The leadership of Mash Direct was recognised in the IoD’s Director of the Year Awards, when Tracy Hamilton received the SME Director of the Year Award, one of nine business leaders from across the Northern Ireland business spectrum to be honoured.

Sponsored by Abbey Bond Lovis, the accolades were presented to directors who were deemed to have made significant and valuable contributions to the success of their companies and typify excellence in leadership and corporate governance.

Praising Tracy and her husband, Martin, the judges said that Mash Direct had grown through diversification and identifying how to add value to its raw materials.  They pointed out that in less than 10 years, this business has grown from nothing to employing more than 100 staff with a turnover of £11 million creating a multi-national, award winning household brand and said that the leadership of Mash Direct has demonstrated passion, inspiration, hard work and good leadership in a highly competitive industry.

The Northern Ireland winners of Director of the Year Awards will be nominated for the IoD Lunn’s Award of Excellence which will presented at the IoD Annual Dinner in Belfast on 6 February 2014, and also put forward for the UK Director of the Year Awards in London in 2014.

Last month, two of last year’s local winners, John McMullan CEO of Bryson Charitable Group, and Helen Kirkpatrick, Non Executive Director of UTV Media plc, beat off tough competition to be named UK Directors of the Year in their respective categories.

Other category winners in this year’s Northern Ireland Awards were:

• Family Business Director of the Year – Mark Hutchinson, Managing Director of SJC Hutchinson Engineering

• SME Director of the Year – Tracy Hamilton of Mash Direct Limited

• Large Company Director of the Year – Jim Dobson of Dunbia

• Third Sector Director of the Year – Ian Jeffers of The Prince’s Trust Northern Ireland

• Young Director of the Year – Aidan Flynn of Maurice Flynn & Sons Limited

• Leader of the Year in Corporate Responsibility – Michelle Hatfield from George Best Belfast City Airport

• Public Sector Director of the Year – Gordon Milligan of Translink

• Non-executive Director of the Year – Brendan Mullan of the Bryson Charitable Group

• Special award for Excellence in Corporate Governance – Jill Robb of Ambition Digital

For more information, visit www.iodni.com