North Leeds business support firm marks fifth anniversary with significant growth plans

A North Leeds-based business support firm is marking its fifth anniversary with significant growth plans and a new addition to the team.

Entrepreneur Dave McCartney launched The Alternative Board in 2010, one of the first of its kind in the UK, which brings business leaders together for monthly business owner advisory meetings and one-to-one support.

TAB was first launched in the USA 25 years ago, and came to the UK in 2009, basing UK operations out of Harrogate, and now there are currently 12 TAB facilitators in Yorkshire.

Five year later and due to growing demand for the business’ service, Dave will be joined by global HR specialist, Lisa Richards, who will run additional TAB boards for more business leaders in the area.

Lisa, who currently runs coaching and consulting business, Alto Coaching and HR, has been a member of The Alternative Board since 2013, when she first set up her company following HR roles in the pharmaceutical and financial services sectors.

Commenting on the success of the business after five years, Dave said: “The TAB philosophy is simple. It can be challenging - and potentially lonely - running a business. Bringing together business owners and leaders with like-minded people on a regular basis enables them to use their combined experience and knowledge to identify opportunities, solve challenges and hold each other accountable for taking their businesses to the next level. Lisa is a perfect fit for my business. Her background and experience mean she has much to offer to our members, and the fact that she has experienced TAB first hand will prove beneficial, too.”

Lisa added: “I’ve been telling people how important TAB has been to my business for a long time. It has been invaluable for me to have a group of people, each at different stages of running similar sized businesses, to help me think about how best to get my business moving and growing in the direction I’m aiming for.

“I knew that Dave was keen to grow TAB in North Leeds, and joining him felt like a natural extension of the work I’m doing already. I’m looking forward to helping more business owners drive their companies forward and enjoy the support that our TAB boards provide, and I’m very pleased to say there has been significant interest from businesses already.”

Since establishing TAB, Dave has provided support for 50 businesses throughout the region.

Richard Kempner, founder of Leeds-based IP law firm, Kempner & Partners, was one of his first board members and remains on a board today.

Richard said: “TAB has helped us immeasurably. It’s amazing how people running businesses in different sectors have a massive degree of overlap in the issues they face - day in, day out. There isn’t a single area where my board has not added a different perspective to our thinking.

“We all find ourselves stuck in the trenches, and TAB has enabled my firm to benefit from outside experience which is unshackled from - in my case - the practice of law, and most closely resembles the kind of input you receive from a non-executive director.”