Stephen Welton Chair of Board

Stephen Welton was appointed Non-executive Chair of the British Business Bank in October 2023.

Stephen has extensive experience as an investor in private capital markets around the world. He was the founder CEO of the Business Growth Fund (BGF) from 2011 to 2020, then Executive Chair between 2020 and 2022, and later Non-executive Chair until July 2023. BGF is the UK’s most active investor in scaling businesses and the model has been successfully replicated in a number of other countries internationally. He also serves as Chair of the BGF Foundation.

In 2013, Stephen was appointed as an advisor to the UK Government regarding the establishment of the British Business Bank and, in 2017, served as a member of the Industry Panel advising HM Treasury on the Patient Capital Review. He was also a member of the Prime Minister’s 2021 Business Council and member of the Innovate Council 2018-2021.

Prior to BGF, he was one of the founding partners of global private equity firm CCMP Capital (formerly JP Morgan Partners) and, before that, managing director of Barclays Private Equity and Henderson Ventures, which he also co-founded. Stephen has significant board experience and is currently a Non-executive Director of FTSE 250 ICG plc.

Stephen started his career in banking, has a law degree from Durham University, and is a qualified Barrister-at-Law. He was awarded a CBE in June 2023 for services to Small Businesses and Entrepreneurship.