Chairman's Dinner, Hosted by Nigel Mills, Entrepreneurs' Forum Chairman

13th September 2012
Primary event image
Chairman's Dinner

Venue:

The Great Hall, Sutherland Building, Northumberland Road
Northumbria University, Newcastle NE1 8ST

Date & Time:

Directions
  • Members
    £115+VAT

The leader of a great North East success story that is foremost in the revival of manufacturing and in securing the region a future in renewables will share his story at one of the Forum’s most popular sell-out events of the year.

As Chief Executive of SMD (Soil Machine Dynamics Ltd,) Andrew Hodgson has steered one of the region’s beacon businesses towards even greater success, through a period of rapid growth and record revenues and securing its position as a global leader operating in some of the world’s most hazardous environments.

With a deep heritage in subsea engineering going back to the 1970s when it pioneered the design and manufacturer of seabed ploughs, SMD has under gone a number of character changes. Once a family owned business run by Alan Reece, a former Entrepreneurs’ Forum Lifetime Achievement Award winner, SMD acquired Hydrovision in 2003 then under went an MBO in 2008 funded by the private equity group Inflexion.

With additional facilities in North Yorkshire, Houston, Singapore and Macaé, Brazil, it was recently named as one of the Fastest 50th growing companies in the North East and holds a Queen’s Award for Outstanding Innovation. Business Secretary and President of the Board of Trade Vince Cable recently said the company had “a great future”.

Andrew will give a personal account of how he came to lead the company, the challenges of managing a business backed by private equity and maintaining a world number one position in a growth market.

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As the old Chinese proverb states: “None of us is as smart as all of us”. This spirit of camaraderie and shared knowledge is at the heart of our annual Chairman’s Dinner.

Hosted by Chairman Nigel Mills and his fellow board members, it provides the perfect, relaxed environment to stimulate thought provoking and informative conversation and is the ideal opportunity to catch up with existing business contacts and develop new friendships following the summer break.

Our eighth Chairman’s Dinner promises a unique evening of inspiration in an engaging and welcoming environment; it’s all about our members and partners, transferring knowledge and encouraging future success.  

“An excellent event, which was very well attended. Sat on an excellent table where people networked and exchanged ideas and information.” Brian Jobling - Eutechnyx Limited

“Always fascinating to speak to those dynamic and brave people who are the future of the UK economy. If the Entrepreneurs’ Forum cold be copied throughout UK we would have a stunning economy. What a dynamic group.” Justin Urquhart Stewart

Hosted by Forum Chairman, Nigel Mills and fellow Entrepreneurs’ Forum board members this evening in September is very much all about our members and partners – celebrating your achievements, transferring knowledge, and engaging with what is a really unique community.

Terms and Conditions

Payment: Please note that you can now use our new online payment facility when booking Entrepreneurs' Forum events, with both debit and credit cards accepted.

Alternatively, event fees can be made by cheque, bacs or direct debit. Please make payable to ‘The Entrepreneurs’ Forum’. Payment of all fees must be made by return in advance of the conference.

Confirmation of Booking: If you do not receive email or letter confirmation of your booking in advance of the conference please contact us to confirm the booking.

Alteration & Cancellation: If any delegate is unable to attend we will accept a substitute delegate at no extra cost. Please notify us in writing by email to info@entrepreneursforum.net in advance of the conference with the name, email address and telephone number of both the registered and substitute place. Please also advise whether the delegate has any special dietary or access requirements.

Payment must also be made in full for cancellations made within 14 days of the event date. All cancellations must be put in writing on an e-mail toinfo@entrepreneursforum.net. Failure to attend the event counts as a cancellation and will incur the full event charge.