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North West entrepreneur, Barry Leahey MBE receives Global Director award

North-west based manufacturing and exporting expert, Barry Leahey MBE, has been recognised for his remarkable achievements at the prestigious Institute of Directors North West Director of the Year Awards by scooping the award for Global Director of the Year.

Wigan born Barry was voted the overall winner amongst fellow high achieving, successful North West directors at the ceremony, held at The Midland Hotel in Manchester, to achieve the respected accolade. Barry has worked for Cumbrian based company Playdale, one of the leading manufacturers of playground equipment worldwide, for many years. Following a career with several world class Health & Fitness and Telecoms companies, ambitious Barry swiftly moved from International Sales and Marketing Director at Playdale to the company’s Managing Director. Barry’s success at Playdale has seen him execute a plan that developed the business from being purely UK based to where they are today, operating successfully in 48 Countries.

This last year has been a busy one for Barry and has seen him achieve a monumental amount which was clearly recognised by the IoD upon receiving the award. In June 2017, Barry was listed in The Queen’s Birthday Honours List and presented with an MBE by Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace. Following this, he was featured in the hotly anticipated Insider Media North West ‘42 Under 42’. Recently he has taken a role as an Honorary Teaching Fellow for the Lancaster University Management School where he is seen as a respected business mentor.

The annual North West Director of the Year Awards has been established for fifteen years and represents the pinnacle of leadership and business excellence, marking the achievements of the region’s business leaders. Barry’s talent and commercial results led him to receiving his latest award to add to a long list of honours achieved throughout his Playdale career including National Exporter of the Year. He has regularly met with government officials and Ministers to discuss export and has selflessly helped other North West companies when they have sought his advice and expertise. Barry is thrilled his performance has been recognised. He said “The last 8 years have been gruelling and a massive learning curve, although I’m pleased to say also a fantastic life experience. I’m thrilled to have been recognised at the IoD Award’s and I look forward to seeing how this award will further my career within the manufacturing and exporting market.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Barry Leahey MBE .