A KEY player in helping defence companies in the North-East win more business is retiring.
Colin Smith, from Ripon, is standing down from Northern Defence Industries (NDI), where he was membership development manager, after seeing the organisation welcome its 100th member.
After a long career with the Ministry of Defence, eventually involving the supply of aircraft equipment at MoD Harrogate, he was seconded to the then Northern Development Company in 1992.
There, he started to build supply chain information and to identify opportunities for the region's defence sub-contractors. He then took on the NDI role and saw it grow from 12 firms to its present size.
NDI's chief executive David Bowles said: "The success of NDI is to a large extent because of the dedication and commitment shown by Colin. It has grown to become a large organisation with an ever-increasing membership, influence and, most importantly, business opportunities for its members.
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