John Dobson is Founder and CEO of SmartSearch. Born in Rothwell, West Yorkshire, his early career was in IT and sales before starting his first company in the early 1980s. He has since established and run a series of highly successful businesses, twice winning the prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise, including with SmartSearch in 2018. In 2020, he presided over the most successful year in SmartSearch’s history, with the business being recognised as one of the fastest growing in Europe according to the FT.