The Family Business CEOs to Watch Class of 2023 recognizes 23 exceptional business leaders. The CEOs honored run the gamut of family business leadership, from entrepreneurial founders to fifth-generation stewards of a multifaceted enterprise to non-family executives trusted by the family ownership group to lead and expand their operations.
Steve Rigby
Co-CEO | Second generation | Rigby Group PLC, London, England
Steve Rigby has driven the transformation of a family business founded in 1975 to create Rigby Group. Now diversified from its origins in technology, Rigby Group is a multinational holding company for a portfolio of businesses, with divisions in technology, finance, real estate, airports and hotels. Together, they consist of more than 8,500 employees and operate in eight countries across Europe and the Middle East. For the year ending March 2023, the group reported turnover of £3.9 billion.
Rigby joined the family business in 1989. Today he is responsible for leading strategy, finance and investments for the family in both the private and public markets.
Rigby, who wears multiple executive hats, leads 100 entities across Rigby Group's portfolio. He has developed processes to ensure all the businesses he oversees benefit from his leadership approach. When faced with uncertainty or mission-critical decisions, he combines financial modeling, wide-ranging consultation and research to inform his “Risk:Effort:Reward” approach. This allows him to balance risk across the group.
Rigby sits on the boards of SCC, Rigby Technology Investments, Regional & City Airports, Rigby Real Estate, the group's hotel division, Nuvias Unified Communications, CloudClevr, Infinigate and Rigby Group. He leads all businesses within Rigby Group's portfolio except SCC, and the group's hotels within the Eden Hotel Collection.
Rigby is also spearheading his family's effort to donate £100m to their charitable trust, The Rigby Foundation, over the next 30 years. He has been a trustee of the foundation since 2016. Among other non-profit and charity roles, he serves on the board of Family Business UK.
“Steve has been a driving force in our family business for the past 30 years, culminating in us achieving our best ever financial-results in the year ending March 2023,” says his brother James Rigby, co-CEO of Rigby Group. “Our business has diversified and grown, in no small part thanks to his entrepreneurial skills and ability to spot investment opportunities, with him leading on over 50 acquisitions for the group.
“He is naturally strategic but without ever overlooking the details. He is immensely thorough and analytical — a prolific reader. He has an incredible mind for financial data. He is tireless and never rests on his laurels.
“He is passionate about what family businesses like ours contribute to the economy and to society. He is always looking ahead and has been instrumental within the family, encouraging the next generation to think about the role that they might play, shaping what the family's vision and values might look like.
“Leading a large and complex organization is demanding, and taking tough decisions is never easy, but it is a testament to my brother's character and leadership skills that he remains so popular, inspiring loyalty that has resulted in many of his team working for him for many years.
“I feel incredibly fortunate to have him at my side.”
“My 30-year career contributing to the exponential growth of Rigby Group has made me appreciate what hard work, loyalty and taking a long view can yield,” Steve Rigby says. “I feel proud of what we've achieved, but it's looking ahead that drives me. Today, we are a multigenerational family business, and I want to create a business that's sustainable in every sense of the word for future generations.
“I am also alive to the responsibility we have as a group to do the right thing. Private enterprises such as mine make a massive economic and societal contribution, but we can always do more. We strive to be a force for good in the communities we work in, and with all the challenges we all face in today's world, this has never been so important. I recently launched Project Sequoia to give focus to our ESG goals and monitor our progress, with my family's philanthropic goals being a big part of this.
“I've always believed that change is a race with no finish line. This is certainly true when it comes to developing a business over the longer term, and it's definitely the case in the technology sector, where our chief focus lies.”