FEATURE
GOOD MORNING, MACRO
Tim Wood speaks to Macro’s new MD, Debra Ward, to find out how she’s reinvigorating the company after just a month in the job.
Debra Ward only took up her post as MD of Macro at the start of this year but she’s already making her mark. With her vibrant character and infectious Canadian charm, Ward is the type of boss anyone would be excited to work for, and the ‘Ward effect’ is already spreading through the staff at 155 Moorgate. There’s a warmth shown towards her by the staff at Macro’s HQ which indicates a workforce infused with new energy.
With Ward, it would seem there’s never a dull moment. Akin to a walking adrenaline shot, she has already begun to put her stamp on Macro where others might have
14 | TOMORROW’S FM
surveyed the landscape a little longer. In her opinion though, change is what Macro has been waiting for.
Ward’s arrival in January marked the end of a long period of stasis for the company. Outgoing MD, Peter Brumby announced his departure to join a round-the-world clipper race a full six months prior to Ward sitting at her new desk, with her deputy, Ross Abbate, taking up the interim post.
“Peter left quite a while ago so it’s been a long time coming for those in the business,” she says. “Even though making changes so early seems crazy, they’ve been waiting a
long time for this. Ross stepped up to the plate in a big, bad way; adding new European contracts like Siemens and Colt in the process. That meant the team ended up doing a little bit of everything, but it wasn’t focussed.”
Part of the refocussing exercise has been to shuffle the Macro operating board. Ward inherited what she describes as a confused structure with an “all hands to the pump” approach, natural to interim management. She describes the incredulity of finding Chris Bampton, the Head of Finance, also receiving reports for areas
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