Champions: ​It’s time to shout about all the qualities our town has to offer

My role is the director of the owner managed business team along with my colleague Liam Buttery. We look after a wide range of clients’ accountancy compliance, strategy, and business advisory services.

The clients I look after range from small sole traders, up to larger limited companies (under the audit threshold) and everything in between!

We pride ourselves on offering a great service that looks at more than ‘just the numbers’ and help business owners achieve their personal and financial goals.

What was the greatest achievement for your business or organisation over the past year?

I believe one of the greatest achievements has been the sustained growth and promotions from within. Shorts have grown organically over the last decade or so, allowing us to keep work sustainable and retain quality!

This growth has offered great opportunities to our the team, and we have been able to internally promote

team members, whilst also recruiting for other positions, which I think is great!

How would you describe Chesterfield and North Derbyshire, using only three words?

Home and historic, but emerging!

What are your favourite places to visit in Chesterfield and why?

I love spending time with the Family (I have two young daughters) so we really like going to parks and on walks around the woods (Hady/Tapton) with the dog!

How is your business or organisation becoming more sustainable?

We have operated a paperless office for some time now and have been introducing initiatives to become more sustainable. I take an interest in this personally and I, along with other leading members of the firm, have created a project to look at the carbon position of the firm and the potential areas for improvement.

We have a team forum, made up with representatives from all departments, whose role (in part) is to discuss and implement more sustainable/eco-friendly activity throughout the firm. A recent action to come out of this has been to reduce the number of desk side bins to promote less waste and more recycling.

Why do you love working or doing business in Chesterfield or North Derbyshire?

In a few words, because of the people. One part of my job that I enjoy the most is listening to people’s story, how they got started and their future aspirations.

How are you, your business or your team supporting local people?

We are regularly involved in charity events, everything from office collections and super hero walks with Ashgate, to marathons and skydiving (I’ll stick to the walks)! And every team member has the opportunity to take one volunteering day per year fully paid.

Which upcoming development do you think will have the greatest impact on the town and why?

The train station (station master plan). Although the HS2 ‘U turn’ may have put this back a while, some works seem to be already underway! I think the renovation of the area around the station would give Chesterfield the ‘first impression’ that matches the community and what it deserves, whilst creating more jobs.

What is your vision for Chesterfield and North Derbyshire in 2030? What do you think the town needs to achieve this?

League one play-off places would be a great start…As for my non-football answer, my hope is that all the developments planned rejuvenate the town! This will attract more people to live and work in the area, which will allow more development!

To do this we need to show and shout about all the qualities Chesterfield has to offer.