Murray Steele

Murray holds Bachelor and Master’s Degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of Glasgow; an MBA from Cranfield School of Management and an accounting qualification from the Institute of Certified Accountants. He currently delivers NED development programmes for the Financial Times, BVCA and EBRD.

His practical experience includes being a non-executive director (NED) of the Airline Division of British Aerospace which had revenues in excess of £1 billion and a nominee director of 3i. From 1985 to 2002, he was Chairman of Orchard Hotels, a start-up hotel company which he created with a colleague in 1985 and sold successfully to a listed company. Currently he is an NED of James Walker Group, an international engineering group, with revenues in excess of £190 million and operations in over 30 countries; chairman of Surface Generation, a high tech engineering company; chairman of Octopus Apollo VCT, a FTSE listed company which invests in UK unquoted companies and an NED of an energy company in Lithuania. In total he has held over 20 chairmanships and directorships and led three successful exits. He was shortlisted for the Sunday Times NED of the Year in 2013 for the Private Equity/Private Company Category.