the ability to execute at scale,” Con tells us. Ultimately, it’s this eye for growth and focus on innovation that Con brings to Asuria every day. When he acquired the company, it had never made a profit. In six years, it had been transformed into a lean and effective machine. “Asuria didn’t become a global toptier provider of employment services, trusted to deliver hundreds of millions of dollars in government contracts, by doing what every other provider has done before or plans to do again,” he says. “Asuria got to that point by committing itself to innovation, and by investing in the people, products and processes that proved we could deliver on those promises.” The value of fresh thinking is often overlooked because it involves risk. But by taking these risks, you can achieve the truly remarkable. We celebrate the success of Con and the rest of the Asuria team, and look forward to seeing what they do next. Company: Asuria Name: Con Kittos, Executive Chairman Email: [email protected] Web Address: www.asuria.com.au
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CEO MONTHLY / Chairperson Awards 2022 8 Asset Management Chairman of the Year 2022: Dave Webster Industry experience is something that the Chairman of the Seventy Ninth Group, Dave Webster, understands very well. As a fast-growing and award-winning name in property and natural resource investment, Seventy Ninth Group is expanding greatly. Dave’s three decades of industry experience have helped create an extraordinarily successful firm that has made waves across the UK and international markets – and a look into his operations will reveal precisely how. ave Webster’s journey in the property sector began in 1991. Realising the incredible opportunity and untapped potential, he purchased a buy-tolet property in Anfield, Liverpool. From here, seeds for the Seventy Ninth Group, of which he is now the chairman, were sown. After 30 successful years, including time as a globally recognised consultant, he founded Seventy Ninth Luxury Living in 2017. Building from his previous decades of experience, it operates in property development and acquisition, intending to develop maximum value from each project. For its clients, it creates unrivalled investment opportunities within the UK property market, acquiring, developing and marketing top-quality property assets – alongside professional partners – to secure profits for all involved. This project exploded onto the market and has been met with colossal, unmitigated success. So much so that the business developed and expanded further in 2020. At this point, Dave appointed a team of industry experts, including his sons Jake and Curtis, and founded the asset management company the Seventy Ninth Group. As a family-owned asset management company, the Seventy Ninth group leverages a unique position for its brands and operations across the real estate and natural resources sectors. Over the brief but fruitful period since its establishment, it has brought many of Dave’s entrepreneurial projects under a single brand, with the benefits of the board and leadership team’s collective industry experience poised to see them grow to new heights. The board quickly saw the expected growth; by the end of 2020, the group and its subsidiaries worked closely with over three hundred private and institutional investors from over twentythree countries. The group also expanded into additional global markets – from Canada to Gibraltar and the United States of America. With its launch of a record number of projects across the United Kingdom’s real estate sector, the Seventy Ninth Group became one of the UK’s fastestgrowing asset management companies, renowned for its expertise in operating in distressed market conditions. Owing the lion’s share of its success to Dave Webster’s sterling leadership and the team he constructed to enact the company’s vision. Its prime objective is to create value for those Seventy Ninth Group work with, taking advantage of its experience to embrace and develop exciting investment opportunities while capitalising on its established relationships. By collaborating closely with its stakeholders and partners, Seventy Ninth Group aims to be true to its strapline and invest different – and thus, successfully, specialising in the acquisition and development of distressed assets. The economy is volatile, with unprecedented and unpredictable outside forces continuously changing the financial landscape. From Covid to Brexit to international conflict, the group has always been able to predict and navigate these uncertainties and, through its flexibility, always provides the best opportunities for its clients. Alongside this, the property model that Dave and his team implemented is constantly adapting to respond better to industry disruptions. From the staycation sector to the shared office space boom, Seventy Ninth Group is always ahead of, and on top of, all changes. As the company continues to progress, Seventy Ninth Group has a range of exciting projects on which it works. For now, Seventy Ninth group is focused on growing its international footprint, building on the momentum it gained from recent acquisitions and the growth of its team, to expand its brand awareness and leverage the excellent connections it has garnered. In addition, Seventy Ninth Group has events planned in the Middle East and SouthEast Asia for the rest of this year alone. It also has a slew of exciting new projects currently in development in new territories that its team is eager to announce a bit later down the line. Dave Webster has not only leveraged his impressive history within the real estate, property, and consulting space to forge the Seventy Ninth Group, Seventy Ninth Aug22625 D
CEO MONTHLY / Chairperson Awards 2022 9 Luxury Living and his current projects; he has ensured he works with a team of top-level talent to ensure its success. The group’s multiple awards and strong positions in its markets and industries prove that his methods have birthed monumental achievements; with the end of 2022 not even here yet, the Group has grown even more and now boasts over 1,000 investors – both private and institutional. Industry experts are always impressive, but Dave Webster’s work as the Chair of the Seventy Ninth group is genuinely awe-inspiring. The decades of work he has put in, and the staggering impact he has had on the industry, cannot be understated. Naming him the Asset Management Chairman of the Year 2022 is self-evident, and we look forward to seeing the greater heights his team and companies will reach during 2023 under his continued leadership. Contact: info@the79thgroup. co.uk / 0151 316 0392 Company: The Seventy Ninth Group Web Address: https://theSeventy Ninthgroup.co.uk/
CEO MONTHLY / Chairperson Awards 2022 10 Retail & Leisure Property Chairman of the Year 2022 (UK): Graham Chase Chase & Partners LLP as a market based property agency and consultancy has weathered numerous storms, from the Covid-19 pandemic to the decline of the high street, yet it prevails. Thanks to the Chairman’s hard work and guidance, the company has excelled, surpassing its goals, and becoming a leader within its industry. ver the past 27 years, Chase & Partners LLP has constantly evolved, cycling through changingmarket conditions and client requirements. It has overcome dynamic and seismic challenges, including the near collapse of the western banking and financial crisis in 2008, the move to online consumerism and the Covid-19 pandemic All of these events had an enormous, unprecedented impact on property and particularly the retail and leisure sectors. Moreover, its unique understanding of the industry has set it apart from its competitors as demonstrated, in 2020 when Chase & Partners published its 25th Year Anniversary Edition of its annual Spring Retail & Leisure report reflecting on the appropriateness and consistency of itsmarket observations. The niche practice of Chartered Surveyors, Chartered Town Planners, and Chartered Arbitrators has, therefore, established itself as resilient, consistent, and professional advisory and transactional business, earning an exceptional reputation. Much of this success is thanks to the professionalismand expertise of its Chairman, Professor GrahamChase. Over the past four decades, Graham’s career has led him to advise the private sector on the letting and funding of retail and leisure schemes with a combined value of over £10 billion; advise the development of some 50 shopping centres, leisure centres, retail parks, and other commercial property products. He has sat on the Bank of England’s Property Industry Forum feeding into the MMC and through his membership of the property Advisory group advised central Government and in excess of 40 local authorities on policy and other property-based issues. He is a Fellow and Past President of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and muchmore; however, the beginnings of his career were much humbler. Graham tells us, ‘I started work in 1976 at the BBC as a trainee surveyor, “serving the stars” followed by an 18month exposure to the real world at Ladbrokes before settling in at the highly respectedWest End based firmof surveyors of Clive Lewis & Partners. I was fortunate to findmyself working with innovativemarket leaders who gaveme time.. I have always been grateful for their support and the patience allowingme to learn the tricks of the trade and howmarkets worked.’ He attributes his numerous accomplishments to the experiences he had during the formative years of his career, but notes that it is imperative to understand what the job fundamentally is and how to adapt to different circumstances by applying relevant knowledge and instinct in providing a pathway to success and demand for his firm’s services.. ‘The above said,’ Grahamnotes, ‘the fear of failure is asmuch a driver as the thirst for success.’ It is this that has shaped Chase & Partner’s approach to business – it strives to build an understanding as to what is required, embracing hard work and adopting an inquisitive mind to identify the facts, the options and what the best course of action may be. The company fully researches the project, reading documentation and instructions meticulously, and it maintains a steady and close relationship with its clients. Being in constant communication with its clients means that it is always able to turn to them if it needs extra guidance – it is vital to have a complete understanding of the project prior to delving in entirely and alongside this an in depth and deep seated knowledge of the markets we work in. When clarifying his strategy, Graham states, ‘hard work is the key as there are no shortcuts. Gary Player, the golfer, explained that in respect of luck, it was interesting to him that the more he practised the luckier he was! In addition, bring those who you trust and are good at what they do into play whenever necessary, always ask colleagues for their views and never assume you have the answers. I have learnt a great deal from others and far more than I have ever known myself. Learn to make decisions and be clear about them. I have found that no decision is a decision by default and is usually a bad decision but in any event learn by your mistakes which must not be repeated.’ Within the retail and leisure property industry, this approach is exceptionally beneficial, as the Covid-19 Sep22096 O
CEO MONTHLY / Chairperson Awards 2022 11 pandemic had an enormous impact on town and city centres. Its fair to say that the sector will not return to its prior health as the world has changed, moving on to a digital world. The logistics market, which provides the backbone of online shopping, has seen its property values rise by as much as the retail sector’s have fallen. Graham believes that this was entirely predictable, as his reporting has shown trends towards this situation since the turn of the century but the pandemic did hasten the trends. Graham implores, ‘inflexible and restrictive panning regimes have reduced town and city centres to dysfunctional areas which have limited life built into their infrastructure. Make town centres a mix of where people live, work, and play, so that when going to their place of employment they do not travel by transport but walk past shop fronts and pop in to buy something or organise their entertainment which is close to where they live. In addition, locate doctors’ surgeries, community facilities, the police and local authority offices in the town centre. Bring back life into our hubs of civilisation.’ Despite such challenges, Chase & Partners is thriving, continuing its path of success and prestige. Whilst home working is becoming increasingly prevalent, Chase & Partners prefers to work closely together as through this, it can guarantee that knowledge and expertise is passed on throughout the team. With the rising costs of energy and food, water shortages, and winter approaching, the wellbonded teams will enable the company to persevere. Contact: Kelly Sullivan Company: Chase & Partners LLP Web Address: www.chaseandpartners.co.uk
CEO MONTHLY / Chairperson Awards 2022 12 Best Executive Education Chairperson 2022 (UK): Carole Carson With a vision of positively impacting the prospects of millions of children and young people, whilst creating a legacy in the communities it serves, the SCL Education Group is an organisation with an enormous scope and even bigger ambitions. The individual who stands at the helm of such an enterprise needs to be someone with an evident passion for helping others and the ability to achieve in a rapidly changing market. Carole Carson is precisely that, and more. anting to take her experience and knowledge to support more people on a larger scale and to have a positive impact, Carole Carson joined SCL Education Group as Chair in 2018. She brought an impressive CV, having truly started from the ground up and learned the ins and outs of what makes an enterprise successful through experiencing – and influencing – it at every level. Carole leads and supports SCL through its journey of delivering its business plan: to support young adults at the start of their careers and ensure they have the skills needed to help them to go further in life. As well as the Group’s dedicated contributions to supporting the communities it is involved with and fuelling the economy. The board quickly recognised these efforts and, by 2020, she was appointed as the Executive Chair. Her impact on the business’s development cannot be understated; under her leadership, working with the CEO and Executive team, SCL Education Group has assisted thousands of young people in their development through their school years and beyond. Established in 1999, and with 20+ years of experience working across the UK, SCL Education is an organisation with the goal of maximising the prospects of the UK’s children and young people and unlocking their potential. In that time, it has delivered Ofsted-regulated curricular and extracurricular activities that have positively affected the lives of thousands. Overall, SCL Education Group is a leading provider of education, apprenticeships, traineeships, adult education, childcare, sports coaching, and end-point assessments. The group is built of five organisations, each sharing a similar focus on physical activity and sport throughout all elements of the Group. In recognition of its marketleading status and the market’s needs for SCL’s specific brand of education provision, Carole is focused on increasing numbers across all business areas. This includes the Group’s further education learners for SCL Education and SCL Enigmaz, children aged four to twelve for SCL Active, apprentices for SCL Professional, and partnerships for its end-point assessment organisation, DNA Skills. The SCL Group is expanding into new markets through SCL Professional. Following a successful launch into the world of apprenticeships, it continues to offer both organisations and learners a unique customer experience whilst unlocking potential across the UK. Growing in size and scope whilst also boosting revenue are key focuses for the organisation, but all whilst delivering the excellence SCL’s brands are well-known for. Fortunately, Carole has a proven record of providing just that. Prior to SCL, she was the CEO of the private equity-backed firm, Babbington. Under her leadership, from 2011 to 2018, the Babington Group saw a tremendous transformation. Her growth-driving strategies turned the group from a £2 million turnover organisation to one with a turnover of £20 million. Her impressive history drew the SCL Education Group to her, and it has been an excellent match by looking into how they have performed since her appointment. SCL Education Group’s provisions within primary schools, further and higher education – as well as in work-based learning – have created opportunities for over 250,000 young people across the UK. On top of this, its activities have positively affected millions of children across the country. From after school and holiday clubs – with a different but equally enthusiastic focus on football clubs – to education entwined with sport and every possible support through apprenticeships and early career development; it is no understatement to highlight that Carole stands at the head of an ambitious organisation with a myriad of equally exciting projects in the works. A perfect example is one of the newer additions to the group, DNA Skills. Brought into the fold in 2019, DNA Skills marked the next step in the group’s apprenticeship work and a fresh initiative for Carole to work with the CEO that differed from SCL’s previous offerings. Sep22053 W
CEO MONTHLY / Chairperson Awards 2022 13 It provides a unique EndPoint Assessment support service, building from SCL’s decades of expertise to provide a bespoke experience to its clients. DNA Skills provides dedicated EPA account managers and a tailored approach, ensuring that all parties – from the assessed to the employer – are supplied with all the appropriate information and are fully prepared before any assessments occur. DNA Skills specifically leverages the Group’s experience in the world of skill development, which means it delivers precisely what employers and apprentices in the industry need from an End-Point Assessment Organisation to the highest degree of quality. That same level of detail and care is present across the Group. Carole’s work is endless, but she tackles it with the same rigour as she has every other job before. As a result of her demanding work, the Group is looking to forge new partnerships and will announce some exciting new product launches over the next 12 months. Though for now, the award for Best Executive Education Chairperson of 2022 in the UK goes to Carole Carson, and no one is more worthy of it. Contact: Laura Riaz Company: SCL Education Group Web Address: https://www.wearescl.co.uk/
CEO MONTHLY / Chairperson Awards 2022 14 Textile Manufacturing Chairman of the Year (Western Europe): David Whelan The role of a chairperson requires hard work, dedication, and a keen eye for detail. The kind of businesses that provide revolutionary products are the ones pushing boundaries with unique ideas and attitudes to match. Footfalls and Heartbeats (FHL) is one of those businesses looking to better the world – and it does so with its innovative manufacturing processes. FHL’s Chairman, David Whelan, offers insight into what it takes to run such an innovative company. ootfalls and Heartbeats Limited (FHL) has developed a revolutionary manufacturing process that allows the control and manipulation of yarnto-yarn interaction and the movement of micromechanical structures that form the basics of knitted fabrics. FHL has established a revolutionary and patented knitting technology, where literally, “The Textile is the Sensor”. Built with, and monitored by, machine learning, this innovation avoids the need for embedded electronics, wires and solidstate sensors to create a structure that can measure tensile and compressive forces without the need for intrusive technology. With applications within health, sports, transportation, defence, and so much more, it cannot be understated how breathtakingly impressive – and versatile – this invention is. The company’s Chairman, David Whelan, further expands on the revolutionary system, “Our USP is that the textile itself is the sensor, there is no need for wiring, as our sensors are integral to the knitted textile. Our goals are to provide the world with wearable and touchable technology that is both invisible to the naked eye, and that feels just the same as a normal textile. Perhaps even more significantly, they can be manufactured using standard processes and yarns, with a minimal impact on the cost of goods.” His passion for the company is noticeably clear. David comments, “Since the company was established, we have developed even smarter technology which can be incorporated into any knitted textile or even composite material.” In discussing the company’s journey, David highlighted that its innovations had an almost alienating effect in its earlier years that FHL graciously overcame. He says, “One could say that our smart fabric technology, conceptualised and developed by our founding director, was way ahead of its time when we first started the business and as a result in the initial years. We found difficulty in gaining commercial traction for something that appeared to be simply “out of this world”.” The early days saw FHL working to convince the market that its truly unique product wasn’t ‘too good to be true’ and, now it has passed this hurdle, it has blossomed. David shares, “Having produced prototypes and demonstrated our products around the world, we are now in an enviable position where companies find us rather than the other way around.” David has an incredible wealth of experience within the Industry and the company specifically. He has served in a chair role for over 14 years, with his prior experience including being the CEO of a multitude of companies. He has sourced information and expertise on his position from companies and Chairs across the globe. As FHL’s chairman, David was eager to share a smattering of fascinating insights regarding his time thus far, “Since joining the company seven years ago as Chairman, I have had to take on various roles within the company from FD to CEO. Now that the company is established and with the recruitment of key individuals, I have been able to take on the pure Chairman role, working with the Board to develop a robust future strategy for the company and working closely with the CEO to fulfil this strategy.” This is an exemplary showcase of why he was chosen for the position in the first place. Even in a less-than-ideal scenario, David was confident and flexible enough to take on the responsibilities required to keep the business moving. In addition to this, he was also able to keep FHL thriving as well. In addition, FHL’s worldclass textile sensing technology will also allow for real-time monitoring of individual rehabilitation from musculoskeletal injuries, whether chronic condition, age or sport related. Other areas of potential application include miniaturising textilebased medical devices, infant monitoring, pressure Sep22007 F
CEO MONTHLY / Chairperson Awards 2022 15 sensing in wheelchairs and beds, and performance monitoring for top athletes. David also revealed that FHL is ensuring its textile are sufficiently sensitive to detect bio-electrical signals, thus allowing the potential for ambulatory monitoring of ECG signals remotely. Other future product developments include measuring blood oxygen saturation levels and blood flow rates. Its applications range from injury rehabilitation and neurological trauma reconditioning to real-time stress testing and haptic response or feedback. Beyond health, FHL’s technology also has the potential to measure the mechanical stress in various composite structures, from wind turbine blades to temperature and pressure measurement in tyres. It is a multi-faceted product of incredible versatility with much more up its sleeve in the years to come. With these in hand, FHL is poised for a significant expansion shortly, and David was upfront regarding how that was expected to pan out, as well as its plans, “Our work in the automotive Industry should see a product launch in the automotive sector in late 2023/24. In addition, 2024 will see our technology launching in the athletic footwear market. Also, we have recently filed some very interesting patents regarding technology for the measurement of stress and strain in composite materials, the applications for which are enormous.” In addition to this, beyond product and technologic advancements, David highlighted the peoplecentric changes on the horizon, “We will be looking to expand our team with the recruitment of appropriate specialists from within the sector. With the continued support of our investors, we are looking forward to very exciting technical developments in the coming 18 months.” David sits at the helm of a company that stands to revolutionise the textile market, FHL’s innovative product having barrelled past every possible limiting factor to demonstrate it is precise and clever. The successes that FHL has currently, and the inevitable ones to come, are owed to the team and the man leading them through this endeavour thus far. David’s leadership has already proven exemplary, and it is even more impressive to recognise the other senior responsibilities he had to shoulder over the period he led the company. As an incredibly talented individual at the helm of such an impressive organisation, David Whelan’s award for Textile Manufacturing Chairman of the Year in Western Europe is well earned and, undoubtedly, one of the many he is set to receive. Contact: David Whelan Company: Footfalls and Heartbeats (UK) Limited Web Address: www. footfallsandheartbeats.com
CEO MONTHLY / Chairperson Awards 2022 16 Leading Recruitment Chairman 2022 (Germany): Prof. Ashok Riehm Recruitment is essential for business growth, and this is especially true of SMEs. The right person, working in the right environment, can empower both individual and organisation to soar. Prof. Ashok Riehm has a strong background in this essential field, pushing the team at KKC Berater to achieve new and stunning heights of success for their clients. We dig a little deeper to find out more. inding the right leader for a business is no straightforward task, involving finding people who are uniquely qualified for often unique positions. It’s key, therefore, to find a recruiting consultancy that is committed to the principles of individual and custom-fit support when it comes to recruiting. KKC Berater is one of Germany’s most highly regarded consultancies, focusing on searching for experts and specialists to take up positions within small and medium-sized companies. The last two decades have seen this impressive firm earn a reputation for exceptional results, and the last six, under the leadership of Prof. Ashok Riehm, have seen the business go from strength to strength. Since opening their doors, the team at KKC Berater has prided itself on being the best in the business. They have amassed an amazing team of expert consultants who are renowned in their field for their impressive skills. The KKC Berater team has managed to thrive specifically because they take the time to understand their clients. When they put a name forward for a position, they know that they are uniquely qualified, as well as being a good fit with the culture of the business. KKC Berater has found a strong position for itself in various parts of Germany, and belongs to the internationally known Rohde & Partner Group. Access to this group means that the team can pool resources from 35 countries in as many countries. It’s little wonder that so many businesses trust the KKC Berater team to find important members of their leadership team – they know that KKC Berater can gather resources from around the world in order to benefit clients. The modern approach of the business is due, in no small part, to the tireless efforts of Prof. Ashok Riehm who has played an enormous role in the expansion of the fortunes of KKC Berater. Focused on the offices that the business holds in Hamburg and Stuttgart, his bold approach to the industry has been able to secure truly impressive success for the team. His background is in industry and he has worked his way through the ranks understanding how best to develop and grow teams in a host of environments. After many years working in middle management in industry, automotive and logistics, Prof. Riehm spent years consulting on issues of tax and management. Since 2007, he has been a business mediator. It’s little wonder that so much of his skill is in finding the right people to fit into an organisation. Over this time, he has become a recognised voice, publishing numerous articles on business and legal topics. The incredible range of what he has done over the last few decades can be more easily understood when considered through the lens of his current career as Chairman at KKC Berater. What draws all of these elements together is people, and the way in which people act. For Prof. Ashok Riehm, the desire to build good businesses is only achieved through building up good people who can inspire. As such, he has been able to guide his team through sometimes complicated times to bring about success for clients. His confidence is infectious, allowing staff to move efficiently through any difficulties that might arise. When we asked Prof. Ashok Riehm for more about his leadership style, he was incredibly forthright about the aspects he brings to the table. “I work with positive leadership,” he explains to us. “I am qualified as a coach in Positive Psychology too. Positive Psychology is my key to creating the will to be the Best in Class.” This optimistic approach has gone a long way to inspiring many people who work for KKC Berater to thrive. While positive thinking is obviously a big aspect of how Prof. Ashok Riehm has managed to benefit the team at KKC Berater, the continued success of the company in the 21st Century is a credit to the way in which the business has adapted over the last twenty-three years. Having expert professionals is one thing, but making sure that they are equipped with the latest tools to keep them competitive is quite another. Training has ensured that KKC Berater’s staff has Aug22611 F
CEO MONTHLY / Chairperson Awards 2022 17 an extensive knowledge of the latest search technologies, tools, and career development trends. As such, the firm can secure its position at the forefront of the recruitment sector. Nothing delights the staff more than the opportunity to provide best-in-class service at all times. Leading an organisation that finds the best leaders requires a strong leader at the very top of the tree. It needs someone who understands what is needed in a role, and knows how to ensure that they are culturally a good fit for the firm. Prof. Ashok Riehm has an exceptional track record in this regard, drawing from an international pool of talent to find the right fit for the right organisation. His success as CEO is to be celebrated, as he continues to push the boundaries forward for KKC Berater. We cannot wait to see what he does next. Company: KKC Berater Name: Prof. Ashok Riehm Email: [email protected]
CEO MONTHLY / Chairperson Awards 2022 18 Property Founder & Visionary Chairman of the Year 2022 (Australia): Maha Sinnathamby Springfield City Group is the master developer of Greater Springfield – Australia’s fastestgrowing and most innovative new city. Greater Springfield celebrates its 30th birthday this year and is established as the first Australian master-planned city since the national capital Canberra. Maha Sinnathamby has not paused for a moment in three decades of creating one of the greatest Australian dreams, so we took a closer look in the light of his tremendous success in CEO Monthly’s Chairperson Awards! ince 1992, Mr Sinnathamby and his Springfield City Group business partner Bob Sharpless have kept up a relentless pace and proved the doubters wrong. The 2860 hectares of land they purchased on the doorstep of Brisbane – the 2032 Olympic City – has been transformed into a city with more than 53,000 residents in six suburbs. The master plan for Greater Springfield contains precise outlines of how the city will continue to grow. The Australian newspaper, on the city’s 30th birthday, wrote “there is nothing like it in Australia”, noting the “sheer scale of the project”. And Mr Sinnathamby is convinced there is nothing like Greater Springfield anywhere else in the world. Its unique location, within 30 minutes’ drive of an established metropolis in Brisbane, has made it a beacon of innovation. Instead of mimicking what has been done elsewhere, Mr Sinnathamby and his Springfield City Group team have established themselves as trailblazers. Mr Sinnathamby based his path on a simple yet inspired philosophy. “We want to enhance human and social capital,” he tells us. Nowhere is this clearer than in Greater Springfield’s Knowledge Precinct, an area of the city spread across 120 hectares of land powered by health, education and innovation. “Health, education and IT are the key drivers to make a unique community,” Mr Sinnathamby explains. “The Knowledge Precinct is unique. We have a golden opportunity to plan this city of the future.” “Before Springfield City’s creation 30 years ago, I could see that brain power was the foundation of the world’s most renowned cities,” Mr Sinnathamby continues. “When planning our new city, I wanted to provide all the elements necessary for people and their ideas to flourish. Knowledge is with you your entire life. Education is the only currency that you can cash in anywhere in the world. And it is the only currency that can’t be stolen from the owner.” Springfield City has been developed with partnerships built on the understanding of the founders’ vision, but these partnerships flowed only after hard work. “Our biggest problem has been the lack of understanding of the enormity of this project,” Mr Sinnathamby explains. “You can’t think too small. People didn’t understand that we weren’t thinking small. But then we started telling more people what we wanted to build. And we told people who could help us make that happen.” Since the project was first concepted, six Queensland Premiers, seven Australian Prime Ministers and a host of mayors supported the birth of the city. The Premiers, from both sides of politics, played an integral role in allowing Greater Springfield to grow. In 1997, legislation passed Queensland Parliament with the supportive voices and raised hands of all 89 MPs to give zoning approval to the Greater Springfield area. That unanimous vote was a highlight among themany from those first three decades. It was about determination, trust, and the ability to convince stakeholders of the benefits of Greater Springfield for a growing nation. To drive through Greater Springfield today, it’s easy to forget that groundbreaking work. Residents drive past the landmarks that underpin the city without even considering the achievement that lies beneath. Greater Springfield offers a highway into the heart of the city as well as a rail line and passenger facilities as good as any in the transport network. When you arrive, you could play on a championship Greg Normandesigned golf course or visit a first-class stadium with 10,000 seats. Families are more than welcome to send their children to one of the twelve schools currently open, or perhaps one of nineteen kindergartens, or maybe even the university campus. Greater Springfield is home to a hospital that is on track to be the largest in the nation, a seniors’ village that enables grandparents to live close to their growing families and apartment living Aug22611 S
CEO MONTHLY / Chairperson Awards 2022 19 that adds a new depth to the city’s offerings. And you can drive between them all within eight minutes. “That’s just the beginning,” Mr Sinnathamby says with a smile. The population of about 53,000 people is growing annually and planned to reach 145,000. Mr Sinnathamby’s path towards visionary city-builder has been anything but conventional. He was born in war-torn Malaysia and moved to Australia to study as a young man. Earning his Bachelor of Civil Engineering from the University of New South Wales enabled him to take his first professional steps, but Mr Sinnathamby was always looking for more. He wanted to pursue his vision of developing areas that would create better lives for their residents. Mr Sinnathamby’s insists that “All power is within you” – a creed of self-belief. His other principles include acknowledgments of the lessons learned from failure – “the darkest night brings the brightest dawn” and “character is established through a thousand stumbles”. Mr Sinnathamby would live those principles as he moved to Perth in the 1970s and set up a business before eventually bringing his young family to Queensland to pursue new opportunities. Mr Sharpless and his family followed, and the pair eventually settled on the land that would become Greater Springfield. They saw something that others did not because the land sat untouched on the market for many months. “It was the chance of a lifetime,” Mr Sinnathamby recalls. “When a person walks past a rock, they see a rock. But a sculptor walks past it and says ‘there’s something in this rock’.” Plenty of people saw the rock. Very few saw the city that would be carved out of it. The land was basic at best – almost 3000 hectares of a disused forestry operation. The area that would become the heart of Greater Springfield didn’t have a road nearby for kilometres. How do you make that into a modern city? At least one bank had cold feet as the experiment unfolded, demanding its money was repaid quickly, but the doubters were thinking down the wrong line. They expected the Sinnathamby-Sharpless partnership would attract a financial backer and roll out the semi-rural land projects that were popping up on the fringe of the capital city. Nothing new in that, they said, but they didn’t understand the vision that was driving Greater Springfield. They didn’t understand the resilience, perseverance and sheer hard work of Mr Sinnathamby and the team put together to make the city into reality. This was a long-term project that would become the key to uniting the areas of Brisbane, Ipswich and Logan into a complementary urban network. Greater Springfield would have a CBD, an education precinct, a health precinct, an innovation precinct, excellent transport and many families who would live long, productive lives without the headaches of traditional cities built without planning coordination. This wouldn’t be a masterplanned community. It would amaster-planned city. And it would be fuelled by the commitment of a man whose biography would be called Stop Not Til The Goal Is Reached. “Our work is not done,” Mr Sinnathamby said. “We have 65 per cent left to do but the fundamentals are in place and as a city, we look forward to the future with open arms.” Mr Sinnathamby will continue to follow the principles that have underpinned the success of his business life: “Make one idea your life”; “Work relentlessly”; and “Create your own destiny”. Those three principles tell the story of Maha Sinnathamby and Greater Springfield, and how it has achieved such success. Company: Springfield City Group Web Address: www.greaterspringfield.com.au
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