Denbighshire County Council has congratulated a member of its staff for picking up a prestigious entrepreneurial award.
Deborah Holmes – Langstone, General Manager of Cefndy Health Care in Rhyl, picked up the North Wales and Cheshire New Leader of the Year honour at the Network She awards, held recently in Chester.
The Network She Awards recognise business women from North Wales and the North West who have been recognised for their achievements, excelled in their chosen field, overcome adversity to achieve personal success or have made a positive contribution to their community.
Deborah was nominated by Neil Ayling, Denbighshire’s Head of Adult Services for her commitment, determination, leadership and vision of running Cefndy Health Care, a company which manufactures and supplies products that help people with every day life. The company employs people with learning disabilities.
Neil Ayling said in his submission: “Deborah has brought dynamism, vision and a culture of real achievement to Cefndy Health Care, turning it around in a very short space of time into a business which is thriving, supportive of its staff and respected locally and nationally.
“Deborah has built a very successful and supportive management team, encouraged to drive forward improvements at Cefndy. Her attention to staff development improvement and a culture of valuing the workforce has been another great strength she has brought to Cefndy.
“She has developed real synergies with Rhyl High School and with the local further education college, enhancing education, training and staff through these partnership discussions. She has also developed partnerships with social services in other counties, with developments such as Work Opportunities services for people with learning disabilities”.
Deborah said: “I have worked at Cefndy for 16 years in various roles. This culminated in gaining the Sales Manager position in 2007 and then being fortunate enough to be appointed as General Manager the year after. Cefndy is such an unique and challenging setting to work in and it is a total honour for the organisation to be recognised. You don’t get an award like this unless there is a fantastic team backing you. I’d just like to thank them sincerely – they never fail to inspire me!”
Councillor Pauline Dobb, Cabinet Lead Member for Social Care, said: “I would like congratulate Deborah on her achievement. Deborah is a breath of fresh air and her dedication and commitment to Cefndy Health Care should be applauded. This honour recognises Deborah’s business acumen and entrepreneurship in local government and to be awarded a top regional honour is testament to Deborah’s on-going hard work.”
