Well done to Jeremy!

CIM North is committed to raising the bar for marketing in the region with the help of its dedicated Ambassadors and wider membership.

Local activities of The Institute not only benefit members but the wider business community and are undertaken by people who want to make a difference. These people have day jobs and are not paid by The Institute, so they do it for the love of and because they are passionate about The Chartered Institute of Marketing.

Each year I single out just one of these people in the North West to give special recognition to. This year I struggled to find just one person –
• Should it be Jacky York who has brought the Cumbria branch to life?
• Should it be Ian Roe, who fought so valiantly to get Cheshire branch status?
• Should it be Matt Neary, who has opened up opportunities for us with the Manchester agency scene?

This year I want to congratulate a group of people, and they are my amazing SME Ambassadors: Davide de Maestri, Jeremy Bassett, Amanda Law-Lyons and David Mapple, supported by too many Chartered Marketers to mention here (but you know who you are).

The SME team, lead by Davide de Maestri, has gone from strength to strength and is setting a brisk pace for the other regions to follow in terms of activity, effectiveness and new initiatives. To give you some examples: a joint venture with Business Link on their Survive & Thrive events and many local business fairs they have attended giving free marketing clinics.

But I have to single out one person.

This person is a passionate supporter and Ambassador for The Chartered Institute of Marketing in Manchester and the region.

They became a member of The Institute in 2002, now a Chartered Marketer and proud of it, and has been actively involved in the local team, wherever he might reside, for a number of years.

He has been instrumental in many, if not all of the SME activities I have just mentioned and is also a member of our Medical Marketing Group and the Levitt Group.

He continues to work tirelessly, promoting CIM and spreading the word of professional marketing, which is greatly appreciated by myself, his team and The Institute. An example of beyond the call of duty is presenting to 140 delegates and generating £5k worth of work for local chartered marketers through a collaboration with Business Bolton.

I therefore present the award of North West Member of the Year 2009 and thank him for his dedication to Manchester Branch, the SME Group, the Region and to The Chartered Institute of Marketing to Jeremy Bassett.