Three managers have been recognised for their outstanding performance as part of their drive for continuing professional development.

Selected from a pool of 7,000, the three will receive the Chartered Management Institute's (CMI) 'National Merit’ awards for outstanding performance in a management qualification.

Ashley Burdock, Site Operations Manager for the Prosper de Mulder Group, has won the Sir Henry Fildes award after completing the Institute’s Level 5 Executive Diploma in Management at North Warwickshire and Hinckley College. His success came after achieving five distinctions for modules that covered operational management, financial management and project development.

Roger Stanton, a Site Engineering Co-ordinator at Scapa UK, will receive the John Ellis Award award after completing the Institute’s Level 4 Diploma in Management at Bournemouth and Poole College. His success comes after achieving top marks in modules that covered team development, recruitment and selection and planning financial resources. Roger’s qualification is the latest string to his bow. He also recently achieved recognition for his General Health and Safety management abilities.

They will be joined at the ceremony – in London’s Dartmouth House on 4 May 2005 – by Jo Kavanagh, Head of Nursing for the Directorate of Cancer Services and Clinical Haematology at Leicester Royal Infirmary. She is being honoured with the Petrie Memorial Award after completing Leicester Business School’s Postgraduate Diploma in Management Studies, a dual qualification which also earns her the Institute’s Level 5 Executive Diploma in Strategic Management and has paved the way for her to study for an MA in Applied Health Studies.

Neil Southern, Director of Qualifications at the CMI said: “Those managers who undertake formal management qualifications send out the clear message that continuous professional development is an integral part of being a successful manager. They are all to be congratulated on their achievement.”