Resonance CEO Daniel Brewer jointly wins ‘Leader of the Year’ in the NatWest SE100 Awards, as Resonance is again listed as one of the top 100 social enterprises in the SE100 Index.

NatWest Social and Community Capital and Pioneers Post partnered over ten years ago to create the SE100 Index and Awards, to monitor and survey the annual state of the social enterprise sector and to recognise and reward those delivering significant impact across the UK each year. The survey includes over 100 questions to understand the growth in turnover, profit and impact of social enterprises of all shapes and sizes, from sectors as diverse as furniture upcycling, dental care and music therapy to open-access academic publishing, or those supporting enterprises to access finance, such as Resonance.

Resonance is celebrating its twentieth anniversary this year and so for Daniel to be recognised as Leader of the Year, it really is the icing on the cake. He started Resonance in April 2002 and has steered the company to where it is today: a leading impact property fund manager, which has helped to provide homes for 3,000 individuals and families in over 1,000 properties. In that twenty years, we have also invested £243m into 131 enterprises, helping them to grow and deliver more impact across ten impact areas.

The Leader of the Year is awarded to bosses who demonstrate “excellent leadership, effectiveness and inspiration in taking the team on a mission-driven journey to success.” Daniel certainly qualifys in all ways: He leads from the front and is an inspiration to his team of over fifty employees. Whilst our social enterprises are our heroes and ensuring they have the finance they need is our raison d’etre, Daniel has always given the team a voice and listens, in order to introduce working practices that suit the work force, encouraging a healthy work/life balance. Daniel shares the Leader of the Year jointly with Maria Mills of Active Prospects, a social enterprise that empowers people with learning disabilities, physical and mental health needs, and autistic people to have fulfilling lives. 

There’s even more reason for Resonance to celebrate, with our inclusion in the SE100 Index for the third year running – one of the top 100 social enterprises in the UK. The SE100 jury looks for real pioneers that have moved the social enterprise and impact investment sector forward in the previous year. The team at Resonance is very honoured to again be recognised alongside so many other fantastic social enterprises.

Daniel was rather taken aback at being nominated as Leader of the Year, and said in a recent LinkedIn post that his family actually laughed with him at the idea. His modesty is one of the traits that makes him the person he is, as well as his optimism and enthusiasm, which are infectious. But the real thing that makes him a great leader is his drive and focus on the mission (he describes himself as impatient for change) - that whatever Resonance delivers, there is still so much to do and he never ceases to try and find ways for people to work together to make the changes that need to be made in our society. On receiving the award, Daniel said it was “very humbling”, continuing “I’m not a great believer in the ‘hero chief exec’, it’s definitely not a one-man show. And any time I do well it’s almost entirely down to other people.”

There were two judges in the Leader of the Year category. Judge Devi Clark, managing director at Impact Hub King’s Cross, said “Daniel exemplifies excellence in leadership in social enterprise”. Co-judge Pranav Chopra of Nemi Teas said “Daniel has been a true leader over the last twenty years at Resonance where he has shown us all how we can deliver change at scale – very inspirational.”