At Tait, we take great pride in serving the organizations that keep communities safe, our lights on, and the modern world flowing. To provide them with the great support Tait is renowned for, we have a dedicated team of individuals worldwide who work hard to deliver results. In this blog, we meet Margaret Grant, PSN Transition Manager at Tait’s Head Office in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Meet Margaret Grant, Migration Services Manager at Tait Communication’s Head Office 
Margaret is a returning employee, having originally moved from the UK to work for Tait in 2003 till 2010, then returning in 2018. Currently, she works as the Migration Services Manager for Tait Communications & Kordias partnership (I’m actually a Tait employee – not TK) to build and maintain a secure digital LMR communications network across New Zealand; also known as the Nationwide ‘PSN’ or Public Safety Network.
Margaret has had a rich and diverse career at Tait, having worked as a Product Manager originally for the T2000 mobile, then managed MPT networks, and developed the business case for the DMR product portfolio. Returning to Tait in 2018 with a focus on services in New Zealand, she is now heavily involved in facilitating the migration of public safety agencies onto PSN. Providing critical communications for New Zealand Police, Fire and Emergency services.
Today we got the opportunity to ask Margaret a few questions so you can get to know her as well as we do!
Q1: What were the steps, both accidental and deliberate, that lead you to where you are in your career?
A: Mostly accidental. I landed a graduate job with British Telecom which eventually led to a role as Product Manager for Airwave, the public safety network in the UK. When BT decided to move the Airwave office out of central London to Slough, I quit. A colleague saw a role at Tait advertised in Land Mobile magazine. I applied, had a telephone interview and six weeks later was heading out to New Zealand, never having been there before.
Q2: Biggest lesson you learned from your youth, biggest lesson you learned as an adult?
A: Childhood is a series of small lessons. The biggest lesson I’ve learned as an adult is that you can’t control what happens to you in your life, you can only control how you react to it.
Q3: What is your favorite hobby to do outside of work? What hobby/interest would you also like to pursue but haven’t had the opportunity to yet?
A: My main hobby outside of work is dressage. I did a few low-level competitions on my daughter’s horse and went on to do several years of dressage writing (writing down the marks and comments from the judge). Last year, I qualified as a dressage judge in my own right. I would like to have more time for horse riding but at the moment that is restricted to once a week.
Q4: What’s a subject you could give a 30 minute presentation on with no prior preparation?
A: Dressage! [Editor’s note: dressage is a form of exhibition horse riding, regarded by the international equestrian federation as the highest expression of horse training.]
Q5: What prominent figure throughout all of history would you like to have a conversion with given the opportunity?
A: I’m not really interested in having a conversation with any prominent historical figures, but I’d like to be able to speak to previous generations of my family to understand our own history better. When I was young, I didn’t know the questions to ask. Now that I am older, they are gone and so is the opportunity to know more about them.
Q6: What gets you out of bed in the morning?
A: Hunger and the need for breakfast, although I feed the animals first.
The animals in question:
Ruddy the extremely photogenic cat
Bryan, previously ‘Betty’ was found in a predator trap at Willowbank. Originally thought to be a girl, turned out to be a boy once he let Margaret get close to him!
Nulla the horse
Gareth (Pictured left) and Horace (Pictured right)
Get in Touch with Tait
If there’s anything Margaret or the teams at our regional offices can do to assist you, please don’t hesitate to contact our team!
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