Test - Stephen joined Connells in 1977 as a trainee negotiator at the Aylesbury branch. Aged 21, he became Manager for High Wycombe, a branch which would become the most profitable in the company under his leadership.
He was promoted through the ranks until his appointment as Connells Chief Executive in 1990 and Group Chairman in 2008. Alongside Chief Executive David Livesey and other colleagues, he was instrumental in masterminding the ground-breaking deal in 1996 when Skipton Building Society acquired a majority stake in Connells Group, with Connells’ senior management taking a 25% shareholding.
Since then, Connells Group has embarked on a number of acquisitions (Sequence, Sharman Quinney, Burchell Edwards, Peter Alan, The New Homes Group, Asset Management Group, Gascoigne Halman, Rook Matthews Sayer) and a programme of organic expansion in surveying, lettings and residential estate agency. Stephen was a founding Director of Rightmove plc and was a Rightmove board member for 10 years.
Under Stephen’s leadership, Connells Group has grown from a 100 branch estate agency with a turnover of £30m per annum into the large and diverse property services group it is today.
Ross joined Connells in 1993 where he has held a number of senior management roles within the Group’s mortgage and asset management business before his appointment as Managing Director of Connells Survey & Valuation. Ross has led this business to become recognised as the industry’s best valuation panel management service provider.
Before joining the Group, Ross worked in the money markets for International Westminster Bank and has an Honours Degree in Financial Services.