West Midlands, England, United Kingdom
Results-driven CFO with a proven track record as No. 1 finance leader in PE backed environments, including leading a successful sale process. Commercially astute and highly driven, with deep experience in turnarounds and change management, building intelligent high-performing finance functions, while partnering closely with Boards and external stakeholders to deliver value at pace under pressure. Key skills • Led successful PE exit, managing readiness, execution and achieving desired EBITDA multiple • Delivered debt refinancing, improving liquidity and capital structure • Drove sustained P&L and cash flow improvement • Built and delivered clear investment cases • Provided data‑driven commercial insight to improve decision‑making • Established strong financial controls and risk management • Led complex stakeholder negotiations (customers, suppliers, DB pension) • Built and retained high‑performing teams
Strategic leadership role with ownership of Group financials across UK and Europe, financial strategy & long-term planning, budgeting and performance management, financial reporting and control. Key advisor to the CEO with an influential position on Group Board with P/E investors (Brookfield and GIC). Role included ownership of Debt Financing, the DB pension scheme and M&A opportunities. Functional lead across Finance, Procurement, Legal, Pricing, Property and Leasing (~150 people). Multi-site national operations in UK and Europe. Key Achievements · Delivered successful exit of Intermodal business (Revenue ~£250m pa), achieving desired EBITDA multiple to create significant shareholder value and create platform for growth post deal. · Negotiated with pension trustees to agree separation of ~£500m DB pension scheme · Led £100m financing tenor reset with 6 partner banks · Setup and embedded new commercial processes, delivering 3-5% market growth in two primary markets, through allowing agility within markets with appropriate disciplines · Established Operational Efficiency projects across business, delivering ~£10m margin benefit to date · Setup new customer contracting process and standards to identify and deliver targeted benefits · Led overhead review, improving profitability in challenging market environment, £3.5m benefit pa · Working capital improvement of £15m. Steered strong business focus on cash including improved inventory management, AP terms and payment cycles · Established forums within function to identify and develop talent
Led a team of ~120 across FP&A, Treasury, Tax, Financial Reporting, Control and a Shared Service Centre, no. 2 to the CFO. Owned the Group financial planning cycle and cash management, driving working capital improvement across the Group. Lead on refinancing and pension scheme triennial settlement. Key Achievements · Delivered turnaround in Shared Service Centre resulting in ~£50m working capital improvement while reducing headcount (35%) and improving culture. Reduced staff turnover; promoted internally and addressed underperformance, culminating in ‘SSC team of the year’ external award in H2 2023 · Designed and led finance restructure, decentralising to improve decision making, with £2m cost benefit · Negotiated pension triennial settlement with £6m benefit p.a. Shaped and led discussions between pension trustees, unions, Exec team and Board to achieve positive outcome · Delivered on statutory accounts filing requirements. At outset of role, FY20 accounts were late and to be started, transitioned to consistently filing on time · Achieved zero control deficiencies in FY23 SOX audit (FY20: 25, 58%), improving control environment · Lead finance role in £100m refinancing and entity restructure to separate from US parent company. Owned financial projections and extensive due diligence for all banking partners
Reporting to the Group Finance Director, I led a team of 3 in owning the Group FP&A function and risk management processes, delivering intelligence to the Group Board Executive team. I also held leading roles in M&A activity, central investment cases, refinancing, pension triennial, statutory accounting and external analyst and consensus management. Key Achievements · Business liquidity forecasting to ensure proactive cash headroom planning within RCF · Developed dynamic 5-year P&L and cashflow model; used with CEO, provided clarity to CEO, CFO, Plc Board and market analysts · Utilised projections with pension trustees to achieve successful triennial agreement with zero contribution increase · Owned relationship with external analysts, managing consensus effectively as reflected in share price · Prepared going concern reviews, including banking covenant position for Board and Audit Committee · Redeveloped Group contract signoff governance, utilising operational finance experience
As a Head of Finance & Commercial, I worked alongside the Business Unit Director/s to deliver and exceed the financial targets of the business, whilst ensuring functional responsibilities were delivered to the required standards of the finance group. Initially, the role was within two underperforming business units, with a clear remit to drive profit improvement. Following a successful 12 months in that role, I moved to the Construction business unit to support the growth of what was a key focus area for Wincanton. Key Achievements · Delivered insightful analysis through 20/21 lockdown to review performance and improve decision making · Significant profit improvement through challenge and building a culture of ownership within business units. This has included several restructuring programmes. · Lead / financial lead for numerous new business and contract renewals (total revenue p.a. > £100m). Ownership of ensuring all contracts contained appropriate level of risk and reward · Managed broad base of internal and external stakeholders including senior customer leads · Managed team across multiple locations, establishing a positive team culture and development focus · Supported exit of loss-making contracts, involved in customer negotiations and establishing controls to ensure a clean financial exit · Delivered an improved financial control environment, including balance sheet controls and joint ownership with the business of key areas such as aged debt recovery · Ad hoc projects including strategic review of business areas, introduction of a centralised finance hub to drive efficiency and improve control and deep dive of underperforming contracts
Through a period of significant change for the International business in exiting loss-making markets and setting up for success in remaining markets, my role was focused on optimising margin and supporting growth and development of long-term franchise partnerships. I partnered senior stakeholders and their teams within the International business (Business units, E-commerce, Supply Chain) as well as owning the FP&A function. Key Achievements · Delivered leadership team management information to focus them on key metrics, trends and insight · A Finance team restructure that aligned to and complimented the revised business structure · Owned and delivered the forecast process and the business risk management agenda · Agreed an effective sale strategy for International E-commerce websites · Developed a forex model to understand and scenario plan the impacts on the International business
Business Partner to the Group Supply Chain Director and Leadership team, driving value across the £1bn internal and 3PL provider cost base, and through delivery of significant investment projects. Led a team of 18 across Head Office and regional UK locations, and 5 Heads of Finance in 9 sourcing offices across EMEA. Key Achievements · Conducted and utilised benchmarking to drive ‘best in class’ performance, £15-20m savings p.a. · Delivered clarity on £1bn cost base including cost to serve by customer proposition, to drive margin · Finance lead for re-tender of all major contracts including Food Logistics operations (£250m+) · In-depth review of £350m+ investment projects for Logistics with regular Group Board presentations · Developed value add investments and robust governance to deliver above target returns (ave. +10%) · Assessment of impact of Brexit on forex rates (e.g. on Cost of Goods Sold) to manage gross margin risk · Agreed effective sale strategy for International e-Commerce, driving volume while protecting margin · Owned and delivered International forecasting process and business risk management