TakingStock - Newton's law 'heads home'.
Having experienced one painful separation in recent times, Arthur Andersen is bracing itself for another.
Word has reached TS that arguably the longest-ever serving spokesman for a Big Five firm is bracing himself for retirement.
Having worked with AA for 25 years – he has seen five global managing partners come and four UK country managing partners go – John Newton of corporate communications consultant Grandfield, will hand over the role of senior external adviser to his colleague Robert Rice at the end of the month.
He has witnessed the birth of the consulting practice the firm through to its growing apart from Arthur Andersen and of course the divorce of the two parties last year.
He has also been giving high level advice to senior managers long before many of the current crop of staff were managers.
Senior partners come and go, but the world outside has seen some leaps forward in this time. During his first year with AA, Betamax and VHS video recorders appeared and Pans People were grooving to heartthrob David Cassidy.
The Iron Curtain has fallen and we’re in the DVD, CD age but it is understood Newton is having a little difficulty accepting he is retiring.
He has politely requested his colleagues refer to his imminent movement as merely ‘working from home on a part-time basis’. Old soldiers eh?