Michael Horner - Business Development Director - CCBS Group
What were your career ambitions growing up?
I remember vividly a careers day at school. We had a computer system that would calculate your perfect job, I put all in the information and it came out with fence erector! I’m not even sure that in isolation that is an actual job but that’s what it spat out. I’d actually wanted to be something to do with movies, ideally on the writing or directing side as I loved movies as a kid. So, the heart of a film director and natural ability of a fence erector equals finance, who knew! Ironically, I am absolutely rubbish at DIY so the fences of the north are lucky I did not pursue that one.
Tell us about your new role at CCBS Group?
I’m coming in as Business Development Director. For me the role is all about supporting local businesses and the wider business community from Northumberland down to Teesside. Securing finance has been difficult for SMEs and the last turbulent 4-5 years has not made this any easier. CCBS Group has the knowledge and experience to make this a lot simpler for our local businesses and I’m looking forward to being a part of this. My role is to spread the word, let the local business community and SMEs know we are here and to provide tailored solutions to help them with their next steps.
What skills do you hope to bring to your new role?
For the last four and a half years I have been working solely on commercial mortgages so hoping to help the team build on this and go back to my roots working on more detailed solutions for trading businesses. Working in a new-start fintech bank is a great experience and you find yourself much closer to day-to-day operations that, in my early years at traditional big banks, I just took for granted and never really considered. Working within an independent North East business and directly with SMEs will allow me to pass on this experience. I also have the benefit of having been on the other side of the fence, so to speak. I worked for a bank looking after commercial finance brokers and stepping in to help ensure the deal completed, which will help me enormously in the new role. I have been in finance for over 20 years now and have near enough done it all, from structuring multi-millionpound complex ABL transactions to being in charge of making cups of tea and answering the branch phone.
Within your career what has been your proudest business achievement?
Always a tricky question, this one. Being traditionally from a sales background you are always measured against performance, and overachieving those targets individually and collectively as a team is really rewarding. Over the years I have had individual accolades and our teams have won many an award, and at a new team being built up or most recently as a start-up bank these are the kind of things that make you immensely proud of how hard everyone has worked to get recognised as number one. But for me it’s all about being proud of what you do every day, if you can look in the mirror and say you are always working hard and pushing for the right outcomes for your clients, you won’t go far wrong.
How has your industry changed in the last decade?
I think it’s fair to say that with Covid and the base rate hikes this is right up there with the biggest changes seen in my lifetime, excluding the crash. Key has been how businesses and funders have pivoted to navigate this – demonstrating that there will always be a place for innovative businesses and good people. We have also seen the emergence of digital in finance. Fintech has been around for some time now, but it’s becoming more mainstream and it’s now an integral part of finance compared to ten years ago. It will be really interesting to see where we go in the next decade, open banking and AI I expect to feature heavily in the very near future.
Tell us about the team you work with?
The team at CCBSG is a huge factor in me joining – I have known most of them for ten years or more. Incredibly experienced and genuinely some of the absolute best people in the industry. I can’t wait to work with them. They have been doing great things over the last 10 years, supporting the North East business community.
What is the best piece of business advice you have been given?
Control the controllables. So easy to get worked up over a decision or an action that impacts you but if you genuinely can’t change this then why waste the energy on it. Put this into something you can control and excel at it.
How do you unwind outside of work?
I have two young (ish) children so I don’t! In all seriousness my kids have an incredibly full calendar so I find myself at football and dance practices and competitions all the time – but I genuinely love it. Grassroots sports is so important in my view and I get as much out of supporting them as my kids do from participating. I really like that CCBS Group really buy into this too and have their own grassroots sponsorship program to support local clubs.
I am also a trustee for a charity that focuses on promoting walking locally to promote a healthy lifestyle and mental wellbeing, as well as bringing together communities in the North East. This involves providing guided walks, taking out schools into the local area and we have an ambitious goal of putting in 100 new walks into heritage areas of County Durham. We currently have 20, so plenty of work to do.
I also must confess that a key way to unwind for me on a less healthy note is to get the football on the TV at the weekend and crack open a beer! I also like to get away when possible and this usually involves me, my wife and the children going away in the campervan to North Yorkshire or Northumberland. We affectionally call the camper “Big Ned” after one of my new colleagues (who will remain nameless) suggested I looked like Ned Flanders from the Simpsons literally five mins after I bought the camper.
Michael@ccbsg.co.uk