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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 workPrimavera Systems
(Vice President)
Oracle
(Vice President)
The Access Group
(president)
TitleCEO 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]

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

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Early life

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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

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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

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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

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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

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References

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  1. ^ "About Dean – Forbes Family Group". Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  2. ^ a b c Pollitt, Anna (10 November 2022). "Dean Forbes on football and becoming €1bn Forterro CEO". Spear's. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  3. ^ a b 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. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. ^ a b "Dean Forbes". Business Champion Awards. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  9. ^ a b c Hopkin, George (28 October 2022). "Tech CEO named in The Powerlist of influential Black leaders". technologymagazine.com. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  10. ^ a b 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. ^ a b 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. ^ a b c "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. ^ a b 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. ^ a b 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. ^ a b 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.
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