Many thanks for your email and for your congratulations about the award of the OBE to me. It is certainly exciting and, as ever with many of the awards, it is also due recognition of the organisation I have the pleasure of working for.

We have been and are on a development journey brilliantly started by the Founding Members and Julian Parker, who was awarded the OBE when he retired, and it has been my task to continue that evolution with a bit of revolution thrown in. I could not have achieved any of it without building a dedicated team of professionals at NIHQ and continuing to make best use of the wealth of knowledge and enthusiasm to make a difference within the membership. You and the Ukraine Branch have been an integral part of that team effort for many years and I thank you for that. Hopefully, the various voluntary roles I undertake within the industry and elsewhere are also recognised by the award as I am well aware of the less than complimentary interpretation of what the post-nominals stand for in some minds!

All the best for 2016.
Philip Wake
Chief Executive