Peter Longmore, Centre Manager, Kaplan Financial Newcastle

Peter qualified as a Chartered Accountant with the Newcastle office of Coopers & Lybrand before joining The Financial Training Company in 1988 – now known as Kaplan Financial.

Whilst the majority of Peter’s time has been spent training students in the North East of England, he has trained students throughout the UK as well as Cyprus, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Prior to being appointed Newcastle Centre Manager in February 2007 Peter had been responsible for managing the ACCA, CIMA and AAT business in Newcastle.

Sarah Green, Regional Director, CBI North East Region

Sarah Green joined the CBI in November 2005 as Regional Director, North East. Sarah graduated with a law degree from Sheffield University in 1995. She then trained and qualified with Clifford Chance working in Hong Kong, Shanghai and London as a commercial and project finance lawyer. In 1999 Sarah joined Arthur Anderson and worked within Arthur Andersen Business Consulting on a series of knowledge management, change management and communications roles. Sarah returned to her native North East in 2002 and was so impressed with the immense change in the region that she undertook an MSc in Urban Regeneration to gain more understanding of urban policy. Prior to joining the CBI Sarah worked in the Communications Directorate at One North East.

Ged Murray, Group Finance Director, The Vardy Group

Qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Arthur Andersen & Co before joining Reg Vardy plc in 1988, where he served as Finance Director from 1991 to 2001 and latterly as Chief Executive.

Joined Northgate plc, the UK and Spain's leading commercial vehicle rental Company as Group Finance Director in January 2002 where he served in this role for five years.

In January 2008 Gerard accepted a new role as Finance Director of The Vardy Group of Companies.