An employee from Barclays Wealth & Investment Management in the Isle of Man is celebrating reaching the finals of the Barclays 2012 Glenn Shaw Everest Disability Awards.
The Glenn Shaw Everest Awards were launched by Barclays in 2009 to commemorate the life of an inspirational colleague who, despite living with brittle bones disease and being a wheelchair user, was an intrepid adventurer whose achievements were not constrained by his physical disability. Glenn’s exploits included climbing to the base camp of Everest on two occasions, kayaking in Antarctica and the Middle East and skiing and dog sledging in North America.
Ian Smith, Manager of the Isle of Man Fraud Referrals Team at Barclays was nominated for the Disability Champion Award, designed to acknowledge a champion of the disability awareness agenda.
In his spare time, Ian supports and drives local wheelchair basketball sessions and takes part in the sessions himself which are open to both disabled and able-bodied people. At work he supports disability awareness as the diversity champion for disability. He has attended courses outside of normal working hours, has supported the employment and development of various disabled members of staff and is readily available to support in all aspects of disability awareness for the Wealth & Investment Management team.
Ian said: ‘It was a real honour to be announced as a finalist in the Glenn Shaw Everest Disability Awards. Only nine people from the entire Barclays Group were shortlisted for the awards so it really was a huge surprise to be included. I really enjoy the work that I am able to undertake as part of the diversity committee in the Isle of Man and I hope that I can go on to help raise awareness of some of the issues that are faced by disabled people both in the workplace and the wider world.’
Managing Director of Barclays Isle of Man, Simon Scott said: ‘We are all very proud of Ian and his achievements as disability champion for the Isle of Man. He donates so much of his spare time to help our organisation in ensuring that we are supporting our disabled colleagues and clients. His recognition is well deserved and we are all very grateful for his hard work.’
