What is your role at CCBS and how did you get here?

My role is Relationship Development Director. I lead client engagement and retention at CCBS, supporting the team to maintain and develop their relationships with existing clients and nurturing my own client relationships. This includes initiatives such as the monthly client newsletter and events throughout the year. My focus is very much on our clients, I work for them and try to find them the best deal I can – the funders are very much part of what we do but our job is always to find the right funder for the client and their situation.

Prior to joining CCBS Group in May 2023, I spent 36 years working for NatWest in various roles, and that is where I first met Peter and Matt. In the last 20 years at the bank I was a Relationship Director, very similar to what I do now, but it has been great to work for an independent small business here in the North East and build some really strong relationships across the sector.

What is your specialism in the team?
I don’t have a specialism as such, but I do like looking at trading businesses who are looking to grow and need funding to assist this growth.  That could take the shape of asset finance, invoice finance or indeed growth capital. The interesting thing is that working for CCBS Group allows me to look at a much wider suite of lending products than I was ever able to do in previous jobs. For example at NatWest I would bring in an asset finance colleague to support on a deal, whereas at CCBS I am doing that in conjunction with a funder.

What is a typical day like for you at CCBS?
I will start with what a typical week looks like as I now don’t work on a Monday or a Friday, so my working week is Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.  I will let you work out the acronym. The theory of reducing your working week sounds easy although the reality is a little different especially having worked full time for over 35 years.  I am well organised and that is a key thing that you need when reducing your working week.  I still check emails on a Monday and Friday so that when I get to work on a Tuesday, I know what needs to be done.  I don’t want to spend the first hour of Tuesday wading through emails.  A typical working day involves coming into the office – I do not want to do my job sitting at home on my own – there is too much to learn and I couldn’t do it there. I always try and have at least one meeting per day with either clients, intermediaries, or funders. The rest of my time is spent progressing deals.

What do you do in your spare time?
Now I have a little more of that, my plan is to spend some of that with Helen (my wife) as she doesn’t work on a Friday and riding my bike (on a Monday when Helen is at work). I must admit that I have become a fair-weather cyclist during the winter and need to get my act together and get back on the roads and tracks. I have some cycling targets (ride 100km a week and more than same week last year) and I am ahead of both.

Have you ever tried cycling naked?
Only in the garage (door shut) BUT had to wear my shoes to clip into the pedals. So – not 100% naked.

If you weren’t the Relationship Development Director at CCBS, what other job would you like to be doing?
When I was little (believe it or not I was once) I wanted to be an astronaut.  Obviously, for a number of reasons that wasn’t going to happen, and I realised that quite quickly. Over the years I have spent a lot of time playing sport (mostly rugby) and coaching (football). The latter for the last 10 years and predominantly because my son played for the teams that I have coached. I really enjoy coaching (even U18s) and do think that I would have liked to have gone down that route as a career albeit that ship has sailed.

You can contact Steve to discuss any finance queries or situations by emailing steven@ccbsg.co.uk or calling the office on 0191 211 1450.