Andy Preston (businessman)

Andy Preston (born 31 July 1966) is an English businessman and charity chairman. He runs a number of businesses and charities. He also stood for the role of elected mayor of Middlesbrough in 2015. He was a high-profile City trader and also ran a $5.5bln international hedge fund business.

After retiring from fund management,Preston moved back to the North of England. Between 2002 and 2008 Preston was a patron of international children's charity ARK. He was also chairman of charity Fairbridge Teesside from 2005 to 2010. The first charity he founded, in 2011, was Middlesbrough and Teesside Philanthropic Foundation which raises and distributes funds to boost communities across the urban area of Teesside. It is supported by a number of local businesses including Middlesbrough Football Club, Steve Gibson's Bulkhaul and Cleveland Cable Company. It has also won support from Olympic long jumper Chris Tomlinson. A couple of years later Preston launched a new charity called CEO Sleepout which holds events across the UK to raise funds to combat homelessness and poverty.

In December 2016 Preston launched a charity restaurant, The Fork in the Road, in Middlesbrough with the goal of providing employment opportunities for ex-offenders, recovering addicts and the long term unemployed. Run by CEO Sleepout and Public Health England, the restaurant helps to fund a dry bar, Bar Zero, which primarily serves the recovery community. Preston is also chair of Tees Valley Education which is a three school academy trust which operates in some of the UK's most disadvantaged areas.

Andy Preston is involved in numerous businesses in North East England and also invests in commercial property. He and his brother Chris restored the former Kirby College in Middlesbrough, converting it into apartments. In 2013, through a £1 million renovation they also converted a 19th-century Middlesbrough building previously known as the Cleveland Club into office accommodation called Boho Four Gibson House. He has also invested in a number of start-up business in the North East of England.

Andy Preston was historically an active member of Labour Party (UK). In 2013 he spearheaded a successful campaign to retain the role of elected mayor of Middlesbrough when then Mayor Ray Mallon called a referendum on the position. Preston stood for election as an independent in 2015 to become elected mayor of Middlesbrough, narrowly losing out to Labour’s Dave Budd (politician). In 2016 Preston took up a voluntary role as Tees Valley business ambassador for the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign ahead of the referendum to decide whether the country should remain or leave the European Union. After being linked as a potential candidate to become the first Tees Valley Mayor, Preston ruled himself out of the race but warned against the election of a "career politian"