Overview
This is a hybrid event where there is an option to attend in person or online. This event listing is for those that want attend in person. If you would like to attend virtually instead, please click here to register.
Join us at this hybrid event where Steve Gladwin, FIWFM, will formally launch the new Strategic Leaders Forum, an exciting new development for strategic leaders in IWFM.
Evolving from the International Special Interest Group (ISIG), the Forum is a pivotal step in IWFM’s journey toward chartered status and reflects an ongoing commitment to advancing the profession with a particular focus on what it means to be a leader in workplace and facilities management (WFM) today and tomorrow.
Steve will lead us off with insight on the new Forum’s purpose and the journey into this transformation - an exciting development for IWFM members in strategic leadership positions advancing their careers in the WFM profession.
Afterwards, Oliver Jones FIWFM, IWFM’s 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, will share his experiences with data centres and the new world of AI in an inspirational session exploring the technical dynamics, massive and growing scale and the impact on facilities. He’ll cover how he created, developed and funded Chayora in China, pivoting to a wider global focus; and how he’s responding to the Tier 2 digital infrastructure markets, their role in AI, and their implications for the profession, including the expanded technology section of the IWFM Professional Standards.
Please arrive at 5.30pm for a prompt 6pm start. There will be refreshments and an opportunity for networking.
Speakers
Steve Gladwin
Steve Gladwin is a Director of Nodus Solutions Limited a privately-owned Facility Management company based in the UK providing FM and Consultancy advice to a broad range of clients ranging from large multi-national listed entities to public sector bodies.
He is also Course Trainer for the IWFM Academy and has developed and delivered training for the Institute (IWFM and previously BIFM Training) for over 15 years in:
- Building Services
- Asset and Maintenance Management
- Strategic Sourcing
- Contract Management
- FM Strategy
- FM Data, Performance Management and Lean Processes
He has lectured at Liverpool John Moore’s University, Sheffield Hallam University, Sydney University, Hong Kong Polytechnic and most recently Bolton University.
Actively involved in promoting and developing the FM and Building Maintenance sector, Steve is a regular guest speaker at conferences and has spoken at Property, Facilities and Building Maintenance conferences around the world.
In an Asset and Maintenance Management advisory capacity, Steve has worked with Government departments in Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and UK as well as large multi-national companies such Jaguar Land Rover, Shell Oil Company, Sainsburys, The Co-operative Group, Johnson & Johnson as well as a broad range of Universities and campus style environments.
In 2013, following 4 years as Lead Judge, Steve was appointed Chair of the IWFM Industry Excellence Awards. He is also the Chair of the IWFM International Special Interest Group.
In 2017, Steve was made an Honorary Fellow of the Institute. In 2020 was recognized in the IWFM Excellence Awards as for his contribution to the Industry and profession and the following was awarded Lifetime Achievement Award in the PFM Awards.
Steve is a Building Services Engineer by background and holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of New South Wales (Australian Graduate School of Management).
He is a past Chairman of the Facilities Management Association, Australia and Global FM, a worldwide federation of national and international FM associations.
Oliver Jones
Oliver Jones is a recognised leader in digital infrastructure and services outsourcing, combining corporate and project finance with property, construction and facilities management to world-class standards to create significant operating enterprises principally in Europe and Asia.
Operationally, Oliver is highly accomplished in devising, developing and delivering innovative solutions for governments, commerce and industry with a specific focus on project finance, long-term operator contracts and property-related initiatives. He is experienced in complex corporate structures: joint ventures; M&A; start-ups and MBI/MBOs.
Oliver is an original and lateral thinker, with a strong commercial focus and the ability to devise and successfully deliver novel solutions to complex business problems. His experience is in an executive capacity as a serial entrepreneur / business leader; as an owner & CEO; and in support to others as a Chairman / mentor and a professional director in non-executive director roles.
In fundraising terms his direct personal experience as a principal is extensive and amounts to nearly US$1bn of venture, institutional and trade/strategic equity across multiple businesses where Oliver was a founder and key shareholder. Oliver has additionally supported many other entrepreneurs and clients in raising capital as an expert advisor. He applies his wide experience in an executive capacity as a serial entrepreneur / business leader and supports others as a Chairman and professional mentor and through FCA-regulated Morphose Capital Partners.
Leveraging his wide board, executive and investment experience and following their most recent success as co-founders of China Hyperscale Data Centre developer and operator, Chayora, Oliver co-founded Accelerated Infrastructure Capital (AIC) with his long-term business partner, Jonathan Berney, in 2023.
Oliver originally qualified as a chartered surveyor in the UK after graduating from Kingston University in 1983 and today is a Fellow of RICS and IWFM. Following completion of his MBA at London Business School in 1989, Oliver established his first successful venture securing a valuable exit four years later.
As an active investor and serial entrepreneur, immediately prior to Chayora, he was a partner and group board director of EC Harris LLP up to its sale to Arcadis in October 2011. His previous business ventures in the sector were each grown rapidly and also sold to acquisitive competitors: Symonds sold to Vivendi in 1993; Citex sold to Carillion in 2002 at the same time as Citex Asia was acquired by EC Harris; and NB Entrust sold to NB Real Estate and then Capita in 2009.
Today, Oliver is resident in Hong Kong and combines his executive role in AIC and as the Co-Founder of Chayora with a number of investing and advisory / non-executive roles in fast growth services sectors: from language and cultural training (Babel); to M&A brokerage (Morphose), to online ‘edtech’ tuition (Sherpa), to electric car rapid charging infrastructure (Engenie/Via Novus), and AI-enabled luxury travel experiences (Travel Curator).