We are delighted to announce that Stephen Everard our CEO has been recognised for his remarkable career, personal and professional standing, and in particular his achievements over his twenty-year tenure as Goal Group’s CEO.
On Friday at the Asset Servicing Times Awards, hosted at The Londoner Hotel, Leicester Square he was presented with a Lifetime Achievement award.
Having achieved 4 O-Levels, one of which was pottery, Steve started his career as a bank messenger for Barclays on Walworth Road, Southwark – where he had his probation period extended!
So next he responded to an advert in The Daily Mirror for a job with London-based investment bank S.G. Warburg & Co and rose through the ranks to become a manager at its subsidiary, Mercury Asset Management. As part of his role he provided training to new starters during their summer induction program, including Nicola Horlick, the British investment fund manager dubbed City ‘superwoman’.
Steve went on to hold senior operational and business management positions with Bank of America and Citigroup, where his strength of leadership, vision and charisma made him a successful and popular character. To this day he continues to work with, or remains in touch with, many colleagues from this era.
Steve joined Goal Group as CEO in November 2002. Spotting an opportunity to diversify and strengthen the business while leveraging operational synergies, he oversaw a strategic acquisition to add securities class actions recoveries to Goal’s services. Since then, Steve has built Goal into a thriving, global company that has completely revolutionised its business and service model through an ambitious, award-winning digital transformation programme which has disrupted the market place.
Under Steve’s direction, Goal has won 60% market share in APAC; achieved substantial market growth in the Americas; and won numerous awards over the years.
Bryan Bletso, Partner, Head of International, Irwin Mitchell LLP comments: “Steve has been a pleasure to deal with. He has a unique sense of humour and good grace, and he couples this with a serious business side making conversations with Steve both productive and memorable at the same time.
Steve is hard-working, ever contactable, empathetic, and loyal to those around him, including longstanding clients, suppliers and professional advisers like Irwin Mitchell.”
It was an emotional evening for the staff who shared this night with Steve, some of which have worked with Steve for 40 years!
Steve was blown away by the news, he said: “Whilst my name is on the award, any manager is only as good as the team around them and I have been privileged to work with great people at Citi, Bank of America, and especially here at Goal.
Goal has evolved from being a small London-based IT company into a global fintech that frequently punches above its weight when competing against the likes of FRT, Battea, Globetax, and Chicago Clearing. We have grown the client base exponentially and created new products and services whilst continually seeking to enhance the GTRS product upon which the company was founded.”
Steve is a former Justice of the Peace and a long-standing member of the Institute of Directors. In his younger days, he played cricket for Surbiton in the Surrey Slazenger League but a shoulder injury cut short what would undoubtedly have been an illustrious sporting career!
