“The best way to predict your future is to create it,”
Five incredibly determined and committed Association of Corporate Treasurers (ACT) students have certainly lived up Abraham Lincoln’s admonition this year. Achieving the highest marks of all students in 2021 for each of our qualifications, they are setting themselves up for success.
Celebrating our students’ success is one of my favourite perks of the job and I have great pleasure in announcing the 2021 prizewinners and sharing their stories with you.
We award prizes for the students who achieved the highest marks out of all students who undertook the following qualifications this year: Certificate in International Cash Management, Certificate in Treasury, Diploma in Treasury Management and the illustrious ACT Student of the Year – for the Advanced Diploma in Treasury Management. We also recognise our bursary students and award them the Gay Pierpoint Bursary Award, which is in honour of former ACT Education Secretary and ACT advocate Gay Pierpoint.
Our 2021 winners are:
• Jeff Snyder – ACT Student of the Year;
• Alex Rutherford, assistant treasurer, SGN – Diploma in Treasury Management award;
• Katie Mellor, associate, traditional trade, corporate and institutional coverage, Lloyds Bank – Certificate in Treasury award;
• Charlotte Thorogood, treasury sales associate, Bank of America – Certificate in International Cash Management award; and
• Arunachalleswaran Baskar – Gay Pierpoint Bursary Award.
Congratulations to them all!
Let’s take a look at what they have to say about their studies, the ACT qualifications and their own personal challenges over the past 12 months…
It was a busy year: new kid, new house, refinancing the business. There was also the whole pandemic and lockdown. So, the Advanced Diploma in Treasury Management studies was an oasis compared to the surrounding disorder. It had been years since my last finance course and it was incredible to dive into recent innovations in the market such as blockchain, green financing and private credit. It’s a reminder that the finance world never stands still.
At the outset, I was nervous about the dissertation, but once under way, I found the act of researching, analysing and assessing a subject of my choosing – and speaking to leading practitioners in the field – very rewarding. I’d encourage students to really embrace that part of the curriculum.
Speaking of students, our cohort was incredible. We had folks spanning the world from Texas to New Zealand. Meeting, networking and learning from them was another highlight and really goes to show the global reach of the ACT.
The Diploma in Treasury Management is a very well-rounded qualification, and I would highly recommend it for both treasury professionals and bankers or advisers looking to further their careers. The course encourages you to apply essential technical knowledge and management theory to real-world strategic problems, and it has certainly helped me with some of the challenges the business and treasury team have faced over the past 18 months. Working from home during COVID-19 presented its own unique challenges, and with a newborn joining the family partway through my studies, I found it essential to maintain a sense of routine and allocate time to look after my physical and mental health.
My experience with the Certificate in Treasury was extremely positive. I work in the trade finance team at Lloyds Bank, providing solutions to large corporates within the infrastructure, energy and industrials sectors. I chose to study this qualification because it has a comprehensive syllabus, providing an in-depth view of the considerations and workings of a treasury function, and allowing me to understand my customers and their priorities better. I made use of the extra free time I had during the first COVID-19 lockdown to complete two of the five modules simultaneously.
The Certificate in International Cash Management was a challenging yet rewarding course. I would highly recommend it to others interested in enhancing their ability to deliver best practice international cash management solutions. The area of the course I found most interesting was the material covering the future of treasury, exploring how emerging technological trends such as blockchain and cryptocurrencies are disrupting the world of cash management. Digitisation and transformation has become a key topic of relevance in treasury, particularly since COVID-19, making the material all the more interesting and beneficial to my career.
All four stories demonstrate the personal commitment, dedication and resourcefulness these students brought to bear, enabling them to succeed with their studies. We know that learning helps build resilience. Clearly, studying was not an easy task while keeping all the plates spinning. However, the addition of it brought success and positivity to each student’s life. It is also excellent to hear how relevant, up to date and on-topic our qualifications remain.
Congratulations again to our winners and I look forward to celebrating the next group at the same time next year – 2022, here we come!
This article was taken from the Issue 4, 2021 edition of The Treasurer magazine. For more great insights, log in to view the full issue or sign up for eAffiliate membership
