Dr Cham Kang has been installed as East Midlands Chamber’s new President at its Annual General Meeting
Held at The National Space Centre in Leicester on 9th December, the Chamber’s AGM – ‘A Year in Review’ – included the announcement of Mark Deakin as Vice-President, Eileen Perry MBE DL as Vice-Chair and Preethi Kang as incoming Chair of the Chamber’s Generation Next network for young professionals aged 18-35.
Outgoing Chamber President, Dawn Whitemore reflected on her year as President before handing over the chains of office to Dr Kang.
Richard Cohen of Pennine Healthcare, Stephen Grubb of NatWest, Tom Morgan of trentbarton and Becky Rix of Roadgas were elected to the Board of Directors, while Emma Baumback of Amber River was re-elected.
Chair of the Board of Directors Kevin Harris opened the meeting, at which new President Dr Cham Kang outlined his mission to ‘motivate confidence, inspire action and enable ambition across all East Midlands communities’. Treetops Hospice Care, Headway Nottingham and Voluntary Action Leicestershire were announced as Dr Kang’s chosen charities during his presidency.
King’s Awards for Enterprise recipients and Chamber members David Hook of Cosy Direct, Angela Orton of Structural Adhesives, Emily Smith and Sean Smith of Michael Smith Switchgear and Nick Megson of Abacus Flooring Solutions shared their journey and best practice examples in a set of presentations.
East Midlands Chamber New President Dr Cham Kang, speaking after the AGM said: “I’m absolutely delighted to be President of East Midlands Chamber. As a region we have got a lot of history. We’ve got brilliant businesses and we are a fantastic region for all aspects of business and a strong community.
“I think the one thing we need is confidence. It’s been a couple of difficult years, particularly last year, and I think we need to build momentum by talking each other up, helping each other to support each other. Let’s build that confidence, let’s build that self-belief, let’s evolve, let’s collaborate – so we can all grow together and our region grows as a result.
“I’m feeling really positive about 2026 because I think the language is starting to change. I think at the last Budget, everyone was a bit nervous. It was difficult but it not as bad as people had anticipated. Now it’s very important that we start to be optimistic and start doing the things that we need to, for successful business in a successful region.”
Outgoing President Dawn Whitemore said:
“I’ve been really proud to be President and to help make a difference. I’d love to do it again. Dr Cham Kang’s going to be fantastic and it’s been delightful working with him. Having him work so closely with me has been brilliant.”
New Vice-Chair Eileen Perry MBE DL said: “I’m honoured to become Vice-Chair of East Midlands Chamber. Having been involved with the Chamber since starting my business, and on the board since 2017, I’ve seen the real impact it has across our region.
“As a born-and-bred East Midlander and longstanding Chamber member, I’m always inspired by the innovation, energy and resilience of our businesses. Our firms consistently rise to challenges and make incredible things happen, even amid tough headwinds. The Chamber has been a key part of my own journey, and I hope my insight and collaborative approach help make 2026 a year of real growth.”
New Generation Next Chair Preethi Kang said: “Being part of Generation Next over the last couple of years has helped me develop and grow so to become Chair this year is something I’m really proud of. It is down to Generation Next and what it’s given my career.
“My priorities in the role are to get Generation Next into everyone’s lives. If you’re an employer and you’ve got someone aged 18 to 35, send them or if you’re in that age group, just come and join us.
“I want everyone in the East Midlands to know how important Generation Next is, when it comes to retention and recruitment for young people.”
Abacus Flooring Solutions Managing Director Nick Megson was one of several Chamber members recognised at the King’s Awards for Enterprise in 2025 that spoke at the event. After the AGM Nick Megson said: “From when we first started the business, the Chamber have supported us, so speaking was the least I could do. I didn’t want to make it about me but about the 17 charities we support. We’ve got the most innovative, sustainable flooring system so why shouldn’t everybody have a slice of that?
“I’m incredibly positive for 2026 and I can’t wait. I see it as a year of more support for the charities and for growth.”
Michael Smith Switchgear won the King’s Award for Enterprise in the Sustainability category and gave a talk at the AGM. Speaking afterwards Finance and Operations Director Emily Smith said: “We wanted to share our journey with who was in the room, to show that it’s not just for big businesses or large corporates; SME businesses can achieve these big accolades.
“We’ve put a lot of effort into our sustainability journey, reducing our CO2 emissions by over 60% since 2018 to now. We’ve put a lot of investment into big solar panels but also smaller things like changing our packaging. It’s been about taking a holistic view of the whole business and cementing that within our foundations and our core to progress.
“We’re always about onwards and upwards. There’s more work out there, so we’re excited to have another successful year, but also to invest more in sustainability initiatives.”
Structural Adhesives won a King’s Award for Enterprise for Innovation, in recognition of its A2 fire rated epoxy adhesives. After delivering a talk for members, Managing Director Angela Orton said: “Sometimes bigger businesses take the limelight. That’s great but sometimes startups, young entrepreneurs, older entrepreneurs, smaller businesses, micro businesses need to have their voice heard as well and how they do things. A lot of the time, some of the things that they’re instilling, some of their methodology or strategies are not talked about enough but they are foundation skills and strategies.
“The AGM was a great opportunity for me to be able to say ‘this is what I’ve done. It might help you, might inspire you’.
“This year has been challenging but we’ve had some really great successes this year and we’re hoping to build on that. We’ll be going forward with the space shuttle programme that we’ve just got onto and building on that. For us, 2026 is all about space.”
