Stephen Welton

Stephen Frank Welton (born February 1961) is the Founder, CEO and Chairman of the Business Growth Fund (BGF).

Early life and education
Welton was born South Africa. He and his family moved back to the UK when he was 11 years old.

Welton attended Esher College. He graduated with a law degree from Durham University in 1983. He initially trained as a barrister, before becoming a loan officer at the Bank of Boston.

Career
Welton was one of the founding partners of private equity firm CCMP Capital Advisors, JP Morgan's private equity arm.

He was prior to that managing director of Barclays Private Equity and co-founded Henderson Ventures.

Welton is the founder and first chief executive of BGF; a major new investment company set up in 2011 by five UK banks – HSBC, Lloyds, Barclays, RBS and Standard Chartered – in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.

By 2023, BGF had invested over £4 billion in more than 400 growth companies across the UK and Ireland. Welton became the investor's Executive Chairman in 2020 before stepping down in June 2023.

In 2021, Welton joined the Build Back Better Council, a Government business council launched by Boris Johnson to address the UK’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Welton was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2023 Birthday Honours for services to small businesses and entrepreneurship.