Reflections on 20 years at the helm of Marketing Derby

In the latest edition of Marketing Derby’s Innovate Magazine, John Forkin reflects on his 20 years at the helm of the city’s award-winning investment promotion agency following his retirement.

In the interview John reveals the factors that motivated him to lead the city’s regeneration quest – and considers how Derby has changed over the last two decades as a result.

He begins by revealing how his early life was impacted by urban regeneration – with his childhood home in Normanton demolished to make way for a new school that never materialised.

“You can love a place, leave a place or try to change things. They knocked my house down, I wanted to help rebuild a better city,” he tells Innovate.

And there has been much change in Derby since the inception of Marketing Derby back in 2006.

The inward investment promotion agency can track 5,000 jobs and £1 billion of investment that it has directly helped create during that time.

In his interview John takes us on a colourful journey of his life before Marketing Derby.

He reveals how he couldn’t wait to leave a Derby that was “crumbling and in decline” to go to London to study politics and government at City of London Polytechnic.

He cites joining the United Nations Association and becoming the national chair of its Youth Council for the UK, as “opening up a whole new world” to him.

However, when his UN adventure came to an end, he found himself back in Derby – where he would eventually find himself getting involved in urban regeneration as part of the bidding team for City Challenge, which was a government competition inviting cities to bid for £37 million of funding.

He realised regeneration was his passion – and then the Marketing Derby job came up.

He told Innovate: “Marketing Derby was set up to be proactive, to go out and wave a flag and promote the city, as other places had done. It was Derby’s time – and I was ready for the challenge.

“I have a phrase that I’ve used lots of times: love it, leave it or change it. And it was one of those moments when I thought, ‘I’m going to change it and change it to somewhere I could love and where a John Forkin, at the age of 17, doesn’t want to leave, or, if they do leave, they want to eventually come back.’”

But according to John, his work has not just been about attracting investment and creating fancy buildings – it has also about been about creating a sense of belief among the people of Derby .

He believes key moments like the successful fight to save Bombardier in 2011 and the arrival of Westfield (now Derbion) helped Derby find its voice.

Reflecting on how Derby is now, he told Innovate: “It’s definitely a brighter, healthier, more confident place, where opportunity is more available.

“It now has a sense of belief that, if we roll our sleeves up, we can make things happen.”

To read the interview in full – and John’s final Innovate column – click here.