Behind the throne

CHARTERED accountant John Stent became MD of Stansted Airport in 1997, having previously worked as Heathow's finance director and managing director of the proposed new Terminal Five. He describes his three years at the Essex airport as "the most exciting of all", overseeing a period of growth with employee numbers increasing from 6,000 to 9,500. Stansted now serves 90 destinations, three times as many as three years ago. Currently, a 200 million extension to double the airport's capacity is under way; welcome news to anybody whose weekend city break started in the queue for the landside loos.

John spends four days a week at the airport, with one day at BAA's head office in Victoria. His Stansted days start at eight, after a "pretty hellish commute" from Guildford, and end at six, when he likes to leave the office behind.

"I try not to take work home with me."

PA Denise Parker's efficiency, calmness and knowledge of the airport ensure the MD gets the most from the day.

"Denise prioritises my diary, which is no easy task as there are 10 hours a day to juggle with. She deals with a huge variety of calls and has the judgment to know which I need to deal with urgently and which can be taken by someone else. And she does it all with tremendous tact.

Denise's style is very important. I couldn't work with anybody who is too maternal or deferential, but Denise is friendly without being overbearing."

BAA colleagues also benefit from Parker's efficiency. "She turns round internal correspondence at speed, knowing where to send it in the organisation for expert opinion, then both the reply and enquiry come back to me."

Parker organises the annual dinner dance, administers the staff suggestion scheme and holds weekly briefing sessions for other PAs, "so they can be as knowledgeable as she is".

With this full workload, it's rather a surprise to discover that for the past two years Parker has also been PA to operations director Chris Butler.

"The technology such as email and desktop applications made it possible for her to work for both us, and it just shows how good she is at her job."

John maintains a crisis is a defining moment for an organisation, and he and Parker have weathered both the four-day Afghan hijack and the Korean Airways crash. "These were times of crisis for the airport, and it was necessary for all the senior team to work in a calm, efficient way and Denise was superb."

Copyright 2000
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