Frank Wappat has been voted one of the top 500 people in the North East of England. 

The Newcastle Journal published its first 500 of the most influential people in the North East in a supplement.

To consider who to include they first decided what they meant by influential and came up with this definition:

WHAT does it mean to be influential? It is something that we thought long and hard about, believe me, as we developed the idea for the Influential 500. Its definition, for the record, is: "the effect of one person or thing on another; the power to have such an effect". There are literally thousands of people across the North East who are influential. They could exert that influence in their workplace, in their profession, in their community, in a sport, or in any other sphere of life. 

As they indicated, deciding on exactly who to include in our list of 500 of the Most Influential People in the North East was a tricky process.

The criteria they considered were:

1. People who hold positions in companies and organisations with the power, influence or ability to greatly assist others in the North East;

2. People who lead companies that, because of their size or what they do, are of great importance to the region;

3. People who hold positions of influence in the public sector, in religious communities, public office, sport, culture and other important sectors.

It was a long process.

At the heart of the decision-making was the contribution from several committees made up of leading names from across the region in the spheres of business, law, sport, culture, politics and the public sector.

The  publication helps celebrate some of those individuals who – be it through their work, their community spirit or in any other way – have influenced this fantastic part of the country.