The Hull and Humber Chamber of Commerce appointed Turkish businessman Kirk Akdemir as its new President during its recent AGM.

Kirk’s Vice President for the year is Irene Keal, who also chairs the Chamber’s North East Lincolnshire Area Council.

As he received his Chain of Office, Kirk paid tribute to Albert Weatherill, the outgoing President, who he described as a role model who had been a diplomatic, tactful and capable leader who he hoped would continue to be so for the next year, too.

In his speech, he told guests he was born in Turkey and only came to the UK for six months as he wanted to learn the Queen’s English before going to the US to study at university there – but his plans changed when he met a blue-eyed blonde and he never made it to America.

He started working as an interpreter, and in 1992 AaGlobal was born. It quickly grew to cover 500 languages and dialects all over the world and in 2011 he decided to open a branch “up north” to serve his northern clients, and he chose to come to Hull.