Company founders Lee Hartley and Sarat Pediredla have spent almost two decades at their respective regional businesses
The founders of two well-known North East business leaders are starting the new year by looking to new horizons after it was announced they would be stepping down from their roles.
Lee Hartley, deputy chair of wealth management company Fairstone Group, and Sarat Pediredla, CEO at Newcastle tech business hedgehog lab, have both left the firms they launched, having both spent almost two decades building their respective companies. Mr Hartley has left Fairstone after stepping down from his role of deputy chair, a role he moved to last year from the CEO position when he was succeeded by new chief executive Steven Cooper.
Chairman David Hickey said: “I have known and worked with Lee for almost a decade. He is the most impressive business founder I have ever worked with, and the scale and continuing success of Fairstone is a lasting tribute to his abilities as a businessman and leader.
“I have no doubt his new business in the venture capital sector will be equally successful in the years to come. In the meantime, and on behalf of all Fairstone stakeholders, I would like to thank him for his enormous contribution to making Fairstone one of the largest and most trusted wealth managers in the UK and Ireland, and I wish him every success in the future.”
Last month Mr Hartley announced the launch of Castrius Capital Partners, a new private capital platform focused on the North East with the aim of bringing £10bn of funding capacity to the region over the next 10 years.
When he stepped down from his CEO role at Fairstone last July he said: “I’m immensely proud to have built Fairstone from an initial concept through to our position today. I’m really looking forward to helping guide the business from a new seat. We’ve massively improved our senior management team and organisational design over the last 18 months, and this is one of the principal reasons why I’m now able to make this decision.”
Meanwhile, Sarat Pediredla announced on LinkedIn how, after almost 19 years at hedgehog lab, he had “reached the moment where it feels right to step aside and make space for the next chapter of leadership”.
Mr Pediredla – who is also a non-executive director at Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and chair of digital health company Health Call – formed the digital product consultancy in 2007, growing the group into an international firm with offices in the UK, US and India. He said that he leaves the business with “immense gratitude, pride and joy” and that he is “exploring new horizons and rediscovering who I am beyond the singular identity of founder”.
He said: “This company has shaped almost every part of my adult life. It has stretched me, grounded me, humbled me and given me more purpose than I ever expected when we started with two laptops, some broken furniture and a warehouse unit that rattled in the wind.
“The journey has been full of moments I will never forget. The early scrappy wins that convinced us we might actually make it. The years of learning how to lead while building a culture that felt human. The surreal milestones where we found ourselves working with global brands or opening new offices. The tough seasons too, from painful restructures to the burnout I walked through in 2023 and 2024. Each high and low shaped me in ways I am still processing.
“What stands out most as I look back is the people. I will reach out to each of you, because none of this would have existed without the countless hands, minds and hearts that helped build what started as a twenty five year old’s pipe dream.
“I believe now is the right time to hand over the reins. I am proud of the executive team we have built. I will step down as CEO immediately and support the business as an advisor for the next twelve months.
“As for what comes next, I am going to slow down. My family has carried the weight of my ambition and identity for many years and they deserve more of me now. After some rest, I will take my time exploring where I want to spend the next 20 years of my professional life. Titles change. Chapters close. But once you learn to be the hedgehog, you never quite stop.”
