NGI PA takes Best Secretary crown

1 October 2009

Anne Howes, PA to the Chief Executive of NewcastleGateshead Initiative, has been named The Best Secretary on Tyneside 2009 after a hard-fought competition.

Now in its second year, the awards were organised by Pitman Training Newcastle, in association with the Institute of Professional Administrators (IPA) and this year saw over 70 nominations for the sought-after title from organisations based across the NE, SR and DH postcode areas.

Hosted by TV and radio presenter Philippa Thomson, over 250 attended the event at Newcastle’s Tiger Tiger, which included a fashion show by Hobbs at Fenwick Newcastle and raised over £500 for Metro Radio’s Cash For Kids appeal.

As well as picking up the prestigious trophy, Anne won a weekend in London for two courtesy of Corporate Travel Services, in association with National Express East Coast and Exclusively Hotels.  She also received one year’s membership of the IPA, a leather bound filofax and a signed copy of The Definitive Personal Assistant and Secretarial Handbook by Sue France, who spoke at the awards ceremony.

“Once again, we had an impossible task to pick this year’s winner,” explained David Stevens, director of Pitman Training Newcastle and chairman of the judging panel.  “However, Anne stood out as someone with real passion and commitment to her job and truly deserves the title of Best Secretary.”

Anne was delighted to win the award, having been nominated by her boss, Andrew Dixon. He described Anne as “an engine of turbo charged efficiency” and “someone that thrives on pressure, vital in her role at NGI”.  Anne summed up the role of the Best Secretary as being “someone who can be relied on to support their boss, so that they can get on with ‘doing the job’ without worrying.”

Second place was awarded to Kim Forster of Universities for the North East and third place went to Lindsey Rivington, PA to the General Manager of the Hilton Newcastle Gateshead. A special Rising Star Award was made to Samantha Jackson of onebestway.

This year’s other finalists were:

Sarah Doick of Watson Burton LLP

Maxine Errington of Age Concern Sunderland

Lorraine Goldfingle of Genisys Technology Limited

Anne Griffiths of Mercer Street Marketing and Consulting Limited

Nina Mulligan of Talent Training UK LLP

Tricia Roe of Northumberland, Tyne & Wear NHS Trust

David concluded: “This year’s competition was much bigger than last year, in terms of sponsors, entrants, media coverage and the awards night itself,” concluded David. “I’d really like to thank all those involved. It will be a hard act to follow, but I’m really pleased that The Best Secretary on Tyneside Awards are now firmly part of the North East’s event calendar.”