Serving the Teesside Business Community | 21
distributor, was set up in 1978 by Powell
and his brother Michael. The firm achieved
sales of £212m in the year to May 2016, with
pre-tax profits increasing to £11.6m and its
workforce rising to almost 500. 3rd (2nd)
The most recent Sunday Times Rich List
estimated the brothers’ wealth at £413m,
making them the fourth richest in the North-
East. Andy Preston’s
name is
synonymous with
Middlesbrough
and Teesside
Philanthropic
Foundation, the
charity he founded
that has now
raised north of
£2m over the past six years. Thanks to his
persuasive powers, many well-known local
businesses and individuals support the
charity, including 2017’s ‘most inspiring’, Bill
Scott.
A LASTAIR’S TOP 3
1. Steve Cochrane, Psyche
2. Roy Welsh, Market Cross Jewellers
3. Howard Eggleston, various
6th (4th) Steve COCHRANE
Psyche,
Middlesbrough
Described as eccentric
by his own staff,
Cochrane is a former
ICI engineer and
North Sea rigger who set up designer shop
Psyche in 1982 and has remained loyal to
Middlesbrough, establishing the famous
boutique among Vogue’s top 100. His 35,000
sq ft Linthorpe Road and Cleveland Stores
now employ more than 60 staff. Psyche,
which recently celebrated its 35th birthday,
is on course to increase turnover to £9m this
year.
5th (New Entry)
Gary DAWSON
Andy PRESTON
Teesside Philanthropic Foundation,
Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough-born Preston also heads CEO
Sleepout, another charity that has achieved
incredible things – including more than
£1m raised in the fight against poverty – by
convincing business leaders to sleep rough
for the night at famous locations across the
country. As a result, he launched the charity-
run restaurant, The Fork in the Road.
A former city trader and hedge fund
manager, he was recently appointed
chairman of Tees tech start-up Procenergy.
ANDY ’ S TOP 3
1. Bill Scott, Wilton Engineering
2. Steve Cochrane, Psyche
3. Mike Matthews, Nifco
2nd (1st)
Since succeeding his hugely respected
father Maurice as managing director of
Middlesbrough’s AV Dawson, Gary Dawson
has spearheaded the family-run logistics
specialist’s impressive growth since 2000. Steve
GIBSON
OBE
4th (7th) Mike MATTHEWS
Nifco, Eaglescliffe
Brought up on
a Darlington
council estate,
former apprentice
Matthews worked
his way from the
shop floor to become managing director of
Nifco, a thriving business that manufactures
components for the automotive sector.
Until recently chairman of the North East of
England Chamber of Commerce, Matthews
led Nifco through its toughest years,
beyond recession, to become a blueprint for
business success in the Tees region.
1st (3rd)
Bill SCOTT (Pictured far left)
Wilton Engineering Services,
Port Clarence
Bill Scott doesn’t much like sleep – he’s
admitted to taking just four hours a night.
But even he must have suffered when,
as with many companies, his firm Wilton
Engineering suffered a dramatic drop in
business activity as the long-term dip in
the global oil and gas market took its toll.
But his success in being voted Teesside’s
most inspiring businessperson is
testament to the way he has led the
company he built from scratch to bounce
back from such adversity.
With Scott leading their diversification into
the offshore wind industry, early 2017 saw
Wilton Engineering win an £11m contract
to deliver transition pieces for Germany-
based Steelwind to be used as part of
the UK’s largest offshore wind project,
Hornsea One.
And he promised that there was MUCH
more to come, bringing jobs and much-
needed contracts for other Tees firms. Now
that’s bouncebackability.
BI L L’ S TO P 3
1. Mike Matthews, Nifco
AV Dawson,
Middlesbrough
AV Dawson has been a part of Teesside’s
industrial landscape for more than 80 years
but the firm has gone from strength-to-
strength in recent times and now employs
around 240 people on a combined Riverside
site terminal of 100 acres. It provides freight
handling facilities across road, rail, land and
sea through its North Sea supply base.
Along with long-term business partner
Mike O’Neill, Gibson is the owner of
the Gibson O'Neill Group incorporating
Bulkhaul, Middlesbrough FC and the
prestigious Rockliffe Hall Hotel.
Bulkhaul and
Middlesbrough
FC,
Middlesbrough
Last year’s run-
away winner
of our poll with nearly three times as many
votes as anyone else, this time Steve Gibson
had to settle for the runners-up spot.
Gibson, of course, is chairman of
Middlesbrough FC, a role he has held since
December 1993, taking the club through
the most successful period in its history.
Last year’s return to the promised land of
the Premier League was short and not-so-
sweet but Gibson has f ulfilled his promise of
making Boro the best resourced club in the
Championship as they look to bounce back at
the first time of asking.
Bulkhaul, the firm he launched with the
help of a £1,000 loan from his father, is
now a leader in the field of international
tank container services, specialising in
transporting chemicals around the world. It
boasts bases in Middlesbrough, mainland
Europe, the USA, Brazil, Japan, South Korea
and Singapore.
2. Zoe Lewis, Middlesbrough College
3. Jonathan Lamb, SPURR
The rest of your top 30
most inspiring Tees
businesspeople
(in no particular order)
Martin Gilbey / Midas
Vicki Jackson-Smith / JB Recycling
Dean Benson / Visualsoft
Richard Barker / Barker & Stonehouse
Ian Malcolm / ElringKlinger
David Robinson / PD Ports
Chris Petty / Cornerstone and Skylive
Charles Clinkard / Charles Clinkard
Garry Lofthouse / Applied Integration
Steve Macdonald / Macdonald Offshore
Solutions
Jonathan Hall/Marcus Bennett / Plum Jam
Naz Khan / Jennings Motor Group
Karl Pemberton / Active Chartered Financial
Planners
Cathal Doocey / CPD Bodies
Darren Sutherland / Utility Alliance
Alastair Waite / Altrelli
Ken Home OBE / K Home International
Martyn Pullin / BWC
Gary Lumby MBE / Focus on Success
Ken & Russ Devereux / Devereux Transport