Maria Thomas wins FirstPro 2015
Maria Thomas of Barclays Bank was named Coventry & Warwickshire FirstPro 2015 at a glittering gala dinner at the Ricoh Arena on 23 April.
Taking place every April, the FirstPro Awards recognise and celebrate the most talented individuals working in Coventry and Warwickshire’s professional and financial services community.
The FirstPro must be more than simply excellent at his or her job. The winners have contributed to the community outside the workplace, supported others and shown an active commitment to the region. They also need to posses the intangible x-factor.
Maria is ‘an irreplaceable member of the team’ who exhibits outstanding behaviours. An active board member of the Coventry Business Improvement District she is driving up footfall in the city centre and consistently supports a wide range of community projects and activities. The judges were particularly impressed by her willingness to step forward and assume responsibility beyond her remit. She supported a personal customer who had attempted suicide, bringing together Age UK and Barclays retail collections team to re-structure the personal loan repayments.
The competition was particularly tough this year, with close to 4o entries across the five categories.
The generosity of those present meant £2,000 was raised for Coventry and District Samaritans, which is being matched funded by Barclays Bank.
The five award categories are:
Finance Professional – Sponsored by Band Hatton Button
Legal Professional – Sponsored by Barclays
Property Professional – Sponsored by Wright Hassall
Business Services Professional – Sponsored by Coventry CORE
Young Professional – Sponsored by Shakespeares
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- Property category sponsor
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- Business Services category sponsor
The drinks reception was sponsored by Coventry and Warwickshire LEP and our Associate Sponsors are Cranfield Business Recovery, Dafferns Chartered Accountants and Harrison Beale & Owen
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- Associate sponsors
