It was also a year where leadership was essential to manage the increased strains on teams which also had to adapt, learn and respond quickly to a fast-changing environment. This is why IoD Jersey has included the Public Sector as a separate category in the 2021 Director of the Year Awards.
This award is for leaders of public services, including public agencies, national bodies and governmental departments.
We last celebrated the winner of this category in 2019 when Tony Moretta, CEO of Digital Jersey won. Tony said that winning the award was not only important to him, but also to his team, ‘Winning an award like this reflects on the whole team’s performance, as well as the director. The public sector has been under tremendous strain in the last year and leaders have had to stand up and make some quick and tough decisions for the interests of the public and their own staff. Adaptability, leadership, and team-building have all been critical elements of the public sector director’s toolkit but bringing the team along with you and motivating them, is absolutely essential.’
It is only right that we celebrate the work and successes of our public sector colleagues, and I’m looking forward to seeing the shortlist for this award. Our panel of judges will be looking for a director who understands that leadership is critical to good public governance, including good planning, efficiency, transparency and accountability.
The judges are looking for leaders that have demonstrated how to get the best out of others' professional expertise and their contribution to civic society.
Wider considerations include how leaders have explained their societal contribution and impact to their stakeholders in the context of the environment in which they operate, their viability and good corporate governance.
The judges will also consider how the director has supported and motivated employees and established a positive working atmosphere that inspired people to deliver good public services.
This is just one category in this year’s awards, sponsored by Appleby. We wanted to celebrate leaders in all fields, whether an established business, NED, Start-up director or a young director. The full list of categories are:
Large Business
SME Business
Family Business
Start-up
Third Sector
Public Sector
Young
Equality, Diversity & Inclusion
Sustainability
Non-Executive
We have an excellent panel of judges, some of Jersey’s finest directors and former directors from a range of business sectors and backgrounds, who will shortly be reviewing the entries. The panel is chaired by Kevin Keen who is joined by John Henwood MBE, Brendan McMahon, Dr Lesley Dickie, Kate Wright, Kristina Le Feuvre and Tom Hacquoil.
We shall be celebrating our 2021 Award winners at a black-tie ceremony at the Royal Yacht on Friday September 17th. Tickets for this dinner can be purchased on Eventbrite and are selling fast! I do hope as many people as possible will join us to celebrate the directors who have led us through the last unprecedented year.