Julienne Knight

Finance Director, CFO, ACA/ FCA, Commercial Finance Director

Guildford, England, United Kingdom

About

I am a proven finance director with Board experience with over 20 years experience as a chartered accountant (ACA/ FCA) . I have diverse industry experience working across leisure, hospitality, retail, healthcare, higher education, wealth management and private equity. I have executed business acquisitions both in private equity and large corporate environments as well as delivering over 15 international new opening attractions. 9-years working in private equity backed businesses with 2 exits including a FTSE 250 IPO and 6 years working in a growth plc. I have significant senior stakeholder and shareholder management experience and have expertise in delivering business re-engineering and transformation projects both within finance and the wider business environment. I am equipped with strong commercial acumen and work collaboratively with the executive team to deliver year on year EBITDA growth across a range of businesses through capital investment projects, pricing strategies and operational efficiencies.

Experience

  • Finance Director at Culligan Harvey
    Jul 2024 - Present · 2 yrs

  • Senior Project Accountant at WildBrain CPLG
    Apr 2024 - Jul 2024 · 4 mos

  • Finance Director at The University of Law
    Oct 2023 - Feb 2024 · 5 mos

    Role Focus: Finance Transformation A multi-site University with 17 campuses in the UK and 1 in Hong Kong. Led a finance team of +60 in the UK and India.

  • Finance Director at LEGOLAND Windsor Resort
    Nov 2018 - Aug 2023 · 4 yrs 10 mos

    Role focus: Leading strategic transformation, creating growth initiatives and driving cost efficiencies Promoted to lead the finance, procurement, logistics, continuous-improvement and IT functions of the largest LEGOLAND park in Europe. Managed the transition of the finance function to a shared service in Basingstoke and implemented a change in ERP system. Delivered record breaking revenue and EBITDA in 2021 and 2022. 10% year on year growth Managed a £3.5m investment into the creation of the largest LEGO store in the World. Responsible for the opening of the first LEGO themed indoor mini-golf attraction Led the investment in the development of the 150 key lodges development (The Woodland Village) which opened in May 2024. Secured over £100m of investment into LEGOLAND Windsor in between 2023-2025. Introduced the dynamic pricing model to LEGOLAND Windsor which subsequently led to a global roll out.

  • Finance Director at Chessington World of Adventures Resort
    Apr 2014 - Nov 2018 · 4 yrs 8 mos

    Role focus: Resort development, financial stewardship Promoted to lead finance, procurement, legal and IT departments of 3rd largest theme park in UK Led year on year revenue and EBITDA growth over 5 years Negotiated the Joint Venture agreement for GO Ape at Chessington Responsible for the opening of the 35 glamping tent development in 2015 Opened a 60 room extention to the exisiting 150 room Chessington hotel