IT is more than three decades since Stuart Middleton turned up for his first day at the office.

He was 19, and had got a job at a branch of Bank of Scotland in Aberdeen. As office junior, he was at the bottom of the ladder and Stuart was often to be found making the tea.

He had ambitions of rising through the ranks, which was even more significant, considering he was married with a young child.

But Stuart fulfilled his dreams quickly to open the bank's first branch in Manchester, then headed up the HBOS global strategy team and its mergers and acquisitions business.

Some achievement, given that many of his peers were graduates and joined the bank on fast-track programmes.

But Stuart, whose father was a painter and decorator, was brought up with a strong work ethic.

"My parents worked hard so their children had the best available education," says Stuart. "Their example inspired me to achieve my potential."

Potential

Now Stuart is helping others achieve their full potential.

After 34 years with HBOS, he left the group last year and has taken up some non-executive directorships.

His latest appointment is at Bolton-based business brokerage Knightsbridge as non-executive chairman, where he is charged with helping the group with its ambitious growth plans to expand into the corporate market.

Soon after joining, and with the prospect of earning more money for his young family, he completed his banking exams and was promoted.

In 1980, he was transferred to Edinburgh where the bank paid for him to do a postgraduate degree in international banking and finance.

After returning to Aberdeen in a management role, Stuart was then sent to Manchester to help open the bank's first regional office in England.

He continued to move up the managerial ranks and, in the late 1980s, went to London to set up the bank's structure finance division.

"We soon became a major deal-doer and were the market leader in syndicated deals of up to £250m."

Structured finance

As senior director of structured finance, Stuart was often at work for 72 hours non-stop, but felt it was time to leave.

In 1996, he returned to the north west to breathe much-needed life into the bank's corporate business.

Stuart says: "It wasn't performing very well. I decided to shrink the market it was operating in, and go for companies which wanted to borrow a minimum of £500,000. Within two years the north west was the bank's best performing region in England."

Stuart was then charged with revamping and relaunching the group's SME business.

By 2002 he became head of mergers and acquisitions and global strategy at HBOS and he was involved in advising on the flotation of its spin-offs Invista and Right Move. His last deal was the sale of the group's American sub-prime mortgage lender at the end of 2006.

But, at 54, Stuart decided to transfer his banking skills into helping other businesses realise their ambitions.

He plans to have no more than four firms in his port- folio, and it is clear that he still has the same core values and work ethic of that young office junior 35 years ago.

He says: "I get a great buzz from growing businesses, but that takes time and commitment.

"For me, four companies will allow me to give each of them 100 per cent. I will only join a board if I can make a real difference."

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