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Director of the Year award for Tony Brown

Tony Brown, Chief Executive of Bisley Office Furniture, has been presented with the Deloitte Director of the Year award for manufacturing.

Bisley is the UK’s largest supplier of office storage and is built upon Tony’s philosophy that everybody employed by the company must work towards the common good. The success of this approach to business is evident in Bisley’s sustained market share and growth, both in the UK and globally.

Now in their 24th year, the Director of the Year awards are unique because nobody can put themselves forward or be nominated. The winners for each category are identified after the performance of more than 16,000 directors in the south has been evaluated against a set of measures.

These include the will to succeed, an ability to overcome obstacles, and a proven record in transforming their companies and their marketplace.

Tony Brown began working for the family business in 1960, which he then bought from his father in 1970. At that time the company turned over £95,000 per annum and employed 28 people. Today sales are £75m, the company employs over 700 people, and is the UKs largest manufacturer of steel office furniture. All of the growth has been organic. The factories, in Surrey and South Wales have had £80million of investment in the last two decades.

The export market is of increasing importance to Bisley and in the last financial year they were responsible for 90% of the total of steel storage exported from the UK, which translates as 30% of the total office furniture exported (source BCFA). The growth in its export sector is an achievement for Bisley, who now have a presence in 60 countries through distributors as well as its own subsidiaries in Germany, France, Holland, Ireland and Spain.