Geoff Turnbull, Chairman and founder of Peterlee-based GT Group, has been named in The Manufacturer Top 100 report as one of the most inspirational individuals within UK manufacturing.
The Top 100 award ceremony took place at an exclusive event at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery where shortlisted candidates and the wider manufacturing community joined industry leaders and F1 in Schools’ Steve Nevey to celebrate the newly-launched report.
The Top 100 is a hugely influential report that aims to improve the image of manufacturing and to demonstrate that the world of manufacturing is an exciting and rewarding industry. It aims to create a platform to champion and publicly identify dynamic leaders and innovators in the sector.
GT Group is going from strength to strength after being established by Geoff Turnbull more than 30 years ago. Now incorporating six business units with a workforce of around 300, the group has forward orders of £400million for the next five years and projected growth of 100% in 2016.
Its international divisions cover a diverse range of engineering activities including automotive products, project engineering and fabrication, composite mouldings, seals, process controls and coatings. Over 90% of its products and services are exported to more than 60 countries.
This year, shortlisted candidates for the Manufacturer Top 100 are drawn from all over the country from a range of sectors and varying roles in manufacturing. Names that made it on the list as exemplary figures included Asif Moghal, industry manager, Manufacturing ISM, Autodesk, Rachel Eade MBE, national sector lead for automotive at the Manufacturing Advisory Service, Dick Elsy, CEO at High Value Manufacturing Catapult, Nigel Fine, CEO, at Institution of Engineering and Technology and Alan Foster, operations director, McLaren Racing.
Individuals were nominated by readers of The Manufacturer, the wider industrial community and the public, for their contributions in changing the face of industry, finding new markets, making marked investment in people, processes and customers as well as those young, bright sparks that are making an impact disproportionate to their years.
Dave Atkinson of Lloyds said: “The Manufacturer Top 100 is a fabulous opportunity for those in the sector to recognise people that make such a huge impact and sometime just don’t realise it, let along get recognised for. All too often the headlines get forgotten but the legacy of some peoples actions and behaviours last forever.”
Geoff Turnbull said: “I am delighted to be named in the Top 100 alongside such important figures in UK manufacturing. It is a huge honour, particularly as those included are nominated by their peers from industry.
“The Top 100 recognises talent in manufacturing and is particularly important for people coming into the industry and those with many years tenure. “It’s a fantastic platform to encourage those working in the sector to excel and achieve great things.”
Geoff is also a successful racehorse owner and breeder and recently invested in the creation of North of England’s newest racehorse stud at Elwick, County Durham.
