Evidence Based Education’s co-founder and Managing Director, Jack Deverson, last week received recognition in two categories at the Institute of Directors’ North East and Yorkshire Director of the Year awards 2019, held at The Principal Hotel in York.
Jack was nominated and shortlisted as a finalist in two categories – Young Director and Innovation. While the standard of entries was incredibly high, with winners coming from all manner of regionally and internationally respected organisations, Jack was honoured to be Highly Commended in the Young Director of the Year category.
It is testament to the hard work he does at EBE, which is often unseen and behind the scenes. Some of the schools we work with will have seen him ‘on the front line’, delivering training in the UK and internationally, but back at our Sunderland HQ, Jack works tirelessly on a daily basis to ensure that the organisation runs as smoothly and efficiently as possible, and that our Grange Crescent office is an enjoyable place to spend the working week.
The organisationย works with and supports over 4,000 teachers in more than 800 institutions worldwide on an annual basis, and now employs a team of 12 staff in the north-east. The whole team is delighted that Jack has received the personal recognition he deserves. Some of us were lucky enough to attend the black-tie event to celebrate – it was a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon and evening.
Great to see EBE co-founder @notjustjack get some public recognition last night in this independently nominated award category.
Jack is very much behind the scenes but nothing we do would work without him. 👏👏👏 https://t.co/v7NGwN88dl
— Evidence Based Education (@EvidenceInEdu) July 5, 2019
Jack was understandably delighted at the commendation, but doesn’t underestimate the contribution of his team:
It was a fantastic honour, and I was delighted to be nominated for the awards by our Chair of the Board of Directors. While a lot of the work we do goes on in actively engaging with schools, colleges and other institutions around the world, there is much that goes on behind the scenes to make that possible. This can’t be done by me alone; I’m incredibly proud of the team we’re building, and they deserve as much recognition for ensuring that every communication, training programme or event is as effective and impactful as it can be where it really matters – for the teachers and learners in those institutions.
I was also struck by the quality of the other Directors and organisations up for awards, across all of the categories. There were some real industry leaders among the finalists, so while it was an opportunity to appreciate how far we have come so far in our four-year journey, it also reminded me that we still have a long way to go! We have some really exciting developments coming in the next year or two, and hopefully long into the future too, so our attention remains firmly focused on executing those plans well.
Read more about the plans Jack mentions in our New manifesto for evidence-based education, published last month.
The commendation follows hot on the heels of EBE’s Queen’s Award for Enterprise, in the Innovation category, which was announced in April. You can view a full list of the Director of the Year finalists and category winners on the IoD’s website.
