Michael Tobin CBE
ChairmanMichael is a highly successful serial technology entrepreneur and pioneer with over 40 years’ experience in the telecoms and technology sector.
As Chief Executive, Michael Tobin CBE led TelecityGroup plc, a leading FTSE250 technology company, from 2002 to 2014, transforming the company from a £6m market cap in 2002 to a top performer in the FTSE250 worth over £2.5bn, and was recognised as Britain’s Most Admired Tech Company in 2012. Other awards include the London Business Awards “Business Turnaround of the Year” in 2005, the UK Innovation Awards IPO of the Year in 2008, and the techMARK Personality of the Year in the same year.
As a Non-Executive Director, Tobin was instrumental in transforming PACNET in Hong Kong from a sub-sea cable operator into a successful data centre 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 10x money for Carlyle in just 22 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. In 2019 his partnership with Permira culminated in the 10x return sale of Teraco in South Africa. He was also a director of Park Place Technologies, which sold to Charlesbank that year, and of Kinolt, which sold to Rolls-Royce in 2020.
Tobin is currently Chairman of NorthC Data Centres in Amsterdam, AIM-listed Audioboom plc, EdgeConneX Data Centres and Radius Global Infrastructure in New York, Mediterra Data Centres in Italy, and Stellanor Data Centres in the UK, amongst others.
Michael was named UK IT Services Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young in 2009, 2010 and 2011; PwC Tech CEO of the Year in 2007; and London Chamber of Commerce Business Person of the Year for 2009 and 2010. In 2007 and 2009 he won the DCE Outstanding Leader of the Year award, and in 2008 won Data Centre Business Person of the Year at the Data Centre Leaders Awards. He was awarded Outstanding Contribution to the Data Centre Industry at the Data Centre Europe Awards, and in 2011 received a Lifetime Achievement Award for services to the industry. In 2005 he was named number 31 of Britain’s Top 50 Entrepreneurs, and in 2014 he was honoured in the Queen’s New Year Honours List with the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to the Digital Economy. In 2025 he was further honoured by His Majesty The King with Commander of the British Empire (CBE) for services to charity.
In 2016 he received business awards for Outstanding Non-Executive Director of the Year at the Best Business Awards and the Global Business Excellence Awards, and Chairman of the Year at the Stevie Awards in the USA. In 2017 he was recognised as Data Centre and Cloud Influencer of the Decade in Monaco at the Broadgroup Industry Awards, and named in Smith & Williamson’s Top 25 Power Individuals of Industry. In 2025 he was given a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Tech Capital Awards.
Michael has appeared in TED talks and is a global speaker on topics including data centres, AI and motivation, and has authored several books including Forget Strategy, Get Results, Live, Love, Work, Prosper, Lifting the Floor and A Perfect Storm.
In 2016 he ran 40 marathons in 40 days for the Prince’s Trust, and in 2020 trekked to the South Pole for the Brain Tumour Charity.