Stephen Frank Welton (born February 1961) is the founder and Executive Chairman of the

Business Growth Fund BGF, established in 2011 as the Business Growth Fund, is an investment company that provides growth capital for small and mid-sized businesses in the UK and Ireland. From a network of 16 offices in the UK and Ireland, the company has invested more ...

(BGF).

Early life and education

Welton was born

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. He and his family moved back to the UK when he was 11 years old. Welton attended

Esher College Esher Sixth Form College is an open access, non-selective 16-19 Academy located in Thames Ditton, Surrey, England. Rated as "outstanding" in September 2022 by Ofsted, it now has around 2100 students enrolled, with a catchment drawn from north ...

. He graduated with a law degree from

Durham University , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills (Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_chan ...

in 1983. He initially trained as a barrister, before becoming a loan officer at the

Bank of Boston A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because ...

Career

Welton was one of the founding partners of private equity firm CCMP Capital Advisors,

JP Morgan JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. As of 2022, JPMorgan Chase is the largest bank in the United States, the wo ...

's private equity arm. He was later managing director of

Barclays Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services. Barclays traces ...

Private Equity and co-founded Henderson Ventures. Welton is the founder and first chief executive of BGF; an investment company set up in 2011 by five UK banks –

HSBC HSBC Holdings plc is a British multinational universal bank and financial services holding company. It is the largest bank in Europe by total assets ahead of BNP Paribas, with US$2.953 trillion as of December 2021. In 2021, HSBC had $10.8 tri ...

, Lloyds, Barclays,

RBS RBS may refer to: Organisations Banking * The Royal Bank of Scotland, a retail banking subsidiary of NatWest Group ** RBS International, the offshore banking arm of NatWest Group Education * Regent's Business School * Rotterdam Business School ...

and

Standard Chartered Standard Chartered plc is a multinational bank with operations in consumer, corporate and institutional banking, and treasury services. Despite being headquartered in the United Kingdom, it does not conduct retail banking in the UK, and around 9 ...

– in the wake of the

2008 financial crisis 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...

. By 2018, BGF had reportedly invested £1.5 billion in 220 start-ups over the previous eight years. Welton became the investor's Executive Chairman in 2020. In 2021, Welton joined the Build Back Better Council, a Government business council launched by

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...

to address the UK’s economic recovery from the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Welton was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(CBE) in the

2023 Birthday Honours The 2023 King's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms of King Charles III to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as part o ...

for services to small businesses and entrepreneurship.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Welton, Stephen 1961 births Living people British businesspeople Alumni of Hatfield College, Durham South African emigrants to the United Kingdom Commanders of the Order of the British Empire