Chief Executive Officer and founder, Mark Dixon is one of Europe's best known entrepreneurs. Since founding the Regus Group in 1989, he has achieved a formidable reputation for leadership and innovation. A recipient of several awards for enterprise, Mark has revolutionised the way business approaches its property needs with his vision of the future of work.
Mark founded the business in 1989 in Brussels after he observed travelling business people conducting their meetings around coffee shop tables whilst competing with the noise from local traffic. This was the birthplace of the serviced office sector, with Regus as the pioneering brand that sparked the start of a global industry.
Over the next thirty years the industry grew rapidly, with many new players entering this global marketplace with Regus, and now IWG, as the leading player, adapting to local and global changes in economic climates and cycles.
With over 3,500 buildings globally spanning brands including Spaces, Regus, Signature and HQ, IWG is located in every major town, city and transport hub worldwide, so start-ups, global companies, and every business in-between can work wherever they need. IWG is already working with the majority of the Fortune 500 and counts businesses including Amazon, Netflix, EY and Standard Chartered amongst its customers.
The business is in 120 countries globally and is continually expanding its footprint with new openings in Honduras and Grand Cayman in 2020. Under Mark’s leadership, IWG aims on expanding its network, mostly by franchise, to provide a flexible workspace in every village, town and city.
It would be easy to assume that the shift we’re seeing in the way people work, away from a shared physical environment to wherever is most convenient and productive has been driven entirely by the Covid-19 pandemic.
But that assumption would be wrong. The pandemic has certainly had a dramatic and permanent effect, but it’s merely accelerated a trend that’s been underway for several years, as organisations progressively move to a ‘hybrid’ way of working: at home, a local office and occasionally at a corporate HQ and Mark was one of the earliest proponents of this burgeoning trend.
Outside of the world of flexible work, Mark is a passionate vintner, agriculturalist and together with his children owns and cultivates several wine estates on both sides of the channel in southern England and Provence.
Prior to Regus and IWG, Mark established businesses in the retail and wholesale food industries. He is a recipient of several awards for enterprise and has revolutionised the way businesses approach their property needs.
