Tina Knight – F.I.O.D., F.R.S.A., F.P.S.A. - Honorary President, Tang Ting Twinning Association

Tina Knight was owner and Managing Director of Nighthawk Electronics Ltd, a world leader in the field of computer resource sharing devices and is one of the very few women to be successful in the field of computing and electronics. With a proven track record in both electronics and marketing, she has held executive managerial positions within a number of companies. In 1978, she established the UK subsidiary of a large American corporation where she swiftly rose to the ranks of Managing Director. In this position, she set up an extremely successful worldwide distribution network, leading to her being called “Britain’s leading female electronics executive” by Electronic Times.

She owns a number of diverse companies including Nighthawk Enterprises and sits on the board of a number of companies in both the private and public sector. She is a Director of J.I.T. International, which is a non-profit making company that provides training and encouragement to women in third world countries who are seeking to become business entrepreneurs, working in Slovenia, Turkmenistan, Georgia and, shortly, Guatemala.

A Fellow of the I.O.D., R.S,A., & P.S.A, former Trustee of the Eating Disorders Association and Chairman of the Government’s Fair Play Consortium (Eastern Region) and is currently Vice Chairman of the Small Business Bureau, Chairman of Women into Business, London Chair of BAWE (British Association of Women Entrepreneurs) and a member of BAWE’s National Council.

She is actively involved with a number of boards and committees including the Essex Board of the Prince’s Youth Business Trust, RFCA (Reserve Forces and Cadets Association of East Anglia), the S.B.B’s Policy Advisory Unit to the Government, the China-Britain Trade Group and was one of the first women to be appointed director of a government Training and Enterprise Council. She has recently served as a member of the East of England Industrial Development Board of the Government’s Department of Trade and Industry. A keen advocate of training, she has attained the Institute of Directors’ Diploma in Company Direction and has qualified as a mediator in Alternative Dispute Resolution with the British Academy of Experts.

She has won a number of distinguished awards, including the 1988 Women in Business Award presented by the then Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, the TOBIE (Technology or Business Innovation in Electronics) award as Personality of the Year in 1988 and was Runner-up for the “Business Woman of the Year” award in 1989. Judged as one of the Top Female Entrepreneurs of the World in 1998 and recognised as “U.K. Business Pioneer” at the Global Summit of Women in London in 1998. She was awarded The Joyce Award in 2003.

Widely quoted in the national and trade press, she has made several television appearances including Question Time and BBC Breakfast News. She is also much in demand as a conference and after-dinner speaker culminating in her being asked to speak at the Institute of Directors annual conference to an audience of 3000 business people at the Royal Albert Hall. She is a founder member of the PSA (Professional Speakers Association).

She owns a number of businesses and continues to run her core business, Nighthawk Enterprises, in addition to holding a number of other senior positions. These include CEO of The Entrepreneurial Exchange, Deputy Chair of the Entrepreneurial Working Party, and Founder Member of The Entreprenologists. She is also a Trustee of the Galapagos Conservation Trust and District Councillor for the wards of Debden and Wimbish.

In addition to her business and public commitments, she is closely involved in a wide range of charitable activities and frequently donates her fees from public speaking engagements to local charities. She undertakes fund-raising for Addenbrookes’ Scanner Appeal and is Chairman of the Addenbrookes’ Food Chain Appeal. Other charities and appeals supported include the Blue Ball, Feed the Children, Macmillan Cancer Relief, the Cambridge Hospice for Children and is the joint Hon. President of the Tang Ting Twinning Association.