Dean Forbes

Last updated

Dean Forbes
Born
Dean Anthony Edward Forbes

(1978-10-18) 18 October 1978 (age 46)
Lewisham, London, England
OccupationBusiness executive
EmployerForterro (2021–present)
Known forInformation and Technology
Notable work Primavera Systems
(Vice President)
Oracle
(Vice President)
The Access Group
(president)
Title CEO at Forterro

Dean Anthony Edward Forbes (born 18 October 1978) is a British business executive. [1] Since February 2021, he has served as chief executive officer of Forterro, a software solution company based in London, England. [2] Prior to his appointment, he held executive positions at The Access Group, [3] integrated travel company KDS, [4] human resources company CoreHR, Oracle, and Primavera Systems. [5]

Contents

Forbes was raised in a single-parent household in an estate in Lewisham, and was made homeless twice as a teenager. [6] In his early life, Forbes played for Crystal Palace FC, but was released at the age of 17. [7] He started his career at a call centre working for Motorola in 1995. [6] Five years later, Forbes was appointed vice president of Primavera Systems, and became very wealthy following the acquisition of Primavera by Oracle in 2009. He has since occupied executive positions elsewhere, and founded the charitable Forbes Family Group. [6]

Forbes appeared four times consecutively on the Powerlist, an annual ranking of influential Black British people, from 2021 to 2024. [8] [9] [10] [11] In the 2025 list, Forbes was rated as the most influential Black British person in the United Kingdom by the Powerlist for the first time. [6]

Biography

Early life

Dean Anthony Edward Forbes [12] was born on 18 October 1978, at Lewisham Hospital, [13] and grew up in a single-parent household in Lewisham. [6] Forbes has two young brothers, and his mother was suffering from muscular dystrophy. As a result, Dean started to look after his younger brothers at the age of 11. [14] Despite these obstacles to academic success, and investing time in training to become a professional footballer, Forbes still passed 10 GCSEs at School. [15] Forbes at an early age had aspirations to be a professional football player and signed a contract with the academy at Crystal Palace. However, he faced injuries, and the club decided to release him at the age of 17. [14] He told Business Insider that he became homeless following his release from Crystal Palace. [13] At this time, he was in £88,000 of debt after borrowing money to maintain the appearance of a glamorous lifestyle to friends including Rio Ferdinand and other wealthy football players. [6] He then started a job with Motorola working in a call centre, [13] [16] in part to clear this debt. [6]

Career

From July 1995, Forbes worked as a sales manager at Motorola. Following this, he joined Isis Telecommunications before joining Primavera Systems in April 2000. [17] Forbes served as vice president responsible for international growth at Primavera for nine years, until the company was sold to Oracle in January 2009. [18] After acquisition, he worked for one year at Oracle as vice president responsible for worldwide sales until February 2010. [19] [20]

In February 2010, Forbes joined KDS, a travel and expense management software company. [21] He served as vice president responsible for commercial operations until July 2011, when he was promoted to chief executive officer of the company. The company was acquired by Amex GBT in August 2016, but Forbes remained CEO of KDS as a subsidiary until December 2016. [22] Subsequently, he was appointed chief executive officer at CoreHR, a human resources system company. CoreHR was acquired by The Access Group in May 2020. [23] [24] Forbes was president at The Access Group responsible for people division from May 2020 to February 2021, and was recruited and mentored by Chris Bayne, CEO of The Access Group. [3]

In February 2021, [2] Forbes joined Forterro, a Swedish software firm, where he currently serves as CEO and has an equity stake. [6] the company focuses on providing ERP software across Europe, and is based in London. [2] As of 2022, Forbes was also a partner at Corten Capital. [9] Forbes appeared four times consecutively on the Powerlist, an annual ranking of influential Black British people, in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024. [8] [9] [10] [11] In 2025, Forbes topped the list for the first time. [6]

Personal life

Forbes is married to Danielle Forbes, and the couple has three children. [25] One of their daughters had leukemia at the age of two, but made a full recovery, leading to Dean's interest in the African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust. [26] Forbes is close friends with both Rio Ferdinand and Idris Elba. [6]

Charity

Forbes founded Forbes Family Group, a charity foundation. [27] [28] Among other achievements, in September 2024 at a gala, the group raised £400,000 for the African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust in one night. [15] [26]

See also

Related Research Articles

Oracle Corporation is an American multinational computer technology company headquartered in Austin, Texas. In 2020, Oracle was the third-largest software company in the world by revenue and market capitalization. In 2023, the company’s seat in Forbes Global 2000 was 80. The company sells database software and cloud computing. Oracle's core application software is a suite of enterprise software products, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, human capital management (HCM) software, customer relationship management (CRM) software, enterprise performance management (EPM) software, Customer Experience Commerce and supply chain management (SCM) software.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Larry Ellison</span> American businessman and entrepreneur (born 1944)

Lawrence Joseph Ellison is an American businessman and entrepreneur who co-founded software company Oracle Corporation. He was Oracle's chief executive officer from 1977 to 2014 and is now its chief technology officer and executive chairman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Express</span> American multinational financial services corporation

The American Express Company or Amex is an American bank holding company and multinational financial services corporation that specializes in payment cards. It is headquartered at 200 Vesey Street, also known as American Express Tower, in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Manhattan. Amex is the fourth-largest card network globally based on purchase volume, behind China UnionPay, Visa, and Mastercard. 141.2 million Amex cards were in force worldwide as of December 31, 2023, with an average annual spend per card member of US$24,059. That year, Amex handled over $1.7 trillion in purchase volume on its network. Amex is one of the largest US banks, and is ranked 77th on the Fortune 500 and 28th on the list of the most valuable brands by Forbes. In 2023, it was ranked 63rd in the Forbes Global 2000. Amex also owns a direct bank.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reed Hastings</span> American entrepreneur and education philanthropist (born 1960)

Wilmot Reed Hastings Jr. is an American billionaire businessman. He is the co-founder and executive chairman of Netflix, and is on a number of boards and non-profit organizations. A former president of the California State Board of Education, Hastings is also an advocate for charter schools. He is the majority owner and chief executive officer of Powder Mountain, a Utah ski resort. As of September 2024, Forbes estimated his net worth at US$4.3 billion.

Oracle Applications comprise the applications software or business software of the Oracle Corporation both in the cloud and on-premises. The term refers to the non-database and non-middleware parts. The suite of applications includes enterprise resource planning, enterprise performance management, supply chain & manufacturing, human capital management, and advertising and customer experience.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Phillips (businessman)</span> American business executive

Charles E. Phillips is an American business executive in the tech industry. He is the co-founder of Recognize, a focused investment firm. From 2010 to 2019, he was the CEO of Infor, a company that specializes in enterprise software applications for specific industries.

Safra Ada Catz is an Israeli-American billionaire banker and technology executive. She is the CEO of Oracle Corporation. She has been an executive at Oracle since April 1999, and a board member since 2001. In April 2011, she was named co-president and chief financial officer (CFO), reporting to founder Larry Ellison. In September 2014, Oracle announced that Ellison would step down as CEO and that Mark Hurd and Catz had been named as joint CEOs. In September 2019, Catz became the sole CEO after Hurd resigned due to health issues.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marc Benioff</span> American businessman (born 1964)

Marc Russell Benioff is an American internet entrepreneur and philanthropist. Benioff is best known as the co-founder, chairman and CEO of the software company Salesforce, as well as being the owner of Time magazine since 2018.

David Ellison is an American film producer, former actor, and the founder and CEO of Skydance Media. He is the son of multibillionaire and Oracle Corporation co-founder Larry Ellison.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Workday, Inc.</span> American software company

Workday, Inc., is an American on‑demand (cloud-based) financial management, human capital management, and student information system software vendor. Workday was founded by David Duffield, founder and former CEO of ERP company PeopleSoft, along with former PeopleSoft chief strategist Aneel Bhusri, following Oracle's acquisition of PeopleSoft in 2005.

Gregory Q. Brown is an American businessman. He has been chairman and chief executive officer of Motorola Solutions since 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NetSuite</span> Technology company

NetSuite Inc. is an American cloud-based enterprise software company that provides products and services tailored for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) including accounting and financial management, customer relationship management (CRM), inventory management, human capital management, payroll, procurement, project management and e-commerce software. NetSuite was founded in 1998 with headquarters in Austin, Texas. The company is widely seen as the first cloud computing software company, with its founding pre-dating that of Salesforce by about a month.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zach Nelson</span> American tech businessman

Zachary A. Nelson served as president and chief executive officer of NetSuite, Inc. prior to its acquisition by Oracle Corp.

Sonita Alleyne, is the Barbados-born British co-founder and former CEO of Somethin’ Else, a cross-platform media production company. Alleyne is a member of the BBC Trust, the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation, and in 2019 was elected Master of Jesus College, Cambridge, becoming the first woman to hold the post since the founding of the college in 1496, as well as the first black leader of an Oxbridge college.

KDS is a SaaS technology provider for online business travel booking and expense management. It is also known as the Neo Technology Group (NTG) since its acquisition by American Express Global Business Travel (GBT). Yves Weisselberger founded the company in 1994 and served as its CEO until 2011. Dean Forbes took the position of CEO after Weisselberger. The company is based in Issy-les-Moulineaux, France with additional locations in Germany, United Kingdom, and the United States of America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aneel Bhusri</span> Indian-American business executive

Aneel Bhusri is an American business executive. He is the chief executive officer (CEO) of Workday. He is also a partner at Greylock Partners and was a member of Intel's board of directors between 2014 and 2019. Bhusri has been a billionaire since 2014; as of 2021 he has a net worth of $3.1 billion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Express Global Business Travel</span> Travel management

American Express Global Business Travel is a multinational travel management company headquartered in New York City. Amex GBT has 18,000 employees in more than 140 countries. American Express holds a minority interest in Amex GBT, but the travel company operates as a separate entity from the financial services group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Everette Taylor</span> American entrepreneur and public speaker

Everette Taylor is an American business executive. He has been the CEO of Kickstarter since September 2022, and was CMO of Artsy, and founder of ET Enterprises which includes the marketing firm MiliSense, social media software company PopSocial, ArtX and GrowthHackers.

The Powerlist is a list of the 100 most influential people of African or African Caribbean heritage in the United Kingdom. The list is updated annually and has been published in book format by Powerful Media since 2007. The Powerlist is not limited to British-born citizens and includes immigrants to the UK.

Yvonne Greenstreet is a British biotechnology executive. She is chief operating officer of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, and from 1 January 2022 Alnylam's CEO. She is one of a small number of Black women leading a drug company.

References

  1. ↑ "About Dean – Forbes Family Group" . Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 Pollitt, Anna (10 November 2022). "Dean Forbes on football and becoming €1bn Forterro CEO". Spear's. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  3. 1 2 Phocuswire (19 July 2022). "Dean Forbes on travel, diversity and advice for founders" . Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  4. ↑ "American Express Global Business Travel Acquires KDS, Global Provider of Integrated Travel SaaS Technology". Amex GBT - United States. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  5. ↑ Birch, Scott (1 September 2022). "Dean Forbes – the Forterro CEO aiming for the moon". businesschief.com. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Espiner, Tom (25 October 2024). "Twice homeless millionaire tops UK black power list". BBC News. Retrieved 25 October 2024.
  7. ↑ "Meet the ex-footballer who became a multi-millionaire after being rejected by Premier League club". SPORTbible. 21 March 2023. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  8. 1 2 "Dean Forbes". Business Champion Awards. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  9. 1 2 3 Hopkin, George (28 October 2022). "Tech CEO named in The Powerlist of influential Black leaders". technologymagazine.com. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  10. 1 2 Cumming, Alice (9 November 2022). "Dean Forbes named one of the most influential black people in Britain - Business Leader News". Business Leader. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  11. 1 2 AfricaNews (27 October 2023). "Here are UK's 10 most influential blacks for 2024". Africanews. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  12. ↑ "Dean Anthony Edward FORBES". Companies House. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
  13. 1 2 3 "A startup CEO who grew up caring for his siblings and disabled mother reveals his tough journey breaking into tech". Business Insider. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  14. 1 2 Singh, Aditya (21 March 2023). "Meet Dean Forbes, Crystal Palace reject who became homeless at 17 before becoming CEO of tech company valued at $1 billion". sportskeeda.com. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  15. 1 2 Guyoncourt, Sally (25 October 2024). "Who is Dean Forbes? Journey from homelessness to Britain's most influential black person". iNews. Retrieved 28 October 2024.
  16. ↑ Birch, Scott (1 September 2022). "Forterro CEO Dean Forbes – inspirational leadership". businesschief.asia. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
  17. ↑ Birch, Scott (1 September 2022). "The inspirational CEO story – Dean Forbes of Forterro". businesschief.eu. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  18. ↑ Cassidy, Francesca (27 June 2022). "How I became a… turnaround CEO". Raconteur. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  19. ↑ Dufour, Alexis (1 April 2010). "Dean Forbes rejoint la direction de KDS". Déplacements Pros (in French). Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  20. ↑ Breaking, Travel news (12 July 2011). "New CEO at KDS" . Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  21. ↑ "Getting to know you: Dean Forbes". Business Matters. 18 February 2010. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  22. ↑ "KDS Names Roxana Bressy CEO". Amex GBT - United States. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  23. ↑ Darmody, Jenny (1 May 2018). "CoreHR CEO: Recruiters should think like sports agents". Silicon Republic. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  24. ↑ "Confessions of a CEO | Hiscox UK". hiscox.co.uk. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  25. ↑ Lewis, Darren (3 March 2022). "The Apprentice's Tim Campbell on his determined sacrifice for his family". The Mirror. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
  26. 1 2 Campbell, Joel (17 September 2024). "I forgot what the ACLT stands for. It won't happen again". Voice Online. Retrieved 28 October 2024.
  27. ↑ Namasaba, Preta Peace (15 January 2024). "Here's how Dean Forbes went from homelessness to leading a $1 billion software acquisition". BlackStars. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
  28. ↑ "Tech CEO Dean Forbes named one of the three most influential black people in Britain | Forterro". forterro.com. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.