Our goal is to work with the big provider not against them

It is no coincidence that retirement solutions provider Partnership Assurance was named with this precise meaning in mind.

Steve Groves, its high-achieving managing director, proudly states that the London-based firm does exactly what it says on the tin. Mr Groves said: "When we chose the name of Partnership, that is how we saw ourselves working - as a relationship with others and working together, rather than as head on competition for our competitors.

"By looking at how the life market has evolved, it is an advantage to us. It will continue to evolve. There are some big companies who are very good at doing standard things. That leads to opportunities for smaller companies to differentiate things. The successful smaller companies in this space are the ones which are filling the gaps.

"However, to take the big providers head-on is to differentiate the proposition and our goal instead is to work with them, instead of against them."

With a turnover of £225m last year, Mr Groves believes the medium-sized company has proved this with such a sentiment, and wishes to further do so by aiming to push this to £350m this year.

So who is the man behind such a big turnover figure? With a love of maths since his school days, the married dad-of-one had the choice of choosing between becoming an astrophysicist or an actuary after completing a career path questionnaire. Thankfully for Partnership he chose the latter.

After studying Actuarial Science at degree level for three years, he then became a graduate trainee for Norwich Union, where he worked on product development, long-term care and the launch of equity release. Having looked after life investment funds in 1996, he stayed for a year due to the relocation of the job.

With his interest in annuities and annuitant longevity this led to a move to Stalwart in 1999, which is now part of GE Life, where he worked on equity release, smoker annuities and the launch of an Impaired Life pension annuity. In the same year, he also qualified as an actuary in an impressive three years, which normally takes an average of seven years.

Mr Groves then became product manager for GE Life before becoming head of actuarial services for Britannic Retirement Solutions, formerly Evergreen, where he worked on annuities, enhanced profit annuities and equity release.

After leaving Britannic in early 2003, he took a role leading the actuarial team and established Swiss Re’s Admin Re operation, where he worked on the acquisition and integration of Windsor Life, Zurich Life and Virgin Money Life.

In March 2005, he joined the Pension Annuity Friendly Society, the first provider of impaired annuities in the UK, as its chief finance officer. Later that September, the society became the first friendly society since 1912 to demutualise, and this formed Partnership Assurance. In November 2006, Mr Groves stepped up to the role of managing director where he currently manages its shareholders and 140 staff members.