GBA

Rob Wilmot

Rob was a co-founder of Freeserve in the late 1990s where,after completing a successful £280 million IPO on the LSE and NASDAQ, he becameone of the youngest executive officers of a FTSE 100 company at the age of 29.Rob exited Freeserve after the £1.6 billion trade sale to Wanadoo (a divisionof France Telecom) in 2001 and has stayed at the forefront of the digitalrevolution ever since. Over the last 10 years Rob has continued to invest innumerous technology, media, and entertainment ventures and is a director andNED of a number of private and public sector boards including bcsAgency - anintegrated marketing and communications agency, and Crowdworks - a provider ofcrowdsourcing solutions for the enterprise market.

Rob is an in-demand expert on web, mobile, e-commerce anddigital marketing (including social media) and is a regular speaker on theregional, national and international circuits on the subjects of social media,digital marketing, business development, and education.

Rob has a great depth of experience in the educationsector. For the last three years he has led the turnaround of the previouslyfailing Doncaster College by applying business best practices and exploitingnew technologies, such as social media in the recruitment of learners andpartners. He also advises various government organisations on technology ineducation.

Rob is a visiting fellow at the University of Bradfordwhere he helps to commercialiseintellectualproperty and research. In June 2010 Rob was made an honorary Doctor of theUniversity for his contribution to the internet and business. He was alsorecently made FRSA - Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in recognition for hiswork in education and technology.