Hello and welcome,

I was born and brought up in Zimbabwe by English parents, before moving to England 33 years ago and enrolling in the British Army, where
I served for seven very happy years. The military taught me many things, but the most fundamental was that of the importance of discipline and teamwork, both of which I have carried with me throughout my business career.

I suppose I was always fond of the military because of my father and the stories he used to tell me when I was a child. My father is Peter Stiff, who is a well known military author, historian and publisher and was once a senior member of the British South Africa Police.

Leaving the Army to join the world of finance was a relatively smooth transition for me. I joined a leading financial services company in London and then moved in to healthcare recruitment with Ambition Recruitment Services. I spent six years there and was able to quickly identify the most effective methods of increasing sales. My team and I worked very hard and succeeded in raising the annual sales from £3m to a phenomenal £163m during my time there.

Following this achievement and not being in my nature to rest on my laurels, I was ready for a new challenge. The opportunity came when Ambition relocated 90%
of its functions out to Cape Town, so in 2005 we finally decided to go for it and we created Team24, a healthcare recruitment agency which initially supplied locum doctors, and then nurses, before we decided to branch out in to the private healthcare market.

We had an incredible first five years. Our current customers range from small GP surgeries, remote 'Out of Hours', large NHS trusts, hospitals and private clients in their homes.

Then in May 2011 I sold my company to The Capita Group for £25m which was incredibly emotional but absolutely the right decision as Team24 will flourish under Capita. I am still at the helm as Managing Director.

We have also been recognised in the industry for our endeavours. In 2010 Team24 topped Recruiter Magazine’s Hot 100 list, based on the highest Net Fee Income companies in our sector. Our awards and nominations include, winner of Fast Growth Business Awards, Family Business of the Year, finalist of Growing Business Innovation/Technology Award, CBI finalist in best use of Technology and CBI finalist Business of the Year, National Business Awards finalist for Growth Strategy of the Year, BCS & Computing UK IT Industry Awards finalist for Small Business Project of the Year and Recruitment International Awards finalists. Team24 has also been listed twice in The Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track 100 Awards. Ranking at 16th in 2009 and then bettering that position by coming in at 15th last year was a great result as it was based on compounded growth.