Profile: Stephen Callow brings fresh perspective to NTDA chairmanship

At the end of February the National Tyre Distributors Association (NTDA) announced that it had appointed a new national chairman to its board of executive officers. The incumbent is Stephen Callow, managing director of Callow Car Care Ltd., who takes over from David White formerly of Kwik Fit. White, who announced that he was stepping down as Kwik Fit Group customer services director in November 2011, said at the time that he was planning to leave the company to “explore opportunities outside the business.” This decision was set to take effect at the end of March 2012 and naturally led to the appointment of a new chairman. Tyres & Accessories met with the new NTDA chairman in mid-March to offer congratulations and get an impression of the association’s direction from here on in.

All this background is important because it highlights the symbolic significance of Callow’s appointment. Early in our meeting Callow confessed that, despite being a committed member of the NTDA’s particularly active North West and North Wales region, he was very surprised to get the nod for the national chairmanship. As surprising as it may have been for Callow however, his appointment reflects the fact that association’s several thousand members are drawn from the whole gamut of tyre distributing companies – large, medium and small businesses from around the United Kingdom.

More than your average tyre kicker

Now with the best part of 20 years industry experience under his belt, Stephen Callow made his entrance into the tyre business through the family firm in 1993. This immediately followed his graduation from Leeds University with an honours degree in engineering. As well as being a Chartered Engineer, he also holds a City & Guilds qualification in retread processing and is a qualified MOT Inspector. 

But in addition to his experience with the round black things we all know and love, something you may not find on his standard CV is the fact that he is a third-dan black belt in tae kwon do in addition to his tyre kicking. Enough said. More sedately, he also describes himself as a “steadily improving golfer”, currently with a handicap of 21. In fact the T&A interview came immediately after a morning’s “reconnoitring” of the Belfry ahead of this summer’s Westlake NTDA Golf Day that is due to be to held at the well known course in June.

Back to the tyre trade: as we have seen Stephen Callow may be new to the role of chairman but he is not new to either the business or the association. A past chairman of the North West and North Wales region of the NTDA, he is a keen supporter of the association, saying: “I have always got value out of the NTDA; every meeting or event provides something of benefit and of course it is always useful to meet with colleagues from within the industry.”

Accordingly he is also keen to explore developments relating to all aspects of tyre safety, along with the use of the latest IT technology in selling and promoting tyres – not least apps and smart phones.

Callow Car Care is based in the North West and was established 40 years ago by Stephen’s late father Ron Callow. It offers fast-fit and MOT service from two centres in Merseyside and Wirral. Another company in the group, Panther Tyres – produces taxi retreads to ECE Regulation 109.