BPS Birmingham Future’s flagship event, Birmingham Young Professional of the Year (BYPY) Awards, has unveiled a hot shot team of young professionals to lead the 16th annual event. This year, the event will take place at the ICC, Birmingham on Thursday 12 May.

Building on the success of the 2011 event, Bina Ganatra, Business Development Director at Santander Corporate & Commercial Banking, returns as Chair. She will bring her connections across the business community and lead the way for BYPY16. Commenting on this year’s event, Bina said:

“I am so excited to be back at the helm of my favourite event! As ever, our aim is to make this year even bigger and better, celebrating the best talent the city has to offer across the business, professional and financial services sector. The city’s appetite for BYPY continues and we’re expecting record attendance this year, if Early Bird sales are anything to go by. It’s great that in such a competitive market, with so many business awards and events taking place, BYPY remains the hot ticket in the region’s business calendar.”

A strong committee of professionals, who work across the region’s BPS sector, join Bina to organise and manage this year’s event. Deputy Chair Mike Colledge, from digital marketing agency Denfield, based in Leamington Spa, brings his six years’ experience of running large-scale events at the ICC to BYPY16. Pia Pearson, Marketing Manager at the Innovation Birmingham Campus, works with some of the city’s best technology firms and start-ups, and will also provide event management experience.

Mike Bandar leads on a diverse business portfolio, as a founding partner of Turn Partners; a start-up studio focused on the acquisition, turnaround and creation of online businesses. He will work closely with Pia on developing the technology category, which was introduced in 2014.

This year’s finance man is Sameera Amarasiri, a Manager within Business Assurance at BDO LLP., who has been with the firm for seven years whilst also training for the ACA. Natalie Barnes, a Banking & Finance Lawyer at Irwin Mitchell LLP, who qualified in 2008, also joins the committee. After completing her law degree at Bristol University and legal practice course at the College of Law Birmingham, Natalie has attended BYPY ever since arriving in the city so relishes the opportunity to contribute to the event this year. Similarly, committee member Laura Gallagher has first-hand experience of the BYPY process, having been a finalist in the Property & Construction category in 2014. Laura is trained and qualified as a Project Quantity Surveyor and project-managed the Mailbox Redevelopment.

Heading up communications for this year’s event is Birmingham Future Deputy Chair, Tara Tomes, who owns her own PR agency, EAST VILLAGE. Working alongside Tara is David Kuczora, whose previous experience includes heading up regional media for the Conservative Party. Eleanor Cuthbert-Edkins, a final year Media and Communications (Public Relations) BA Hons student at Birmingham City University, is working with the duo to increase her skills and experience. Having completed a work placement with the Conservative Party during the General Election 2015, Eleanor was keen to take on the challenge of joining the committee.

Completing this year’s BYPY committee is Sophie Taylor, an Associate Solicitor specialising in Planning (Real Estate) at Squire Patton Boggs.  Sophie acts for a variety of developers nationally, with a particular expertise in residential development. Sophie sat on the committee last year and brings her BYPY expertise to the 2016 event.

BYPY will, again, recognise and reward the most talented individuals within Birmingham’s business professional services community, at the ICC, Birmingham on Thursday 12 May. Nominations are now open for the six BYPY categories: Finance; HR, Recruitment & Training; Legal; Marketing & Communications; Property & Construction and Technology. Nominees must be 35 or under and can nominate themselves or can be nominated by a colleague. To download a nominations form, book tickets for the event, or find out more about BYPY16 please visit bpsbirmingham.co.uk/bypy.