Serving the Teesside Business Community | 15
Punch Robson Solicitors support first-
ever Tees Businesswomen Awards
T
ees law firm Punch Robson Solicitors
is supporting the region’s first-ever
business awards competition for
women by sponsoring one of the categories.
Tees Business will host the Tees
Businesswomen Awards, in association
with Northern Skills Group, at a glittering
ceremony in Wynyard Hall’s Conservatory
Room on November 8 this year.
Punch Robson, which has two main offices
in Ingleby Barwick and Coulby Newham, plus
an office in central Middlesbrough, has been
providing expert private and commercial legal
services across the North-East since 1877.
The firm’s extensive services cover
employment and corporate law,
conveyancing, divorce and family law, mental
health and capacity, disputes, wills and
probate, personal injury and more.
Punch Robson is sponsoring the SME of
the Year category for the historic event, and
Tees Business
co-editor
managing partner Elaine McLaine-
Dave Allan
Wood said: “Having a female
with Elaine
managing partner, which is quite
McLaine-Wood
rare in the law profession, we want
of sponsors
to celebrate the success of women
Punch Robson
Solicitors.
in the area.
“We have a number of female
“We have a diverse mix of sponsors
clients who run their own businesses, so we
feel it’s important they get the recognition
involved in what is the first awards of its kind
for the Tees region.”
they deserve.
“There are other female business awards
Ten awards will be presented at the first
Tees Businesswomen Awards ceremony on
in other areas, and I think it’s important
that we applaud our own, so we’re
November 8, including Businesswoman of
the Year, Lifelong Inspiration Award, Breaking
absolutely delighted and extremely proud
the Mould Award, Inspiring Others Award,
to get involved with the first-ever Tees
Businesswomen Awards.”
Best Newcomer and SME of the Year, among
others.
Tees Business co-editor Dave Allan said:
“It’s fantastic to have one of the region’s
To enter go to
teesbusiness.co.uk/awards
longest-established law firms recognise what
we’re trying to do with this awards event and
support us by sponsoring a category.
SABIC on board with Tees awards
C
hemical giant SABIC is also
supporting the inaugural Tees
Businesswomen Awards, in
association with Northern Skills Group, by
sponsoring one of the categories.
SABIC, whose UK headquarters
are based at Wilton, near Redcar, is
sponsoring the Inspiring Others category
for the historic event.
Nicola Duffey, senior HR manager at
SABIC, said: “We’re proud and delighted
to be supporting the very first business
awards event for women in the Tees
region.
“Within SABIC we want to create more
role models, so young women see it as a
place where they want to work, that they
see the myriad of career opportunities, no
matter what your gender.
“Right now, fewer than 10% of our
employees are female, but things are
changing. We are committed to promoting
the opportunities for women in industry,
particularly within our operations here on
Teesside.
“It’s a sobering statistic that we have
around 300 process technicians working on
our sites across Teesside, but only one of
those is female. That’s something we need
to change.
“We have a number of talented young
female chemical engineers coming through
the ranks who are our operations managers
and business leaders of the future. So the
positive news is that we’re moving in the
right direction at a senior level, while we’re
also starting to see more young women
coming through at apprentice level too.
“But we do want to encourage more –
and that’s why we're tying in with the Tees
Businesswomen Awards, to create more
role models for women who are pursuing a
career in this industry.”
Tees Business co-editor Dave Allan added:
SABIC’s senior HR manager Nicola Duffey (left)
with senior communications business partner
Claire Wordsworth.
“It's fantastic to see the Tees business
community embracing this ground-
breaking event for our region.
“To have heavyweight names such as
SABIC and Teesside University – as well as
our many other sponsors – involved from
the start is a huge boost and will enable
us to put on what will hopefully be a
memorable night for us all to savour.”
Tees Business is now inviting entries for the 10 categories in the awards –
go to teesbusiness.co.uk/awards for more details.