Stephen Mansbridge Poised To Be The New Council Leader – But Who Is He?

Published on: 26 Sep, 2012
Updated on: 1 Oct, 2012

Cllr Stephen Mansbridge the newly elected Leader of the Conservative Group at GBC

Stephen Mansbridge was elected unopposed this evening (September 26) as the new Leader of the Conservative Group at Guildford Borough Council. The result means that his election as the new council leader, at the next meeting of the full council on October 11, is a formality.

The election was held following the sudden resignation of the previous council leader, Tony Rooth, last week.

Following the announcement to the assembled Conservative members Cllr Mansbridge told The Guildford Dragon NEWS: “I am delighted to have been elected Leader of the Conservative Group in Guildford and I look forward to leading an exciting and positive agenda.”

Background

The son of a Anglican archdeacon, Stephen Mansbridge was brought up in Warwickshire. He was a boarder at Denstone College in Staffordshire and after school joined the army in 1981.

Having passed out from Sandhurst he joined the Coldstream Guards (motto ‘Second to None’), serving for 16 years. Rising to the rank of major, he commanded a company of around 100 men. He served in Belize, Cyprus, Brunei, Hong Kong and Northern Ireland, where he was ‘mentioned in despatches’.

Leaving the army in 1997 he first worked as the operations director of a software house, Altimax, that produced customer relationship management systems.

He started his first company Hilcote, who provided advice to armed forces personnel moving into civilian careers, in Guildford, based in Parallel House, London Road. This company was sold to a US venture capital-backed group, Affinitas.

Then he was appointed to DBM plc, another ‘career transition’ company, as director of services development to bring a series of innovative ideas to market, particularly focused towards high earning senior executives and FTSE 100 boards.

In 2005 he was a co-founder of AGM Transitions, a London-based company that facilitates the career development and strategy of business leaders. He continues to lead the company which normally requires his attendance in London, three days a week. He also runs a HNW (high net worth) investor forum called AGMSV, which invests in early stage businesses. He has involvement with a conservation charity and a start-up child abuse charity.

He has been interviewed by the national media regarding top level employment issues. He has appeared on The Politics Show, News 24, The Today Programme and Five Live, as well as in articles ranging from Forbes magazine to The Times of India. He is also a regular commentator for the BBC on banking pay and bonuses.

He gives his hobbies as reading, travelling, food, wine and pre-history

Cllr Mansbridge, a member of the Conservative Group, represents Ash South and Tongham where he lives with his wife, Gillian, and three children. He was first elected to Guildford Borough Council in 2007 and promoted to the Executive in 2011 taking the portfolio for communities and services. He was made deputy leader in May, this year, and has been acting as council leader since September 17 following the resignation, as leader, of Cllr Rooth.