Businessman Andy Howarth, CEO at the Howarths Foundation, has been named the Yorkshire Ambassador of the Year at theBusinessDesk Awards 2026.

The accolade celebrates the positive impact that Andy has had across the region through the Howarths Foundation – a Cleckheaton-based charity that supports individuals experiencing homelessness, including the hidden homeless and those with addictions, into employment and housing.

The awards team also reflected on Andy’s career – from starting out as a police officer, a role that he enjoyed for 25 years before founding Howarths at the age of 50 with his wife Helen.

At the age of 62, after building Howarths that specialises in providing HR, Employment Law, Training and Health and Safety advice services, Andy founded the Howarths Foundation, which he has been supporting for the last 10 years.

This news comes just a few weeks after the charity was named a finalist at the 3rd Sector Care Awards in recognition of its partnership work.

Speaking at theBusinessDesk Awards, Andy said he was honoured and humbled before thanking his wife Helen, sons Chris and Gavin and the team.

Afterwards he said: “I’m still taken aback, this award was unexpected and I am completely overwhelmed but very grateful.

“Making the decision not to retire but to move my attentions to homelessness, something I had been passionate about for a long time, was a tough one but one that I have never looked back from.

“Like everything me and Helen do, we put together a plan and thought about how best to approach it. This wasn’t going to be a simple job.

“It would see us working in a dysfunctional market that is largely broken, with hard-to-reach people, in the most complex of situations.

“Still, we couldn’t turn our backs on those who are most vulnerable in our community. It’s just not right.

“With the support of Howarths, we have built the Foundation, and we now work with more than 50 corporate partners.

“As a self-funded charity, this makes all the difference to us and means we can continue to engage with people who really do need us.”