Stewart joined first direct in June 2006 as Head of Business Change, managing all aspects of change from procedural change through systems reengineering to the delivery of new customer propositions and services.

Stewart was subsequently asked to take on the role of People Experience at the end of 2007, encapsulating HR, Learning & Development, Social Leadership and Customer Experience Strategy. These diverse elements are consolidated within first direct as the values-based ethos links the emotional connectedness of our people experience to our customer experience and communities alike.

Whilst in this position, first direct achieved the highest levels of employee engagement across HSBC globally, and the highest levels of customer satisfaction, loyalty and recommendation across the industry in the UK. Stewart took responsibility for driving the leading first direct culture across the HSBC Direct teams in the UK.

Before joining first direct, Stewart gained over 20 years’ international blue-chip corporate experience in leading major change programmes and managing business change functions, spanning automotive, telecoms and financial service sectors. He has consulted on change and HR matters and is a professionally qualified coach, running his own independent coaching practice alongside his first direct role.

More recently, Stewart has taken on a new role as Head of Digital Solutions, where he is responsible for all aspects of performance for the Online and Mobile customer channels for first direct and HSBC across Europe. This encompasses the customer experience, sales, service, support and associated content management and change delivery.