20 | Tees Business
Wilton Engineering boss Bill Scott was voted Teesside ' s Most Inspiring Businessperson by Tees Business readers.
INSPIRATIONAL! Teesside’ s leading businesspeople – by their fellow business leaders
For the second successive year, we asked local business leaders to vote for their Teesside counterparts who most inspire them. No fewer than 111 got a vote, but here are The Tees Region’ s Most Inspiring Businesspeople.
10th( New Entry into Top 10) Zoe LEWIS
Middlesbrough College
The first female principal and chief executive of Middlesbrough College for the past four years, Zoe Lewis has gained a reputation for driving forward the alignment of the college’ s offering to the skills required by employers.
With a turnover of £ 36m, the college has invested £ 20m into The STEM Centre( Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) plus an extension to MC6 – the purpose-built sixth form – that opened in 2014.
9th( 10th) Sharon LANE Tees Components, North Skelton
Voted the Tees region’ s top businesswoman for a second successive year, Sharon Lane is general manager of Tees Components, specialists in precision machine parts. A former apprentice with the firm, she is a qualified mechanical engineer who returned to the family company nearly a decade ago. Formed more than half a century ago, Tees Components now employ 70 staff, having grown in recent years through major investments in precision equipment, achieving growing export sales.
8th( New Entry) Barney ORD Fairfield Industries, Middlesbrough
One of the grand old men of Teesside industry, former apprentice Barney Ord stepped back from day-to-day involvement with Northern Machine Tools and its parent company, Fairfield Industries, only after reaching his 80th birthday. He continues to take an ongoing interest in both NMT and Fairfield, where he is the long-standing chairman, with an overview for four thriving Teesside businesses that between them employ 200 people.
BARNEY’ S TOP 3 1. Richard Barker, Barker & Stonehouse 2. Steve Gibson, Bulkhaul & MFC 3. Bill Scott, Wilton Engineering
7th( 5th) Alastair POWELL Cleveland Cable Company, Middlesbrough
This is perhaps as much as you’ re ever likely to read about Teesside enigma Alastair Powell for he famously does not conduct interviews, nor does he seek publicity. Cleveland
Cable Company, the UK’ s largest cable