Stephen grew up on a small livestock farm in Turriff, Aberdeenshire and is a graduate of the University of Edinburgh where he became a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Biochemistry. He is the past chair of the Agricultural Industries Confederation Scotland (2017-20). 

Prior to joining Harbro in 2002, he was the European Technical Manager for Alltech. He has held various commercial, technical and sales roles within the Harbro Group and has been a board member since 2007 of the group and Strathclyde Nutrition before taking up his current post of Executive Chairman in 2017.