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Meet the Nigel Mason Award judging panel, award committee, and supporters.

Nigel Mason Award Judging Panel

A Panel of world-leading experts will judge submissions annually. The 2026 Judging Panel comprises:

  • Dr Aneesh Banerjee, Reader (Associate Professor), Head of the Technology and Innovation Group, Faculty of Management and the Associate Dean for Learning and Teaching, Bayes Business School, City University of London
  • Professor Joseph R Blasi, Robert Beyster Distinguished Professor and Director Emeritus, Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership & Profit Sharing, Rutgers University School of Management and Labor Relations
  • James de la Vingne, CEO, Employee Ownership Association
  • Dominic Kendal-Ward, Group Secretary, General Counsel, Cooperative Group
  • Karen Maguire, Chair, Employee Ownership Ireland; founder and former Managing Director of employee-owned Relinea
  • Professor Jonathan Michie OBE, President, Kellogg College, University of Oxford; Director of The Oxford Centre for Mutual and Co-owned Business
  • Deb Oxley OBE, former CEO, Employee Ownership Association; Founder Director, Oxley Works; Chair, CatZero charity

Judges in previous years included:

  • Rose Marley, Chief Executive Officer, Co-operatives UK (2025 Judging Panel)

Nigel Mason Award Committee

The Award is administered by the Nigel Mason Award Committee, with support from the UK employee ownership sector. The Nigel Mason Award Committee comprises:

  • Professor Jonathan Michie OBE, President, Kellogg College and Member of Judging Panel
  • Dr Aneesh Banerjee, Member of Judging Panel
  • Patrick Burns, Fellow, Ownership at Work, Trustee of the Nigel Mason Bequest
  • Ruth Sawtell, Nigel Mason family representative
  • James de le Vingne, Chief Executive Officer, Employee Ownership Association
  • Graeme Nuttall OBE, Member of the Judging Panel and Trustee of the Nigel Mason Bequest
  • Ann Tyler, Chair, Ownership at Work
  • Gary Walker, Official Fellow and Finance Bursar, Kellogg College

Supporters

The Nigel Mason Award is supported by the Employee Ownership Association, Ownership at Work, and share plan advisers RM2.