Mailbox boss Alan Chatham’s has pulled off a coup in his drive to recruit a team of potential successors for his development company by sercuring the services of Birmingham’s hottest young professional.
Anthony McCourt - the current holder of the Birmingham Young professional of the Year title - has quit his job as a solicitor at Wragge & Co to take up a new post at Birmingham Development Company.
Anthony will be the fourth appointment by the company behind The Mailbox and The Cube following the launch of its Apprentice-style search for a new team to help deliver its ambitious future development plans 18 months ago.
The recruitment drive has already seen the appointments of Claire Greenwood, Kim Atkinson and Post columnist Madeleine Reaves but Mr Chatham said it has since become evident that further appointments where necessary to secure the long-term future of the company.
He said: “We are currently looking at a number of new projects and with managing The Mailbox and the ongoing construction of The Cube, we decided that the three successors we had already appointed just wasn’t enough.
“Anthony came to our attention after he won BYPY and it soon became clear that he had decided that we were the kind of organisation he would like to work for. Over the course of a number of months we had several meetings and he came in for a day and the current succesors set him a number of tasks which went very well - my feelings were that here was a guy who was going to give up a seriously good career in law so it had to be right for him as well as us.
“I wanted him to come here with his eyes fully open and knowing the future challenges that will face him at BDC I actually told him he was better off staying at Wragges but I am really really pleased to say that he has ignored that advice and decided to come and join the team.”
Mr Chatham launched his recruitment drive last year with a promise that the right candidates, if they rose to the challenges of delivering projects as successfil as The Mailbox, could eventually earn a stake in the company. However, as attractive as the potential rewards may appear, Mr McCourt said that renumeration was not his key driver in taking up the new role.
“This move is not about chasing the Yankee dollar,” said the 26-year-old. “This is the chance to work for a company that has helped to tranform the city I love. This is a process that has gone on for a number of months and I am absolutely thrilled that I am able to take up such a fantastic opportunity.
“I have had a great time at Wragge & Co and I would never have won BYPY if it had not been for them and I will continue to be an ambassador for them as I move on to a new chapter in my life.”
