Power 50 Publication - Flipbook - Page 23
Page 23
01
WORKING YOUR
WAY UP THROUGH
THE RANKS
Whether you “fell” into events, or are intentionally starting a career in
the industry, working your way up through the ranks will give you a
solid grounding and the necessary experience for a leadership role.
Depending on personal circumstances and preference, that career
path could include roles in multiple disciplines, at multiple agencies,
or working your way up within one single business, which is what
Helen McCabe, managing director, UK, at global agency BCD
Meetings & Events did.
Helen started out at In Business Reservations (IBR, which became part
of the Zibrant Group) as a part-time conference consultant when her
children were young, and 30 years later remains within the same
business, though the agency has completely transformed and is
unrecognisable from the venue finding business it was back then. The
agency initially diversified from venue finding into events management and started to grow rapidly from early 2000.
“I started my step up into management as my children got older and
I went full time and began leading teams in venue find. I stuck within
the venue search arena for quite some time, and I ended up on the
Zibrant board as the venue search operations director. I then started
to take interest in other areas of the business and pitched to Fay
(Sharpe) and Chris (Parnham) to see if they would consider me
taking over the events logistics team as well. That was the first time I
pitched myself to them, and I did end up taking that role, which was
quite a pivotal moment in my career.”
During her 30 years in the business, Zibrant expanded through
several acquisitions, before being acquired by Motivcom, after which
Helen stepped up the role of managing director of operations,
alongside Fay Sharpe, who was MD of sales and marketing. Motivcom
then sold to Sodexo, but Zibrant was bought by Nigel Cooper in a
management buyout, before it eventually sold to global agency BCD
M&E, which also went on to buy Grass Roots. She held the role of VP,
UK after the BCD acquisition, and then BCD M&E split the regions and
the UK became a region of its own.
“The opportunity came up for the MD role for the UK and I applied and
was successful. I have just started my 30th year, and some people
say to me ‘how on earth can you stay in the same organisation for 30 years?’ And the answer is because it’s not the same organisation. It’s
evolved so many times.”
Helen adds that while opportunities have come to her throughout my career, she has also taken advantage of opportunities to put herself
forward. “That is something I would really encourage people to do. Take responsibility and ownership of your career and future. Even when
an opportunity doesn’t seem obvious, and even if the leadership team doesn't think it’s right at that moment, at least you are able to
demonstrate your appetite to develop and your ambition. If you are working in the right type of culture, the leadership team is going to
listen and work with you to help you develop.”
