Dean Forbes

Dean Anthony Edward Forbes (born 18 October 1978) is a British business executive. Since February 2021, he has served as chief executive officer of Forterro, a software company based in London, England. integrated travel company KDS, human resources company CoreHR, Oracle, and Primavera Systems.

Forbes was raised in a single-parent household in an estate in Lewisham, and was made homeless twice as a teenager. He started his career at a call centre working for Motorola in 1995. 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. was born on 18 October 1978, at Lewisham Hospital, His father is Jamaican and he has two young brothers, but his Guyanese mother suffered from muscular dystrophy. As a result, Dean started to look after his younger brothers at the age of 11. 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. He told Business Insider that he became homeless following his release from Crystal Palace. in part to clear this debt. After acquisition, he worked for one year at Oracle as vice president responsible for worldwide sales until February 2010.

In February 2010, Forbes joined KDS, a travel and expense management software company. 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. Subsequently, he was appointed chief executive officer at CoreHR, a human resources system company. CoreHR was acquired by The Access Group in May 2020. 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. Forbes appeared four times consecutively on the Powerlist, an annual ranking of influential Black British people, in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024.

Personal life Forbes is married to Danielle Forbes, and the couple have three children. 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. Forbes is close friends with both Rio Ferdinand and Idris Elba. Among other achievements, in September 2024 at a gala, the group raised £400,000 for the African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust in one night.