Andy Street CBE, the former Managing Director of John Lewis and the Conservative Mayoral candidate for the West Midlands was awarded the Lifetime Contribution Award at the annual, glitzy Midlands Business Awards in Leicester last week.
Andy Street topped the list of nominations to take the top award at the ceremony founded by Harj Sandher to celebrate the success of the businesses across the Midlands.
Andy who started with John Lewis back in 1985 as a trainee graduate, worked his way up through the company to become its Managing Director in 2007.
During his tenure as Managing Director, Andy oversaw a 50% increase in gross sales to over £4.4bn, a doubling in the number of stores and the growth of the company’s online business.
Amongst other roles, Andy has been the Chair of the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership, a non-executive director as well as a member of the Prime Minister’s Business Advisory Group.
Andy took the bold move of ending his career at John Lewis last year, to stand as a candidate to become the first Mayor of the West Midlands.
Speaking after the event, Lord Popat who presented Andy with the award said, “Andy is a hardworking, humble man who has worked his way up to the top in both business and politics and I cannot think of a better candidate than Andy Street to the be the first Mayor for the West Midlands.”
The Mayoral elections in the Midlands will be one of the most tightly contested elections in the region in decades.
