Steven Roberts

Graduating from Cambridge University with a degree in Natural Sciences, and with a PhD in Geophysics,
Steven began his Barclays career three decades ago. Over this time, he has held a variety of roles in
Operations and Change across a range of business and support areas. His positions have included: Head
of Risk, Head of Strategy and Planning, Head of Change, Chief Operating Officer for the UK Retail Bank,
Strategic Transformation Director and Chief Scientific Adviser and vice Chair of Barclays UK.
In addition, Steven joined the BUK Ventures team in 2018, and he is a visiting professor of Technology,
Behaviours and Information Strategy at Huddersfield University.
Last year, Steven became Head of Culture and Transformation for Barclays UK, reporting directly to the
CEO of Barclays UK.
Steven was instrumental at Barclays in creating and leading the Strategic Transformation team for 7
years which had a wide-ranging remit to drive cultural and digital transformation. This included
overseeing the launch of Barclays Eagle Labs, pioneering the re-use of branch and corporate space
offering access to co-working and business incubation spaces as well as access to equipment such as 3D
printers and laser cutters as well as training sessions and meeting space to benefit start-up
entrepreneurs, schools, community groups and high growth businesses. There are now 24 Eagle Labs
across the UK, with more in the pipeline.
Other initiatives prior to the Eagle Labs have included the launch of Barclays Digital Eagles, creating over
30,000 volunteers within Barclays across the UK, Europe and Africa, supporting communities in
becoming more digitally competent. Steven’s team were also at the forefront of several industry leading
initiatives, including driving forward the cheque image programme and lobbying government to change
legislation to enable this. The team also lead the work to make Barclays much more accessible to
disabled and elderly customers, including talking ATM’s, and high visibility debit cards. More recently
the team worked on the development of a special group, “AI Eagles” to promote and help
understanding of AI across the UK.
Steven is married with four boys and lives with his wife Caroline in West London.