10 QUESTIONS
10 QUESTIONS WITH... MARK WHITTAKER
Each month we ask an industry professional the Tomorrow’s FM 10 Questions. This month, we chatted to Mark Whittaker, Business Development Manager for Integral UK.
Q5 Q6 Q1
WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST JOB? As a 17 year-old, a Saturday
job at a local butcher’s shop. I was paid £15 and my first job of the day was to lift the freezing cold tripe and elder out of the bucket in the refrigeration chamber!
Q2
HOW DID YOU GET INTO THE FM INDUSTRY?
Like many, via the side door. I worked for a property maintenance company who wanted to diversify into FM and I was asked to write a feasibility paper. After spending three days holed up in the University of Manchester Business Library researching the industry, I soon knew where I wanted my career to go and joined Integral six months later.
Q3
WHO, IN ANY OTHER INDUSTRY, DO YOU MOST ADMIRE?
As a keen sports fan, it has to be Sir Chris Hoy. A grounded, talented and dedicated professional and apparently, a lovely person too.
Q4
IF MONEY WAS NO OBJECT, WHAT CAR WOULD YOU BUY?
If money was no object, I wouldn’t need or want a car!
58 | TOMORROW’S FM
HOW WOULD YOU IMPROVE THE FM INDUSTRY?
A major shift away from short term, price-led procurement and commoditisation to longer term, collaborative partnerships.
WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU WERE
GROWING UP? A businessman! After finishing my day at primary school, I would regularly ‘unlock’ my ‘office’/bedroom, sit at my desk and pretend I was running a business, taking calls on a very old telephone that my granddad had given me and writing memos. After a while I would then change and go and play football with my mates!
WITH A FOURTH COOKING AND A FIFTH PROVIDING THE MUSIC, WHO WOULD THEY BE AND WHY?
• Stan Laurel – a childhood hero and still remains so. He has an amazing, timeless talent that brings a smile to people’s faces, including now my own kids.
• Steve Jobs – I’d be interested to know how he was able to innovate and inspire in equal measure.
• Jesus – perhaps an obvious choice, as a Christian.
• Music – Ralph Vaughan Williams (and orchestra) playing my favourite piece of music, “Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis”.
• Cooking – it has to be Heston Blumenthal, for his ability to create sublime and surprising cuisine.
Q9 Q7
WHAT DO YOU DO TO UNWIND? Regular exercise (gym,
cycling, badminton) helps me to get the endorphins flowing and as a practicing Christian, my faith and in particular prayer, help me to reflect and try to get a balance to everything that is going on around me.
Q8
IF YOU COULD HOST A DINNER PARTY WITH ANY
THREE GUESTS, DEAD OR ALIVE,
WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE FUTURE OF THE FM INDUSTRY?
Attracting and retaining fresh, young, talented professionals into the industry and giving them licence to innovate and challenge and offer them career progression.
Richard Walsh from AQA asks... Q10
IF TODAY WAS THE LAST DAY OF YOUR LIFE, WHAT
WOULD YOU DO WITH IT? Spend the day on the Lakeland Fells with my wife and children, followed by a pub tea and pint of real ale. Bliss!
www.integral.co.uk
Check out next month’s issue to see what Mark asked our next industry professional...
twitter.com/TomorrowsFM
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64
