Member Article

Sowing the seeds for the next generation of business leaders

One of the North East’s rising stars is being given a challenging leadership role by her employers. Kate Partridge has been a familiar face on the networking scene in her role as business manager at The Bridge Club and has helped hundreds of fledgling North East firms make new contacts over the past two years. Now Kate will have the opportunity to tackle the tougher aspects of running a company after being appointed as a director of The Bridge Club, networking specialists for early-stage businesses.

The move will enable the 24-year-old to put in to practice much of the business advice she will have learned from many of the North East’s most successful entrepreneurs who have taken part in the ‘In Conversation With…’ events that The Bridge Club hosts. The most recent event saw Greggs managing director Sir Mike Darrington cover the history of his four-decade career. Other high flyers to take to the Bridge Club stage include Jocelyn Maxfield of Tom’s Companies, Simon Heptinstall of Storey Carpets, and Lisa Hart of Acritas Research.

Caroline Theobald, Bridge Club founder, said: “The North East has set itself a target of finding 20,000 new business leaders over the next decade years and this newly created role is one small step towards that. It is a big step for my company and for Kate who has proven over the past two years that she is an incredible employee and team player who has the potential to be an even more incredible leader.”

Kate said: “This is a tremendous opportunity to become a company director. The Bridge Club has been on an upward spiral and these are extremely exciting times to be involved. I look forward to having a major impact on the future success of the business.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .