Class Creative Co-Founder Chris Pyatt, was announced the first winner of the newly reinstated Technology category of Birmingham Young Professional of the Year (BYPY) 2014.
Beating finalists Omar Budeiri, General Manager of ROAR and Will Grant, Co-Founder of Droplet, Chris was crowned winner in the new Technology category, which was added to the existing BYPY line-up to acknowledge the growing technology sector within the city.
Now in it’s 14th year, Birmingham Young Professional of the Year is the flagship event of Birmingham Professional Services (BPS) Birmingham Future and recognises the talents of tomorrow working in Marketing and Communications, Technology, HR, Recruitment and Training, Finance, Property and Construction and Legal sectors.
BYPY is open to professional aged 35 and under working in Birmingham and who can demonstrate not only professional achievements, but also a real commitment to the city.
Chris impressed the judges with his dedication to the city, commitment to nurturing young, home-grown talent, mentoring of higher education students and role as an ambassador for Birmingham.
Announced as a finalist in April of this year, Chris and his fellow nominees were interviewed by a panel of highly respected judges. He fought off stiff competition from a record number of applicants to be awarded the title.
The judging panel included Steve Hollis, Chair of Judges and Deputy Chair of Greater Birmingham & Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership, Martin Guest, MD, CBRE Birmingham and Sean Sales, overall winner of BYPY 2013.
The winners were announced at a glittering black tie awards ceremony held at the ICC in front of around 1,000 guests, the highest attendance to date.
Commenting on the win, Chris said: “I am proud to have been selected as an ambassador for not just technology, but also for the city of Birmingham. Winning this award is an honour and I’m excited to represent Class Creative, the fast-growing technology sector in Birmingham and BYPY.”
The award establishes Chris as one to watch, an inspiration and a leader. Entrants were asked to demonstrate how they are technically and commercially the best young professional within the region. The category was open to individuals who plan, design, develop, implement or manage a technology based function in-house department, agency or private business. This included people in product/service development, R&D, digital communication, web planning/design/development, mobile development, network architecture and management.
The overall winner of BYPY was social media consultant Jodie Cole, founder and managing director of JC Social Media. Other category winners included Tony Bates, managing partner at IDEX Consulting in the HR, Recruitment & Training category while Jemal Omar, corporate banking manager at Handelsbanken took the financial services title. In the Legal category, Laura Cashmore, senior associate at DLA Piper collected the award, and the winner in Property & Construction was Marianne Horton, land manager at Barratt & David Wilson Homes.
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