Meet the judges

The official line-up of judges for the Niche Business Awards 2022 consists of eight local personalities from industries including law, entertainment, technology, and more. Get to know those who will be judging the 15 categories and assessing applications in the run-up to the ceremony on Friday, September 2.

EMILY SMITH

Finance, HR and Health and Safety Director at Michael Smith Switchgear

An award-winning business leader in the East Midlands, Emily’s current roles also include being the Managing Director for AVW Fabrications Limited. Emily moved into the manufacturing industry in 2013 after working in an accountancy practice for eight years where she qualified as a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Tax Advisor. She has driven key changes in the businesses, focusing on employees’ health, safety, and wellbeing, as well as being a keen advocate for environmental issues. Last year, Emily was appointed Chair of the ICAEW Manufacturing Advisory Group which leads the discussion on hot topics affecting manufacturers across the UK.

SHELLEY HARVEY

Partner at Macintyre Hudson

Shelley joined MHA MacIntyre Hudson in 2019 as a Director in the Leicester office. With almost 20 years of experience in practice, she has worked with many different sized businesses across many sectors from start-ups to those with multimillion-pound turnovers. Her current portfolio ranges from smaller owner-managed businesses to larger corporate entities. Prior to working in practice, Shelley spent some years within an accounts team for a manufacturing business, this gives her a ‘user perspective’ on both the audit and accounts services, allowing her to deliver as effectively as possible. She focuses on providing forward-thinking business improvement advice, tax advice, and audit and accountancy services.

AIME ARMSTRONG

Kickstart Director and Managing Director at Ninja HR

Lego and sci-fi enthusiast, Aime launched Ninja HR as a trading name of Armillan Ltd to help employers thrive by supporting their staff. When the Kickstart Scheme was launched, becoming a Kickstart Gateway felt like the perfect opportunity to utilise her knowledge of the public sector gained through 20 years of managing HR teams and departments in the NHS and local government with her passion for helping employers flourish. She did this all whilst creating work placements for young people. The mum of two has undergraduate degrees in both law and psychology and an MA in HR. She has also taught HR at a PostGraduate level, ran the HR department in a local authority and had the roles of both Head of HR Shared Services and Head of Learning and Development across the NHS in Leicestershire.

MATT BULL

Managing Director at ActionCOACH Loughborough

Working with the world’s most ambitious business owners, Matt simplifies a business’s approach to business success. He combines over a decade of experience in business improvement with a world-class coaching approach to help businesses succeed. Previous roles include Head of Finance and Commercial for global SME business, improving performance, upgrading systems, refinancing, board-level strategic input and day-to-day commercial decisions, one-year secondment to global HQ of HSBC working in the corporate banking team. Matt advises small ownermanaged businesses through to multi-million-pound turnover PLCs. He is also a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.

NICKI ROBSON

Managing Director at Breedon Consulting

Back in the 1990s when times were tough in manufacturing, for some reason Nicki thought it was a good time to stick her head above the parapet and volunteered for redundancy. She says it was the best thing she ever did and so Breedon was born. Managing Director and Founder of Breedon Consulting, an HR agency committed to delivering specialist HR support to all types of businesses, Nicki has over 20 years of experience in HR management across a wide range of industries. She loves being able to be creative and generate new ideas on how to support clients, and then seeing those ideas turned into reality by the team.

DARREN WILLOUGHBY

Managing Director at 2XL Commercial Finance

A Niche Business Awards winner himself, Darren has more than 20 years of experience in the commercial lending arena, and has achieved many feats in his career. He became the youngest business development manager with Lloyds Bank at age 24 and was consistently among the top 10 performers nationally from 2004 to 2006. He lent over £78m last year via 2XL Commercial and was identified as one of the UK’s leading commercial finance brokerages in all UK lenders’ approved panels and is a consultant to many banks and lending institutions on strategy and growth. He has overseen and managed the expansion of the 2XL Commercial network to seven offices, forming a truly national presence.

IAN BORLEY

Chief Executive Officer at Borley Consulting Ltd

Ian served as Senior Partner of KPMG for several years in the East Midlands, a £30m multi-disciplinary practice, employing 250 staff across two offices. He also led the firm’s Midlands Enterprise practice, meaning he has not only advised clients but has first-hand experience of running a business himself. Throughout his career, Ian has worked primarily in the East Midlands. He is a former Chairman of Leicestershire Business Voice, has served on the boards of the National Forest Charitable Trust and the Richard III Visitor Centre, is a non-executive director of the National Space Centre and was a member of the CBI’s East Midlands Regional Council. In 2013 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by De Montfort University.