Winner: Katherine Lee, YouGov plc

As chief financial officer of online market research company YouGov, Katherine Lee has overseen a year of tremendous growth.

During 2006, sales more than tripled to £9.47m, while operating profit quadrupled to £3.86m.

The UK business reported growth of 65% at a time when the rest of the sector was reporting a 25% rise, while shareholders of the AIM-listed company would have been more than pleased with the 286% increase in earnings per share. The 2007 interim results showed similar promise, with turnover up 61% and profit before tax up 64% to £2.3m

This is a tremendous achievement for Lee, in her first FD role - having started in July 2005 - and she has been earmarked as a potential FTSE 100 FD of the future and

identified as one of the new generation of female finance directors, following on from the course plotted by the likes of Margaret Ewing and Helen Weir.

During her time at YouGov, Lee has been responsible for building her finance team from one part-time finance executive to nine staff; the transformation of the finance structure; new reporting systems and internal controls; and was instrumental in relocating the head office to a larger site.

Lee's background has been in corporate finance and, as such, she plays a crucial role in the company's acquisition strategy. She works closely with chief executive Nadhim Zahawi to identify targets and assess the strategic fit.

Our judges said: 'This is an FD that is going places. She has played an exceptional role and maintained an exceptional standard of work. She has put an enormous amount of work into the company and is part of a team that has been transformational.'