National Excellence Award for City & Guilds Chief
Press release - 22 July 2008
Keith Brooker, Group Director of Policy and Institute Affairs at City & Guilds has been named UK Quality Leader of the Year. This award was presented by the Chartered Quality Institute (CQI) and sponsors PMI at the London Excellence Awards held last night (21 July).
This visionary leader won the award primarily for his work in establishing the City & Guilds Centre for Skills Development - a groundbreaking initiative intended to help the international skills community establish and promote effective vocational education and training, as well as sharing examples of best practice. Opened in March 2008, the centre has already contributed substantial research identifying attitudes to vocational training and examining best practice across nine countries, as well as embarking on several major projects around the world to improve skills where they are most needed.
A living exponent of the benefits of vocational training, Keith Brooker started his working life as a City & Guilds engineering production apprentice making cars for Vauxhall Motors, and is clearly passionate about the role of the new centre. "On a global scale it envisages a world in which all people can access the skills they need for economic and personal well-being - skills for prosperity."
The UK Quality Leader of the Year Award recognises this passion and the way that Keith has used an approach based on quality to drive the development of the project with huge and infectious energy. Colleagues are keen to pay testimony to the impact of Keith's management style. Heidi Agbenyo, Stakeholder Communications Manager at City & Guilds Centre for Skills Development summarised their reaction by saying: "Keith is a genuinely inspirational leader who combines strategic insight with utter commitment to clear goals - it's a powerful combination."
The London Excellence Awards (held in partnership with CQI) this year invited entries from around the UK and considered initiatives that are based around the principles of the European Forum for Quality Management (EFQM) Excellence Model. Eleven categories recognised a range of quality management systems and processes that have had a real impact on the development of the organisations to which they are applied. More than 100 people drawn from a wide range of public and private sector organisations are involved in the assessment process, ensuring that these awards are recognised as being exceptionally rigorous.
Mike Debenham, CQI Executive Director of Policy and Professional Affairs, said: "All the award winners show inspiring examples of excellent business practice, but the UK Quality Leader of the Year has to demonstrate really exceptional strengths - Keith Brooker is a thoroughly deserving winner."
The CQI UK Quality Leader of the Year Award is for individuals who have achieved success for their organisation and its stakeholders through their leadership of a change management and quality improvement programme. UK Quality Leaders act as a reference point for good practice in quality improvement in industry, commerce and public service, acting as CQI ambassadors for good practice.
For further information about the London Excellence awards and full details on the finalists, assessors and judges, visit: www.london-excellence.org.uk
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CQI
The CQI is the only chartered professional body dedicated entirely to quality. With over 12,500 individual and company members worldwide it provides the support and learning to improve business practice.
London Excellence
London Excellence is a not-for-profit organisation whose vision is that all organisations in London and beyond will be recognised as performing to world-class excellence standards.