{"page_id":4,"name":"Michael Tobin OBE","company":"CRYSTAL PEAK ACQUISITION","position":"CO-FOUNDER & EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN","bio":"Michael is a highly successful serial technology entrepreneur & pioneer with over 30 years\u2019 experience in the telecoms & technology sector.\r\n\r\nAs Chief Executive, Michael Tobin OBE led TelecityGroup plc, a leading FTSE250 Technology company from 2002 to 2014. \r\n\r\nHe joined Redbus in 2002 delisting it from the main market to AIM, & then took it private, winning the London Business Awards \u201cBusiness Turnaround of the Year\u201d award in 2005. After engineering the merger with Telecity, & the acquisition of Globix he successfully re-listed TelecityGroup in October 2007 winning the accolade of UK Innovation Awards IPO of the year 2008 & the techMARK Personality of the year in the same year.\r\n\r\nSubsequently he grew the business organically & acquired businesses in Manchester, Helsinki, Dublin, Sofia, Istanbul & Warsaw transforming the company from \u00a36m market cap in 2002 to being a top performer in the FTSE250 worth over \u00a32.5Bn, being recognized as Britain\u2019s Most admired Tech Company in 2012.\r\n\r\nPrior to joining TelecityGroup, Tobin headed-up Fujitsu\u2019s e-Commerce operations in Frankfurt, Germany. Before that, he ran ICL\u2019s Danish outsourcing subsidiary out of Copenhagen Denmark. He also held several senior positions based in Paris for over 11 years including Business Development Director at International Computer Group coordinating global distribution of IT infrastructure.\r\n\r\nAs a Non Exec Director, Tobin was instrumental in transforming PACNET in Hong Kong from a Sub Sea Cable operator to a successful Datacenter operator culminating in its sale in 2015 to Telstra for $800m. In 2017 he was the key driver of the sale of Itconic in Spain to Equinix generating over 7x money for Carlyle in just 19 months, and as a NED oversaw the sale of Datapipe in New York to Rackspace and Basefarm in Norway to Orange on behalf of Abry Partners.\r\n\r\nTobin has been involved in multiple PE backed Datacentre transactions around the world including Teraco in South Africa, ITConic in Spain, Basefarm in Norway and Datapipe in the USA. He currently holds numerous Technology Non-Exec Directorships around the world & is the Chair of AIM listed Audioboom plc and BigBlu Broadband plc.\r\n\r\nMr Tobin is Chairman of the Friends of The Loomba Trust supporting widows in India, a Patron and Founders Circle Member of The British Asian Trust, Founder of the CEO Sleepout event for Action for Children & has sat on fundraising boards of the Princes Trust, Cooperation Ireland & the Make-a-Wish Foundation. Mr Tobin\u2019s charitable focus is primarily the education, welfare & empowerment of young people & children around the world.   \r\n\r\nIn 2016 Mr Tobin slept in the streets to raise money and awareness for Action for Children, completed his Duke of Edinburgh Diamond Award, and raised over \u00a3100k running 40 Marathons in 40 consecutive days for the 40th anniversary of the Princes Trust. In 2020 Tobin trekked to the South Pole raising over \u00a3500k for the Brain Tumour Charity\r\n\r\nMichael\u2019s business & thought leadership have been widely recognized. He was named \u2018UK IT Services Entrepreneur of the Year\u2019 by Ernst & Young in 2009, 2010 & 2011; PWC Tech CEO of the Year 2007; London Chamber of Commerce 'Business Person of the Year\u2019 for 2009 & 2010; In 2009 was named techMARK \u2018Personality of the Year\u2019; In 2007 & 2009 he was the winner of the DCE Outstanding Leader of the Year, & in 2008 won \u2018Data Centre Business Person of the Year\u2019 at the Data Centre Leaders awards. He was awarded \u2018Outstanding Contribution to the Data Centre Industry\u2019 at the Data Centre Europe awards & in 2011 received a Lifetime Achievement Award for services to the industry.\r\n\r\nIn 2005 he was named number 31 of Britain\u2019s Top 50 Entrepreneurs & in 2014 he was honoured in the Queens New Years Honours List with the Order of the British Empire (OBE) medal for Services to the Digital Economy.\r\n\r\nIn 2016 he received business awards for Outstanding Non Executive Director of the year in the Best Business Awards 2016 and the Global Business Excellence Awards 2016, and Chairman of the Year at the Stevie Awards in the USA. In 2017 he was recognized as Datacentre and Cloud Influencer of the Decade in Monaco at the Broadgroup Industry Awards and named in Smith and Williamson\u2019s Top 25 Power Individuals of Industry.\r\n\r\nMichael has many motivational & Inspirational speaking engagements & in 2014 he launched his first book, \u201cForget Strategy, Get Results\u201d to great acclaim, and his second book, \u201dLive, Love, Work, Prosper\u201d was released in 2018. His third book, \u201cLifting the Floor\u201d was released in 2020.","twitter_url":"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Michael_Tobin_","linkedin_url":"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/michael-tobin-obe-098179\/","filename":"XWgLGj6Li6R0i74jRtMs1rXYC8fZXwzy2tps9QrM.jpg","status":"1","sort_order":59,"updated_at":"2023-01-09T02:57:27.000000Z","created_at":"2023-01-09T02:57:27.000000Z","id":59}