MD2MD Member Profiles
Diversity of background and experience provides alternative perspectives. The common ground is that all face the challenges of leadership.
| Most business leaders know their sector and how it operates, have good contacts within it and may be members of industry groups.
By contrast MD2MD is deliberately cross sector both because that supports openness – it’s not always wise to be open about your challenges with a competitor, a supplier, a customer or an investor in the room and also because the goal of our peer challenge board meetings is to provide alternative perspectives. People from outside your own industry, or with a different ownership structure don’t see things the same way and don’t make the same assumptions. |
When I first became a Managing Director I thought with loads of professional training and a Cranfield MBA behind me I knew all the answers. I soon learnt I didn’t and joined a business leader peer group. That was career changing for me. At first I didn’t get it. With 500 staff and all my qualifications what had I got to learn from the guy with 12 staff who had left school at 16?
Fortunately once I’d overcome my ego (I think when I saw his personally owned Maserati parked next to my company owned Mercedes in the car park) I realised I had a lot to learn from his streetwise approach. I remember noticing that he’d started and closed a new business in the time it would have taken me to do the business plan and thinking maybe he’s learnt more about the market than I would have! |
Sample MD2MD members
Diversity of scale, ownership and sector
| Ownership | Sector | Revenues | Staff |
| Privately owned business with an employed MD | Marketing and Advertising | 51-200 | |
| Not for profit | Education Management | ||
| Privately owned business of which member is sole shareholder | Food & Beverages | £6M | 29 |
| Privately owned business with an employed MD | Hospital & Health Care | 51-200 | |
| Privately owned business of which member is majority shareholder | Leisure, Travel & Tourism | £12M | 50 |
| Privately owned business with MD as an equal shareholder | Oil & Energy | £3M | 28 |
| Venture capital backed early stage business | Telecommunications | £300k | 11-50 |
| Consortium | Airlines/Aviation | 270 | |
| Privately owned business of which member is majority shareholder | Insurance | £7M | 20 |
| Partnership | Architecture | 60 | |
| Privately owned business with an employed MD | Staffing and Recruiting | £76M | 90 |
| Privately owned business with an employed MD | £10M | 30 | |
| Privately owned family business | £8M | 40 | |
| Privately Owned Family Business | Consumer retail | £8M | 17 |
| Privately owned business of which member is majority shareholder | Computer Software | £2M | 11-50 |
| UK subsidiary of a private US group | Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing | 36 | |
| Privately owned business of which member is majority shareholder | Logistics | £7M | 15 |
| Privately Owned Family Business | Education Management | ||
| Privately owned business of which member is sole shareholder | Computer Software | £1M | 15 |
| Privately owned business of which member is majority shareholder | Distribution | 120 | |
| Privately owned family business | £8M | 40 | |
| Venture capital backed early stage business | £100k | 7 | |
| Subsidiary of a UK Listed Company | Facilities Services | £410M | 21000 |
| Privately owned business with an employed MD | Mechanical or Industrial Engineering | £10M | 52 |
| Privately owned business of which member is sole shareholder | Cyber Security | £4M | 13 |
| Not for profit | £20M | 190 | |
| Not for profit | Entertainment | £4M | 28 |
| Government agency | £13M | 151 | |
| UK subsidiary of a French group | 1300 | ||
| Privately owned business of which member is sole shareholder | Web design | £4M | 40 |
| Privately owned business with an employed MD | £2M | 30 | |
| Venture capital owned established business | Medical Devices | £7M | 51-200 |
| Privately owned business with an employed MD | Information Technology and Services | 230 | |
| Not for profit | Education | £6M | 120 |
| Venture capital backed early stage business | Information Technology and Services | 200 | |
| Privately owned business of which member is sole shareholder | Pharmaceuticals | £1M | 100 |
| Privately owned business with an employed MD | Mechanical or Industrial Engineering | £2M | 15 |
| UK Listed Company | Information Technology and Services | 70 | |
| Venture capital owned established business | Automotive | £500M | 585 |
| Privately owned business of which member is majority shareholder | Building products | £2M | 14 |
| Privately owned business of which member is majority shareholder | Transportation/Trucking/Railroad | £3M | 11-50 |
| Venture capital owned established business | Telecommunications | £35M | 107 |
| Privately owned business with an employed MD | Information Technology and Services | £34M | 200 |
| Privately owned business of which member is majority shareholder | Information Technology and Services | £2M | 36 |
| Privately owned family business | eCommerce | £1M | 40 |
| Privately owned business of which member is majority shareholder | Forestry | £2M | 35 |
| Privately owned business of which member is majority shareholder | Information Technology and Services | £5M | 47 |
| Privately owned business with an employed MD | Staffing and Recruiting | £110M | 127 |
| Privately owned business of which member is majority shareholder | Staffing and Recruiting | £1M | 18 |
| Venture capital owned established business | Food & Beverages | £7M | 100 |
| Public Sector | Hospital & Health Care | £7M | 11-50 |
| Privately owned business of which member is majority shareholder | Market Research | £1M | 42 |
| Partnership | Legal | 300 | |
| Privately owned business of which member is majority shareholder | Wholesale | £10M | 9 |
| UK subsidiary of Nasdaq listed company | Information Technology and Services | £5M | 34 |
| Subsidiary of a UK Listed Company | Logistics and Supply Chain | £36B | 40,000 |
| Privately owned family business | Hospital & Health Care | £20M | 201-500 |
| Privately owned business with MD as an equal shareholder | Market Research | £3M | 10 |
| Privately owned business of which member is majority shareholder | Financial services | £30M | 63 |
| Venture capital owned established business | Hhospitality | 110 | |
| Privately owned business of which member is sole shareholder | Information Technology and Services | £1M | 10 |
| Partnership | Legal | 45 | |
| Privately owned family business | £18M | 89 | |
| Venture capital backed early stage business | £150k | 7 | |
| Venture capital owned established business | Hospital & Health Care | £1M | 14 |
| Employee Owned | Building products | £8M | 72 |
| Privately owned business of which member is majority shareholder | Information Technology and Services | £1M | 18 |
| Partnership | Financial services | 35 | |
| Privately owned business of which member is sole shareholder | Internet | £2M | 30 |
| Privately owned business of which member is majority shareholder | Facilities Services | £20M | 800 |
MD2MD members
Operational leaders ambitious to achieve even more business success by becoming even better leaders.
MD2MD membership
- you meet your group privately for structured conversations about business challenges online and if you choose face to face.
- you attend open workshops led by top professional speakers sharing best practice on a wide range of leadership topics.
- you join our annual conference LeaderFest and our annual ‘Retreat to advance’.