Steven Petrie has laid out his ambitions after being announced as the new Managing Partner at Ward Hadaway, a firm with offices in Leeds, Manchester and Newcastle.
Steven took over the reins on 1st April 2024 from Martin Hulls, who stepped down as planned at the end of his second three-year term. Steven has been a partner at Ward Hadaway for twelve years.
Steven commented, “I am extremely excited and honoured to take on the mantle of Managing Partner, and am looking forward to building on the firm’s proud heritage built over more than 35 years. The management board and I have very clear ambitions for the firm, that I am keen to articulate and advocate internally and externally.
“I am determined to achieve substantial growth in each office, growing our turnover by over 50% within the next five years, and 100% in ten, in order to leverage our scale to continue to support organisations of all shapes and sizes.
“A fundamental element of our strategy is that we maintain our independence. I understand that passionate people make a difference and I am committed to continuing to lead a firm which supports and challenges everyone to be their best. Our values of straightforward, respectful and ambitious will define our culture internally and for our clients, in addition to steering the impact we have on the North of England’s economy and the communities in which we operate.”
Steven joined Ward Hadaway’s insolvency team in 2012. In recent years as Head of the Commercial Dispute Resolution (CDR) Department, he has grown it to become the largest across the firm. He has spearheaded a strong recruitment and growth strategy across all three offices. To ensure a seamless succession, he has been Deputy Managing Partner for the last year, working alongside Martin on all firmwide initiatives. And he has played an active leadership role in the Responsible Business Board, which oversees and charts the firm’s ESG agenda.
Steven continued, “It should be a given for a firm of our size and standing, with such a long and proud history of giving back to the communities in which we live and work, that we will continue to innovate and push hard on our ESG agenda. It remains a fundamental passion of mine to ensure generous investments in social value projects, involvement in programmes that encourage social mobility and the diversity of the workforce, active support of our people and their development, and initiatives to reduce the environmental impact of our firm.”
Steven added, “Martin has successfully charted the firm through an incredibly testing economic and sociological period. Thanks to his hands-on leadership the firm has not only achieved consistent growth in every year he has been at the helm, but also smoothly transitioned us to a hybrid working environment, attracted new talent at all levels, and invested in technology and processes to enable us to continue to deliver exceptional client service. The firm is enormously grateful for his tireless efforts, particularly during a period of such challenge and change.”
Martin concluded, “Being Managing Partner at Ward Hadaway has been an honour and a privilege. With Steven’s energy, strategic leadership and passion, I very much look forward to seeing it continue to grow and expand.”
