#19 Harriet Kelsall: Why I Sold My Jewellery Business to the People Who Built It
In this episode of Stake & Soul, Barry speaks with Harriet Kelsall, award-winning designer, author, and founder of Harriet Kelsall Bespoke Jewellery, one of the UK’s leading bespoke jewellery companies. Harriet started the business on her kitchen table in 1998, while working as an engineering manager in the film-editing side of Tektronix UK, and has grown it over nearly three decades into a 42-strong team across four studios in North Hertfordshire, Cambridge, Primrose Hill and St Albans. ...
27 Oct 2026
#18 Amy Barry: An Accidental Entrepreneur’s Honest Journey Through an EOT Sale
In this episode of Stake & Soul, Barry speaks with Amy Barry, who sold 75% of her communications agency di:ga into an Employee Ownership Trust in 2023 and completed a careful two-year founder-CEO transition in 2025. A former journalist for The Times and The Mail on Sunday, Amy spent her early career at Oxfam and Global Witness. What began as freelancing from Bristol grew almost accidentally into a 12-person strategic communications agency, working with mission-driven clients including Oxf...
22 Sept 2026
#17 Andrew Lane: 12 Years Leading Union Industries Through Employee Ownership
In this episode of Stake & Soul, Barry speaks with Andrew Lane, Chairman and former Managing Director of Union Industries, the Leeds-based manufacturer of high-speed industrial doors that transitioned to an Employee Ownership Trust in 2014. Andrew joined Union in 2014 to lead the transition itself and has just handed over the MD role to Neil after a three-year, deliberately-staged succession, a rare example of an EO business getting both the ownership transition and the leadership transit...
8 Sept 2026
#16 Tom Vincent: How 2020 Became the 2025 UK EO Business of the Year
In this episode of Stake & Soul, Barry speaks with Tom Vincent, CEO of 2020 Project Management Training, the Scottish-founded, UK-based specialist that transitioned to an Employee Ownership Trust in 2018 and, seven years on, was named EO Business of the Year at the 2025 UK Employee Ownership Awards. Tom joined 2020 in 2014 after a career in the Royal Engineers, moved onto the board in 2018 just as the EOT deal was being done, and inherited both the CEO chair and the responsibility of payi...
18 Aug 2026
#15 Johnny Aisher: 40 Years Inside the John Lewis Partnership
In this episode of Stake & Soul, Barry speaks with Johnny Aisher, who spent 40 years at the John Lewis Partnership and retired on 31 March 2025, most recently as a director of the John Lewis Partnership Trust. Having joined as one of 21 graduate trainees in 1985 and made his way from the shop floor at Oxford Street through IT management to two decades as Clerk to the Council, Johnny brings a rare 40-year view on what the UK's original employee-owned business gets right, gets wrong, and ca...
11 Aug 2026
#14 Andrew Murphy: From 30 Years at John Lewis to Leading The Entertainer Through EO
In this episode of Stake & Soul, Barry speaks with Andrew Murphy, CEO of The Entertainer, the family-founded toy retailer that completed its 100 percent transition to an Employee Ownership Trust in September 2025. The move turned around 2,000 colleagues into employee owners, and Andrew is leading the business through what he describes as the early foothills of a long transformation. Andrew spent more than 30 years at the John Lewis Partnership, starting on the shop floor in Aberdeen in 19...
4 Aug 2026
#14 Gary Grant on Faith, Family and Handing The Entertainer to Its Staff
In this episode of Stake & Soul, Barry speaks with Gary Grant, the founder of The Entertainer, who together with his wife Catherine built one of Britain's most values-driven retail businesses from a single toy shop in Amersham in 1981 to over 160 stores, a Tesco-wide supply contract and a business turning over hundreds of millions a year. In September 2025, Gary and his family transferred 100% of their shares into an Employee Ownership Trust, a move he describes as the biggest risk they'v...
10 Jun 2026
#12 Liam Toms: How Grapevine Became Employee-Owned and Found Its Voice Again
In this episode of Stake & Soul, Barry speaks with Liam Toms, Communications and Engagement Manager at Grapevine, the Dorset-based managed IT and telecoms provider that transitioned to 100 percent employee ownership via an Employee Ownership Trust in March 2023. Two and a half years later, Grapevine was named EO Rising Star of the Year at the 2025 UK Employee Ownership Awards. Liam talks about coming into Grapevine from a marketing and academic background, what the EO transition actually ...
26 May 2026
#11 Alastair Sawday: How Sawday's Built a Hybrid Employee-Owned, Charitable, Family Company
In this episode of Stake and Soul, Barry speaks with Alastair Sawday, founder of Sawday's, the Bristol-based travel publisher that began in 1994 as a scruffy file of addresses from his small group tour company and grew into one of Britain's most trusted authorities on special places to stay. In 2018, after refusing to sell to the highest bidder, Alastair pioneered a hybrid ownership model: 52 percent to employees, 24 percent to a charitable trust, and 24 percent retained by the Sawday family....
13 May 2026
#10 Nick Parsons: How Parsons Bakery Handed a 100-Year-Old Family Business to Its 400 Staff
In this episode of Stake and Soul, Barry speaks with Nick Parsons, fourth generation leader of Parsons Bakery, the Bristol-based bakery that grew from a horse and cart in the 1910s into a 50-store, 400-strong business across the southwest. In April 2024, on the eve of the company's 99th anniversary, Nick and his family transitioned 100 percent of the business into an Employee Ownership Trust. Nick talks about flunking his exams and learning to sell beds in Australia before joining the family ...
29 Apr 2026
#9 Karen Maguire: How Relinea Became Northern Ireland's EOT Pioneer
In this episode of Stake and Soul, Barry speaks with Karen Maguire, founder of Relinea, the Northern Ireland-based manufacturer supplying glass reinforced plastic (GRP) alternatives to the construction sector. Karen built Relinea from a port-a-cabin and a dodgy forklift into a multi-million-pound business, and in March 2022 became the first manufacturing company in Northern Ireland to transition to an Employee Ownership Trust. Karen talks about walking away from M&A meetings that left her...
16 Apr 2026
#8 David Sproxton: Why Aardman Turned Down a Buyout and Gave the Studio to Its People
In this episode Barry speaks with David Sproxton, co-founder of Aardman Animations, the Bristol-based studio behind Wallace and Gromit, Shaun the Sheep, Morph, and Chicken Run. For more than 50 years, David and his co-founder Peter Lord built one of the most beloved creative companies in British history. In 2018, they had the opportunity to sell to a major studio. They chose not to. Instead, they transferred Aardman to an Employee Ownership Trust, handing control to the people who had b...
1 Apr 2026
#7 Sam Boustred on Industrial Democracy and Keeping the Soul of a 100-Year-Old Employee-Owned Business
In this episode of Stake and Soul, Barry speaks with Sam, Chair of the Global Members Board at Scott Bader, a global chemical company that became employee-owned in 1951 and remains one of the oldest and most distinctive examples of common ownership in the world. Over nearly 18 years, Sam worked his way through the democratic structures of the business from process operator to community councillor to, almost by accident, Chair of the Global Members Board. In this conversation, he talks about w...
17 Mar 2026
#6 Kirsty Dias on Employee Ownership, Purpose-Driven Design and Leading a Creative Studio Through Transition
In this episode of Stake and Soul, Barry speaks with Kirsty Dias, Managing Director of PriestmanGoode, one of the world's leading transport and passenger experience design studios, responsible for landmark projects including the New Tube for London and aircraft cabin interiors for major global airlines. Kirsty joined the studio in 2001 and became a director in 2016, the same year the founding partners transitioned the business to an Employee Ownership Trust. She has led the studio as MD throu...
3 Mar 2026
#5 Adam Arnold on Employee Ownership, Purpose-Driven Leadership and Building a Global Ethical Brand
In this episode of Stake and Soul, Barry speaks with Adam Arnold, CEO of GearForm, the parent company of Nikwax and Paramáo, about leading a purpose-driven outdoor business through its transition to employee ownership. Adam shares his journey from joining the company at 18 on the production line to becoming CEO nearly three decades later. He offers an inside look at how the group evolved into an employee-owned organisation while preserving its commitment to sustainability, ethical manufacturi...
17 Feb 2026
#4 Simon Morton on Employee Ownership and Building a Business That Thrives Without You
In this episode of Stake and Soul, Barry speaks with Simon Morton, founder of Eyeful Presentations and author of Employee Ownership: A Guide to Transitioning from Boss to Benefactor, about the real story behind stepping away from a business he spent nearly two decades building. Simon shares an honest look at the emotional and strategic realities of succession, including burnout, failed handovers, leadership lessons, and the mindset shift required to step back from running the business. ...
3 Feb 2026
#2 Protecting Purpose in an Employee‑Owned Business – A Conversation with Rob Haward
Barry is joined by Rob Haward (Riverford) for a practical conversation that links employee ownership with the realities of running a large, values-led organisation, including what has to change in leadership, communication, and culture for EO to actually “work” day-to-day. Riverford’s transition is discussed in the context of protecting purpose long-term (and avoiding the business ending up “in the wrong hands”), while still staying commercially sharp and operationally disciplined. What’s cov...
3 Feb 2026
#3 Rethinking Succession in a Creative Agency - A Conversation with Arabella Lewis-Smith
Barry is joined by Bella, founder of Salad, a Dorset-based creative agency built around brand strategy, visual identity, and websites, for a candid conversation about why she chose employee ownership and what it has actually required on the other side. This episode is especially relevant for founders who are thinking about succession and want a route that protects culture, rewards the team, and still keeps the business commercially grounded. What’s covered How Salad grew over 24 ...
3 Feb 2026
#1 A Decade Building an Employee‑Ownership Mindset – A Conversation with Chris McDermott
In this episode of Stake & Soul, Barry sits down with Chris McDermott, former Chair & CEO of Cambridge Nutritional Foods (CNF) and Chair of the UK Employee Ownership Association (EOA), for a candid conversation about what employee ownership looks like in the real world. Chris shares the behind-the-scenes reality of moving from a traditional ownership structure into employee ownership, what surprised him most once they were “properly” on the other side of the transition, and why ...
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