Martin Ridgeway
COO
Personal Bio
Martin is an experienced and respected business leader with circa 20 years of Board level expertise of leading SME businesses through periods of significant change and growth.
His Core background and training is finance, but over this time he has accumulated significant experience in leading all corporate service functions, including people strategy, HR; IT, marketing, and procurement across business sectors, including adult education, hospitality, leisure, and professional sport. (Including a two year spell as FD of Derby County his lifelong love!).
Martin’s track record is exemplary, counting multiple instances of driving businesses to high double digits and even triple digit growth, both organically and through leading selective acquisition strategy. This has led to successful business exits for 3 ownership groups, with combined exit values of more than £65Million.
Martin has also been an SME business owner with more than a decade’s experience of owning and managing a multi-site live music, bar and club operation in the Midlands, and as such is equipped to be a true ‘critical friend’ to business owners/CEO’s/Managing Directors.
- Financial planning, reporting and analysis
- Business MI reporting and analysis
- Mergers, acquisitions and business start ups
- Business Strategy Development
- Corporate Governance and risk
- Business Turnaround
- People Strategy and employee engagement
- Corporate Services
Interim FD – April – December 2019
Short term business turnaround project for small but dynamic SME in the Adult Skills sector
Finance and Corporate Services Director – June 2017- Mar 2019
Developed and implemented sound strategies to drive the performance of Finance and Corporate Services teams for an award-winning Community Interest Company providing Employment related services and Adult Skills.
Founder and Director June 2015 – Oct 2016
Business Start-up. Delivered effective training programmes across hospitality and professional sports sectors by structuring and initiating a private training provider business
Finance and Corporate Services Director – Nov 2011- June 2015
Directed and managed the financial and business planning processes of a leading Private Equity-backed professional training provider, resulting in a tripling of the group’s turnover within 4 years
