He is the son of Ronald (Ronnie) and Ann Campbell of Lisburn and was educated at Wallace High School and The Queen's University of Belfast.
He served as Managing Director until 1998 and was responsible for constructing the Somme Museum at Conlig, building the Visitor Centre at the Ulster Tower at Thiepval, France; rescuing Craigavon House, Belfast (the historic home of The 1st Viscount Craigavon), and purchasing Thiepval Wood in France.
In 1997 Campbell contested the UUP selection meeting to succeed Sir Jim Molyneaux, however he lost out to party colleague Jeffrey Donaldson.
The selection was marred by internal division, with South Antrim MLA Duncan Shipley-Dalton claiming that UUP HQ were trying to foist Campbell on the constituency.
[citation needed] In October, 2015 it was announced that he had been working with Jonathan Powell to bring the three main Loyalist paramilitary groups together into a unified structure and to have them recommit to the principles of peace and democracy and move away from criminal activity.