THE best of the region's exporters were honoured at an awards ceremony last night.
More than 200 guests gathered at Beamish Hall Hotel, in County Durham, as the winners of the North-East Export Awards were announced, sponsored by UK Trade and Investment, One NorthEast and the North-East Chamber of Commerce (NECC).
Tania Cooper, managing director of Alexander Technologies Europe, in Peterlee, won the Lloyds TSB award for export achievement.
The company designs and manufacturs primary and rechargeable batteries, chargers and maintenance systems for portable power products.
In 2004, Ms Cooper led a takeover of the originally US-owned operation by the Peterlee site.
Export sales have more than doubled in the past two years and represent more than half of the company's total sales.
Jane Nolan, chief executive of the Shark Group in Morpeth, Northumberland, won UK Trade and Investment's New Exporter individual achievement award after overseeing a 1,250 per cent increase in exports.
Graeme Melrose, senior engineer at Elfab in North Shields, won the NECC's Innovation in Export individual achievement award and Eric Donjon, sales manager of Entek International in Killingworth, North Tyneside, won the Regional Language Network North- East's Export Communicator Award.
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