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Lee Strafford is an English businessman and the former chairman of Sheffield Wednesday F.C., a football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire. Strafford is also co-founder of NetStart.[1] He was also co-founder and CEO of the UK ISP PlusNet.

Strafford became chairman[2] of Sheffield Wednesday in 2009. While chairman, he signed a charitable sponsorship deal with Sheffield Children's Hospital.[3][4][5] In May 2010, it was announced that Stafford had resigned, after the club was relegated from the Football League Championship.[6] Following his resignation, Strafford engaged in a corporate whistle-blowing process, exposing various issues which directly contributed to the club. The club was bought by Milan Mandaric on 14 December 2010. Mandaric's bid was supported by the club's bankers and major creditor, the Co-Operative Bank, in favour of an alternative bid by members of the incumbent board.[7][8][9][10]

Strafford made his name with Sheffield-based Internet provider PlusNet. He took PlusNet from 7 to over 200 employees and from £0 to £100 million market cap. The company was eventually being sold to British Telecom for £67 million. During his time as CEO, the business went through three sale processes, 6 years as a reporting segment of Insight Enterprises Inc, a (NASDAQ listed Fortune 500 business), one AIM IPO, two and a half years as a PLC and was eventually sold to BT Group in January 2007. Two months after acquiring Plusnet, British Telecom fired Strafford.[11][12]

Strafford has spent much of the time since the sale of PlusNet working with Sheffield City Council and the two Sheffield Universities on creating more technology start-ups in the region and establishing better support for existing technology businesses.

In December 2010 Strafford became a founding private sector board member of the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership, working to drive economic growth in the city region with a specific focus on the Creative and Digital industries agenda.

In June 2012 Strafford co-founded Dotforge,[13] a pre-Seed Tech accelerator. Dotforge supports digital start-ups through its programmes which are run primarily in Sheffield.

In November 2016 Strafford co-founded Accelerated Digital (ADV) Ventures, a venture investment company which supports startups and scaleups in the digital tech sector. Its initial geographic focus is on UK based companies. Strafford was the CEO.

References

  1. ^ "TheNetStart –". thenetstart.com. Archived from the original on 22 December 2014. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
  2. ^ "Strafford resigns as Owls chief". BBC Sport. 17 May 2010. Retrieved 6 September 2023.
  3. ^ "Owls chasing £20m US investment". Yorkshire Post. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
  4. ^ "Sheffield Wednesday announce Children's Hospital sponsorship - Football Shirt Culture.com". Archived from the original on 18 March 2009. Retrieved 3 June 2009.
  5. ^ "Owls name new chairman". Sky Sports. Retrieved 6 September 2023.
  6. ^ "Sheffield Wednesday chairman Strafford resigns". Yorkshire Post. 17 May 2010. Retrieved 17 May 2010.[dead link]
  7. ^ "Lee Strafford". thestar.co.uk. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
  8. ^ "Owls in crisis: part one: Questions asked as Wednesday directors fail in efforts to secure fresh investment". Yorkshire Post. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
  9. ^ "Owls financial position deteriorates and Laws pays ultimate price for poor results". Yorkshire Post. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
  10. ^ "Owls in Crisis: Part three: How a bitter feud between Strafford and Grierson left Wednesday board". Yorkshire Post. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
  11. ^ Ballard, Mark (5 March 2007). "PlusNet boss stands down". The Register. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
  12. ^ Williams, Christopher (8 August 2007). "Sacked PlusNet boss blasts BT sale 'stitch up'". The Register. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
  13. ^ "Dotforge Accelerator & Start-Ups. Business Workshops". dotforge.com. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
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