INSPIRATEES

Catherine tops ‘ most inspiring ’ poll as women dominate InspiraTees top 30

Winner – Catherine Devereux with the InspiraTees trophy after topping the annual poll of 200 businesspeople .

Catherine Devereux

The Russ Devereux Headlight Project & Knights , Stockton

Full results of the eighth annual Tees Business poll among businesspeople to reveal the region ’ s “ most inspiring ” business leaders .

With 17 females in the top 30 , women outnumber men for the first time .

Catherine ’ s position again reflects the admiration she attracts from across all sectors for her inspiring response to the loss of her much-loved husband , Russ , who took his own life five years ago .

The mum-of-three girls , a highly respected solicitor with her own consultancy as well as being an employment partner with Stockton-based Knights , is the established founder and trustee of the Headlight Project . The charity helps children to cope with mental health issues and reduce the number of suicides in our region . Catherine has spoken bravely about the impact suicide has had on her life and raised the issue of mental health within the workplace .

Speaking after receiving a gleaming InspiraTees trophy inscribed with her name alongside past poll-toppers , a clearly moved Catherine insisted : “ The award isn ’ t for me , l ’ m not the inspiration . We ’ re a small charity that ’ s come from the worst of circumstances . Russ was my inspiration – he was an incredible leader of his family haulage business and really didn ’ t know how good he was .

“ The sad thing is the charity ’ s only here today because we don ’ t have him .

“ I ’ ll accept this very reluctantly for our wonderful central team : Katie , Suzanne , Karen , Lucia , and the wonderful therapists who work day in , day out . It really is about who you surround yourself with .”

Catherine continued : “ I firmly believe that we have a duty to children to make sure they grow up with good mental

34 | Tees Business health , to have resilience and to be able to cope with life ’ s struggles .

“ We ’ ve got a duty to inspire the next generation and we can ’ t inspire them if they ’ re not resilient , healthy human beings . A huge part of that is your mental health .

“ Life is tough – no one has a perfect life – so we need to equip them with the tools to be able to get through life and to cope and to not end up in the position that Russ did where he felt there was no other option .”

Asked about topping a poll of local businesspeople , she answered : “ Russ was from a well-known business in the local area so it ’ s always been part of us , and it means a lot more when you have peers who think you ’ re doing something worthwhile . For that to be called inspiring blows me away .”

She explained that his suicide was “ a reaction to something that happened in his working life . It got a lot of people and business leaders thinking about how easily it could happen and thinking about their own wellbeing and the wellbeing of their workforce .

“ With the help of the Teesside business community , which has been incredible from day one - and Tees Business for shining a light on what we do – the support we ’ ve had in the past 12 months

Team – Catherine dedicated her success to the Headlight Project team including Lucia Yates ( below , centre ) and Katie Devereux .

has put us on a completely different trajectory .

“ Russ would just be shaking his head . But I ’ ve always wanted to make sure that how he died didn ’ t represent how he lived and I didn ’ t want it to define us and the children because he was far too good a person for that .”

On hearing that she was the second woman to top the Most Inspiring poll after the late Professor Jane Turner OBE , Catherine smiled : “ I ’ m delighted to follow in Jane ’ s footsteps because she was an incredible human being . To be the second female on that trophy is quite something – it ’ s good to show young girls that we can do it .”

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