Steven Terence Jackson OBE

Recycling Lives(2006 to 2020)

Steven founded Recycling Lives in 2006, in a reverse takeover and rebrand of Preston Recycling Ltd, in which he held a 50 per cent shareholding. The associated charity entity, Recycling Lives Charity, was incorporated on 13 April 2006. The integrated social-enterprise model, in which the commercial recycling business funds rehabilitation and employment programmes for ex-offenders and people experiencing homelessness, was actively launched in 2008 and grew out of personal experience and the conviction that business can be a force for good.

Under his chairmanship the group became the United Kingdom's most decorated social enterprise, winning four Queen's Awards for Enterprise (Sustainable Development in 2010 and 2014, International Trade in 2018, Promoting Opportunity through Social Mobility in 2019). By 2018 the group reported sales of £75 million and pre-tax profits of £7.3 million, employing approximately 400 staff across 19 sites, of whom around 40 per cent were ex-offenders. The reoffending rate among Recycling Lives participants was 4 per cent, against a national average of 37 per cent.

Three Hills Capital Partners invested more than £50 million for a 21 per cent stake in late 2018. In October 2020 Steven stepped down as Chairman and exited the group fully, selling all of his shares in the commercial entities and resigning as trustee and member of the charity. He has had no role with the brand since.

Preston North End Football Club(2002 to 2006)

Steven was appointed a director of Preston North End plc on 22 August 2002 and served on the board until 18 August 2006. He held a major shareholding throughout that period, and served as Chief Executive Officer from 2004 to 2006. NewReg was the club's official shirt sponsor for the duration of his time on the board.

Steven joined the board five months after the collapse of ITV Digital, an event that wiped out the broadcasting income on which most Football League clubs had become dependent and pushed several Championship sides close to administration. The restructuring required to keep Preston solvent and competitive in that environment was substantial, and it is the period of Steven's career he is most often asked about and least often credited for.

As CEO from 2004 alongside the appointment of manager Billy Davies, Steven set a deliberate “all for one and one for all” leadership culture in which the manager, the board and the playing squad were aligned to a single objective. The 2004 to 2006 PNE side, built around David Nugent, Richard Cresswell and Sean Gregan, is still viewed by many Preston supporters as the strongest modern incarnation of the club. Deepdale was regularly full. Preston finished third in the Championship in 2004-05 and reached the play-off final at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, losing 1-0 to West Ham United, and finished fourth the following season, going out at the play-off semi-final stage to Leeds.

Steven resigned from the board in August 2006, shortly after Billy Davies' departure to Derby County . Preston's league record since has not bettered the league position or play-off progress achieved in those two seasons, and the 2004 to 2006 run remains the closest the club has come to a return to the top flight in modern times.