ABOUT
Steorra — the star you steer by
In Old English, steorra means star. For early navigators, a fixed star was the difference between a course held and a ship lost. This is our founding idea: leadership is navigation, and good navigation starts with a fixed point you trust.
JAMES MILLER · FOUNDER, STEORRA
Meet the founder
James founded Steorra after 25 years building data and commercial functions — as a data leader, CDO, advisor, and partner-level consultant. He has worked with hundreds of organisations, from global brands, to FTSE 100 companies, to scale-ups.
He realised technical work was never what stood between a data function and real business impact. What mattered was whether someone could speak commercially, connect the work to outcomes the business already cared about, and lead the people and change required to make it stick. That observation - repeated across nearly 30 years and many different organisations - is why Steorra exists.
This experience stands behind our coaching. Every intervention is informed by having actually built, run, and scaled the thing you're leading.
"What I've found, across every organisation I've worked with, is that technical work is rarely the limiting factor. The functions that thrive have leaders who can speak commercially, map strategy to business goals, operate with discipline, and have the personal durability to survive a tough seat."
Background · Selected highlights
01
Founded the first data and analytics function at Dixons Retail (now Currys), building capability that contributed to a 20% incremental revenue uplift.
02
Drove a £40m+ a year data and analytics consulting function at Experian, delivering complex transformation programmes for global brands including adidas, Estée Lauder, and American Express — driving an additional £50 million a year opportunity for one client alone, through customer analytics.
03
Founded the first data and analytics directorate at intu, a £6 billion retail REIT, and built an industry-first method for modelling lease and rental income sustainability.
04
Led a sector-first data valuation for a major UK water company, quantifying £53m of data value within a £149m infrastructure programme.
05
Worked on commercial and consulting capability at scale-up Carruthers & Jackson from the ground up as an operating board member — contributing to its exit.
06
Twenty-five years on both sides of the table — founding and running data functions from the inside, and advising organisations on strategy from the outside — across sectors, geographies, and company sizes from FTSE 100 to start-up.
Experience across sectors
From global brands to start-ups