Jason Stockwood

Jason Stockwood
Born	Grimsby, Lincolnshire, England
Nationality	English
Alma mater	Tollbar Academy University of Bolton University of Oxford
Occupation(s)	Chairman, businessman, entrepreneur, director
Board member of	Chairman of Grimsby Town F.C. Vice chairman, Simply Business Co-Founder, 53° Capital Trustee, B Lab Chair, Sanctus

Jason Stockwood (born July 1970) is an English businessman who is current football chairman and joint majority shareholder of Grimsby Town.

Having graduated with a Bachelor of Philosophy (BPhil), he moved into the travel business and has previously held roles as the managing director of Travelocity, non-executive of Skyscanner and commercial roles with lastminute.com. He is also the former international managing director of dating website Match.com. In 2010 he joined Simply Business, a tech start up in financial services where he was group CEO.

Early life

Stockwood was born in Grimsby and attended Tollbar Academy in the village of in New Waltham, near Grimsby. ^[1] Stockwood comes from a working class family; his mother, a single parent who worked three jobs to keep four sons clothed and fed. ^[2] Aged 15, he worked as a waiter at Winter Gardens in Cleethorpes and worked on Grimsby docks for a few months. ^[3] After leaving school, Stockwood went on a kibbutz in Israel, he went on to work at Walt Disney World in Florida and as a holiday rep in Greece, before studying full-time in 1992 at University in Bolton. ^[1]

Stockwood is a lifelong supporter of his home town football club Grimsby Town; in 1979 he attended his first game against Sheffield Wednesday. ^[4] He was a ballboy in November 1984 for The Mariners at Blundell Park in a fixture against Wolverhampton Wanderers. ^{[5] [6]}

Business career

He graduated with a degree in philosophy from the University of Bolton in 1995, and has used his studies to form the ideas that have made his companies a success. Having spent time working in the travel industry as managing director of Travelocity Business, non-executive at Skyscanner and commercial roles with lastminute.com, Stockwood went on to become the international managing director of dating website match.com.

In 2010, Stockwood became CEO and then vice-chairman of Simply Business. ^[7] Simply Business was voted as the number one ‘Best Place to Work’ in the UK by The Sunday Times in both 2015 and 2016, with Stockwood winning the overall Best Leader award in the latter year. The company's awards led to it being accredited as a certified B Corporation. ^[8] Simply Business raised capital through a number of private equity investors, most notably from New York based Aquiline Private Equity. It was eventually sold to The Travelers Companies in 2017 for $500m. ^[9]

He is an investor in early stage technology companies through 53 Degrees Capital. Notable investments include Olio, Chiaro, Be My Eyes and Beam.

Since 2019 he has been the Chair of the board raising the money to build the Horizon Youth Zone in Grimsby. ^[10]

In 2020 he was invited to become a Transformational Leadership Fellow at The Blavatnik School of Government, The University of Oxford.

Since 2021 he has written a number of articles for The Guardian newspaper relating to football, politics and culture. ^{[11] [12]}

He is a 2023 Fellow of Practice at the Government Outcomes Lab, at the Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford University.

Football ownership

Stockwood was announced as part of a consortium, led by London businessman Tom Shutes, which was interested in buying out John Fenty's majority control of Grimsby Town. ^[13] Shutes later pulled out for personal reasons, which prompted Stockwood and other consortium member Andrew Pettit to form a company called 1878 Partners, which on 5 May successfully completed the takeover of the club with Stockwood named as chairman. ^{[14] [15]} He wrote an article in The Guardian detailing why. ^[2]

On 5 June 2022 Grimsby Town FC were promoted back to the EFL after just one year in the National League and 13 months after Stockwood and Pettit took ownership of the club.

On 1 March 2023, Grimsby advanced to the quarter finals of the FA Cup for the first time since 1939 by beating Premier League side Southampton 2-1 away from home, becoming the first club in the competition's history to knock out five teams from a higher division.

Bibliography

• Reboot: A Blueprint for Happy, Human Business in the Digital Age (2018)

References

1. Wright, Greg (11 March 2019). "The technology boss who believes in business with a human face". The Yorkshire Post . Retrieved 12 May 2021.
2. Stockwood, Jason (29 June 2021). "'We bought Grimsby Town FC to help renew the place we love". The Guardian . Retrieved 29 June 2021.
3. Laister, David (5 May 2021). "Who is Jason Stockwood? The big business interview with the new chairman of Grimsby Town FC". Business Live. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
4. Findlater, James (6 May 2021). "'It's more than just football' - New Grimsby Town owners making community central to their plans". Grimsby Telegraph . Retrieved 11 May 2021.
5. "Grimsby Town 5–1 Wolverhampton Wanderers". 11v11.com. AFS Enterprises Limited. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
6. Davidson, Lauren (6 May 2021). "Stockwood and Pettit keen to "start a new chapter" after Grimsby Town FC takeover success". Gi Media. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
7. Johnson, Branwell (6 May 2010). "SimplyBusiness.co.uk recruits Jason Stockwood". Marketing Week. Retrieved 22 October 2023.
8. Findlater, James (7 April 2021). "Who are Jason Stockwood and Andrew Pettit? Duo still involved in Grimsby Town takeover after Tom Shutes exit". Grimsby Telegraph . Retrieved 11 May 2021.
9. "Travelers buys Simply Business for £400m in digital push". Financial Times. 13 March 2017. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
10. Green, Luke (22 June 2023). "'Historic' day for Grimsby as Horizon Youth Zone project officially starts". Grimsby Telegraph . Retrieved 17 October 2023.
11. Gibbs, Thom (14 April 2023). "AI is already influencing football, but is it ready to manage a club?". Telegraph . Retrieved 17 October 2023.
12. Gibbs, Thom (29 June 2021). "Grimsby Town chairman on hopes to 'rebuild civic value in the town'". Grimsby Telegraph . Retrieved 17 October 2023.
13. Findlater, James (26 December 2020). "Tom Shutes makes new offer for John Fenty's shares after Grimsby Town takeover called off". Grimsby Telegraph . Retrieved 11 May 2021.
14. "Grimsby Town: 1878 Partners complete takeover of relegated League Two club". BBC Sport . 5 May 2021. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
15. Findlater, James (5 May 2021). "Grimsby Town takeover recap: Jason Stockwood and Andrew Pettit confirmed as new owners". Grimsby Telegraph . Retrieved 11 May 2021.