Michael Berry OBE Receives Lifetime Achievement Award

In 2000, our Executive Chairman, Michael Berry OBE, was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Catering International Management Association. The award recognised a career in hospitality that had seen Michael play a central role in the development of English Lakes Hotels and contribute more widely to tourism and professional training in Cumbria. Our company history records the Lifetime Achievement Award among the key events of 2000. Michael had joined the family hotel business in 1972 and became Managing Director in 1974. He led the company through a period of expansion and investment before his son Simon Berry became Managing Director in 1998, with Michael continuing as Executive Chairman. His contribution to the region had already been recognised nationally in 1997, when he was appointed OBE for services to training and tourism in Cumbria. The Lifetime Achievement Award was one of several honours Michael received during this period. Also in 2000, Lancaster University awarded him an honorary Master of Arts degree, recognising his contribution beyond the day-to-day management of the hotel group.