Making the joy of music accessible, sustainable and fun!

Joined May 2020

About

Steven has over twenty years experience working in the music industry. With degrees in Electrical Engineering and a MA in European Cultural Policy & Administration from the University of Warwick, where he now serves as a Course Tutor on their MA in Creative and Media Enterprises, Steven served as Executive Director of a non-profit international music association based in the United States from 2000 – 2007.

Joining the Advantage Creative Fund in 2007 as manager of their small investment portfolio for the creative sector, Steven then worked as an investment director and entrepreneur-in-residence at Midven, the Midland's leading early stage venture capital fund manager, from 2010 until 2015 and qualified as an Associate of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment.

Alongside supporting entrepreneurs and start-up businesses, Steven is founder and CEO of Warwick Music Group. Based in North Warwickshire and employing fifteen people worldwide, the company manufactures musical instruments that make the joy of music accessible and fun including the world's first plastic trombone, pBone, which has sold over 250,000 units worldwide.

The Company’s pTrumpet won the Best in Show Award at the 2016 NAMM Show and also Best Education Product at the 2016 Music Teacher Awards. In 2017, the Company was an inaugural winner of the MIlls & Reeve Innovation 50. In 2018, Warwick Music Group was the Midlands Winner in the inaugural Spectator Economic Disruptor of the Year Awards before receiving the prestigious Queen's Award for Enterprise (Innovation) in 2019.

He was elected as a board director for the UK music industry trade body (Music Industries Association) in 2019 becoming its chair in 2020 and is frequently interviewed or invited to present guest lectures on cultural entrepreneurship, music education and the future of the music industry.

Steven lives in Warwickshire with his wife, Kate, their three young children, two ponies and faithful labrador, and enjoys coaching his local youth rugby team.