As an independent games studio and publisher helping deliver some of the world’s largest titles, Double Eleven knows all about unlocking new missions. It too, though, is charting a new course to success. Having appointed co-chief executives Kimberley Turner and Mark South late last year, the Middlesbrough-based operator is rolling out a blueprint to reaffirm its position at the pinnacle of the global gaming pyramid. Here, Colin Young speaks to Kimberley and Mark to learn more about the company’s foundations, its growth plans and how it will continue satisfying gamers’ appetites for challenge across the globe.

Known for creating spaces where people gather and linger, Anna
Hedworth has become a quietly influential figure in the North East
hospitality sector. Here, the Cook House, Long Friday and Wren founder
tells Sian Anderson how architecture, community and a people-first
approach have shaped her business decisions, and why her focus is
firmly on refinement, rather than rapid expansion.

Employers across the North East are increasingly flagging concerns that too many people are entering the workplace without the confidence and communication skills needed to progress. For Nadine Hudspeth, director of brand and learner experience at Gateshead College, that challenge has helped shape the Future Leaders Programme, a new initiative delivered alongside the North East Chamber of Commerce. Here, Nadine speaks to Peter Anderson about the thinking behind the venture, the skills it is seeking to develop and its ambition to build a confident, connected pipeline of future leaders for the region.

The NET 250 will return this year to once again spotlight the North East’s most dynamic and successful organisations. Revealing the region’s top 250 businesses by turnover, the event – set to take place in a new venue – will return with a new headline partner and a host of fresh award categories.

After more than two decades building her North East lifestyle brand Tutti from a kitchen table to international recognition in stockists such as Fenwick, John Lewis, Macy’s and Nordstrom, founder and creative director Kate Rose has come full circle with the opening of the brand’s first concept store and studio at North Shields’ Harbour House. Designed as a space where creativity, community and calm converge, it marks a new chapter for the brand – and for Kate herself. Here, Sian Anderson sits down with Kate to talk inspiration, brand evolution and the quiet strength behind Tutti’s next phase.