News as of 20th November 2008

New look for Young Enterprise South East
With the help of Smooth Design Young Enterprise South East has a new website.

HSBC's Mike Geoghegan elected Chairman of Young Enterprise
Following the retirement of Young Enterprise's Chairman Bill Dalton, the Young Enterprise UK Board yesterday elected his successor at HSBC Bank plc, Mike Geoghegan as the new chairman of Young Enterprise.

In accepting the chairmanship of the organisation, Mike Geoghegan sends the following message:

" I am delighted to have been elected to the Chairmanship of the Young Enterprise UK Board.

" YE is already a highly successful organisation engaging record numbers of young people in enterprise activities. Our ambition is to reach significantly more students each year with our comprehensive range of enterprise programmes.

" I am looking forward to playing my part with UK Board colleagues to build on the success of our new YE Regional structure and to achieving our ambitious vision. At national level I shall be focusing on the engagement of business leaders as champions for our mission, promoting YE to business and Government.

" There is much to look forward to in this year but I am particularly keen to meet the young finalists at the HSBC Innovation Awards in July and experience first hand their enthusiasm and enterprise. I also hope to meet many of you in the YE volunteer and staff network in the coming months. In the meantime I wish everyone a successful year."

Phone Call from No. 10 is No Hoax
Mike Reilly, Chairman of the Milton Keynes Area Board of YE and the Group Managing Director for Sonatest, has been awarded an MBE.

Mike, aged 44, said “it was a complete surprise to me. I never really imagined I would get one. It is something which happens to other people. It is hard to adjust to.”

At one point Mike’s notification letter went astray and when received a phone call from Downing Street informing him of the honour, he at first assumed it was a hoax.

Mike also has Board Memberships for Milton Keynes and North Buckinghamshire Chamber of Commerce, Business Link Solutions (MKOB) Ltd, Countec Ltd, and MK Enterprise Hub Advisory.

Congratulations!