Marc Oldman
Executive Director of Operations
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"I'm a natural devil's advocate and, given the absolute choice, I'd always vote for anarchy over monotony."
Whilst most people have the luxury of describing what they do, it's easier to describe what I don't. I don't do marketing or client servicing, and I'm certainly not a designer or a researcher. I'm the guy that's responsible for the teams who do everything else.
That 'everything else' being, in the main, Facilities, People, IT, Finance, Resourcing and Project Management.
I'm an accountant by trade. Having started my career straight from school in 1995, I spent 3 years at what is now BDO, a top 10 global advisory firm, followed by a further 3 at a leading regional firm, which culminated in running my own small client portfolio at the tender age of 22.
I next chose to add breadth, rather than depth, to my experience so for my next role I moved to the world of OEM manufacturing. Moving 'client side' to one of my portfolio clients, I was exposed to deal making and growth by acquisition – taking due diligence and integration roles in the purchase of competitors and production lines from US giants such as Dana Automotive.
Three years on I met Peter & Tom who'd recently founded Foolproof. Foolproof was a blank canvas with an impressive Vision. My day one mantra was that it's for me to look after everything that'd otherwise distract the founders from getting out there and doing the things they'd set up the business to do. That mantra lives on to this day.
I'm one half of what's become the established 'deal team' at Foolproof and have further indulged my appetite with the acquisition of Usability by Design (2007), Flow Interactive (2010), One to One (Singapore) (2012) and Knit (2014).
I believe strongly in the need to practice internally what we preach externally and, like the rest of Foolproof, I believe in making the complex simple. I'm a natural devil's advocate and, given the absolute choice, I'd always vote for anarchy over monotony.
I really enjoy working with people. Helping individuals find and work to their strengths and supporting them to be even better, whilst ensuring that everybody is equipped with the right environment, information and support to enable great decision making and the best possible outcomes.
When not doing that I'm into the festival scene. I'm a regular at Goodwood Festival of Speed, V and Latitude. I'm also working my way around the Formula 1 calendar having been to Silverstone (2013), Singapore (2014), and Abu Dhabi later this year. My campervan is my transport, and lodgings, of choice, but I also enjoy giving TLC to my ageing-but-not-quite-classic Porsche 911 at the weekend.
I'm a fan of modernist and brutalist architecture and am a member of The Twentieth Century Society, which exists to safeguard the buildings and designs that characterise the Twentieth Century in Britain. I also love (in no particular order) my local butcher, North Norfolk, gadgets, good grammar, craft beer and politics.