Steve spent the first 10 years of his career at Allied Domecq PLC before being appointed MD of Scottish and Newcastle PLC’s pub business.

His first role in Private Equity was as MD of the Spirit Group which at the time was the UK’s largest pub and hotel group, and thereafter he has served as CEO of three of the UK’s largest Private Equity backed companies, where he has worked alongside some of the world’s largest funds including KKR, TPG, Apollo, Ares and Onex.

As an Executive he has built well-known High Street brands, led technology and platform transformation, executed large scale buy and build strategies and had a leadership role in three company sale processes with a combined enterprise value of £3bn.

As a Non-Executive Director, Steve has sat on numerous boards in leisure, education, and property.

He has also served as Chairman and now Non-Executive Director of UKHospitality which, on behalf of its 800 members, lobbies Government on the strategic issues of the day for the sector and its 3.5m employees.