Chris Bampton

I began working in the facilities management industry in the second job that I had, working for a company called CBX who provided facilities management services. I gained a good grounding in accounts and the company was bought out by Sulzer Infra, a much larger industrial engineering and manufacturing business where I stayed for five years. It was here where I was approached by Bill Heath (ex MD) who had left CBX to move to Bovis Lendlease and then followed him to Macro in December 2002 not long after it had been originally formed.

It was an exciting time to join. I was attracted to the business because of the people, but also because we were just a few months into trading. There was a lot to do and set up from scratch which was appealing, with a real focus on securing new business, and we won a number of key contracts.

In 2007, we saw the opportunity to expand the business internationally with work in Dubai, and I became financial director that year. We continued growing the business internationally as more domestic (UK) clients took us into new countries, with our flexible approach to service delivery supporting this organic growth.

The variety. Every day is different, there are lots of challenges and there’s always something new to learn and different challenges to overcome.

I like the entrepreneurial side of how we’ve grown and this is something we can take a dynamic approach with as Macro. We offer a more specialist focus where, after a difficult time during the pandemic, we’ve taken a leading approach in developing hybrid approaches to workplace and workplace experience. We have the business independence we need to build our service offer even more closely in alignment with what clients need and want whilst keeping controls in the right place so that we can serve clients more efficiently.

Using systems and tools that can automate, eliminating waste on manual processes and creating capacity in the team to do the right things better. By installing a new finance system alone (which we're working on), we'll become a more robust team whilst creating opportunities to learn and develop and adding real value to the business. Simple processes such as performing consolidations through automation means that we can manage our business more accurately and more quickly which benefits our people, clients, supply chain partners and our business.

Lots of things, becoming a financial director to begin with was a big personal achievement.

When I joined the business, I had a choice to make, accept a job offer which on the surface looked better, or take a risk and join a newly formed company. I’d just bought a new house, my wife and I had just had our second child, and although I know and trusted some of the senior team I was joining, it was a bit of a leap of faith - but it was the right decision.

I’m proud of what I achieved to get qualified, I took my ACCA early in my career, I’d start studying before work at 6am and fall asleep with a book in my hand at the end of a long day. I am proud to be part of a business which grew from a revenue of zero to £145m just before the pandemic, setting up new entities, growing with clients and moving into new territories along the way.

I enjoy our work, creating excellent experiences, delivering efficiencies for our customers, and growing our business, but the difference at Macro is the people, which was one of my main reasons for joining the business. We’re a great team!

Now that we’re an independent business, I’m excited to be able to build success in our own right. Clients should feel the same but we can bring service improvements by having a sole focus on facilities management, increasing our specialism and our ability to be-spoke our offer and align it to client needs.

Just doing a good job. I'm dedicated, I like to be successful, and I like to see the people around me be successful.

Taking members of my team, helping them to progress and take on more senior roles is a source of great motivation and satisfaction. It also means that we are making a success of the business, which is a big motivator – seeing that it's stable and is well positioned to grow.

An eye for detail but with an eye on tomorrow as well as today. Be understanding and show empathy as things don’t always pan out how you plan. Have a listening ear and understand challenges and concerns whilst adapting to the situation. Be a chameleon.

There’s plenty of things that happen in business – so anticipation of what the consequences of each action and decision are so that you can manage repercussions and progress and use that wide lens to take in the bigger picture is also key for me.

In my experience, going beyond finance, managing the helpdesk and several corporate functions (including Commercial, Quality and SCM) plus supporting work winning team and just rolling up my sleeves to get involved helps me to be better. I know how the business works and what it needs therefore get that grounding if you can as it will make you better at what you do.

Knuckle down, work hard, speak up when you need to speak up, listen and learn. People under-estimate the power of listening, listen to your boss, your colleagues, your clients. Analyse information and situations that you’re in to make the best decision, but don’t let analysis paralysis take hold, remember to move forward!

Family is most important to me but in terms of hobbies, I’ve been playing football since I was 9 and have played over 1000 matches in Adult football alone.

I'm a left footed goalkeeper and frustrated centre forward but play at a reasonable standard. When I was younger, I took training camps with the likes of Ray Clemence and Bob Wilson, so I learned from the best.

I’m not sure really but I was always keen on forensic science, so maybe something in criminology, however more recently I’ve taken a keen interest in blockchain technology and how it really can revolutionise industries around the world. It’s early days but I think it’s under-appreciated and will play a major role in the future of the developing world.