Glen Manchester

Glen Manchester (born 16 June 1965) is a technology pioneer, innovator and entrepreneur. He is best known as being the founder & Chief Executive Officer of Thunderhead, the largest founder/employee-owned software business in the UK.

Glen Manchester
Born (1965-06-16) June 16, 1965
London, England
NationalityEnglish
OccupationTechnology Entrepreneur
Years active1991-present
Known forFounder & CEO of Thunderhead

Early life

Manchester, an only child, was born in St John's Wood, London. He was Educated at Picardy Secondary Community School in Belvedere, Kent until he was 17 years old. Manchester has dyslexia and did not go on to university, instead he spent some time traveling and worked as a Ghillie on a Highland Estate before beginning his business career with Xerox[1]

Career

Manchester's business career is motivated by his interest in helping businesses improve customer engagement through personalised interactions[1]

He founded his first company, Geneva Digital in 1991, at the age of 25.[2] Geneva Digital created a new set of customer communication solutions for the direct banking and insurance sectors. In 1999, Geneva Digital was acquired by Xenos Group (now Open Text Corporation), a public company based in North America and a leading specialist in customer communications technology. Manchester was appointed President and CEO[3]

In 2001, Manchester founded and privately funded[4] Thunderhead to develop a new generation of enterprise technology for customer engagement[4] Thunderhead grew from a UK based start-up to a global cloud based technology company with operations throughout Europe, North America, Asia Pacific and Australia.[2] In April 2015 Manchester hired advertising agency AMV BBDO to re-launch the Thunderhead brand globally. The campaign featured the giant ‘Thunderhead’ who possesses the knowledge to solve a salesman’s problems.[5]

On Monday 12 September 2016, Manchester sold the Smart Communications division of Thunderhead to private equity firm Accel-KKR for an undisclosed sum. Under Manchester’s leadership, Thunderhead’s ONE Engagement Hub, which launched in 2014, continues to solve brand's customer engagement challenges.[6]

Recognition

Manchester was named “Entrepreneur of the Year” at the 'Real Business Growing Business Awards' in 2009[7] and was appointed as a non-executive Director for London & Partners between December 2011 and November 2013[8]

Political activity

Manchester donated £100,000 to the Conservative Party in October 2019.[9]

Personal life

Manchester now lives between London and Surrey; he is a father to Jack.

Manchester supports a charity, namely The Prince's Trust where he is an Enterprise Fellow.[10] He also supports Centrepoint in London and Covenant House in New York.

References
  1. Cook, Tracy. "Entrepreneur Glen Manchester became a self-made millionaire in the middle of a recession". Surrey Life. Retrieved 11 April 2012.
  2. The Huffington Post. "Glen Manchester". huffingtonpost.co.uk.
  3. "Glen Manchester". Follow The Entrepreneur.
  4. Rogers, Bruce. "A Better Way to Manage the Customer Journey". Forbes. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
  5. West, Gillian. "Thunderhead launch film to target CMOs during Mad Men ad break". The Drum. Carnyx Group Limited. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
  6. Business Wire http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160912005600/en/Thunderhead-Sells-Smart-Communications-Division-Accel-KKR
  7. Burn-Callander, Rebecca. "Glen Manchester: Entrepreneur of the Year". Real Business. Retrieved 6 March 2009.
  8. "London & Partners appoints new Board Members". London & Partners. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
  9. "View donation". The Electoral Commission. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
  10. "The Prince's Trust, Enterprise Fellowship". princes-trust.org.uk. Retrieved 26 May 2015.
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