Chris Hyman - Agenda Setters 2009

Name: Chris Hyman

Title: CEO of Serco Group

Position: 49    Last year: Not ranked

Why? For thumbing his nose at the recession

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• Michael A Cusumano
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• Duncan Watts

There is little sign of the economic downturn impacting on the fortunes of Chris Hyman's Serco Group.

By August of this year the support services company had seen its half-yearly revenues grow to £1.95bn, an increase of more than 20 per cent over the same period in 2008.

The scale of Serco's expertise is reflected in the broad mix of services it provides, ranging from secure computer and software support to all 66 UK law enforcement agencies to traffic management systems covering more than 17,500km of road.

The company is also landing more IT and business process outsourcing contracts, which now bring in hundreds of millions for the company each year.

He earned his place in this year's Agenda Setters for defying the recession and in the words of the panellists being an "innovative leader… in the field of the technological enablement of white collar service delivery".

Hyman was appointed as chief executive of Serco Group in 2002, after spending eight years with the company in a variety of roles, including finance director for Serco Europe. Before that he spent time working for accountants Arthur Andersen and Ernst and Young.

He plays an active role in charity, serving as a National Ambassador for the Prince of Wales' Business in the Community group, as chairman of the Prince of Wales' charity In Kind Direct, and a non-exec director for Habitat for Humanity and the Borneo Tropical Rainforest Foundation.