The winner of the IIBA UK Business Analyst of the Year Award 2024 has been announced. Kay Hardy, BA at Yorkshire Building Society, excelled in all of this year’s criteria: dealing with ambiguity, demonstrating excellence and thinking differently.  

Kay was presented with the award by Conference Keynote Speaker, Maggie Alphonsi MBE – who was part of the Rugby World Cup winning team and is arguably one of the most well-known names in women’s team sports on the planet.

Said the judges: 

“A co-founder of the Young Business Analysts community, Kay is passionate about using her own insights and experience to open doors into business analysis for young people, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds. As a professional BA, she is the voice of the user, ensuring their needs can be met through transformational service design within the wider strategic context of the project.”  

On receiving the award, our new BA of the Year said: 

“I want to give a shout out to all the helpers, all the volunteers, everyone who has been involved with the Young Business Analysts – helping to promote the profession and reaching out to young people who might not have even heard of the role of Business Analyst.”       

With a record number of entries to the award this year, it is an achievement in itself to reach the shortlist. Here are the judges’ comments on the work of Kay Hardy’s fellow finalists:  

 George Briley, BAE Systems Digital Intelligence  

“A data expert, George is a passionate advocate for Business Analysis and the career opportunities it offers to people from a diverse range of backgrounds. He is using his knowledge, skills and experiences to inspire and benefit others.”

Mark Cross, Envista Consulting

“Mark is providing ground-breaking thought leadership in the integration of cyber-security and service design, using his formidable expertise to influence BA professional skills development in the UK and globally.”

Rachel Drinkwater, University of Warwick

“Highly skilled in the craft of business analysis, fostering great stakeholder collaboration and business ownership, Rachel uses her unique talents in improvisational techniques to creatively solve business problems. She is committed to sharing her knowledge with the professional BA community and developing best practice in service delivery.”

Lalita Lalwani, Version 1`

“Lalita leveraged her development background, to ensure her team of BAs are invited to contribute to every technical conversation, co-creating value at every stage of the change process. She has shown extraordinary leadership, both within her organisation and the BA community in Ireland. Her passion is driving best practice, sharing her knowledge and experience to help others.”

Suzanne Renwick, Capco

“Suzanne is a meticulous business analyst with excellent interpersonal skills and a valuable ability to translate complex, technical concepts into customers' language, providing them with clarity and recommendations to enable action.”

Sinead Torley, Herd Consulting

“An energetic, highly skilled BA consultant, Sinead is dedicated to co-creating value for her customers. She is also devoting her own time to building a professional, supportive community of BAs, in Cumbria and beyond.”

Jonathan Watkins, CMC Partnership

“Jonathan deploys his formidable interpersonal skills to develop trusted stakeholder relationships, to overcome significant obstacles in major change programmes. He is committed to using his own success stories to encourage people from diverse backgrounds into the profession, helping them break through their self-limiting beliefs.”