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Imran Amed

Imran Amed

Title
Honorary Doctor
Person Type
Honorary
Imran Amed

Biography

Honorary Doctor

Imran Amed MBE is the founder,CEO and editor-in-chief of fashion news authority The Business of Fashion, a go-to online daily resource for designers,journalists, aspiring students and executives alike.

Affectionately referred to in the industry as ‘BoF’, it began life as a “personal project” and blog, masterminded from the humble beginnings of Amed’s sofa in 2007. Today, as Amed reflects, it’s “more like a global media and technology company”, boasting a burgeoning empire that extends beyond its online news pages and signature in-depth intelligence and analysis to an eco-system. It covers careers (BoF Careers), education guidance (BoF Education), bi-annual print editions, podcasts, a Chinese language edition (BoF China), a global membership community (BoF Professional) and the annual VOICES gathering, a thinktank- style conference.

Canadian-born Amed is also an associate lecturer at Central Saint Martins — a relationship that began ten years ago at the same time as his journey into fashion commenced. Working with the renowned UAL college, he has developed a business short course for its Fashion Design with Marketing pathway.

Amed holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.Com from McGill University; his career began working as a consultant at McKinsey & Company in 2002, a move that would play a significant role in defining and shaping his next steps and editorial vision with the inception of BoF, examining the fashion industry via a strong business-tinted lens — and asking lots of questions. “Even if they were naïve questions, maybe they were the right questions to ask,” he says of his approach, which broke free from any expected and traditional constraints, to bring a unique blend of exclusive content alongside an edit of news stories from across the globe; as well as insight and opinion which are key to the publication’s ethos.

Along the way, Amed has picked up a host of accolades and awards. In 2011, he was named as one of the 100 most influential men in Britain by GQ magazine, became the youngest ever recipient of the Desautels Management Achievement Award at McGill University in 2014; became an honorary professor of fashion business at Glasgow Caledonian University in 2015; and in 2016 was awarded the Council of Fashion Designers of America Media Award in honour of Eugenia Sheppard. Last year he was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).