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Imran Khaliq

Imran Khaliq joined Gainford Group’s head office in 2008 as an ambitious 21-year-old, shortly after graduating from Northumbria University with a degree in business management. He is the youngest in the family run business and today is a proud director of the business, who has been, and continues to be, a driving force behind its growth.

When big names like Michael Bublé, Sir Anthony Hopkins and Floyd Mayweather need a place to lay their head in Newcastle, it’s the striking Vermont Hotel that becomes the place they can call home. The award-winning hotel is the jewel in the crown of Gainford Group, a hospitality and leisure business which is driven by its founders Susan and Mohammed Khaliq who started out in 1995.

Imran was instrumental in helping the company broaden its horizons and diversify their portfolio.

He has helped the firm expand on their portfolio by building four more care homes and creating nurseries in Birtley and Chester-leStreet under the brand Bright Stars Nursery. The portfolio has gone from strength to strength with award-winning hotels and luxury aparthotels, to leading bars, restaurants, and nightclubs.

Raj Singh

Raj Singh has a wealth of experience and expertise in Strategic Management, Policy Planning and Development and Project Management

He has vast experience in the fields of Public Administration, Housing, Leisure and the Arts, Early Years Development, Education Major multi-million-pound Capital Development Projects and Tackling Child Poverty. Raj’s recent work included Assistant Head of School Standards, Head of Early Years Development and Children Centres, Head of Education Regeneration, Head of School Attendance and Child Poverty Lead For a large City Council in the North East, spanning more than 40 years as a public servant.

If that isn’t enough Raj has also built a property Investment Company, Shabilla Properties, specialising in quality furnished accommodation for professionals throughout the North East.

He sits on several board, including ABC Connexions, is an accredited member of the National Landlord Association and an accredited landlord for a number of local Authorities.

He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Newcastle Gurdwara and played a lead role in the development of the iconic building. He is a trustee of the Hylton Castle Board in Sunderland and a serving Magistrate in Northumbria.

Sanjee Ratnatunga

Sanjee is Founder and Director of Ideas for Change Consulting, an economic development consultancy operating across the North East. In 1993, after graduating from Brunel University with an Economics degree, Sanjee moved from London to Newcastle to start her first job a North Tyneside Council. The intention was to stay until the end of her contract and return to London, however Sanjee fell in love with Newcastle and the North East never left! Over the past 25 years, Sanjee has worked in senior management positions within Local Authority, Business Link and the former regional development agency, leading on several business support and enterprise schemes, skills and inclusion projects. She has worked with the nicest of people and found that building strong working relationships and collaborating with others is the key to getting things done. Sanjee now works with the region’s universities, colleges, businesses and charities, always looking for creative and innovative solutions to persistent economic and social issues.

Veena Soni Bem Dl

Veena has worked in education for over 30 years as a teacher, subject lead and Head of Ethnic Minority and Traveller Achievement Service (EMTAS). She has extensive experience in equality and diversity, raising achievement of Gypsy Roma and traveller (GRT) pupils and teaching English as an additional language (EAL) pupils.

She has worked in a large number of schools throughout the region and has extensive knowledge of strategies to use with young people who have English as an additional language. Veena has developed many resources for EAL and Traveller pupils which have been used in schools and other education institutions.

Veena has worked with parents and ran workshops and training sessions for parents so that they can understand the school curriculum, policies, procedures and strategies used in schools.

Veena’s expertise lies in a whole school approach to supporting ethnic minority pupils and believes that all teachers should have the knowledge and strategies to work with pupils who are at different stages of language acquisition.

She has delivered workshops to senior education leaders, the school leadership team, teachers and teaching assistants. Veena also by appointment of Her Majesty the Queen has been entrusted as the Deputy Lieutenant for Tyne and Wear.

Jaf Ali

Jaf is the famous owner of the popular restaurant brand Dabbawal.

The pioneering restaurant owner recently beat off stiff competition at the annual British Curry Awards (BCA) 2022, winning Best Restaurant North East 2022.

Winning the accolade further cements Jaf Ali’s entrepreneurial skills, especially during a very testing time for the hospitality industry, which is under threat following months of uncertainty and the cost-of-living crisis

If that isn’t all, Jaf’s restaurant was visited by Hollywood superstar Harrison Ford and most recently by infamous celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, who isn’t easily pleased when it comes to dining out. Ramsay was so impressed with the food served up at Dabbawal, that he personally went into the kitchen to thank the chef.

Zoe Hingston

Born in Sri Lanka Zoë Hingston has lived in the North East for most of her life. After originally pursuing a path to be a Solicitor she decided to change career direction and become a Police Officer and served Northumbria Police for more than 16 years.

As the first female Chair of Northumbria Police’s Ethnic Minority Association and General Secretary of the National Black Police Association, she influenced both the regional and national policing agenda to provide a strong platform for the voices of her members as well actively working to improve the wellbeing of staff, officers and volunteers.

Zoe is now the face of Newcastle Football club as their Head of Inclusion and has made great strides in connecting the local community with the premiere football club.

Sangeeta Chopra

Namaste Taste of India is the genius work of Sangeeta Chopra. Situated at the north end of the Park View in Whitley Bay, the unique eatery is part food, part cooking supplies shop and part café.

It serves homemade food, ranging from meat, vegetarian, and vegan dishes to popular snacks like samosas, spring rolls and onion bhaji. There is a set menu each day, with meals such as daal makhani (lentils), butter chicken, chilli paneer, rajma (red kidney beans) and chana curry, served with rice or naan.

Sangeeta’s innovative concept of selling speciality groceries, along-side the café, has proved successful during the pandemic. A lot of the time, people go to the west end of Newcastle to get things like spices and flour. Sangeeta has made it convenient for locals to buy such items here in Whitley Bay. During testing times, Sangeeta has continued to sustain her business and is taking it from strength to strength

Fareeha Usman

Fareeha Usman is a multi-award winner, an internationally respected EDI Innovation worker and an Entrepreneur for Good. A global voice of authority on Gender equality, diversity and inclusion she is the Founder of Being Woman charity and the mind behind the Food sharing app “Share Karo” launched to provide an integrated system to distribute food and essentials for the people in need. She sits on Board for YMCA Northumberland and, Healthwatch Northumberland an advisor to TechMums whilst being an Agile Business Analyst.

In 2022, Fareeha became the first female of South Asian origin to bring out the Rugby World cup trophy at the inaugural 2022 women’s match. She has a number of awards under her belt and shows no sign of stopping.

SHARMISHTA CHATTERJEE-BANERJEE

Sharmishta Chatterjee-Banerjee is Head of Corporate Connections and Internationalisation at Newcastle University Business School. With extensive experience in the UK higher education sector and travel, retail and advertising industries, in her current role she is responsible for developing a portfolio of strategic partnerships with high quality institutions, professional bodies, and commercial organisations and leading on the award-winning Global Experience Opportunities programme.

She returns to our influential list, for continuing to forge connections during tough economic times.

Sharmishta holds a BA (Hons) in Political Science and International Relations from Jadavpur University, India and a MA in Marketing Management from Nottingham Business School. She is a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, an alumna of the Santander UCLA W30 leadership programme and has recently completed Advance HE’s Aurora Women in Leadership programme.

Sharmishta is passionate about equality, diversity, and inclusion, and serves on the University’s Black, Asian, Minority and Ethnic (BAME) Advisory group.

Ranjana Bell Mbe

Ranjana has over 35 years’ experience in the field of Equality and Diversity and returns to our most influential list. She has been a teacher for children with special needs; a Race Equality Officer for a local authority; an Equal Opportunities Officer for a university; a Non-Executive Director for a design company and has held the position of Director for her own company, rba Equality & Diversity since 1998. She has been on many Boards and committees and is currently Chair of the Northumbria Police SIAG, PCC Independent Member for Police Misconduct Panel and Chair of Young People in Conversation. She was a government appointed Commissioner for the Women’s National Commission for four years and Co-Chair of the NE CPS Scrutiny Panel for Racist and Religious Hate Crime. She has been a Lay Member of Employment Tribunals since 1999. She has also been a Board member for The Cyrenians (Changing Lives); SAHELI and The Angelou Centre. She has won several awards, which include a Lifetime Achievement Award for her contribution to Equality and Diversity by CULTURES CIC and not forgetting awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Honours for her work with the police and BME communities in Tyne and Wear and Northumberland.

Irim Ali

Irim Ali is an elected Councillor in Newcastle upon Tyne. She was first elected in 2008 as the region’s first Asian and Muslim female Councillor. She has served on many boards locally and is currently a Board member for a number of local charities.

Irim is committed to equalities in all forms and is a member of BAME Labour as well as the BAME Officer on the party’s Executive committee in Newcastle where she has been a local party Whip since 2018.

Irim has shown her influence and incredible journey as she became the first Muslim woman to become a cabinet member for Newcastle City Council.

Irim holds a BA (Hons) in Law and a Diploma in Legal Practice. She is a consultant solicitor helping with immigration

Surbhi Vedhara

Surbhi Vedhara is a Senior Partner at Sweeney Miller Law, a Newcastle based law firm renowned for providing quality legal services to clients across the country.

She grew up in Mumbai, India and in 2002 she moved to Newcastle with her husband Ashish. Following her move to the UK, she studied Law at Northumbria University and went on to qualify as a solicitor, eventually becoming a partner in Sweeney Miller. Surbhi now specialises in Commercial Property