Stephen Kenwright
About Stephen
I founded SEARCH-FIRST creative agency Rise at Seven in 2019, initially serving as Chief Operating Officer, then Chief Commercial Officer, before exiting via MBO in 2022. During my 3 year tenure, the agency grew revenues from nothing to more than £7m; hired 110 people and opened offices in Sheffield, London, Manchester and New York; and won more than 70 awards - about one every two weeks. Previously Head of Digital at £4.7bn automotive retailer Pendragon PLC, leading performance marketing; product; PR and social media. Before that, strategy director at performance marketing agency Branded3, helping to lead its merge and rebrand to Kin + Carta PLC.
I'm a keynote speaker, giving more than 100 talks in 10 countries, and awards judge for the Search Awards, PRCA Dare Awards, BIMA Awards and others. I'm also one of Insider's 42 Under 42. I founded a conference called #SearchLeeds, which became the north's largest digital marketing conference, attracting more than 2,000 people each year. The Drum once turned me into a Top Trump card.
