Spencer D. Green
Chairman & Founder, GDS International
Spencer (41) was educated at Millfield School and studied law at Kings College, London. In his youth, he represented his county at rugby and tennis (where he played in the UK National Championships).
Spencer’s interest in business media began at Millfield and was consolidated at university, where he created three framework business titles and sold them to a leading UK publisher.
Spencer joined Sterling Publications in 1990 as a Sales Executive, then Sales Manager, helping to launch and successfully sustain over ten business-to-business titles during his tenure.
Spencer founded GDS Publishing Ltd in October 1993 to specialise in industrial, government-led publications for the burgeoning Chinese market. The company launched over forty business-to-business titles, was name-checked alongside Tony Blair on China’s national news as ‘best for Chinese business’, and – following a move into India – deemed to be ‘of national importance’ by the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade.
In 1998, GDS Publishing became GDS International and launched its first conference, Enterprise China. The hugely successful Enterprise series of conferences was rolled out across China and Latin America in the next two years.
In 2000, GDS International launched its first Senior Executive Summit under the ‘Next Generation’ banner. This became the catalyst for ten years of rapid growth (GDS grew 40% in 2010). In 2011, GDS will hold over 70 Summits for C-level Executives from a wide range of industries and across the globe.
Today, GDS International is determined to become the world’s no. 1 business-to-business events company. It’s going to be an exciting journey!
Spencer is married to Emily. They have two children, Finley and Maya, and live in Bristol, UK.
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Quick Q&A
Q. What has been your best job?
A. Founder of GDS has to be number one, but I really enjoyed my time as a roadie for the Rolling Stones (who wouldn’t?), and I learned a lot selling Encyclopedias door-to-door.
Q. Who are your top sporting heroes?
A. Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer are both superstars for different reasons. Steve Ovett and Sebastian Coe, the same. The Greatest of All Time because he really, truly is. And people always expect me to say Lance Armstrong – but he doesn’t make my list.
Q. Who are the best sales people you have ever worked with?
A. Rob Davis, Jim Berry, Christian Green, Lee Godfrey and Boppa.
About GDS International
GDS International organises Senior Executive Summits and Social Media Conferences across the globe from its offices in Australia (Sydney), Asia (Kuala Lumpur), Europe (Bristol and Cardiff), and North America (Miami and New York). Annual turnover in 2010 was approx. £40 million.
The Next Generation Summit Series
NG Education
NG Healthcare
NG Human Resources
NG Mining
NG Oil & Gas
NG Pharma
NG Power & Renewables
NG Retail
NG Security
NG Telecoms
The CIO Summit Series
CIO Government
CIO Australia
CIO Latin America
CIO Middle East
CIO North America
Financial Services Technology
The Social Media Strategy Conferences
iStrategy
Hi Spencer,
I found you here browsing on the net! Good to see you’re still strong and growing with the events and publishing! GDS was the best company I’ve worked for and best time of my life
I’ve been living in the sunny Gold Coast in Australia, married with 2 kids and have been working for Red Hat (Linux) for the past 4 years now as a translator and interpreter. Also working for the government as an interpreter. Good job but getting itchy to get my hands into event management again…Any chance of coming down under again?!
Wish I could work for you again one day, who knows
Great blog! Keeping it real and living it large
Hope to hear from you one day,
Take care
Glaucia Cintra