My career started on a finance graduate scheme in a management accounting role. I completed the CIMA qualification while doing a few role rotations. One of those rotations was in treasury and I quickly realized this was the area of finance I enjoyed the most and where I saw myself in the future. Since then I’ve done different treasury roles covering various aspects of treasury, completed the AMCT qualification, had a number of promotions and I’m now the assistant treasurer at Tideway. Tideway has been a great employer with fantastic people and culture, the work has been interesting and challenging and it’s done a lot for my professional development.
I like the dynamic and outward-looking nature of the work in treasury. It keeps you on your toes, things are never constant and the people element – the various relationships you need to form and manage, makes the job even more enjoyable. Also, I think treasurers bring enormous value to their organisations which is incredibly rewarding.
Being involved in Tideway’s ambitious funding strategy. I joined the project when my team needed to raise a lot of cash to fund the constructions of the Thames Tideway Tunnel. The successful execution of different deals, some with quite innovative terms and structures and many of them of green nature has been interesting and fun and I’ve learnt so much on the way. We have secured £2.8bn of debt so far and over 60% of it is green.
The pandemic proved the importance of having robust and reliable treasury systems as well as a strong and well-tested business continuity plan. We had done a lot of planning and testing of our BCP activities, so we were well positioned to transition smoothly to working remotely following the start of the pandemic. Like any other office-based team though, we've had to learn to work effectively and collaboratively in remote locations and to support one another in the virtual space.
Things have definitely calmed down (it’s been almost 15 months since the start of the pandemic) and my team has fully adapted to the new way of working and the challenges COVID-19 brought to the business and the treasury department.
There are a lot of big names, people with very successful careers that I could give as an example here. For me, though, my career heroes are everyone I've worked with that I've seen as inspirational, who has shown me a quality that I've wanted to copy or has taught me something valuable. I don't think you necessarily need to look very far to see great leaders, inspirational figures who can directly or indirectly enhance your performance and your career.
One piece of advice comes straight to mind and it was at the start of my career. It came from my fantastic manager at the time who always used to say "check, check and check again" your work, because the quality of the work you produce and present is how you get people's trust in your abilities and build your reputation. His words have just stuck with me and I’ve often shared them with the junior people in my team.
The ACT conferences and events. They're always a great source of information and networking opportunities, especially the pre-pandemic face-to-face events which I've always enjoyed.
The honest answer is my phone. Without it I feel disconnected from the world. Plus, it's got my photos, my calendar, my emails and a lot of great apps that I couldn't do without.
I’ve just started reading Impact: Reshaping capitalism to drive real change by Sir Ronald Cohen. Sir Cohen is a leading businessman and philanthropist who talks about how investments can have a higher social purpose and gives examples of how investors can achieve returns while also create positive impact for the communities. I think it'll be a good read.