Awards Honour For East Yorkshire Director

Mark Cooke

An entrepreneur from East Yorkshire has been honoured at a prestigious awards ceremony, held in Yorkshire last night by the Institute of Directors.

Mark Cooke (43), of Bishop Burton, Chief Executive of Sheffield-based Bright Finance Ltd, was celebrating after scooping a top honour at the Yorkshire & Humber Director of the Year Awards 2006. Mark triumphed in the Entrepreneur of the Year category.

Over 400 guests gathered for the event at Leeds Town Hall, where the achievements of business leaders were recognised in categories including Young Director of the Year and Non-Executive Director of the Year.

This annual event is the highlight of the IoD Yorkshire events calendar and it receives generous support from a raft of Yorkshire based businesses, including both Yorkshire Bank and Leeds Business School.

Mark Cooke formed Sheffield based Bright Finance Ltd with colleague Paul Hancock in April 2001. In early days, the pair often joked that they could fit their business plan on the back of a cigarette packet - today, they employ nearly 200 staff.

Mark is responsible for the overall day to day running of Bright Finance, with major emphasis on introducer and lender relationships. He began his finance career in 1980 with HSBC before taking up positions with the Chartered Trust and MillerFisher. During his three-and-a-half-year stint with FirstPlus Financial, Mark gained around £60 million of new business.

Regional Director of the IoD in Yorkshire John Thompson commented: “We were very pleased by the high standard of entries from business leaders across the region. It is a delight and an honour to be able to recognise and reward the work of Yorkshire’s leading directors. Planning for 2007 is already at an advanced stage and we will be encouraging nominations and entries online from the end of this September”.

Regional director of Yorkshire Bank, Kath Myers, also commented on the calibre of nominees: “As a strong Yorkshire-based business, we are delighted to be associated with such a prestigious event again this year, and are thrilled by the response from companies across the region that have used this opportunity to showcase the great work of their senior members of staff. This in turn helps them to receive the recognition they so richly deserve”.

Posted: 8th September 2006