星空传媒

Elaine Headlam hit the headlines back in 2001 when she joined QS and project management firm MDA as chief executive. Quite a bolt from the blue as her background had been largely in marketing, although she had been formerly a director at the RICS. Her appointment coincided with the acquisition by MDA of her branding and design firm X-BBE to create a broad-ranged 鈥渟trategic consultancy鈥�.

She was something of a breath of fresh air, promising to inspire new confidence in MDA staff and to be blunt (鈥淚 am not a bullshitter鈥� she claimed in an interview). She also attracted fame in QS circles by being pictured with her dog Presto, a wheaten terrier, in the pages of QS News鈥� sister magazine 星空传媒 (see left). 鈥淚鈥檓 a bit worried he鈥檒l upstage me,鈥� she said at the time.

Yet within a couple of months of starting a bid to get the firm back on track, Headlam became ensconced in the soap opera that surrounded the firm earlier this decade. New management was brought in, including former J Sainsbury construction director Charles Johnston as chairman, and a vote of confidence was held over Headlam鈥檚 position by the firm鈥檚 shareholders. She won out in the vote in early 2002 but promptly resigned a month later.

Where is she now? Headlam herself declined to detail her life post-MDA when called by QS News this week. 鈥淣o thanks,鈥� she politely stated. Industry sources claim that after leaving the firm Headlam ran a charity in Surrey for about a year and has since married and retired. 鈥淚 think she is living in domestic bliss doing nothing but walking her dog,鈥� a source says. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think she wants anything to do with construction.鈥�