Northland Business Excellence Awards 2022 Judges

A huge thank you to all the Judges for the 2022 Northland Business Excellence Awards:

Greg Atkins

Greg Atkins

Greg Atkins – Convenor of Judges
Local accountant and director at BDO, Greg Atkins has been the Convenor of judges for the Northland Business Excellence Awards Business Category for the past 10 years, and he is pleased that this year’s event have been a return to somewhat normal for the entry, judging and awards night. “It has been awesome to get back to the usual format for the judging, and to celebrate the actual Awards night which we missed out on last year.”

He does acknowledge that on the surface it looks like it’s all back to BAU, but it has still been a year of challenges. “We have seen the fatigue and really acknowledge what our business operators are up against and commend all of those who did push through to enter the Awards. We were impressed by the diverse range of entries across industries, heart-warming to see some of the social enterprise taking place, and pleased to see good representation from across Northland too, with several of our winners and finalists coming from the mid and far north. A very big thank you to my fellow judges, reading entries, researching organisations, then the business visits are all a mammoth task, it can take up days, and it’s time out of their businesses too. I deeply appreciate the professionalism and level of detail they bring to the process. The debate that goes on in selecting our final winners is a sign of their desire to get it right and uphold the standards of the award process. Thank you judges, and well done to everyone who participated.”

The judges work in pairs, each pair takes ownership of a business category e.g. Small, medium etc. Where there is a conflict of interest, i.e. a judge may have a working relationship with a business, then the individual switches out with another judge. Business category judges also assist with advising on several of the specialist categories and consult with specialist judges as and when called on. All judges are required to sign a confidentiality agreement, an important reassurance the entrants.

 

 

MEET SOME OF THE JUDGES OF THE BUSINESS CATEGORIES

Trish MacPherson has been involved with the Baldridge Criteria for 20 + years, as a Practitioner of Excellence with Government Agencies, Local Body and Not for Profit Organisations. She has been an Evaluator and team leader for the NZ Business Excellence Awards and the Australia Organisation of Excellence with time also for Northland Business Awards.

 

Sarah Greener

Sarah Greener isis Managing Director at The Rock Adventure Cruise and Founder at The Human-Centred Business Blueprint. Sarah is an experienced Business Coach who helps business owners build sustainable businesses through The Power Hour™, The Success Map™ and The People Advantage™.

 

Mike Lindsay

Mike Lindsay is Manging Director of Building and Fire Services (2008) Limited. He has worked as a professional in the Fire, Safety, and Building Compliance field for over 24 years delivering professional advice and solutions on all aspects of fire safety, speciality health and safety compliance and emergency training across all industry sectors. He is passionate about, and wholly committed to, educating New Zealanders about how to protect people and property. He has been a judge for the Business Excellence Awards for four years

 

 

Pauline Rose

Pauline Rose has judged Business Excellence Awards for 20 years. She has private sector experience in strategic planning, marketing and communication management with large NZ corporates as well as project management, stakeholder management and business improvement experience in local government. She now works for local broadband provider Uber Group and is co-owner of Land of the Lotus Watergardens and Banana Park. She has been president of the Public Relations Institute of NZ and is a regular judge at their annual awards.

 

 

Jane Hindle has had a long career in ICT and Telecommunications. Since moving North in 2000 she became business mentor for the R. Tucker Thompson resulting in a transfer of the ship into a Charitable Trust operating youth development programmes and tourism sailings. In parallel she had a governance career on several boards including Chairing Northtec. She is a Chartered Member of the Institute of Directors and joins the Bay of Islands Whangaroa community board in October.

Paul Visser has been in banking for over 20 years,  and has been helping Northland Businesses grow and succeed during that time. Initially focussing on small business and Small to Medium sized Enterprises, he is now a Corporate Relationship Manager at Westpac Bank where he has worked for 15 years in various roles, both in the Whangarei and Far North areas. He is currently managing a portfolio of customers with a specialisation in Construction, Forestry & Transport. Paul is a first time judge for the Business Awards this year.

Specialist category judges are chosen for their experience and knowledge of the specific category they are assessing. This may include subject matter experts provided by the category sponsor themselves, or independent experts bringing industry knowledge to the judges table.

Sincere thanks to all the 2022 specialist category Judges who include the following;

Creative Northland Creative Industries – Hinurewa Te Hau, Northland Inc.
Innovate Northland – Jules Smith, Paul Linton and Patrick Malley
Te Mana Oranga Workplace Diversity and Inclusion – Reg Peterson, Rachel Peterson and Richard Bell
Northland Regional Council Environmental – Kim Wall
ACC Workplace Health and Safety – Peter Oxley and Phillip Tana
Vodafone Digital Transformation – Deena Pawson, Bryan Johnston and Annaliese Atina
The Northern Advocate Hall of Fame – panel including Greg Alexander, Rachel Ward, Tim Robinson, Ken Wilson and Eru Lyndon. The More FM Customer Choice is based on the total number of individual recommendations received for the nominated businesses.

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