SPONSORED BY ACHIEVE PROFESSIONALS
FUTURE LEADERS AWARD
Venator’ s Jo Douglas-Harris( right) received the Future Leaders Award from Emily Adair, candidate care executive for category sponsor Achieve Professionals.
WINNER
JO DOUGLAS-HARRIS( VENATOR)
The winner of the Tees Business Awards Future Leader category says a positive attitude underpins what she does.
Since joining Wynyard-based chemical company Venator as a product development scientist six years ago, armed with a degree in chemistry and a PhD in chemical engineering, Jo Douglas-Harris has risen through the ranks.
As global surface coatings product and applications manager, she used her technical knowledge to manage a team of 10 across various sites and oversaw a project portfolio supporting a business value of more than £ 100m.
Jo’ s commitment to STEM and equality, diversion and inclusion( ED & I) is evident through her advocacy for Venator to join the British Coatings Federation ED & I charter and her significant contributions to the Women’ s Engineering Society.
She has also relaunched the dormant Tyne & Tees local cluster, showcasing her dedication to fostering a supportive and inclusive environment.
Two months ago, she moved from research and development into commercial by being appointed global marketing manager, with company bosses saying it was testament to her exceptional leadership skills and innovative mindset.
But for Jo, clinching the Future Leader title ahead of Sembcorp Energy’ s Dean Carney and Kate Smith from Home Instead Cleveland in a category sponsored by Achieve Professionals was a“ real shock”.
She said:“ Having seen the videos about the other shortlisted finalists, I was up against some amazing people, so I’ m really honoured to have won it.
“ I’ ve only been in my new role for a couple of months so I’ m still working out what it will fully entail, but it’ s really good that I can bring the technical knowledge.
“ We’ re a chemical company, so I can bring the knowledge of our product into our marketing and make sure we’ re doing the best things we can for our customers.”
Jo says one of the best things about working for Venator is“ the people you work with and the support you get”.
She said:“ You don’ t win these awards as a single person – there’ s a whole team of people behind you and the people I work with are amazing.”
FINALIST
DEAN CARNEY( SEMBCORP ENERGY UK)
Utilities operations manager for Sembcorp Energy UK, Dean oversees the safe operation of one of Europe’ s largest water treatment plants, along with the utilities distribution network and effluent services at the Wilton site.
Managing budgets and ensuring KPIs are met, he delivers critical utilities such as demineralised water, steam and nitrogen to site tenants and Sembcorp’ s power assets. Since 2020, he has driven key improvements, including a resin change-out programme and instrumentation upgrades.
After starting as an apprentice in 2009, Dean advanced to operations engineer, gaining expertise in FEED design, commissioning, and mentoring. Alongside his ILM Level 5 qualification, he is also completing a degree in Business Management.
FINALIST
KATE SMITH( HOME INSTEAD CLEVELAND)
Having started out as a part-time caregiver nine years ago, Kate has been the registered care manager for Home Instead Cleveland’ s acclaimed care provision for the past five years, growing her staffing establishment from 56 to more than 145.
After an accident brought her into the office for a while, Home Instead Cleveland devised a career path for her – one that she completely adopted and dedicated herself to, and which has seen her skilfully take on roles such as administrator, scheduler, client manager, registered care manager and now operations manager.
Kate, 29, has shown herself to be a remarkable young lady, cool and calm and unfazed on the outside while showing courage, resilience, drive, commitment and expertise beyond her years.
SPONSOR’ S REFLECTIONS:
Emily Adair, candidate care executive, Achieve Professionals:“ We believe in future leaders – we want to make sure young people are encouraged in their industries and that we’ re lifting them up so they’ ve got a good standing and good grounding. All three shortlisted candidates do amazing work and Jo is fantastic – we just thought she was the stand-out candidate.”
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