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Press, 16 May 1985, Page 30

Mrs Ellen Croxson (above) has added a new role to her “troubleshooter” status at the Christchurch sharebroking firm of Anderson Reid and Company — that of market operator. She has taken the new job while the firm’s regular operator, Mr Humphrey Sherratt, is away on holiday. She is the first woman operator on the floor of the Christchurch Invercargill Stock Exchange. To some extent, she was thrown in the deep end because trading was busier than when she was working with Mr Sherratt for a week and the market was also hitting new highs.

“I was nervous at first,

but once the call started I was just too busy to worry about it,” she said. Initially, she had to keep consulting her own notes, but she can now confidently keep track of trading without having to stop all the time to check prices. “It’s very much a young person’s job. You have to have a quick mind and be able to listen to quite a few different conversations during the call. “I really enjoy being market operator. The time goes very quicky, and I’m still doing my own job (scrip clerk) as well as Humphrey Sherratt’s.” She said she would like to be the market operator full-

time. In any event, the experience would give the firm an additional back-up in case the regular operator was ill or took holidays again.

Mrs Croxson describes herself as a troubleshooter for the small broking firm with a staff of five, making sure that the office runs smoothly and efficiently. She has been with Anderson Reid since 1977, although she left the firm last year to work in Brisbane.

She kept in close contact with one of the partners of the firm, Mr Jack Reid, who wrote to say that a job was available in Christchurch. She rejoined Anderson Reid in January.