Noorzaman Rashid
Managing Director of global professional services, IT and recruitment company Harvey Nash, Noorzaman Rashid, completed the Art & Design Foundation at Bradford School of Art in 1982.
Born and educated in Bradford, Noorzaman began
his career as a bright and talented artist motivated to
change the world both aesthetically and politically!
He joined the foundation course in art & design in
1981 and was elected course representative.
“Whilst
a talented sculptor, to my amazement I was told by
course tutors that I really couldn’t draw. For the next 3
terms I was assigned to life drawing classes. It worked;
after leaving Bradford College I went on to complete
my honours degree with a distinction.
Perhaps my
most memorable and funniest moment at the College
was when I walked into a class and worked for 6 hours
on a sculpture exercise, only to find out it was the
wrong class!”
Whilst at Middlesex University Noorzaman took up a
non sabbatical role for all 3 years of his degree course
as Vice President of the NUS. On graduation he won a
scholarship to complete an MBA at the Management
Centre in Bradford. Noorzaman began his career
providing creative advice for small businesses in
Bradford. He went on to join the City Council where he
was Assistant to the Chief Executive.
During this time
he played a key role in bringing Common Purpose to
the city and helping to put together early plans for
the city centre’s development. He left Bradford to
work with Coventry City Council as Head of Corporate
Management, then becoming Deputy Chief Executive.
Being a trained designer didn’t stop Noorzaman
changing careers after leaving local government and
he joined the University of Warwick as an Associate
Fellow in the Business School. This led him to
undertaking important change management work in
South Africa, Russia and Japan. He even found time to
write a book on Managing Performance in 1999.
Over the last 10 years he has worked with several
international consultancy firms including EDS/ AT
Kearney and Norman Broadbent International. He is
currently Managing Director of Harvey Nash, a global
professional services, IT and recruitment business.
He has personally recruited over 300 Chief Executive
Roles; everything from CEO of The Royal Opera House
to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority.
He has been nominated for numerous awards which
include The Tom Peter’s award for being nominated
as one of the most influential Muslims in the country.
Noorzaman is an active board member on many
charitable boards including the NHS Institute for
Innovation, Westminster Forum and Edutrust, one of
the country’s fastest growing charities. As a founding
member of Edutrust, he is helping to raise funds to build
20 New City Academies up and down the country.
Photograph supplied by Harvey Nash