As someone who relishes change and has an approach based on the cool focus of Army officer experience, Clare Carre is at the heart of future proofing Guernsey Chamber
The breadth of community engagement and potential around Chamber was the catalyst for Clare to join the Board of the registered Not For Profit. She was intrigued by the opportunity presented by the combination of working with a large number of businesses of all sizes, coupled with government engagement and general community activity. ‘I like the fact that it is so representative – in fact, it is the most representative business group in the island – and that is a large part of the appeal of the role although I also have huge respect for Elaine as new President and was keen to support her.’
Rattling through the diverse and challenging elements of her business and family life, it quickly becomes clear that Clare is someone for whom the phrase “multi tasking” could have been invented.
A decision to play an active role in Chamber was carefully considered. ‘I know that Elaine – while being one of the busiest people I know – never does anything half hearted and the fact that she was so animated about the potential for Chamber played a part in my decision.’
Clare is keen to see as much diversity as possible in the organisation and wants to ensure that the youth of the island have a strong voice. Sustainability is also high on her list of major topics. She feels that there is enormous opportunity for the island around the positive change triggered by dealing with the pandemic. ‘It has made us all take stock and come together as a community and we need to continue that progress and mindset because everyone in the community can benefit from positive change. Covid also made clear that we couldn’t stand back and wait for someone else to deal with things – we had to do it ourselves.’
That “can do” perspective has been front of mind in many of Clare’s professional and personal interests. She undertook military training at Sandhurst. As a qualified lawyer with the Army, she served in Kosovo and Bosnia and became highly aware of the widespread personal toll (as well as the security risks) that individuals suffered while serving abroad as relationships fell apart. ‘It was the very human side of the battalion.’
Her husband, Andy, was also in the military and the couple had twin daughters while he was serving in Iraq. Reflecting on those times, Clare said she still feels the benefit of Sandhurst training which focussed on ‘how do you lead during uncertainty and when you have no concept of what the landscape could look like.’
Living in various parts of the globe was part of the family’s lifestyle for several years, involving Germany, Abu Dhabi and Jamaica. They relocated here when the twins were nine and their youngest was six. Clare completed an MBA and was part of the project team for the States Strategic Asset Management Plan. She joined the team at Investec two and a half years ago.
She believes Chamber has an important part to play in encouraging the island to be as diverse and inclusive as possible and to lobby from a position that is totally authentic, she will be actively encouraging the business organisation to increase its own diversity and reach.
