About

Steve is Co-Chief Executive of Rigby Group – one of the UK’s top ten wholly-owned private companies and a top 500 global family business. Founded in 1975 by Steve’s father, Sir Peter Rigby, who still serves as Rigby Group Chair, Steve has played a senior leadership role in the company alongside his brother James. With three generations of Rigby family members now at the helm, Rigby Group continues to operate at the forefront of transformative change in technology, philanthropy, and sustainable business practices.

Over three decades, Steve has contributed significantly to the Group's growth, leading and driving its strategic transition from £1.5bn in revenue and 4,900 staff to almost £4bn in revenue and over 8,000 employees. Today, he is responsible for leading strategy, finance and investments for the family in both the private and public markets. He is a strategic investor who has owned and built an array of successful companies. Steve is renowned for his long-term vision and bold decision-making, which he employs to build businesses for sustainable growth.

He sits on the boards of SCC, Rigby Technology Investments, Rigby Real Estate, Eden Hotel Collection, Nuvias Unified Communications, CloudClevr, Infinigate, Resonate and Rigby Group.

Steve believes that success in business should go hand in hand with giving back to society. As Chair of The Rigby Foundation, established by his mother and father in 1995, Steve ensures Rigby Group’s success supports the local Midlands community and regional growth.

Steve is committed to making the UK the optimum place to start and grow a business. In his roles as Chair of Family Business for UK and of the Private Business Commission, Steve advocates for policies that better support UK private enterprises, family businesses, and entrepreneurs. Ultimately, Steve’s interest is centred on generating economic prosperity and fostering social good.

He has become a respected commentator and advocate for the UK business community, and has been recognised with a number of honours and awards including: being named as one of the World’s Top 50 Family Enterprise Advisors (FamCap); West Midlands Ambassador for Business of the Year Awards (BusinessDesk); a member of Natwest’s Mid-Market Growth Council; a judge for EY Entrepreneur of the Year and the Private Business Awards.

Values

As Co-CEO of one of the UK’s largest privately held companies, Steve has long taken an active interest not just in his own organization, but also in exploring and addressing ways to create a better business climate and economic environment for all throughout the UK and the world.

In order to compete effectively on a global stage, Steve believes in a three-pronged approach, that:

+ Takes a more realistic economic approach to national spending by reducing social support for those able to work to drive higher rate of employment. This means investing more in programs that effectively train and prepare young people and adults for employment and less on programs that merely hand money out to those who do not have jobs.
+ Demands that Europe, both in and outside the EU, do a better job in competing globally against China, India, and the U.S. by developing a $75 trillion economy over the next 50 years by developing highly ambitious plans in the Middle East and other high-growth regions.
+ Embraces technology while maintaining a realistic perspective on the societal impact of AI and the value of human commerce.
+ Reforms the UK tax code to create a progressive tax environment that stimulates and rewards growth
+ Reforms the UK’s social security framework that encourages and promotes work and reflects the need for material change in our pension system
+ Longer-term thinking and vision from our political classes to allow the UK to compete on a global stage
+ Continues devolution to give regional governments more autonomy with a focus on growing local talent and creating more ambitious policies and a clear vision for places like the West Midlands. This can only be achieved by MCA, business leaders and local stakeholders, including educational institutions and NGOs, working collaborative to set an expanded agenda and a consistent 10-year vision.