Meet MICT's new CEO: Denise Baxter
Mull and Iona Community Trust’s new CEO Denise Baxter says she cannot wait to carve out her own legacy with the charity.
Two weeks into her new role, Denise has been hard at work getting to know the ins and outs of the job. She has held one-on-one meetings with all of her team, and is learning everything she can about MICT and what they do.
And she says the board are up next, with her already getting great support from its members.
With her policy to always be her authentic self, Denise wants MICT to be more visible in their work.
Despite a long time living on Mull, she said that she was surprised to find out just how much the charity has done over the years, and has said that one of her main goals will be sharing that information more widely.
She plans to overhaul MICT’s social media and website, updating them with everything they do and keeping the island more up to date on their progress.
MICT’s work is close to home for Denise. She is a regular contributor to Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance due to the life saving work it put in to saving her son from a bout of illness when he was younger.
MICT were a major player in setting up the island’s helipad, making services provided by the SCAA much easier to deliver. "I’ll always be grateful to the island for their support during that time," she said.
Originally from Clackmannanshire and with ties to Edinburgh, Denise first moved to Mull 18 years ago after falling in love while visiting as a tourist.
"I was one of those people who bought a holiday home first, I’ll admit that," she said, "my husband and I lived in Edinburgh and I had a stressful, challenging job, we used to spend all of our weekends getting away from the city to decompress.
"Eventually we realised, we’re spending so much money going away, why don’t we buy a place to go away to?"
When Denise’s job was later threatened with redundancy, she ended up taking a work from home position, rare for the early 2000s, which gave her the perfect opportunity to move into her Tobermory home. She never looked back.
Before MICT, Denise spent three years at the Island Bakery as its commercial manager, during which the biscuit company went from a loss into the green.
She said: "I loved my time at the biscuit factory, but when this came up, I guess it tugged at the heartstrings.
"I think Moray, over his 14 years at the helm, and the team did an amazing job, so it’s massive shoes to fill.
"But what I would love is a legacy that my kids in the future will think, ’God, mom helped do that. That’s amazing.’
"I’ve said to Moray, I will be tapping into his knowledge and expertise! He’s got a wealth of knowledge and a fantastic legacy and I know he will be a great support in helping me to build my own."
But Denise has plenty of knowledge of her own. Twice running her own business, she has become accustomed to the ins and outs of being the boss. This job for her is extra special however, as it fulfils an ambition she has held for decades to end her career in the third sector.
"No one works in the third sector for money! But it was always part of my career plan.
"I’d like to think Mull is my last home and that I’ll be doing the job for as long as I’m physically able."
So far she has found the greatest challenge to be patience with herself, not going 100mph.
"For me to be the best CEO I can be for MICT I want to have the correct ratio between my ears and mouth, which is two to one. I want to listen and learn everything," she said.
"A new joint survey with the Community Council will go out to the community on Thursday January 22 to gather their feedback. This information will create a place plan, we appreciate the challenges across the community can be very different.
"Once I see that data, it will point me and MICT in the right direction.
"Listening and gathering the feedback will be my key way of working for the considerable future.
"I want to focus on projects that can benefit the whole of Mull and Iona, and understanding that something that might benefit Tobermory might not benefit the Ross.
"I’ll be utilizing the team and the board, because they’ve got all the background knowledge, skills and experience, and then help them impart it onto me."
Denise says she will be engaging directly with Mull’s many communities to understand their needs and build the best strategy possible.
MICT’s next survey to inform their strategy for the next five years will be released ____
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