Church's English Shoes - Bespoke Shoemakers

Stephen Etheridge first joined the industry in 1979 on the Ward White Group accelerated management training programme covering four disciplines, namely manufacturing, retailing, commercial and finance over a two year period.

His initial post course position was as Key Accounts Sale Executive within John White Footwear which at that time was a large manufacturing business producing an excess of a million pairs of shoes a year and employing 900 people on three different manufacturing sites.

Stephen returned to the manufacturing division in 1985 as Sales Director moving onto be Deputy Managing Director and Managing Director of the UK Group of manufacturing companies.

In 1988, following the takeover of the Ward White Group by Boots the Chemist, Stephen was involved in a initial first phase management buy out of the UK manufacturing and safety companies as part of Boots disposal strategy for non-retail activities.

Stephen left the group in 1991 and purchased, along with a significant investor, a niche high end manufacturing and brand management company which was used as a vehicle to make a number of small acquisitions and sold to a private equity backed company in 1994.

Stephen joined Church Group as the Chief Executive of the Cheaney subsidiary based at Desborough with a brief to re-position and re-focus the company to extract greater value on a group basis, and in 1996 was appointed to the Church & Co Plc Group board.

Church & Co Plc was the subject of a take over and “bidding war” during 1999 which subsequently saw the group being purchased by Prada the Italian based luxury goods group. Following a period of re-evaluation the group was reorganised at the end of 2000, and Stephen was appointed Group Chief Executive in September 2001.

Stephen Etheridge is mentoring Rothschild & Bickers

Stephen Etheridge mentored Wayne Victor Meeten in 2011

Find out more at www.church-footwear.com