The three Bristol bosses who last month won prestigious regional Institute of Directors (IoD) Awards are in the running for national IoD accolades.
Vashti Seth, pictured, the founder of international microfinance charity Deki, (Third Sector Director), Opus Recruitment CEO Darren Ryemill (Young Director), and Neil Way, managing director of Knowle-based family-owned business Jeff Way Electrical Services (Family Business Director) are to compete in the UK finals against the best of the champions from the nine other IoD regions.
The South West Director of the Year awards, which were staged at Bristol’s Bordeaux Quay restaurant, recognise and reward excellence in boardrooms across the region. 
The strength of the regional winners is reflected by IoD judges selecting all of the winners to go through to the national contest.
Joining the three Bristol bosses will be Simon Gould, managing director of Bath-based BMT Hi-Q Sigma, who received the IoD Director Development Special award for the highest-scoring candidate from the South West in the IoD Certificate in Company Direction exam over the past 12 months, Marshfield Bakery managing director Chris Smith (Small Company Director) and Julie Moore, managing director of Gloucestershire food innovation company Green Gourmet (Director of the Year).
IoD regional chairman Richard Ayre said: “Winning a regional award does not automatically qualify you for the national competition, so it’s a real achievement to have all our regional candidates taken forward to the national judging panel.
“I believe this is a reflection of both the quality of the entries we had this year and the breadth of enterprise and innovation that sits in this region.”
The national finals take place in London in the autumn.
Bristol Business News and its sister titles Bath Business News and Swindon Business News were official media partners for the South West Director of the Year awards for the second year.
