Success in Finance

Joining me today is Gary Hanson. Gary started out his career with Winney Murray, who were then what we would class as a "Big 4" firm today (although there were 5 of them). He then went onto Binder Hamlyn and EY, progressing to Senior Manager level, before making the move to BDO, where he spent 34 years, many of which as Partner. During his time as Partner, Gary built out the Cambridge office, operated as a point of liaison between the UK and US and sat on the Partnership Council.

Joining me today is Terry Reynolds. Terry began his career straight out of school, choosing to dive directly into the world of law through a Legal Cashier Assistant role with Linklaters. Terry has remained in the legal space every since and over the last 10.5 years progressed to Assistant Financial Analyst with Linklaters before transitioning to RPC. With RPC, he has developed from Finance Analyst to Senior Finance Practice Manager over 6.5 years, obtaining the CIMA qualification along the way.

Joining me today is Elaine Darby. Elaine graduated from Southampton University with a degree in English and decided to join PwC's grad scheme. Having qualified as an ACA with PwC, Elaine moved on to a Consultancy role at Arthur Andersen before becoming a Senior Consultant at KPMG and then joining Deloitte. She spent 6 years at Deloitte, progressing to Senior Manager level, before ultimately deciding to make the move into teaching. After 3 years as a BPP tutor, Elaine became a Lecturer in Accounting at Henley Business School. After 8 years there, she joined Royal Holloway, where she is now Director of Undergraduate Education.

Joining me today is Amit Lakhani. After graduating from UCL with a degree in Economics & Statistics, Amit explored a few potential career opportunities, with roles as Investment Assistant at Thomas Miller and then Data Analyst at Geonomic and Arriva Bus respectively. Having settled on Data Analytics, Amit moved to The Zeal Group, where he has spent the last 4.5 years progressing from Investment & Data Strategy Analyst to Head of Corporate Development and now Investment Director. Amit now also undertakes a number of NED / Advisory roles for related ventures.

Joining me today is Ibrar Raja. Ibrar joined Deloitte having completed a degree in Management & Systems. He also spent some time at Wilson Wright & Co, a smaller firm, before moving into industry with TJX Europe. Here, he undertook roles as a Senior Internal Auditor and European Corporate Accounting Manager before moving to Telecity Group. At Telecity Group, Ibrar first operated as FC, before taking on a role as FD of part of the group. Since leaving Telecity Group, Ibrar went on to a Group FC role with Bestway for 2 years and now is FC of the Restaurant Group.

Joining me today is Mat Steer. Mat joined PwC on their Consulting & Audit split scheme, having graduated from Warwick with a degree in Politics with French. During his time at PwC, Mat spent time both in audit and consulting, as well as undertaking a client secondment. After joining PwC's New Law team and being a key part of the team's growth, Mat recently moved on to Deloitte as an Associate Director where he remains in the New Law sphere.

Joining me today is Catherine Marks. Catherine joined Deloitte having undertaken a degree in Management with German at Nottingham University. After 7 years at Deloitte, including stints in Birmingham, London and Zurich across audit, reorganisation services and Transaction Services, Catherine joined RBS. Here, she spent a further 6 years in Global Restructuring and Head of Complex Disposal Support (in-house M&A) before FP&A and Investor Relations roles at Viacom and NewDay. Today, Catherine is Head of Group FP&A at O2.

Joining me today is Daniel Pembroke. Daniel joined Macfarlanes straight out of school and transitioned into a Credit Controller role as the concept of asking clients to pay money that they owed developed. After 8 years at Macfarlanes, Daniel joined Ince & Co via a brief stint at HFW. He went on to spend almost 20 years at Ince & Co, progressing through Revenue management and into a BD & Pricing role. Upon becoming Head of Pricing, Daniel was then presented with the opportunity to join Simmons & Simmons and, subsequently, Norton Rose Fulbright, where he has spent the last 3.5 years.

Joining me today is Zoe Cooke. Zoe graduated from LSE with a degree in Government and a Masters in Political Science. She decided to join GroupOn who were the fastest growing company ever at the time and on the verge of IPO as a Junior Finance Manager. Over her 5.5 years here, Zoe spent 2 years in Switzerland and completed the CIMA qualification. When the opportunity to join OglivyOne Worldwide as a Financial Analyst arose, Zoe took it and spent 3 years here, progressing to Commercial Controller and collecting the accolade of WACL Future Leader in the process. For the last 2 years, Zoe has been the Head of FP&A at MiQ.

Joining me today is Billy Green. Billy graduated with a degree from Oxford in English before embarking upon a career in audit with PwC. Over his 10 years with PwC, Billy specialised in the audit of Tech and Media clients, with a 3 year stint in LA seeing him develop a strong understanding of US GAAP, SOX and SEC guidelines. Having left PwC as a Senior Manager, Billy has gone on to work for a number of NASDAQ and NYSE listed businesses in senior finance positions. Billy is currently Finance Director at CentralNic.

Joining me today is Lauren Murphy. Lauren is a CA qualified accountant having trained in South Africa before moving to London. During her time in London, Lauren attended an event for entrepreneurs at Google HQ and shared an idea with fellow attendees giving her and her partners the confidence to go ahead with the concept of Adludio. 9 years later, Adludio is an international business serving a number of Bluechip customers. Lauren shares Adludio's journey. You can also watch this interview on my YouTube channel.

Joining me today is Chris Newman. Chris graduated from the University of Westminster with a degree in Business Studies and decided to pursue the CIMA qualification through his role with London Stock Exchange. He went on to work for Pearl Assurance and Norwich & Peterborough Building Society for the next 8 years before joining Ascential. Here, Chris spent 6 years, progressing to Group Financial Reporting Manager and then project managing the development of a new budgeting & reporting process. He then joined Experian as Head of IT Finance before ultimately progressing to FD. After 10 years at Experian, Chris moved to Fiserv and has now relocated to New York, where he is responsible for Mergers and post acquisition integration. You can also watch this episode on my YouTube channel.

Joining me today is Louis Tuttle. Louis graduated from King's College London with a degree in Geography. He decided to pursue the ACA as an Audit Trainee within BDO's Consumer Markets team. He spent 3.5 years at BDO, including a secondment to Brisbane, Australia, and some time out to travel afterwards. He joined Busaba, initially as a Finance Manager, and was promoted to Group Financial Controller. After 2.5 years here, he decided to return to Australia permanently. Since returning to Brisbane, he completed a brief stint as a Manager in Deloitte's Restructuring & Advisory division before joining SurfStitch, where he is currently Head of Finance. You can also listen to recent interview on my YouTube channel.

Joining me today is Laura Crespi. Laura graduated with a degree in Biochemistry from Nottingham before joining Deloitte as an Audit Trainee. She stayed at Deloitte until Audit Manager level and undertook a secondment to the IFRS centre of excellence, where she honed her technical accounting knowledge. Having completed her secondment, the opportunity to join RELX's group accounting function arose, so she joined as a Senior Project Accountant. After progressing to Group Financial Reporting Manager, Laura decided that she needed operational finance experience so moved within the group to Elsevier. Here, she spent 2 years in Amsterdam. Having returned to the UK, Laura is currently Finance Director of Elsevier. You can also watch this interview on my YouTube channel.

Joining me today is Sam Bordbar. Sam completed a Masters in Business from Kent before joining DDB, part of the Omnicom group in a Commercial Analyst role. He then followed his boss over to Hogarth, part of the WPP group, giving him exposure to 2 of the largest advertising groups in the world. Sam never quite settled at Hogarth and so moved on to Teneo as a Finance Operations Manager. He has spent the last 7 years at Teneo, during which he has progressed his responsibilities and been involved in integrations of a number of businesses and helped lead the migration from Paprika to Netsuite. You can also watch recent interviews on my YouTube channel.

Joining me today is Sam Allanson. Having graduated from Cambridge with a Law degree, Sam chose to pursue a finance career, starting out as a Graduate Finance Analyst at Kingfisher. He undertook a number of commercial roles during his 8 years with Kingfisher, before moving to Brakes as Head of FP&A and then Sky where he spent 4 years to Senior Finance Manager level. In 2017, Sam joined Ladbrokes as Head of Commercial Finance and was involved in their takeover by GVC. Since the acquisition 2.5 years ago, Sam has remained GVC Head of Commercial Finance. You can also watch selected interviews on my YouTube channel.

Joining me today is John Turner. John started his career in audit at KPMG, having completed a Masters in Political Science at Leiden University. He was involved in the intensive programme offered by KPMG, which involves sitting 14 of the 15 ACA exams within the first 9 months. He talks us through the challenges of that programme alongside the Big 4 culture and dealing with the stresses of busy season. After leaving KPMG, John joined Pepkor, the Holding Company of Poundland and Pepco, as a Group Reporting Accountant, where he spent 2 years managing the cash flow and financial reporting of the business. He then joined RELX, where he remains today as a Financial Reporting Accountant in the Head Office finance team. You can also watch recent interviews on my YouTube channel. www.successinfinance.co.uk

Joining me today is Aneliya Vazharova. Aneliya joined the graduate scheme at Cisco straight out of University and, finding her passion for commercial finance, undertook a number of financial analysis and strategic business roles here over her 6 year tenure. She then moved to LexisNexis where she has further pursued commercial finance and now operates as Senior Commercial Finance Manager. You can also watch recent interviews on my YouTube channel. www.successinfinance.co.uk

Joining me today is Steve Whiting. Steve is currently FD at Grayling. He talks us through gaining the ACA at a smaller firm and the benefits of exposure to tax, bookkeeping and accounts preparation as well as audit, which gave him a solid grounding when joining a larger practice and later moving into industry. He also describes his progression from Finance Analyst to FD over his three year tenure at Grayling. You can see recent video interviews on my YouTube channel. www.successinfinance.co.uk

Joining me today is Jim Berry. Jim is the MBA Course Director for University College London. In this role, Jim has the opportunity to work with a number of successful and aspirational professionals, across a variety of industries and roles including finance. This means that he is familiar with the ingredients required for a successful career and he shares details of this in this episode. Jim also goes into detail on the key components of the UCL MBA and why focus on each of these areas either via an MBA or through work experience are important for anybody looking to pursue an executive leadership position. The four areas of focus listed below and underpinned by Strategy are crucial to success at executive level: - Finance - HR - Operations - Marketing You can also view this episode on my YouTube channel. www.successinfinance.co.uk

Joining me today is David Bloom. David began his career at Jeffrey Henry's, a smaller accountancy practice before moving into the corporate finance function at KPMG. After spending some time as FD of a listed business in New Zealand, David joined Getty Images, where he assisted with the growth of the business and was responsible for the integration of acquisitions. Here, he won the Accountancy Age Accountant of the Year award. Since leaving Getty, David set up a "Posh Kebabs" restaurant chain called Flamin' Nora, which was successful for a while, and then returned to traditional FD/CFO roles. He currently advises on a number of boards and has had a variety of interim FD/CFO positions. You can listen to recent video podcasts on my Youtube channel. www.successinfinance.co.uk

Joining me today is Joe Sage. Joe started out in audit before transitioning into Corporate Finance, where he worked on a number of transactions. This led him nicely into his Group Finance Manager role with Inspicio, an acquisitive business, where he applied his skillset to 3 acquisitions before assisting with Inspicio's sale to 3i. This process also involved de-listing from AIM. Following this transaction, Joe opted to undertake his first FD role with SDI Media. After taking time out to travel around Asia, Joe returned to a CFO role with Arts Alliance Media where he spent over 7 years assisting in the transition of a loss making business into a profitable international group, concluding with a sale to a Chinese business. Since then, Joe spent a brief spell as CFO of Sweet Inn, before becoming CFO of Oakland where he works currently. You can also watch this episode on my YouTube channel. www.successinfinance.co.uk

Joining me today is Patrick Dunne. Patrick spent 4 years at Air Products before studying for his MBA at Cranfield School of Management. He then joined 3i where he spent 27 years in Private Equity managing a number of different portfolios and sitting on many Boards. With this experience behind him, Patrick has gone on to found his own Board Advisory business, Boardelta, as well as Warwick in Africa. He also operates as Chair for ESSA, EY Foundation and the Chartered Management Institute. Patrick's experiences have enabled him to write a number of successful books, with his most recent book "Boards" receiving The Business Book Award for February 2020. Boards is the award-winning book by Patrick Dunne. An easy read, it delivers invaluable advice, with practical, real-life case studies, that enable the reader to better understand the challenges of working at board level. Whether you are a new or experienced board member, or on the senior leadership team working with board members, this is an invaluable guide that will enable, empower and enrich your understanding, interactions and contribution. I am pleased to tell you that a £5 discount is available for all listeners of the Success In Finance podcast. To take advantage of this discount go to https://www.governance.co.uk/boards/?v=7516fd43adaa and put in the following Code at the checkout: Sif5. You can also watch this episode in full on my YouTube Channel. www.successinfinance.co.uk

Joining me this week is Jamie Nolan. Jamie joined Buzzacott LLP straight out of University following his degree in Accounting & Finance from the University of Warwick. During his time at Buzzacott, Jamie has attained the CTA qualification and has progressed rapidly to Tax Manager level. Jamie details the opportunities available through a career in tax as well as the day to day nature of the role and the requisite problem solving nature.  You can also visit my YouTube channel for recent video and face-to-face interviews. www.successinfinance.co.uk

Joining me today is Noreen Khan & Mark Sinjakli. Both give us a summary of their pre My Baker careers, with Noreen describing her journey through Communications at Deutsche Bank and Mark detailing his time in Restructuring. They then talk through the challenges of founding and running your own business, as well as the My Baker story and how Mark came to buy the business from Noreen. You can also see the full video interview on my YouTube channel. www.successinfinance.co.uk

Joining me this week is Andrew Ring. Andrew is currently CFO at Hitachi Capital. Having graduated from Cambridge with a Natural Sciences degree, he began his career with KPMG within insurance audit. After a brief stint in restructuring, Andrew moved to Barclays where he spent 8 years across a number of reporting and commercial roles, ultimately rising to FD of Barclays Corporate. At this point, he chose to move to Hitachi where he undertook his first CFO role and has spent the last 4 years. You can also visit my YouTube channel for recent video and face-to-face interviews. www.successinfinance.co.uk

Joining me today is Andy Viner. Andy started his career in audit with KPMG, which included a secondment to Wellington in New Zealand. Upon returning to the UK, Andy took the opportunity to join Cable & Wireless in their Internal Audit function. Having worked out pretty quickly this wasn't for him, he moved back into practice with Arthur Andersen in their Corporate Finance team. 3 years later, he joined BDO where he has progressed to Global Head of Media. Andy has some really useful insights to share and for anybody considering aiming for the top within practice, this will be a great listen. You can also visit my YouTube channel for recent video and face-to-face interviews. www.successinfinance.co.uk

Joining me this week is Karen Sands. Karen was the youngest ever AAT at 18 and the youngest ever ACA at 20, before going on to complete the CTA. Karen spent 12 years teaching which spanned the introduction of IFRS and gave her the opportunity to train 80% of the FTSE 350 Finance teams on its application. Upon moving back into industry, she established herself as a contractor, meaning that she has been involved in a number of interesting roles including: - Just Eat - M&A Project Consultant - following the acquisitions of Skip the Dishes and Hungry House - AB InBev - Head of Finance - accounting for and implementing the UKs biggest ever acquisition (SAB Miller) - Nationwide - IFRS 9 technical lead - establishing industry benchmark standards Today, Karen is Finance Transformation Director at Perspectum. You can also visit my YouTube channel for recent video and face-to-face interviews. www.successinfinance.co.uk

Joining me today is Dan Bolland. Dan is currently a Partner at Sia Partners, having undertaken a varied career underpinned by driving improvements in process and performance. He has predominantly worked in the Financial Services space, undertaking pricing and profitability focused roles at HBOS, Northern Rock and Barclays before transitioning into more consultative roles at KPMG and now Sia. Dan has some great advice to share and articulates his points through some excellent analogies. You can also visit my YouTube channel for recent video and face-to-face interviews. www.successinfinance.co.uk

Joining me today is Dan Winters. Dan is currently Group FC at Paysafe Group Plc. He began his career in audit as a school leaver and worked his way up to Audit Manager over 9 years within the Consumer Markets space. Dan then joined Paysafe where he has spent the last 3 years, progressing to become part of the senior management team. Dan touches upon the benefit of a foundation in audit, the challenges of the ACA and dispels some common misconceptions pertaining to PE-backed businesses. You can also visit my YouTube channel for recent video and face-to-face interviews. www.successinfinance.co.uk

Joining me this week is Josh Rix & Luke Casey, co-founders of Woodhurst. Something slightly different this episode as Josh & Luke share their journey through the Management Consultancy space. They describe exactly how they came to specialise in Financial Services, before ultimately setting up Woodhurst. We discuss the merits of a year in industry, the grounding a finance qualification can give you for a career in consulting and the drivers behind the success of Woodhurst. You can also visit my YouTube channel for recent video and face-to-face interviews. www.successinfinance.co.uk

Joining me this week is Gaurav Seth. Gaurav graduated from Oxford with a degree in PPE and embarked upon the ACA having recognised it as a leading foundation to the world of finance. Having spent 6 years at Deloitte within audit and M&A, Gaurav moves to Tesco where he worked in the Corporate Finance team and then as a business partner with a procurement focus. After 4 years, he then transitioned into a Commercial FD role with Serco, the business behind “Boris Bikes”, where he spent an additional 4 years. Most recently, Gaurav operated as Finance Director of another listed business in the Hyve Group. You can also visit my YouTube channel for recent video and face-to-face interviews. www.successinfinance.co.uk

Joining me today is Jo Kanani. Jo began her career with the aspiration of becoming a Management Accountant, believing that was her ceiling and she would never surpass that level. Today, she is the CFO of Grayling, an international communications agency. She shares the story of her journey and how the support of those around her and an affable personality, coupled with hard work and dedication, has enabled her to achieve what she has in her career. You can also visit my YouTube channel for recent video and face-to-face interviews. www.successinfinance.co.uk

Joining me today are sisters Charlotte & Olivia, co-founders of Toco Swim. They talk us through their audit careers at PwC and BDO and how they developed a strong foundation in finance which equipped them with the skills and initiative to set up their own business. They touch upon international secondments, the challenges of running your own business and the advice that they would give to anybody setting up on their own. You can also visit my YouTube channel for recent video and face-to-face interviews. www.successinfinance.co.uk

Joining me this week is James Taylor. James began his career in audit and accounts at Haines Watts, spending some time in corporate finance before pursuing various commercial roles in financial institutions and the mobile payment solutions space. He is going to talk us through the proactive career decisions that he made as well as the experiences that equipped him to become the strategic CFO that he is today. You can also visit my YouTube channel for recent video and face-to-face interviews. www.successinfinance.co.uk

Joining me this week is Ellie Worster, Senior Manager in the Business Outsourcing team at Buzzacott LLP. She talks us through her time in practice at CCW and Buzzacott LLP and how she has progressed to Senior Manager level. She addresses the benefits of the school leaver scheme and having longevity within a business. You can also visit my YouTube channel for recent video and face-to-face interviews. www.successinfinance.co.uk

Joining me this week is Ian Daly, CFO, entrepreneur and businessman. Ian has achieved a great deal in his career including: - Growing and selling 2 multi-million pound businesses - Administrating a business before buying and building it into a successful profit generating operation - Being part of the team that developed and took to market the concept of pay as you go mobile phones - Operating as CFO of a listed business He has some great insights to share and a lot to say around the importance of failing in order to ultimately become a success. You can also visit my YouTube channel for recent video and face-to-face interviews. www.successinfinance.co.uk

Joining me today is Tom Steabler, currently a Director at one of the “Big Three” credit ratings agencies. He talks us through his career to date including his experiences within audit, investment banking and now the credit ratings space. You can also visit my YouTube channel for recent video and face-to-face interviews. www.successinfinance.co.uk

Coming soon... Success in Finance. Here is a brief trailer explaining exactly what you can expect from the Podcast. https://www.linkedin.com/in/success-in-finance-b189711ab