Northumbrian Water’s Chief Executive Heidi Mottram has received a major award recognising her contribution to business in the North East of England.
Heidi was named North East Business Executive of the Year at the North East Business Awards, organised by NCJ Media, publishers of four of the region’s leading newspapers, The Journal, The Chronicle, The Gazette and the Sunday Sun. The accolade, presented at a ceremony at the Gosforth Park Marriott Hotel, Newcastle, comes after Heidi was earlier crowned Durham and Wearside Business Executive of the Year.
Heidi has been chief executive at Northumbrian Water Group for six years. Under her leadership, the company has achieved the prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the category of Sustainable Development in 2014 and been named as the only water company on the World’s Most Ethical Companies list six years in a row.
The award not only recognises Heidi’s work with Northumbrian Water, but also her wider community work, in a year where she was also selected to be the Prince of Wales’ Business Ambassador to the North East, in conjunction with Business In The Community.
Heidi is also a Board Member of the North East Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and the CBI North East. She said: “I feel honoured to have been selected for this award from among a business community that has so many superb individuals, leading a broad spectrum of excellent companies.
“We have achieved a lot in the six years I have been at Northumbrian Water and it is important to acknowledge the contribution that the team around me have made to putting the business at the forefront of innovation and excellence in customer service.”
Lead judge Lucy Winskell, Pro Vice-Chancellor of Business and Engagement at Northumbria University, said: “We were looking for outstanding and dynamic individuals who have reshaped and grown their businesses and contributed to the region’s social well-being. With one of the strongest and most diverse fields that I have ever known in my four years on the judging panel it was an incredibly difficult and humbling task. In Heidi, however, we saw a leader who has engaged with her employees, raised ambitions and reinforced confidence in an industry facing the challenges of deregulation. Beyond this, her support for North East business and the wider community has been immeasurable. She is a worthy winner.”
Northumbrian Water Limited supplies 2.7 million customer in the North East with both water and sewerage services, trading as Northumbrian Water, and 1.8 million customers in the South East with water services, trading as Essex & Suffolk Water.
In the most recent survey by the Consumer Council for Water, Northumbrian Water was named the UK’s most trusted water company by its customers. 2016 also saw Northumbrian Water named the world’s most ethical water company for the sixth successive year.
