Media Headliner: Why Brooks relishes giving GNM a global reach.(Tim Brooks)(Guardian News & Media)

Tim Brooks is well aware of the need to maintain standards when expanding the Guardian brand overseas, Ian Darby writes.

Events have moved at whirlwind pace since Tim Brooks was appointed the managing director of Guardian News & Media almost two years ago. Most of these were planned, others were about as welcome as Max Mosley at Rupert Murdoch's summer party.

In August 2006, Brooks was announced in the role, fending off competition from the internal favourite Stuart Taylor to replace Carolyn McCall, who had stepped up to become the chief executive of Guardian Media Group. Since then, Brooks has been faced with initiating a wholescale review of GNM's commercial and editorial structures alongside large investment in its online offering and a move into overseas markets.

Brooks, who joined GNM from IPC Media, where he was the managing director of its ignite! division, says he's enjoying the challenge of his dream job: 'I wasn't looking to leave IPC, but I'd read The Guardian and The Observer since I was a lad, so it was the chance to combine my skills with a real passion.'

He adds: 'I think it's fair to say that Carolyn hired me because I'd been used to managing change. She had the feeling that GNM was about to go through an unprecedented amount of change, so needed somebody from outside to lead that - and the business has changed a lot.'

During the past year or so, GNM has conducted a review looking at the shape of its workforce as it moves towards integration of its online, Guardian and Observer sales and editorial teams (the commercial restructure is completed but the editorial restructure, headed by the editor-in-chief, Alan Rusbridger, is likely to kick into full effect by the end of the year when GNM moves into new offices near King's Cross).

This has involved some pain, with 100 redundancies from a total staff of 1,700. However, Brooks says that it has hired close to that number to populate the digital sides of the business, resulting in little overall change in headcount.