Leading commercial property and regeneration specialist, Kevan Carrick, has been made honorary life president of the North East Initiative on Business Ethics (NIBE).
Kevan, is co-founder and past chair of NIBE, which was established in 2013 and the honour recognises his outstanding contribution to ethical and responsible business practices in the North East of England.
Kevan is co-founder of JK Property Consultants, which advises investors, developers and occupiers, applying its local market knowledge with a national perspective, whether for development, acquisitions, lease renewals, reviews and resolving issues through dispute resolution.
NIBE is an independent regional resource that acts as a focal point for good business behaviour. Working across the twelve local authority areas covered by the North East and Tees Valley Local Enterprise Partnerships, its aim is to see the region recognised as a great place to do trustworthy, honest and transparent business.
Current co-chair of NIBE, Caroline Theobald, said: “Kevan is one of the most prominent and highly respected business people in the region. His energy, commitment and vision, was key to NIBE gaining traction very quickly with a wide range of businesses and from the region’s university sector. Kevan is still very actively involved and recently brought together NIBE, Northumbria University and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), to discuss and review the RICS’s rules of conduct, professional and public ethics.
“Now, more than ever before, companies are being challenged to demonstrate they not only talk about being transparent, responsible and ethical, but show the evidence and that is what we will continue to champion at NIBE.”
NIBE’s mission is to encourage businesses to have a stated purpose and an ethical policy and to demonstrate how they operate within the law. It achieves this by working with like-minded businesses, promoting community engagement and raising the issue of ethical business practices.
It raises public awareness of the importance of doing business ethically, through a network of interested people, events and information and collaborates with other UK and international organisations with interests and expertise in business ethics.
Kevan Carrick, said: “I am delighted to receive this honour for doing something that I am so passionate about. I have simply brought the values and ethical approach to business that I have lived by over many years. Many sectors, through the impact of the economy and government intervention, are being disrupted greatly and going through a period of turbulence and change. Despite the complexities we are now seeing, there is always a way forward if you adopt a culture and set of values, based on responsible and ethical business.”
Kevan is a director of the North East Business and Innovation Centre, a non-profit organisation to help start-up and growth of SMEs. He also helped provide the 140,000 square-foot ‘BiC’ in Sunderland in the late 1990s.
Kevan has been at the forefront of change from the formation of the Tyne & Wear Development Corporation and delivery of development in the mid-1980s. He has worked throughout on strategic economic regeneration and property development. More latterly, helping Mayor Ben Houchen, Tees Valley Combined Authority to purchase Teesside International Airport. JK Property Consultants continues to help investors, developers and occupiers, applying its local market knowledge with a national perspective, whether for development, acquisitions, lease renewals, reviews and resolving issues through dispute resolution.