Ex journalist makes it to the top at top economic forecasting consultancy

 

Cebr, the leading economics consultancy has appointed Graham Brough, currently its managing director, to succeed Douglas McWilliams as chief executive from 15 January 2013.

 

Douglas McWilliams steps up to become executive chairman. He succeeds John Duff, the current chairman, who will remain on the Cebr Board. McWilliams will continue to be Cebr’s chief economist.

 

Graham Brough, aged 52, had a long career in journalism with the Yorkshire Post, Sunday Times, Today and Mail on Sunday and ending up as an award winning reporter with the Daily Mirror. He was particularly associated with investigative reports into human rights abuse cases and was associated with the Stephen Lawrence and Gurkha immigration rights campaigns. He joined Cebr in 2010 as managing director. Graham was educated at Oxford University where he read Philosophy, Politics and Economics.

 

Meanwhile, Cebr celebrates 20 years of existence by publishing a selection of its predictions in the past 20 years. The consultancy was judged the equal best long term forecaster of the UK economy over the 8 years to 2010, was the top forecaster for UK GDP for 2011 and, with the data for Q4 2012 looking increasingly weak, is likely to be proved to have been one of the best forecasters for UK GDP for 2012 when the Q4 data is published on 25 January. Cebr has also consistently been acknowledged as the UK’s best house price forecaster, most recently in a survey by the Sunday Times published on 9 September 2012 (see below for a list of Cebr’s top ten predictions over the past 20 years).

 

“Graham Brough is the ideal person to succeed me as chief executive. He has dynamism and enthusiasm and has played a major role in Cebr’s recent business success and in developing the team of top economists which has delivered our impressive track record,” said Douglas McWilliams.

 

“I am not planning to disappear. I plan to remain Cebr’s chief economist as well as executive chairman.  But the business has reached the size where running it and being the chief economist is too much for one person so we are splitting the jobs. Graham will run the business side and I will be the leading economist and also the chairman of the company.

 

“I’d also like to thank John Duff for his successful 10 years as chairman. We have increased our profits by 8 times and our turnover and staff have doubled under his chairmanship.

 

“He had done a grand job for Cebr and we are very pleased that he is staying on the board and is becoming the executive director overseeing finance and strategic planning”.