The Stray Ferret Business Awards 2025: meet the judges

It's that time of year again - we're meeting the judges for the Stray Ferret Business Awards 2025, sponsored by Prosperis.

Once again, we're proud to be working with some big hitters across the Harrogate district. The judges have been chosen for their wealth of experience in driving growth in a variety of sectors, and will bring that knowledge to determining who will make the shortlist for each award. 

Each judge has kindly agreed to give their free time to participate in the process. If any conflict of interest should arise during consultation of a particular category, the judge in question will step away for the duration of those discussions.

Let's find out more about the business leaders making up this year's judging panel.

Niall Gunn - CEO of Prosperis 

With over 35 years of experience in the financial services sector, Niall has been instrumental in shaping the Prosperis service proposition and unique market position since setting up the business in 2001. 

His expertise is working with key individuals in SME businesses, advising on their corporate benefit structure, retirement and investment strategies.  

For more information about Prosperis, visit the website.

Zara Jackson - founder and CEO of Network Scientific

Network Scientific is an international business growth agency offering recruitment, sales and marketing services to businesses operating in the scientific sectors. 

Zara is a biomedical scientist and will bring her extensive experience of advising and consulting companies on business growth strategies, to the panel. 

For more information about Network Scientific, visit the website.

Fiona Movley - chair of Harrogate International Festivals

As chair and trustee of Harrogate International Festivals, Fiona applies her strategic knowledge and fundraising experience to the arts sector in the north. 

Her working life has featured many of Harrogate’s leading charity organisations including St Michael’s Hospice and the Yorkshire Agricultural Society. 

For more information about Harrogate International Festivals, visit the website.

Andy Makin - MD of EnviroVent

Harrogate-based EnviroVent is a multi award-winning provider of sustainable ventilation solutions for residential homes across the UK and overseas. 

His expertise in growing sales and leading talented teams has increased the sales of innovative indoor air products. EnviroVent was recently recognised with two prestigious business awards for manufacturing in early 2024.

For more information about EnviroVent, visit the website.

Entries to the Stray Ferret Business Awards 2025 close on Sunday, January 12. It's free and you can enter multiple categories - don't hesitate to make your nomination today.

We even have a handy guide to putting together an award-winning entry, to give you a best chance of getting shortlisted. 

Once the deadline for entries has passed, the judges will assess each entry in the same format and without any material that goes against the terms and conditions.

The judges seperately score the entry according to the criteria of each category, before coming together to meet to discuss their scores and make a final decision during a single day of judging. The judging process - and all decisions - are then final.