Cure Leukaemia Chief Executive James McLaughlin won the prestigious Director of the Year Award in the 3rd Sector category at the West Midlands IoD Awards which were held at Edgbaston recently.

The award is in recognition of his leadership of Cure Leukaemia during the charity’s most successful ever year in 2017. Cure Leukaemia broke the £2m fundraising barrier for the first time, raising an additional £1m to fund the expansion of the globally significant Centre for Clinical Haematology at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, doubling its capacity to treat patients and run potentially lifesaving and pioneering clinical drugs trials.

In addition, James guided the team through the application process, ahead of 90 other UK charities to become one of Deutsche Bank’s national Charities of the Year for 2018/19, a partnership that has the potential to be worth in excess of £2m. This partnership, which is the first to feature a charity from Birmingham, will transform the organisation allowing more specialist research nurses to be appointed in Centres across the country connecting blood cancer patients with pioneering and potentially life-saving treatments. Deutsche Bank’s impact will also hasten global progress towards finding effective treatments for all forms of blood cancer within the next 25 years.

All of this was achieved with just five members of staff and James’ leadership was critical in planning a strategy for not only the £1m Appeal for the Centre but also the vitally important Deutsche Bank opportunity. In a year when the team was stretched to capacity at times, the charity was still able to react positively when Wolverhampton Wanderers approached for fundraising assistance after goalkeeper Carl Ikeme’s diagnosis with acute leukaemia.

Cure Leukaemia worked closely with Wolves to create a platform for the fans to donate and fundraise, such was the swell of emotion and support for Carl. The Club and fans raised over £110,000 for Cure Leukaemia during 2017, all of which went towards the £1m Centre Appeal and the fans continue to support the charity while the Nigeria International continues his treatment and who recently announced that he is in remission.

Chairman of Cure Leukaemia Ian Allen said: “We appointed James in 2012 to put the foundations in place to transform Cure Leukaemia into a successful, sustainable charity that is helping drive global progress towards the eradication of the disease.

The success in 2017 was the culmination of five years of hard work from a multi-skilled and dedicated team brilliantly led by James.

I am thrilled that James has been recognised by the IoD, an accolade that is richly deserved.”

James McLaughlin said: “I am extremely proud to have been recognised with this prestigious award by the West Midlands IoD. When I joined Cure Leukaemia I believed the charity could achieve success by taking a more commercial yet patient-focused approach within what is historically a very traditional non-profit sector.

Such an approach has seen us secure a number of new strategic corporate partnerships across the region and nationally, being bold and brave in our approach to raising awareness and generating income whilst working hard collectively as a team.

We can all be extremely proud of the last 12 months but there is still so much more to be done in the fight against blood cancer.”

To enquire about becoming a Corporate Partner of Cure Leukaemia email jackie@cureleukaemia.co.uk or call 0121 236 9202.