Julie Kenny CBE

Chairman and CEO, Pyronix Limited / Secure Holdings Limited

Julie Kenny is Chair and Chief Executive of award winning Pyronix Limited, which she has built from start up in 1986 into the Secure Holdings Group with an annual turnover in excess of £23 million in 2015. Based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, Pyronix manufactures an extensive range of electronic security equipment for intruder alarms.

For twenty years Julie has been involved in serving the business and wider communities and served as Chair of Yorkshire Forward having been appointed by the Secretary of State for Business and Industry to lead the RDA towards closure; Julie chairs Maltby Learning Trust; she sits on the Boards of Sheffield City Region LEP (Local Enterprise Partnership), Creative Sheffield, South Yorkshire Community Foundation and Sheffield Theatres Trust. Julie is one of the Commissioners appointed by Government to Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council as part of the intervention which received much media interest. Additionally, Julie serves as Trustee, Patron or Ambassador with a diverse range of local and regional organisations.

Nationally, Julie is a Commissioner with the UK Commission for Employment and Skills. In recognition of her contribution to the region’s business and industry, Julie was made CBE in the 2002 New Year’s Honours List and was conferred with an Honorary Doctorate from Sheffield Hallam University in 2005 in recognition of her ‘outstanding contribution to industry and to the life of the region’.

Julie has served as a Deputy Lieutenant for South Yorkshire since 2005 and was honoured to be the High Sheriff of South Yorkshire 2012/13. Julie was the Vitalise Businesswoman of the Year in 2013 and Private Businesswoman of the Year 2014.Julie had a successful career as a litigation lawyer in both local authority and private practice before changing direction and founding Pyronix. Julie has 3 grown-up children.