Benham Publishing Businesss Magazines December 2013 | Page 25

BCCAwards

Herts Chamber members
sweep the board at
regional awards
Hertfordshire Chamber of Commerce is celebrating after three of its members
won places at the British Chambers of Commerce Awards 2013.
Ashbourne Insurance Services won the East of England’s Regional Commitment to People
Development, Direct Path Solutions won the Excellence in Innovation Award and Rayden Solicitors
won both the Marketing Campaign of the Year Award and Katherine Rayden has won Outstanding
Personal Achievement Award for 2013.
These companies will now go forward to represent the East of England in the national finals which
take place in London in November.
Yolanda Rugg, Chief Executive of Hertfordshire Chamber said: “We are absolutely delighted that so
many of our members have been successful in the regional judging. We know we have
exceptional businesses within the county and look forward to the Gala awards in November when
we hope they will all be national winners.”

Katherine Rayden set up Rayden Solicitors in
2005 when the youngest of her three children
was just nine months old. Over the past eight
years, Rayden Solicitors has grown to be the
largest family law firm in Hertfordshire. The firm
employs 19 staff, the vast majority of whom work
part time or flexibly, and is this year forecast to
turnover just over £1m.
In 2013, Rayden Solicitors was described in the
Legal 500 directory for family law firms in
Hertfordshire as ‘a very good niche practice’
and ‘enormously impressive’. Katherine has just
been ranked as a “Leader in their Field” for
family law in the prestigious Chambers and
Partners directory for 2014. The firm has also
been recommended.
Katherine said: “I was thrilled to win Hertfordshire
Entrepreneur of the year at the Inspiring
Hertfordshire Awards and am overwhelmed to
have won East of England’s Regional
Outstanding Personal Achievement Award for
2013 in the BCC Awards. To discover that we
are the only finalists to appear in two categories
is amazing and concludes a very exciting and
successful year for the firm and I look forward
to representing Herts Chamber of Commerce
at the National Awards ceremony.”

Direct Path Solutions specialise in web
technology and communications working in a
wide range of industries including local
government and pharmaceuticals. It is best
known for its flagship product called OWL which
helps keep communities safe, reduce crime
and keep people informed of what’s going on
locally. It’s a shared, secure platform for the public
and local authorities to maximise the potential
of Neighbourhood Watch, School Watch,
Business Watch and dozens of other schemes.
Managing Director, Gary Fenton, said “Postrecession, many businesses are working hard to
innovate to retain their customers and grow, so I
really appreciate how tough the competition
must have been. It’s great to go through to the
National finals and fly the flag for Hertfordshire.”

Peter Smits, Managing Director, Ashbourne
Insurance said: “We are delighted to have won
the British Chambers of Commerce, East of
England’s Regional Award for Commitment to
People Development 2013. We have invested
in hundreds of hours of training to develop our
team and created our own unique charter of
service entitled “the Ashbourne Way” to support
staff and customers.”

INSPIRE

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