Food and Drink

IOD ISLE OF MAN SUCCESS HIGHLIGHTED AT ANNUAL MEMBERS’ MEETING

The Claremont Hotel

18 May 2022

Isle of Man Members of the Institute of Directors were able to reflect on a positive year and to look ahead with enthusiasm during the Institute’s recent Annual Members’ Meeting. Chair of IoD Isle of Man Jennifer Houghton thanked branch sponsor Ravenscroft, and welcomed distinguished guests, His Excellency, Sir John Lorimer Lieutenant General, and Dr Alex Allinson, Treasury Minister, who addressed the audience with a very upbeat overview of the Island’s economic prospects.

Despite acknowledging that the covid pandemic had changed both the landscape of the economy and the Island’s finances in the short term, the Treasury Minister stressed that there were plenty of grounds for optimism as the Island’s economy started to leave the recovery phase following the pandemic.

Esther Teeken COO, IoD UK, and Jayne Miller, the new International Commercial Relationship Manager for IOD UK were also in attendance with Esther providing guests with some brief insights from IoD UK into future plans.

With the TT approaching at the time of the meeting, the Minister alluded to Visit Isle of Man’s ten-year strategy for tourism which had been approved by Tynwald the day before the event. He stressed that improving the Island as a destination for others to travel to also supports hugely the work promoting the Isle of Man as the natural choice to live and work in.

Jennifer Houghton provided Members with a very thorough review of IoD’s activities over 2021. The key successes highlighted were that membership had increased to 280, a large % increase year on year. This was attributed to a large degree to the return to the island of the Institute of Directors’ Professional Membership Certificate in Company Direction programme, as well as the growth in popularity of Associate Membership. A diverse and interesting programme of events had been very well-attended throughout the year and there has been more proactive promotion of student and associate membership, helped along with the introduction of targeted new events. Wherever possible IoD Isle of Man aims to deliver these events on a ‘free to members basis’ as part of its drive to uphold value for members.

Jennifer also highlighted the work that IoD Isle of Man had done in supporting the measurement of business and economic confidence. In 2020, it had been invited to work in partnership with KPMG on a quarterly Pulse Survey, designed to explore key topical business issues relating to the Isle of Man. This support continued into 2021 and 2022.

A highlight of 2021 had been the Director of the Year Awards hosted at Woodbourne House in November. Support for IoD Isle of Man from the business community had been strong and Jennifer was delighted to confirm that Lloyds Bank had agreed to be headline sponsors at the Director of the Year Awards 2022. As Minister Allinson had done, Jennifer ended her report with a positive message to Members.

“We are an institution run by Directors, for Directors. Let us all look forward to another eventful year of building on our three pillars of connecting, developing and influencing to help create an even stronger business community of talented leaders.”