Anna
Blackburn

Q&A with Anna

When do you feel proudest in your role as Managing Director?

“I feel proud in my role as Managing Director of Beaverbrooks every day. The time I feel most proud is when I hear people external to the business talking about how amazing our culture and people are, and how passionate and dedicated they are to everything they do. Ultimately, we’re here to enrich lives and that means making a positive difference in all that we do."

Is there a significant moment or memory in your time at Beaverbrooks that's special to you?

“A moment that makes me immensely proud was when Mark asked me to take on the role of Managing Director in 2013. I’d been in the business for 15 years at that point and worked my way up from the shop floor, so when he asked me to take on the responsibility of Managing Director it was a huge privilege.

Because our culture is so important and fundamental to who we are, I didn’t want anyone external to come and change that. I had such a vested interest – and still do – in continuing the work that had already been done to develop this amazing culture, and it was one of those moments that I'll never forget.”

We know family is so important to you, what makes the Beaverbrooks family so special, and how do you like spend time with your own family at home?

“For me, what makes Beaverbrooks so special is that we are a company full of like-minded individuals, and there's shared values between us all. I think we have very different personalities, skills and passions, but we all believe in enriching lives and making a positive difference.

Everyone wants to see each other succeed, so there's a camaraderie within the business that’s so strong. When it comes to my own family, I love spending time with my kids and my puppy that we've recently got! We go walking and have lots of fun together. It's important to work hard and take what we do seriously, but it's also important to have lots of fun.”

Our own dedicated charity, The Beaverbrooks Charitable Trust, allows us to support so many charities and make a positive difference through our charity work in lots of different ways. Why do you love being a trustee?

“I absolutely love being a trustee of the Beaverbrooks Charitable Trust, the focus on charity and community work was one of the key reasons why I joined Beaverbrooks 26 years ago. I’d been in Africa doing some charity work and I found this business that at the time gave 10% of its post-tax profits to charity.

That’s now 20% of our retained profits, and we do so much more than we ever did before. We often talk about how we take giving money away as seriously as making money, and an ethos we have is supporting a wide variety of charities. We don’t support one or two, we support hundreds every year.

That gives me a huge sense of pride because we make such an amazing difference to many charities and communities that we work with."

What is your goal when it comes to charity, and the work you do as a Trustee?

“My goal as a trustee of the Beaverbrooks Charitable Trust is to inspire our people to make a really positive difference through giving their time to local charities. I think it's also important to influence other businesses to do good, to give time and money to charities and to make a positive difference to the world that we live in.”