We are pleased to introduce this year’s judges who will have the final vote as to which nominees will be walking away with a coveted B&C Awards 2013 title.

Mo Mulki, Managing Director of B&C

Having graduated with honours as a Cosmetic Pharmacist, I found out that I was better making money than making narcotics in the lab. Consequently, I found my first job in the media sales industry in 1996 and launched my career in the exciting and fast-paced world of publishing and media sales.

I joined the mortgage intermediary market 8 years ago where I headed-up the online version of Mortgage Introducer and then went on to launch Introducer Today. After leaving Introducer Today, I started Medianett and launched Bridging & Commercial, B&C Distributor and Loan Talk.

Many will know me as the man who can sell ice to eskimos, so, in retrospect, the decision to forgo a future in pharmacy turned out to be the right one.

B&C turns five this year, and what a half-decade it’s been! Besides having firmly cemented my taste in shoes as industry-leading, our portfolio of online publications has gone from strength to strength with the support of our partners.

Caron Schreuder, Director at B&C

I cultivated a love of the English language and writing at a very early age but it was not until the end of 2010, when I joined B&C, that I had the opportunity to work in an environment that couples both editorial responsibilities and exposure to the inner workings of a thriving young business.

With a background in corporate events management – which comes in handy with all of the entertainment B&C has become known for, particularly our annual Awards ceremony – my sense of client relationship-building was a key skill that immediately became transferable. I worked hard to increase my responsibilities and involvement in the business to become a director and primary operations manager when it comes to clients, contracts and content.

Bridging and short term specialist finance has become an integral part of my life and I have come to know the lenders, distributors and broker community very well indeed. A press perspective is unique, however, it is the frequent, quality communication with our client partners that has proved invaluable and has made us the go-to confidant to those most influential in the industry.

Jason McGee-Abe, Editor of B&C

After graduating with a Politics degree, I started my career as a researcher in the office of a frontbench MP. After this, I joined the campaign team of a Parliamentary Candidate in the last general election; a race we lost out on by 42 votes.

Since then, I’ve held a number of positions within the public sector; always with a passion for writing and reporting along the way. I worked at a leading market intelligence company, helping to implement a public property arm to the business, writing detailed reports on the Government Estate and organising events. After this, I began to write for and head up projects at a public affairs think tank. Concurrently, I was externally commissioned by a leading trade association to help run a national education and skills programme.

I joined the Bridging & Commercial team in August 2011 and currently head up the editorial department across the publications.

Introducing the rest of the judges…

Benson Hersch, Chief Executive of the Association of Short Term Lenders (astl)

Benson has had a long career in the bridging industry before becoming the CEO of the astl in June last year. Benson originally qualified as a chartered accountant with a degree in Economics and Business Administration. Before emigrating from South Africa to the UK in 1981, he was a partner in a large multi-disciplinary consulting engineering firm. Since then he has had a wide and varied business career including being group secretary of a LSE listed company and an international tax and trust consultant. Benson joined a bridging loan company as FD in 1998 and became MD in 2003; he took a back seat when the company was sold in 2006 and has been a self-employed consultant since 2009.

Outside of work Benson has been happily married for 43 years. He has two children, a son who lives in Cambridge and manages medical trials of cannabis derivatives and a daughter who lives in London and is a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner. He also has an adorable grandson, who is the light of his and his wife’s lives.

Adam Tyler, CEO of NACFB

Adam has worked through a varied career before bringing it all together to become Chief Executive of the NACFB. He started his career as an Engineering Officer in the Merchant Navy, and on coming ashore he spent eight years working in property, both selling houses for a living as well as developing them.

The move into financial services came a little later when he spent a further eight years as a regulated financial adviser. It was during that period that he worked as a self-employed commercial broker. After this time spent in broking, he moved to the Royal Bank of Scotland as regional development manager. He joined the NACFB in October 2005.

Adam now lives in Surrey, has been married for 26 years, and has four children.

David Whittaker, Managing Director of Mortgages for Business

David founded multi award-winning Mortgages for Business in 1990 and has twice been President of the National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers (NACFB) in 1994 and 2001, the trade body that promotes best practice and self-regulation in the commercial finance industry. Forthright and knowledgeable, David is often asked for his views by both the national trade press and is a regular speaker at industry events. In 2009, David's work within the industry was recognised by Business Moneyfacts when he was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Miranda Khadr, Founder of M K Associates

Miranda provides commercial and bridging funding for residential and commercial properties both in the UK and internationally. She has arranged substantial funding over the past five years in an extremely difficult market. Based in central Mayfair, her operation deals directly with property developers, company owners as well as private individuals. Her unique relationship with lenders allows her to be one of the most respected and well placed brokers in the UK.

Graham Allen, Managing Director of Commercial Money Matters

Graham has worked in the UK finance industry for over 30 years, providing consultancy services in areas of mortgage product design and to SMEs, corporates and wider industry.

For more than 20 years Graham has been managing director of Commercial Money Matters, a commercial master broker. Graham is proud of the contribution that my company has been able to make to enterprise and industry in all sectors throughout the UK.

Graham acts as chair of the Commercial Funding Alliance, sit on the Executive Committee of the AOBP and am a volunteer UK ambassador for Mines Advisory Group (MAG), an international charity based in Manchester.

Ray Cohen, Director of Jackson Cohen Associates

Ray Cohen is Director of Jackson Cohen Associates who are specialist compliance advisers working with mortgage lenders.

He has been involved in financial services for over 30 years the majority of which was in sales. Always one to break the mould Ray was a success at sales and paid attention to detail, a rare combination. This background has enabled him to help firms in applying practical solutions to compliance requirements.

Ray is a member of the Association of Professional Compliance Consultants, where he sits on the Steering Council, a Director of the Association of Bridging Professionals and is the retained advisor for the Association of Short Term Lenders where he helps them in their dealings with the FSA, responses to consultation and provides guidance on the impact of regulation.

In addition to his compliance work Ray also does some leadership and management development coaching, has a wife and three children and can do both Ballroom and Latin American dancing to a reasonable standard.

Terry Pritchard, Professional Exec and Non Exec Director in the FS Industry

Terry's career started with a brief spell in the RAF, (no, not Bomber Command) as a serious Musician and an Officer Cadet for two years. Following a number of attempts at making the "big time" he realised that this path was never going to work and convinced an uninformed AVCO Trust that he could pass muster as a Trainee Branch Manager, which he did for the next two years before joining Security Pacific then Countrywide where he became Regional Director for Financial Services.

On resigning from Crusader Insurance in 1992 he had run most departments and at the peak was looking after over 600 staff.

For the next 16 years he ran Chase UK Corporation Ltd, one of the largest Mortgage Administrators in the country, plus their direct to market division. At its peak, Chase had a recorded turnover with its group companies of close to £8 million per annum.

In 2006, he joined Edeus as Director of Packaging. After their subsequent closure in 2008, Terry has had a number of contracts including Key Retirement Solutions, Charterhouse and Alt FS. He has now settled as a Director of several directly and non-directly linked companies in the FS and technology fields. His most recent appointment is as MD of Charterhouse Global Capital a merge and rebrand of PWF where he says he will have the "most fun he can" whilst building another business from the ground.