Michael Tobin (born 16 January 1964) is an English technology entrepreneur, author and philanthropist. He was CEO of FTSE 250 data centre operator. In 2014 he was awarded an OBE for his âÂÂServices to the Digital Economy' in The Queen's Birthday Honours List. In June 2025 he was awarded a CBE in The King's Birthday Honours List for 'Services to Charity'.
Following roles at ICG, GlobalServe, Rockwell Corp, Goupil, Tricord, ICL and Fujitsu Tobin joined Redbus as Sales and Marketing Director. Becoming CEO in 2003, he led the merger between competitors Redbus and Telecity. In 2006 Tobin became CEO of the newly formed TelecityGroup. He implemented TelecityâÂÂs âÂÂgold standardâ membership of the Green Grid global consortium, and led Telecity to achieve the Carbon Trust Standard in 2010; the first data centre operator to do so.
In 2014 he stepped down from TelecityGroup following reported tensions with the board of directors, and founded Tobin Ventures Ltd.
Tobin holds many non-executive roles internationally, which include: CloudHesive, AudioBoom, Stellanor, Mediterra, Bigblu Broadband (formerly Satellite Solutions Worldwide Plc (Europasat)), North C Data Centres, Ocolo, Radius Global Infrastructure, EdgeConneX, and ScaleUp Group.
Tobin is also an Advisory Board Member to LeaseWeb.
He previously held non-executive roles for Pentadyne Power Corporation, Pacnet, TeamRock, Wonderland Restaurants, Patchwork Health, ThinkLondon, Ultraleap, People Per Hour, Instrumental, Amito, SVF Investment Corp 3, Sungard, Datapipe, Pulsant, Basefarm, Chayora, IXCellerate, Teraco Data Environments, Kinolt (formerly EURO-DIESEL), Park Place Technologies, Hurley Palmer Flatt, PlusServer and ITconic.
Tobin started the CEO Sleepout UK charitable initiative in 2014 with Tony Hawkhead, CEO of Action for Children, where CEOs sleep out on the street to raise the profile of the issue of homelessness for children.
Tobin has raised over ã250,000 for The Prince's Trust including ã100,000 from running 40 marathons in 40 days during 2016 for the Trust's 40th Anniversary.
In 2020, Tobin raised over ã200,000 for The Brain Tumour Charity by trekking to the South Pole.
Tobin is Founder of The Tobin Foundation and has raised over ã100,000 to date for Education, Empowerment and Welfare of Children.
Tobin has also been a champion of the Duke of Edinburgh Awards, Founder's Circle Member of the British Asian Trust, Chairman of the Loomba Foundation, patron of Action Against Hunger, fundraising member of Make-a-Wish Foundation, and Ambassador for The Lewis Moody Foundation.
Tobin is the author of four books: