Steve Richards

Chairman

QualitySolictors

Steve is currently Chairman of QualitySolicitors, the Palamon Capital Partners backed national legal brand, Chairman of more2 Ltd, a privately owned B2B data analytics agency, Chairman of The Third Space in the Health and Fitness sector and Non Executive Director of Trekmates, the EV backed outdoor accessories brand. He was previously also the Chairman of Private Equity backed GettingPersonal.co.uk, an online gift business which sold in 2011. He has been working in international branded consumer businesses for 30 years, starting in retail at Marks & Spencer and migrating to multi-channel with the launch of his first web business for Manchester United in 1997.

Prior to developing his non-executive career Steve was the Chief Executive of Interflora in the UK and Ireland, having led the 3i backed demutualisation in 2005. A biochemistry graduate, Steve has also worked at Lillywhites, The Burton Group, Allsports, and Virginware before joining Interflora in 2003.

Since 2000 Steve has been working in highly leveraged consumer facing businesses, most of which have had a strong direct marketing and Online component and he has developed a deep understanding of the benefits to be gained from database analysis to generate customer profiles and the way that knowledge can influence three major areas:-

· consumer focussed development of product and service offers

· targeted and coordinated Online and offline marketing activities for both customer recruitment and retention

· more commercial website development to maximise conversion rates and AOV.

His experience helps companies to have an objective understanding of their customers and so market effectively across the available channels

Over 3 decades Steve has managed exceptionally fast company growth and is now working through his third recession so has hands-on experience of change management and also the financial literacy that the current tough trading situations require.

During several years as an NED in PE backed businesses Steve has been developing the skills necessary to work with incumbent management to move businesses forward.

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