Perched on her trademark high stool, she calmly interrogates captains of industry and leading experts on all manner of commercial matters.
Yet it is not in the comfort of the studio that Steph McGovern feels most at home.
Ms McGovern will be well known to the local business community as the face of the breakfast business news, for which she goes out and about to meet factory workers and chief executive officers alike to report daily on the issues facing those in the frontline of British business.
Originally from Middlesbrough, Ms McGovern had just won the title of Young Engineer for Britain when she first appeared on a programme about women in science.
This eventually led to her producing the financial news on Radio 4’s Today programme, during which time she covered Conrad Black’s trial in Chicago.
During the financial crash she was the lead producer of business news bulletins working with Robert Peston at the forefront of award-winning coverage of the credit crunch and banking crisis.
Give her a reflective jacket, protective helmet or industrial goggles and send her out into the factories and workshops of Britain and she is in her element.
‘It’s probably my background in engineering,’ she explained. ‘I like getting the cameras to have a good poke around, looking at this, that and the other, in all the corners of the workplace.’
Originally from Middlesbrough, the award-winning business presenter will be in the Island on Friday to host the Jersey Business Awards for Enterprise.
Although known to BBC listeners and viewers who instantly recognise her voice – rich with the sound of Teesside where she grew up – journalism was not her first career choice.
‘I was studying to be an engineer,’ she revealed. ‘I got a job with Black & Decker in Durham.’
That job led to her winning the title of Young Engineer for Britain, aged just 19, having saved the company a sizeable sum of money through her design work on its Leaf Hog project.
Her success resulted in a guest appearance on a BBC programme about women in science.
‘I then stalked the BBC for work,’ Ms McGovern said. ‘I worked on Tomorrow’s World, when that show was relaunched in the noughties, and I was involved behind the scenes on news programmes
alongside business editor Robert Peston.’
She joined the Breakfast show – for which she has to leave her bed at 3.30 each morning, Monday to Thursday – in October 2011. ‘It is an early start,’ she agreed, ‘but when you love your job, you really don’t mind too much.’
Her interviews with the leading lights in commercial life, especially those conducted out on the road in the run-up to last week’s General Election, have given her the ideal opportunity to gauge the current economic mood.
‘There is certainly more optimism at the moment. People feel more secure in their jobs. The real concern is wages – they don’t think that they are earning enough.
‘Because order books are fairly healthy, businesses are feeling better off and more confident. But essentially they are having to do more for less; the prices they are able to charge the customer haven’t caught up. This is why it has not been easy for them to implement wage rises for their staff.
‘We won’t get proper economic growth until people have more money in their pockets.’
This week’s Awards for Enterprise engagement marks a happy return to the Island for Ms McGovern. ‘I used to come to Jersey for holidays when I was a child,’ she said. ‘My dad’s an artist and he liked to paint Island scenes.’
And while she hopes to find some time during this trip for a little cycling and sight-seeing, she is clearly focused on the job in hand.
‘I think that awards ceremonies are very important,’ she said. ‘A lot of people are working so hard, yet the public don’t fully know what they are doing.
‘The awards give the public that chance to get to know them and what they do and also gives proper recognition for the businesses concerned.’
Graeme Smith, chief executive of Jersey Business said: ‘We are delighted that Steph McGovern has accepted our invitation to host this year’s Jersey Business Awards for Enterprise. Steph has a proven track record in business and her breadth of knowledge of industry and the commercial world is plain for all to see.
‘The Awards for Enterprise celebrate the entrepreneurial talent and skill that exists in the Island and I look forward to welcoming our local business community to the showcase gala evening, where they will be able to hear a keynote address from Steph McGovern in person.’
NATWEST NEW ENTERPRISE OF THE YEAR
- CodexDLD
- Co-op Medical Care
- Healthhaus
- PC Boatsales
- Seafish Café
INVESTEC SMALL AND MEDIUM SIZED ENTERPRISE OF THE YEAR
- Enhance Group
- Jersey Seafaris
- HR Now
- Mainmann Group
- Purpose
STATES OF JERSEY EDD LARGE ENTERPRISE OF THE YEAR
- First Names
- The Liberation Group
- Standard Bank
- Radisson Blu
- ROK Construction
INDIGO LIGHTHOUSE ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR
- Jordan Love, CodexDLD
- Glenda Rivoallan, Healthhaus
- Mark Crowther, Liberation Group
- Rupert Langley Smith, Provis
- n Bob Matthews, ROK Construction
JERSEY POST AWARD FOR INTERNATIONAL SALES
- Albert Bartlett
- Mainmann Group
- Provis
- Sator Regulatory Consulting
CONDOR FERRIES NOT FOR PROFIT ORGANISATION OF THE YEAR
- Autism Jersey
- Les Amis
- Little Miracles
- MacMillan Jersey
- Wetwheels Jersey
JERSEY BUSINESS AWARD FOR ENTERPRISE EXCELLENCE
