There’s winning and there’s winning… When Rod Flavell, founder and CEO of FDM, was originally nominated for UK CEO of the Year, the judges decided that wasn’t enough. The panel elevated Rod’s award to recognise his achievement on a larger scale to reflect his achievement across the IT industry and on a global scale. The European CEO Awards celebrate leaders who are making strides in the European and wider economies.
Rod, who graduated in 1981 with a BA(Hons) in Human Movement/Human Biology, founded FDM in 1991 under the name FDI. In 1995, he acquired Mountfield, an IT training and software enterprise, prompting the name change to FDM Group. His vision was to create a unique IT and business services company that combines training and commercial experience, eradicating the catch 22 that graduates face and in turn supplying clients with a talent pipeline for the future.
Last year, FDM relisted on the London Stock Exchange as Britain’s largest listed IT services provider and now has a global workforce of over 2,600 people. As the UK’s leading IT graduate employer, FDM aims to hire up to 1,000 graduates globally in 2015 and has already employed over 550 so far.