Steven Jackson OBE

Steven Jackson has spent his working life in British industry. He started young, in his father's scrap yard in Preston in 1979, and he has been connected to the metals trade ever since. In 1989 he began trading personalised number plates, which marked the start of more than thirty years in the motoring business.

He has a habit of arriving early. In 1995 he founded one of the country's first internet providers, and in 1996 he set up Domains.co.uk and incorporated New Reg Limited, the company that still sits at the centre of the group today.

Alongside the motoring business he built Recycling Lives, founding its charity in 2006. He designed it as a social business, a commercial operation with social impact at its heart that works alongside an independent charity and funds its work directly. He also set up several social enterprises owned by the charity, trading not for profit to support its objectives. The charity grew into a substantial national operation and earned four Queen's Awards for Enterprise across the decade that followed. In 2026, at the board's request, Steven led its rebrand, and the charity continues its work today as Onward Lives.

He has also seen public company life from the inside, serving as a director and then chief executive of Preston North End Football Club between 2002 and 2006.

In 2013 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to employment and the community in Lancashire. In 2019 he was named EY UK Entrepreneur of the Year, and the following year he represented the United Kingdom at the EY World Entrepreneur of the Year awards. In 2026 Car.co.uk, part of the group, received a King's Award for Enterprise in the Innovation category.

These days he builds. He works hands on across the group's sites and leads the development of Garage.co.uk, bringing the same eye for detail to software that he has brought to everything else. Promo.co.uk and its editorial standards reflect that same approach.