Tim Bailey, the Director of Chamber International, was awarded Fellowship of the Institute at our graduation ceremony last week, in recognition of services to export.
The award recognises Mr Bailey's achievements in leading Bradford-based Chamber International for more than 15 years, and taking it from being a local export documentation office to an organisation that offers a sophisticated range of specialist international trade support services.
Lesley Batchelor, director general of the Institute, announced the award at the celebratory graduation event attended by 200 invited guests including president of the Institute, Lord Stephen Green of Hurstpierpoint; vice president, Lord Empey OBE; The Rt.Hon. The Lord Mayor of London, Dr Andrew Parmley and chairman of the Institute, Ian Taylor.
Fellowship of the Institute, which is by invitation only, recognises outstanding achievement and commitment to the profession. Fellowship, which has to be supported by six full members of the Institute and approved following a vote by the Board of Trustees, is also conferred on members who have, in the furtherance of the UK’s export performance, demonstrated outstanding achievement, or have reached a position of eminence in their international business career.
Mr Bailey said: “The Institute plays a hugely important role in setting and maintaining educational standards for professionals working in the export industry and is respected throughout the world. It is a real compliment to be recognised by them in this way.”
The ceremony also saw the introduction of the 'Mike Strawson Award', presented to the student with the highest mark in the Institute’s Global Trading Module of the Level Five Diploma In International Trade.
Chamber International agreed to sponsor the award, an engraved trophy, in a tribute to Mike Strawson, 76, its former lead trainer and a senior export adviser who retired earlier this year after 15 years supporting Yorkshire businesses as part of his wider work nationwide.
Chamber International director, Tim Bailey, says: “We jumped at the opportunity to sponsor this prestigious award which recognises the importance of exporting to UK businesses and the national economy and salutes Mike Strawson’s considerable achievements attained in more than 50 years as an exporter.
“Any student who has taken this exam – regardless of whether or not they win this award - would do well do aspire to a similar export career as Mike Strawson whose passion and commitment to overseas trade never diminished after more than half a century in exporting.”
Mike Strawson, who was involved in exporting from the age of 17, received the IOE&IT Lifetime Achievement award in 2013 for his outstanding contribution to export sales and also in teaching international trade skills to others. At the time he was one of only three people to receive the award. He also received a prestigious Fellowship from the Institute, which he joined as a student in 1962.
This year the award was won by Peter Wheeler of Ethoss Regeneration Ltd.
