BYPY prepares for 10th anniversary with new committee

The team organising Birmingham Young Professional of the Year (BYPY) has recruited two new members to help plan next year’s tenth anniversary event, one of whom is a former BYPY winner.

Ollie Purdom of Pitch Consultants, who won the BYPY Recruitment and Training category this year, and Hannah Johnson of Willoughby Public Relations, have both joined the committee.

Darren Walker, an associate in the corporate team at Cobbetts, has taken over from the Radisson’s Roula Samaha as chairman of the committee and Bina Ganatra, relationship manager in the business support department at Lloyd’s TSB, has taken on the role of deputy.

They will work alongside experienced team members Anna Cartledge of Pinsent Masons, Rebecca Mawdsley of ENL Legal, Robert Laugharne of Shoosmiths, Isabel Drabble of Birmingham Future, Sonya Bell of Headline Communications, Claudia Santillo of Santillo Consulting and Martina Fajksova of the Hyatt.

Next year’s awards ceremony, which will take place at the ICC in May, is set to be the best yet as the city celebrates ten years of recognising its most talented young professionals.

Mr Walker, who is also deputy chairman of Birmingham Future, the young professionals’ networking group behind BYPY, said the pressure was on to deliver a standout event for the tenth anniversary.

“I’m confident that with the expertise of everyone on the committee we can put together the best BYPY to date,” he said.

“We’re also trying to get as many people as possible involved in planning the event via Twitter. The idea is that anyone who has been to BYPY or who has an interest in the event can send us their views and suggestions on what we can do to make the anniversary really special.

“As the economy begins to recover we hope that this will be one event that people believe is well-worth attending.

“Birmingham Forward, the sister organisation to Birmingham Future will mark its 20th anniversary next year, while BYPY will have spent a decade rewarding the city’s young professionals and we would like the region’s business community to join us in celebrating these achievements.

“Nominations will open before the end of the year and we are expecting record numbers of top calibre entrants.”

This year’s awards, sponsored by Cobbetts, saw Suzie Branch of BHMG Marketing take the top title of Birmingham Young Professional of the Year. Ms Branch, who won the Communications category, went on to beat five other successful finalists from the Financial, Legal, Recruitment and Training, Property and Construction and Entrepreneurial sectors, taking the top spot of overall BYPY winner.

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