Catherine Cannon, who has worked for Story Homes for more than 13 years, has been awarded Fellow status by the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM).

Catherine said: “I’m delighted to have been elected to the status of Fellow by CIM. I’ve worked in marketing for two decades and during that time it has certainly changed with the advent of the internet and social media.

“Every day brings a new challenge as we grow our business into new regions and I’m pleased to be a part of such a successful company.

"I have always had a keen interest in interiors and have an interior design qualification, so working in marketing and housebuilding combines the best of both worlds for me.”

Story Homes regionalised its business earlier this year to cover Cumbria and Scotland, the North East and the North West. Catherine holds a strategic group role based at the company's head office in Carlisle.

Story chief executive Steve Errington said: “I have worked with Catherine over the past three years and I have been tremendously impressed by her creativity and dedication to the company and its objectives.

“She has led a complete re-brand of the business during a period of rapid growth. Innovations, including online campaigns that support our new website, have been introduced as part of our new marketing strategy and we are seeing real benefits as we take this new marketing approach to new geographies as part of our ambitious expansion plans.”

Catherine is also the author of the Felix the Fast Tractor books which she wrote for her son. The series has four titles and in 2009 one of the titles was voted best Cumbrian book ever in the renowned Lakeland Book Awards, beating off competition from Beatrix Potter, Arthur Ransome (Swallows and Amazons) and John Cunliffe (Postman Pat).