I am currently Assistant Treasurer at John Lewis Partnership. I oversee Front Office, and cover other aspects such as refinancing, debt investor relations as well as projects such as supply chain finance implementation.
I started on the graduate scheme with PwC, in Audit and Assurance - with a stint in Business Recovery Services and a secondment to set up a small venture capital fund. I then moved to John Lewis Partnership, which was actually one of my clients. I had various different finance and non finance roles across John Lewis, Waitrose and Group, before moving to treasury in 2020. Treasury is definitely the most interesting and exciting area of finance (maybe even glamorous if you can associate those two words?!) I’ve worked in!
I’m thrilled to have completed this qualification. It’s really technical as well as practical and all the content is so relevant to my role now, so my tip would be to go for it and take the plunge! I actually really enjoyed studying for it as you can do it in your own time and the material is really clear and well laid out.
The community hub was really helpful, as candidates post up queries about things they might be finding difficult - which you may also be struggling with - and the tutors were very responsive.
I really enjoyed working on the Revolving Credit Facility renewal, the funding and liquidity plan during Covid and the defined benefit pension triennial valuation. These have been great projects as I've worked with both internal and external stakeholders, such as our relationship banks and Pension Trustees and advisors, and you can learn so much from them.
Every Head of Treasury I've worked under in JLP has been really inspiring to be honest and I’ve been given loads of great advice along the way. ‘Done is better than perfect’ is probably something that has stuck with me and I wouldn't have taken the qualification without saying this to myself.
I took this qualification over the course of my third pregnancy and first year back after maternity leave, so it was pretty full on trying to fit it in. If you have children, you will know your weekends and evenings are not your own anymore, so you need to plan out the hours of study required, when you are going to do it, and organise childcare well in advance to cover this. Consider starting the work earlier than you think, in case children get ill or you have a few sleepless nights towards the day of the exam, as you can’t rely on cramming! I was grateful for the study leave I got from my employer, my supportive manager who left me in total peace, and a very helpful husband and family.
I actually don't really like gadgets.....my only gadget is my iphone, but I think it's just a distraction so I'd really rather not have it sometimes!
Thorough, organised, diligent.
Ultra processed people by Chris van Tulleken. I also tend to have a pile of cookbooks by my bed which I dip in and out of when I'm planning what to cook - my leatest favourite being Dinner by Meera Sodha.