Big business
Matt Grayson is the Group Communications Director for FTSE 250 listed house builder Redrow plc. He previously worked for Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) Group and then Wolverhampton Wanderers (Wolves) before being recruited by the football club’s former owner and Founder/Chairman of Redrow, Steve Morgan CBE.
“I’ve been the Group Communications Director for Redrow since November 2016,” he said. “I’d been with Wolves for nine years and when Steve sold the club he offered me the chance to join him at Redrow. It was a great opportunity to work with Steve again and be part of an amazing business.
“Redrow is one of the leading builders of high quality, family homes in the country. It continues to post record results across the board, creates thousands of jobs every year in the supply chain and pumps millions of pounds back into communities in a variety of different ways. Unsurprisingly, I jumped at the chance to be part of that ongoing success story.”
Business studies
Matt grew up in Sheffield, where, among other subjects, he studied economics at A level and had aspirations of starting his own business one day. He decided on Business Studies as a degree “to keep that option alive”, he recalled.
“I went to visit Staffordshire University and I was impressed with the people I spoke to and the facilities I saw. It looked like a good learning environment. I was also aware of the placement year and overseas exchange programme and saw the opportunity to broaden my mind and experiences in so many different ways.”
Matt started his degree in 1995. In his final year, he spent a semester at a university in Phoenix, Arizona. He also had a placement year at EG Consulting. Working for the financial consultancy, whose clients included several high profile banking firms, gave him an insight into businesses of all sizes.
He said: “Being part of a small business with a wide variety of large corporate clients gave me the opportunity to assume more responsibility at an earlier age. It played a massive part in me getting the job I wanted after university. Seeing so many others coming out with degrees, I wanted to create a distinctive CV. In my opinion, everyone should consider doing a placement year.”
Career in communications
After graduating in 1999, Matt joined Insight Marketing Communications (Part of the Chime Communications Group) and then in 2001 moved to McCann Birmingham, part of McCann-Erickson, a world leading marketing and communications firm.
After two years, he moved to HBOS, now Lloyds Banking Group and worked across a number of brands, including Birmingham Midshires, BM Solutions, Bank of Scotland Mortgages and The Mortgage Business. During this time, he also studied in the evenings and weekends for a Master’s in Business Administration.
HBOS sponsored Wolves and, in 2007, Matt was made aware of an opportunity to join the football club as Head of Marketing and Communications. He said: “I had always wanted to work in sport. It was a big opportunity for me.”
After nine years at the club, Matt moved to Redrow at the end of 2016. He still lives in the Midlands, with his wife who he met at Staffordshire University, and his two young children. He said: “Redrow is one of this country’s great business success stories. I’m very fortunate to work for an organisation based on such substance. It makes communicating the story a lot easier and every day is different, enjoyable and exciting.”
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