The Grand Final
National Winners 2019

BUSINESS WOMAN OF THE YEAR
Alex Depledge

PUBLIC SECTOR
Sarah Hainsworth (The Midlands)
Sarah is a pro-vice-chancellor and executive dean for Engineering and Applied Science at Aston University and a professor of materials and forensic engineering. Her research interests are in forensic engineering related to stabbing and dismemberment and materials characterisation. She was one of the team who investigated the remains of Richard III.

MENTOR OF THE YEAR HIGHLY COMMENDED
Jacqueline O’Donovan (London & the South)
Jacqueline is a genuine inspiration and role-model for women. An undisputed leader and ‘disruptor’ in a male-dominated industry, Jacqueline is one of the waste and construction sectors’ most influential trailblazers - passionately advocating for road-safety and best-practice, she has championed improved standards, resulting in a safer and more responsible sector.

MENTOR OF THE YEAR
Carol Ann Whitehead (North West, Wales & Ireland)
Carol Ann is the MD of The Zebra Partnership a publishing, events and campaign specialist agency. She is an RSA Fellow, an advocate for equality, diversity and inclusion and part of The People’s Hub team working to support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals leading on diversity and women’s rights.

SOCIAL ENTERPRISE
Victoria Burnip (Yorkshire, North East & Scotland)
Victoria is a CEO of Creative Adventures. Former Interim CEO of The Key and COO of Age UK South Tyneside, has over ten years senior leadership experience providing strategic and operational support to charities to make a positive difference to the lives of others.

FEMALE ENTREPRENEUR
Sophie Milliken (Yorkshire, North East & Scotland)
Sophie is a managing director of SRS, based in Newcastle and operating
UK-wide. Specialising in graduate recruitment and employability, we provide assessment design and delivery support for employers such as M&S and AXA. For universities, we are the award-winning market leaders in large scale assessment simulations for students.

YOUNG ENTREPRENEUR HIGHLY COMMENDED
Chloë Clover (Yorkshire, North East & Scotland)
Chloe started her business journey in Sydney with her partner. They travelled the world creating social videos for tourism businesses with nothing but a camera and a laptop. They came home to grow the company and are now employing their 3rd staff and working with international companies.

YOUNG ENTREPRENEUR
Hannah Uruci (London & the South)
Hannah started BRS in 2013, fresh out of university, with no previous business knowledge/experience and with nothing but a few cloths in the back of a Fiat. Through her graft and commitment, BRS has grown significantly and now employs around 50 staff and has an annual turnover of over £1M.

START UP
Alex Depledge (London & the South)
Alex is one of the leading female lights in the UK’s tech scene. An innovative, principled and inspiring businesswoman; she co-founded the pioneering Hassle.com, which sold for £27 million in 2015.
She has now started Resi, a groundbreaking online architectural service that is revolutionising how Britons renovate.

STEM LEADER HIGHLY COMMENDED
Elena Rodriguez-Falcon (The Midlands)
President at the New Model in Technology and Engineering. Before that Elena was a professor of engineering at Sheffield University whilst leading various strategic priorities. Elena has received numerous awards for her work on education and diversity and is a principal fellow at the HEA and fellow of the IET and CMI.

STEM LEADER
Julianne Antrobus (North West, Wales & Ireland)
Julianne is a technology director for SNC Lavalin’s global nuclear business. In this role, Julianne is responsible for maximising the value of nuclear products and technology, including digital solutions. Prior to joining SNC, Julianne held the positions of global strategy director, Atkins and marketing director on the board at Nuvia.

CORPORATE LEADER HIGHLY COMMENDED
Caroline Frankum (London & the South)
Caroline has 25 years’ experience in leading commercial organisations. Proven track-record for growing businesses in profitable and purposeful ways, creating more inclusive and diverse workforces by helping create environments where the only barriers to success are personal choice and professional competence, and delivering pioneering, future-proof, tech-driven solutions.

CORPORATE LEADER
Jacqui Hall (Yorkshire, North East & Scotland)
Jacqui has been at the helm of CNG for almost two decades. Determined make the energy industry a fairer place Jacqui has positioned CNG to lead by example, championing competition, fairness and a duty of care to energy users.

Emerging Leader
Lobna El Shafie (London & the South)
Lobna is commercially focused, curious and inventive. With a can-do attitude, she works cross borders and organisations to drive launches of large-scale products in international markets, with stellar results. Having been the core driver of the commercial launch of Tumblr in Europe, she now leads Tumblr internationally at Verizon Media.