A proud Luton businesswoman has shaken hands with the Queen at a reception for firms that have won prestigious awards.
Former Cardinal Newman Catholic Senior School pupil Julie Richings is finance director of a growing high tech company in Hemel Hempstead.
She and RMG Networks managing director Dan Horgan attended a reception at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday (July 23) to mark the company winning, in April, a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade.
“Meeting the Queen and accepting the award with Dan on behalf of RMG was an exceptionally proud moment,” said Mrs Richings.
“We’ve all worked together over many years to achieve outstanding growth so the palace reception represents such an important occasion for our export team and customers. We are planning a big company celebration when our CEO visits in September!”
Mrs Richings, 42, a mother of three who lives in the Barnfield area of north Luton, is also a foundation governor and parent council member of Cardinal Newman Catholic Senior School.
She is heavily involved in trying to increase awareness of the opportunities of parent engagement and of the newly formed Alumni Group at the school.
She has been finance director of RMG Networks for 15 years. The company makes high-tech screens.
Born and educated in Luton, Mrs Richings has worked in the area for most of her life, only having left Luton for Middlesex University and then Harrogate. Returning in 1994, she joined Ernst & Young, where she went on to gain her chartered accountancy qualification.
In 1998, she started with Dacon Electronics PLC in Hemel Hempstead, which was then a UK-based distributor of contact centre signage, and has remained there through an acquisition (Symon Dacon) and, most recently, a merger (RMG Networks).
RMG Networks was named a Queen’s Award winner in April on the basis of three consecutive years of outstanding export growth. During this period, it more than doubled its international sales, and increased its overall sales by 40 per cent. RMG now boasts a worldwide client base with thousands of customers in more than 50 countries powering more than 1 million digital signage screens worldwide.