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Maja Pawinska Sims
LONDON — UK technology specialist agency Wildfire has become employee-owned, four years after CEO Debby Penton led an MBO of the business.
The agency is now 100% employee-owned, with all 30 employees having a stake in the firm. The move follows a restructure of Wildfire’s senior management team last year, with Penton moving up to CEO and client services director Louise Palmer and agency development director Chris King become joint managing directors of the £3 million business.
Penton has worked for the firm for more than 21 years, through its merger with tech firm EML in 2011, and was MD at the time of the MBO in 2000, holding 66% of the agency’s shares.
She remains in post as CEO, while COO Andrew Shephard, who had 34% of the shares after the MBO, has stepped down after nearly 30 years at Wildfire.
Penton told PRovoke Media: “It’s a natural step and means I can still stay in the business and be part of that journey. It really will help us move to the next level with employee engagement and growth.”
In a LinkedIn post announcing the move she said: “By selling our shareholding back to the business, Andrew and I are preserving Wildfire for the future and, most importantly, securing the culture we’ve been nurturing for years… Now, our team of employee-owners will have more autonomy over their work, greater transparency on the direction of the business, and more opportunity to get involved and shape our future.”
She said as well as Shephard stepping down, the move would pave the way for her to “gradually and undramatically step back when the time is right, without disrupting the direction of — or vision for — the agency.
“For at least the next five years, I plan to be fully involved in this exciting new chapter in Wildfire’s story. With all that’s happening, I definitely don’t want to miss out on being a part of that journey.”
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