Mark's Q&A

Macro Group is the latest adventure in a long and distinguished career, what are you proudest of in your career?

I'm proud that all of the ventures I have helped set up in Mace Group have established a reputation for excellence. Equally, I am most proud of the influence I have had on so many colleagues’ career development.

Why was now the right time to form Macro?

Mace Operate was a successful facilities management business and one that had a great future ahead of it. But being part of the Mace Group meant that we weren’t as independent as we needed to be in terms of being able to make decisions about our service offer, technology offer and global growth.

Macro will be the preferred Mace supplier and we will be able to maintain the entrepreneurial spirit that has served the group so well.

The global corporate real estate has been transformed in recent years, with a far greater focus on the workplace experience as a catalyst for performance than ever before - what excites you about this when it comes to supporting clients?

The broader narrative is that the workplace has changed massively - the pandemic was the single biggest change on how people work for years but the picture is an evolving one. Even in the last 12 months the pattern of working has changed in that we've seen more people coming back to the office as employees feel the downsides of working from home (such as social isolation) as well as the upsides of flexibility.

Macro are at the centre of these socio-economic changes. It's interesting to be involved in and to play a part in moving the agenda forwards. Those clients that get the balance right in terms of workplace experience will steal a march on their competition and we're here to help them achieve that. We're still in that period of transition where flexibility is key; giving employees choice is an important part of the office operational model going forward.

At Mace, you have taken a leading role in business development, supporting new and emerging talent, developing new service lines and expanding into new markets. What ambitions for growth do you have for Macro and its people?

In business you always have to evolve, the moment you rest on the laurels you're dead in the water. At Macro, there will be continuity, so that we continue to deliver and exceed expectations for our clients, but there will also be some new approaches so that we keep the business moving forwards.

In the great scheme of things, we're a relatively small facilities management service which has its advantages in the way that we can give greater focus and flexibility for our clients, but there's scope to grow the business which will also present opportunities for our colleagues to develop and grow.

As a committed Chair, I've personally invested in Macro and so seeing the business go from strength to strength will be my aim.

You have long been a champion for changing industry for the better. Whether that's leading on equality, diversity and inclusion, on sustainability and other social value driven and charitable activity. How will your passion for doing business the right way become part of the Macro way?

It's always been there with me to some extent and doing business responsibly has become increasingly important throughout my career. All those big societal issues and challenges are important to Macro as they are to everyone, to me, our clients, to our colleagues, to the world. It's important that at Macro we hold true to these values to take these challenges on and make them our own. So, we have a different stage, a new platform to talk about the things we care about and to do something about them.

What are you passionate about outside of work?

Family is important and being able to divorce business and your private life is key.