We are delighted to announce the final judging panel for the
Lord Mayor’s 2008 Dragon Awards scheme. The judges represent both
large and small businesses, the community sector and the
public/regeneration sector. We are grateful to have their knowledge
and expertise on this panel.
The 2008 final judging panel consists of:
The Lord Mayor Alderman David Lewis
The Lord Mayor is the head of the City of London and presides
over its governing bodies, the Court of Aldermen and the Court of
Common Council. He is also Chief Magistrate of the City of London,
Admiral of the Port of London, President of the City of London
Reserve Forces and Cadets Association, Trustee of St Paul’s
Cathedral, and Chancellor of the City University. He presides over
Her Majesty’s Commission of Lieutenancy for the City of London. In
addition to his work as the head of the City of London, the Lord
Mayor has a much wider business role. He is the acknowledged
Ambassador for UK-based Financial Services, a function that
includes representing the country's financial and business services
both at home and overseas and contributing to policy development on
City issues.
Alderman David Lewis is the Chairman of Governors for the Dragon
School, Oxford, a Trustee of the Mansion House Scholarship Scheme
and Chairman of the Lord Mayor’s Trust for Charities. He is also an
Almoner and Governor of Christ’s Hospital, and is the Trustee of a
number of Legal organisations.
Before being elected Lord Mayor of the City of London, David
Lewis worked at Norton Rose for over thirty years. He was educated
at Jesus College, Oxford.
Gerry Acher - Senior Advisor, KPMG LLP
Gerry Acher was a member of the Board of KPMG and Senior Partner
of its London office until the end of 2001. He is a Trustee of the
KPMG
Foundation.
Gerry is Chairman of the Royal Society for the encouragement of
Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce (RSA) for a three-year term
concluding in October 2009. He champions issues on sustainability,
climate change, corporate social responsibilities ethical,
diversity and educational agendas. He is Deputy Chairman of Camelot
Group plc where he also chairs the Advisory Panel on Social
Responsibility. He chairs the London Climate Change Partnership
that advises on how London should be adapting to living with the
results of a changing climate.
He is Vice-Chairman of Motability and Chairman of its Oversight
Committee. He is a member of the Advisory Board of
Heart of the City
and recently took over as Chairman under Lord George’s presidency.
He was a Deputy Chairman of London First and is now a member of its
President’s Committee.
Lady Diana Brittan - Chair of the Connection, St Martin’s in the
Fields
Diana has undertaken a number of public appointments over the
past 20 years. Most recently she was the chair(man) of the
Community Fund, a distributor of lottery money to good causes which
has now amalgamated with another lottery distribution fund to
become the Big Lottery Fund.
She currently chairs two charities, one a small national charity
and the other a charity based at
St. Martins in
the Fields and is associated with three other charities. She is
a Justice of the Peace in the City of London.
Martyn Lewis CBE - Chair, YouthNet
Over 32 years as a TV journalist, Martyn built up a reputation
as one of Britain 's best known TV anchormen and reporters before
taking up a business career. He is now Chairman and Co-Founder of
Teliris, which has pioneered the “VirtuaLive” communications system
- a highly advanced form of realtime, HD-quality telepresence used
by a rapidly growing number of global companies; and Chairman of
NICE TV, providing high quality bespoke news programmes for events,
conferences and webcasts.
Martyn is Chairman of
YouthNet, a charity he
founded in 1995 to create a comprehensive internet site signposting
16-24 year-olds to every opportunity or form of help they might
need. YouthNet also provides the UK’s national
volunteering database,
listing and regularly updating some 700,000 volunteering
opportunities available across the UK.
Martyn is also Chairman of the
Beacon Fellowship
Charitable Trust, Vice-President of the three main national
hospice charities (Help The Hospices, Marie Curie Cancer Care and
Macmillan Cancer Relief), President of United Response, and a
Trustee of the Windsor Leadership Trust.
Harry Platt - Chief Executive, Workspace Group
Harry Platt (MA MRTPI) is Chief Executive of
Workspace Group PLC.
Workspace is the leading provider of space for new and small
businesses in London and is active in many schemes of urban
regeneration. Having joined in 1991 when the Company had just 14
estates and some 450 customers, Harry has led the Company through
flotation and growth so that it now holds in London over 100
estates, 6 million square feet with over 4,000customers.
Harry is a geographer, graduating from Cambridge University in
1973. He subsequently was awarded a Masters in Environmental
Planning at Nottingham University. He started his working career in
1975 in the public sector as a professional town planner with
Manchester City Council – subsequently moving to the London Borough
of Greenwich and becoming Assistant Chief Executive responsible for
employment and economic development. In 1982, he became Chief
Executive of Harlow District Council. He left the public sector in
1989 becoming Operations Director for Dixons Commercial Properties
and moving to Workspace (then called London Industrial PLC) in
1991.
Mary Reilly - Partner, Deloitte & Touche LLP
Mary Reilly is a senior partner of Deloitte. She works with
organisations operating in a wide range of industries including
retail businesses, recruitment, media, business services,
manufacturing and professional practices.
Mary graduated from University College London and did a
postgraduate course at London Business School. She is a Fellow of
the Royal Society of Arts and the Institute of Chartered
Accountants of England & Wales.
She was Chair of the London Development Agency (2004 – 2008),
Chair of the CBI London Regional Council (2003 – 2005) and was a
Board Member of London 2012, the London Olympic bid committee (2003
– 2005).
Richard Sumray MBE - Chair, London 2012 Forum
In addition to Richard’s role as the Chair of the
London 2012 Forum, he is
a Member of the Metropolitan Policy Authority and a Magistrate for
the Chairing Youth & Family Proceedings Courts. After having
had a non-executive role in health for many years, Richard is now
the Chair of Haringey Teaching Primary Care Trust. He is also a
Director of the London Youth Games, the International Broadcasting
Trust and the Circus Space. He is a Visiting Professor at the
University of East London.
Previously, Richard was the Chief Executive of London
International Sport. He has also been the Non-executive director of
various Health Authorities, a Member of the Mayor’s Cultural
Strategy Group, Deputy Chair of the Greater London Arts, Vice-Chair
of the London Council for Sport & Recreation, and a Councillor
for the London Borough of Camden.
Richard served as a VSO teacher in Nigeria in the seventies. His
other interests are the arts, especially music, the third world,
health and social care issues, reading and helping to look after
his two children.
Cyrus Todiwala MBE - Proprietor & Executive Chef, Café Spice
Namaste Group
Cyrus Todiwala is Proprietor and Executive Chef of
the Café
Spice Namasté Group, renowned throughout the world for its
innovative and fresh approach to Indian cuisine. In 2000, Cyrus was
awarded an MBE in recognition of his contribution to education and
training and for raising the general profile of the industry. In
2004, he was made an honorary Professor of Thames Valley
University’s prestigious London School of Hospitality, Tourism and
Leisure.
Cyrus is currently a Trustee of Learning for Life,
a charity dedicated to improving educational opportunities for
young people in the Sub-Continent & Afghanistan. In 1998, he
became a member of the National Advisory Counsel for Education and
Training Targets. He was also one of the teams involved in the NHS
Better Food Programme chaired by Lloyd Grossman.
Cyrus regularly appears on a number of key television and radio
programmes. These include BBC Food and Drink, BBC UK Today, BBC
Saturday Kitchen, BBC World Service, BBC’s Money Matters, BBC
Educational programmes, BBC 2’s Master Chefs as well as regular
slots on Radio 4, Radio 5 Live, BBC World Service, and Talk Radio
etc.
Catherine Usher, London Office Managing Partner, DLA Piper
In addition to being the London Office Managing Partners of
DLA
Piper, Catherine is also a Partner in the DLA Piper Real Estate
Group.
With more than 30 years experience as a real estate lawyer,
Catherine has negotiated complex funding and development agreements
as well as high-volume property transactions. She has considerable
experience in property support work for privatisations, corporate
mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buy-outs and buy-ins, and
company floats.
Catherine is also a non-executive director of John Wainwright
& Company Limited, a member of the CBI London Regional Council
and an advisory board member of
Heart
of the City.