Leading a management buy-out

Debbie Klein, chief executive of marketing communications agency Engine, explains that despite needing to take a deep breath before leading a management buy-out, it was her best business decision.


Debbie Klein, chief executive of marketing communications agency Engine, explains that despite needing to take a deep breath before leading a management buy-out, it was her best business decision.

Debbie Klein, chief executive of marketing communications agency Engine, explains that despite needing to take a deep breath before leading a management buy-out, it was her best business decision.

‘I was head of strategic planning at [ad agency] WCRS when I was invited to be part of a management buy-out. WCRS was started by Robin Wight, Peter Scott and two others, and was eventually sold to Havas so we proposed to them that we do an MBO.

‘We all took a deep breath and invested our own money. 30 out of 150 employees took part. We invited them because we felt we would get much broader buy-in and excitement about what we were trying to do in the long term.

‘After that I became CEO of that company and we set about building what is now Engine – a 600-strong company with all of the various disciplines in the marketing and corporate communications space.’

Todd Cardy

Todd Cardy

Todd was Editor of GrowthBusiness.co.uk between 2010 and 2011 as well as being responsible for publishing our digital and printed magazines focusing on private equity and venture capital.

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