Business Leader Award
Nouredin Albanghazi
Nouredin Albanghazi is the Director of Combined Support Services, a Peterborough-based security and facilities support business. He has built the company around reliable, people-led services, creating opportunities for local people and supporting clients across the UK. Nouredin holds an MSc in International Business Management from ARU Peterborough and is currently undertaking a PhD at the University of Lincoln, researching Public-Private Partnerships in National Security and Crisis Management. A committed advocate for responsible leadership, he is proud that Combined Support Services is accredited ISO 9001 UKAS, SafeContractor, SafePQQ, Constructionline Gold, and the Good Business Charter, is a Living Wage Employer, supports a diverse workforce and employing over 40 full-time employees.
His work has been recognised through a number of regional business awards. Combined Support Services was named the Gold Winner of Peterborough Business of the Year at the SME Cambridgeshire Business Awards 2026 and later received the Employer of the Year award at the Peterborough Community Business Awards 2026. At the same event, Mr. Albanghazi was personally named Entrepreneur of the Year. Nouredin is passionate about representing Peterborough’s ambition, talent, and growing business community.
Faisal Aziz
Faisal Aziz is the Managing Director of Isaac Wholesale, a fast-growing foodservice wholesaler with a clear mission: helping quick-service restaurant (QSR) brands thrive across the UK. Since joining the family business in 2007, Faisal has been instrumental in transforming the company, leading its rebrand and driving a bold vision for sustainable growth. Combining commercial insight with a hands-on leadership style, he has built a business recognised for dependable service, strong supplier partnerships and an in-depth understanding of the QSR sector. Passionate about developing people as much as businesses, Faisal is committed to building high-performing teams and scalable systems that deliver long-term success. His ambition is to position Isaac Wholesale as the UK’s leading QSR wholesaler, creating lasting value for customers, employees and the communities the business proudly serves.
Gez Chetal
Gez Chetal is Director and Owner of the Thomas Paine Hotel in Thetford, part of the family run Faith Hotels group which also includes the Sherbourne House Hotel, and brings over 30 years’ experience in the hospitality industry. A dedicated advocate for community enterprise, Gez founded the Thetford Business Awards and the Attleborough SME Awards, and is closely involved with the Peterborough Community Business Awards, championing local business excellence across Norfolk and beyond.
Alongside his hospitality career, Gez co-founded PrismStart in 2015 with his wife Rosy, a social enterprise creating genuine employment pathways for ex offenders, the homeless, and other vulnerable people. Gez draws on his hospitality connections to place candidates into real roles, offering hands-on mentoring and training direction to help people rebuild their futures. His work with PrismStart has also been recognised in the House of Commons.
Iain Crighton MBE
Iain Crighton is a Peterborough businessman and community leader whose decades of work have shaped the city’s business and sporting landscape. Previously the owner of a local garage and cycle shop, he built a reputation for civic engagement alongside his commercial career. He was part of the team that led the merger of the Peterborough and Cambridge Chambers of Commerce into the formation of the current Cambridgeshire Chambers of Commerce as Chairman for seven years before becoming Honorary President, championing local business growth. As Chair and founder of Living Sport, he expanded access to sport across Peterborough, including inclusive facilities for children with disabilities, now as Chair of local charity Little Miracles. He also chaired Inspire Peterborough and is currently working as a Business Start-Up Coach and Strategic Engagement Lead at Allia Future Business Centre in Peterborough, mentoring entrepreneurs. In 2012 he was one of the Olympic Games torch bearers in Peterborough and in 2016, he received an MBE for services to Sport in Peterborough, recognising a career devoted to strengthening the city’s business community and sporting opportunities alike.
Rob Facer
Rob Facer brings a wealth of experience to the Board. Based in Peterborough with long-standing ties to the Cambridgeshire area, Rob is Chairman and Founder of Barnack Estates UK Ltd, a regional property development, investment, and main contracting firm, now operating as an Employee Ownership Trust. With more than 40 years of experience across sectors including storage and logistics, confectionery retail, and industrial property construction, Rob has led teams that have developed over four million square feet of high-quality employment space across the Eastern Region. He is also a director of several businesses and has a proven track record as an entrepreneur. Rob has been involved with the Chamber for more than 15 years and is passionate about supporting regional economic development.
In addition to his professional achievements, Rob served in the Reserve Army for 18 years, completing an operational tour as a Lieutenant Colonel and acting as a Squadron Commander. His military career equipped him with strategic leadership and management skills that he has successfully applied in business.
Rob is also an accomplished mountaineer, a qualified Winter Mountain Leader who has climbed in Scotland, the Alps, the Arctic, and the Himalayas. His achievements include summiting Mont Blanc four times and a solo ascent of the Matterhorn. He is a passionate advocate for youth development, supporting a number of charities and mentoring young people.
Colleen Gostick
Blazing the trail for women in professional services and with a high profile within the business community due to her wide-ranging involvement across multiple roles and charitable support, Colleen was appointed Chairman of regional law firm Buckles Law in 2018 following 17 years of multiple award-winning service as its Managing Partner – the youngest, and first female, Partner in the Firm’s 200-year history.
Under her leadership, the Firm became recognised as one of the top 500 law firms in the UK and now operates across six locations nationwide with an increasingly international presence.
Throughout her career, Colleen has been heavily involved in supporting a broad range of charities, as well as community initiatives fuelling economic empowerment and celebrating business excellence, simultaneously fulfilling numerous external roles in the business community, including Chairman of the Greater Peterborough Partnership, Director of Opportunity Peterborough and Founding Director of Peterborough Positive.
Al Kingsley MBE
Al has been the CEO of NetSupport for over 30 years, taking the company from selling a single product to one that now offers six solutions for schools and businesses worldwide, with a total installation base of over 21 million in over 120 countries.
Not only a speaker at global education events on how the latest digital developments (e.g., AI and digital strategy) are impacting education, for many years, Al has put his heart and soul into improving education here in Peterborough. His roles include being Chair of the Board of Trustees at Hampton Academy Trust, the Independent Chair of the SEND Executive Board, and former Chair of the Employment and Skills Board – where he used his experience to demonstrate how industry and education can work together to provide local opportunities for students and businesses.
In 2025, Al’s career experience and achievements were recognised at the highest level when he was awarded an MBE in the King’s New Year’s Honours for his services to education.
Rachel Nicholls
Rachel Nicholls is the Principal and Chief Executive Officer of Inspire Education Group (IEG), one of the region’s largest education and skills providers. She leads an organisation of around 1,300 colleagues, supporting more than 12,000 learners each year across Peterborough College, Stamford College, and University Centre Peterborough, while working with employers and partners to develop the skills needed for regional growth and opportunities.
Rachel began her career in further education in 2001 and has held senior leadership roles across eight colleges before becoming CEO of IEG. Alongside her role at IEG, she is a Director of the Lincolnshire Institute of Technology, Vice Chair of the Peterborough Towns Fund, Co-Chair of Peterborough Citizens, Vice Chair of the Youth Guarantee Programme Board, and a Trustee of Peterborough Council for Voluntary Service (PCVS). She is passionate about creating opportunities through education, strengthening communities, and working collaboratively to support economic growth across the region.
Dave Poulton
Dave Poulton is the Co Founder of Up The Garden Bath CIC and UNITY, an award winning community enterprise dedicated to creating opportunities, supporting local businesses and making sustainability accessible to everyone. What began as a simple idea to upcycle old bathtubs into planters has grown into a nationally recognised organisation that has generated over £1 million in sales for small independent businesses while delivering free educational and community activities for more than 35,000 families. Through innovative initiatives such as Goal2Grow, which makes football kits affordable while reducing waste, Dave continues to champion environmental responsibility, social inclusion and community collaboration. His vision is to create lasting change by proving that business can be a powerful force for good, leaving a positive legacy for Peterborough and beyond.
Matthew Pudney
Matthew Pudney has spent almost four decades building his career at family-owned business, Princebuild. He joined the company in 1988 and progressed from administration of maintenance contracts to CEO in 2025. His career has been defined by operational expertise, innovation and a long-term approach to business leadership.
Over the years, Matthew has helped expand Princebuild’s regional footprint along with his business partners Mark Asplin, Jon Pudney and Dale Asplin through the opening of multiple branches across East Anglia. He played a major role in developing the group’s bespoke IT systems, improving efficiency and integration, and also lead the development of the prominent brand seen across the region.
A Board Member since 2000 and Shareholder since 2003, Matthew has helped shape direction, investment and growth. He leads with Princebuild’s core values of Building, Sharing and Caring, while championing collaboration, developing people and supporting the communities in which the business operates.
Pete Rushmer
Pete Rushmer is a founder, entrepreneur, and thought leader who has built multiple successful ventures while championing authentic leadership and human-centred business practices. Based in Peterborough, he has established Flagship Partners as a trusted consultancy, delivering compliance, consultancy across diverse sectors. He’s also founded ‘It’s not so lonely at the top.’ A community for local business leaders to grow and develop.
Beyond commercial success, Pete shares his insights as a TEDx speaker, bringing evidence-based perspectives on entrepreneurship and effective leadership to wider audiences. His coaching and development work reflects a holistic philosophy: sustainable business growth requires investing in people, through developmental support and tailored strategies.
As a founder and employer, Pete embodies the principles of The Performance Trifecta, his formalised framework for balancing professional ambition with personal resilience and well-being. He demonstrates that commercial success and principled leadership aren’t mutually exclusive; they’re interdependent.
Pete’s contributions to Peterborough’s business community extend beyond profit; he’s invested in developing talent, fostering compliance excellence, and proving that authentic, values-driven entrepreneurship creates lasting impact.
Chris Shelley
Chris Shelley is Chief Executive Officer of Rapidrop Global, where he has led a period of growth and transformation following investment from BGF. Focused on building a scalable, globally competitive business, Chris has driven strategic investment across people, infrastructure, technology, and product development, establishing Rapidrop as one of the industry’s fastest-growing fire protection brands.
Chris has a broad background in business management across many sectors, having previously led teams working in environmental protection and energy management. His leadership has been instrumental in strengthening the company’s global supply chain, broadening its product portfolio, and enhancing customer support capabilities worldwide.
A passionate advocate of sustainable growth and continuous improvement, Chris is a people orientated leader who seeks to nurture talent and create an environment where all can flourish.
Simon Thomas
Simon is the CEO of Paragraf, the company he founded in 2018. A diverse background in physics, engineering and materials science, with 20+ years in compound semiconductor materials, devices, and applications, across multiple technology disciplines led to the innovation of a novel manufacturing technique for graphene, and subsequently Paragraf.
The company is the first in the world to produce graphene electronics at scale, delivering next generation chips with higher performance and much lower power consumption than today’s alternatives. Paragraf’s products are already making impacts in the worlds of AI compute, Quantum, Space and Medical Diagnostics.
Having raised over $150m Simon has grown Paragraf into a UK headquartered global business with subsidiaries around the world. Simon is passionate about developing technologies that can solve today’s enduring challenges and beneficially affect society. He believes new materials hold the key to transformational products that will deliver a brighter, more sustainable future.