At Safestore, you’ll find every one of our friendly and approachable staff are trained to offer the best advice and guidance.
We like to believe this concern with quality of service and ensuring customer satisfaction is passed down from the people right at the top of the company.
The company holdings board comprises:
Richard Grainger joined the Board on 1 February 2007 as a Non-Executive Director and was appointed Chairman on 27 March 2008. After graduating from Oxford University, Mr Grainger qualified as a chartered accountant at Pricewaterhouse. He started at Hill Samuel Bank Limited in 1987 and subsequently joined Close Brothers Corporate Finance Limited (‘‘CBCF’’) in 1996. In 2001, Mr Grainger was appointed Chief Executive of CBCF having previously run the Leisure and Retail team and founded Close Brothers Corporate Finance’s Corporate Restructuring Group. Mr Grainger became Executive Vice Chairman of CBCF in 2007 and is a member of the Management Board of Close Brothers Group plc. Mr Grainger is an Associated Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
Steve Williams has worked in the retail industry for over 25 years. Prior to joining Safestore, he was Operations Director at Pet City, which floated on AIM in 1995 and was subsequently sold to PetsMart. At Pet City, Steve was responsible for 90 stores and 2.500 staff. His previous experience includes Wickes (Operations Controller) and Payless DIY (Operations Director).
Richard Hodsden has gained extensive commercial experience, with a number of companies, since qualifying as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG in 1991. Prior to joining Safestore he was the Finance Director of Globalvault plc. Globalvault was created from the demerger and subsequent trade sale of the security printing division of The Stationery Office Limited. Richard successfully oversaw both of these transactions.
Richard is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
Neil Riding joined the Safestore team in April 2006 having spent the previous ten years working for Whitbread PLC in three main roles; as Managing Director of Beefeater Restaurants, before that Managing Director of T.G.I. Friday’s and as a Regional Director for Pizza Hut (U.K.)
Neil has considerable experience in operating and evolving customer-facing brands. In addition Neil has spent time at INSEAD International Business School and at Ashridge Management College.