Austin, TX, February 16, 2021—Forterro, a group of companies that deliver enterprise resource planning (ERP) software to small- and medium-sized businesses, today announced the appointment of two new executives to lead the company into a new phase of growth in its core market, Europe.
Dean Forbes, a longtime, U.K.-based software executive who was most recently the president of The Access Group, was named Forterro’s chief executive. Paul Smolinski, the former chief financial officer of HR and payroll software firm CoreHR, was named CFO. The two U.K.-based leaders have been tapped to continue Forterro’s growth strategy in Europe, working with the company’s strategic leadership teams across the group’s primary business units in France, Germany, Poland, Sweden, and Switzerland.
Forbes joins Forterro after an extensive career in executive and senior leadership roles for a number of international software companies. Most recently he led the growth and expansion of CoreHR, a UK HCM software provider, across Europe. CoreHR was acquired by The Access Group, where Forbes subsequently served as president and executive board member. Prior to CoreHR, Forbes was CEO of Paris-headquartered SaaS software company KDS, where he led the successful growth and international expansion of the firm, leading to its acquisition by American Express. On March 1st Forbes will step into his role at Forterro over seeing the companies 1200 employees and business activities in all 17 countries
“I am thrilled to become part of such a strong group of ERP companies, who are all successfully operating in one of the strongest, most steadily growing markets in enterprise software,” Forbes said. “The cornerstone of our ongoing success will be to continue investing in the market leadership positions of local and niche ERP software businesses throughout Europe. I am excited about leading the next stage of the Forterro journey as we look to continue to grow the business aggressively, both organically and through further acquisitions.”
“Bringing in new, Europe-based leadership is part of the natural evolution of Forterro,” said Dave Tabors, a Forterro board member and Battery Ventures private equity partner. “Former CEO Jeff Tognoni, former COO Scott Malia, and the rest of the U.S.-based Forterro leadership team have done an outstanding job of growing the business by evaluating, acquiring, and operating ERP companies. To push Forterro into its next stage of development, however, it is time to cultivate leadership talent in closer proximity to our business unit operations. We are very excited to work with Dean as he prepares Forterro for its next stage of growth.”
© 2023 Forbes Family Group. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Site by Huey Hutch
Partner – St James’s Place Wealth Manager
Charlie provides bespoke wealth management solutions aiming to achieve his clients’ individual goals. Clients benefit from his 20 years’ experience in the city assisting professionals & business owners through their careers and beyond. Building a relationship of trust is the foundation of his approach. His relationship with each client starts with listening, establishing values to be adhered to and from which he can build a bespoke strategy.
Outside of work, Charlie keeps fit going to the gym , playing golf and competing in Triathlon events. He relaxes by watching any live sport but will never miss an English International Rugby match.
Alexandre is a Principal in the Corten Capital investment team. Prior to joining Corten, Alexandre was a Vice President in the Technology, Financial and Business Services vertical at Bain Capital, one of the world’s largest private equity firms. During his time at Bain Capital, Alexandre focused on buyout investments across Europe, spanning multiple sectors including B2B software, business services, industrials and consumer retail. He also played a key role supporting several portfolio companies across growth, turnaround and M&A strategies as well as leading on various financing and capital markets transactions. Prior to this, Alexandre was a consultant with The Boston Consulting Group in London where he worked on a number of private equity due diligence projects as well transformation projects for companies in TMT and retail. Before that, he worked as a credit hybrids trader within J.P. Morgan’s Global Markets division.
David McQueen is passionate about developing leaders. A family man first, he is the husband of one, father of two and friend of many. He has founded and cofounded a number of businesses including Q Squared, Black Founders Hub and Evermoor and sits as a Non Exec on the advisory board of many companies offering support on leadership and financial competence.
In his work as an Executive Coach, Facilitator, Board Advisor and International Speaker, he has worked with corporates and non profit organisations worldwide to develop their senior leaders and managers. His clients include Facebook, Google, Shopify, Lloyds, HSBC, Mercedes Benz, Sky, BMW, Uber, Fidelity Investments, EY Foundation and Barnardo’s.
David is also an Angel Investor, Mentor, Host of the BRAVE Leader podcast, a three times TEDx speaker and is currently writing his first book on leadership and never works on a Saturday!
Timothy Armoo was the founder of Fanbytes, a company he started in university at 21 helping brands like Nike, Samsung, and Deliveroo engage with Gen Z through influencers. In 5 years, Timo grew the company to an award-winning team of 70 people leading campaigns like the Government’s messaging on covid in 2020. In May 2022, Timo Fanbytes was acquired by global digital agency Brainlabs in an 8-figure acquisition. His expertise in brand building and social media has seen him win many accolades including being Forbes 30u30 cover star, the social media person of the year by The Drum and most influential people in media by Evening Standard.