Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
Strategic CFO with experience across VC and PE-backed, founder-led and internationally active businesses, with a strong track record in growth, value creation, refinancing, M&A and finance transformation. Led sell-side diligence on the £42m sale of Ascensos to Firstsource, supported the business’s move from loss-making to sustained profitability, and has worked closely with boards, investors and leadership teams through periods of growth, change and transaction activity. Combines board-level judgement with hands-on commercial leadership, financial modelling depth, operational challenge and stakeholder management.
Space Intelligence is a leading provider of nature data and audit-grade insights supporting forest conservation, restoration, environmental compliance and supply-chain sustainability. • Led development of a rebased three-year plan aligned to market realities, funding requirements and strategic priorities. • Partnered closely with the CEO through the Series A+ fundraising process, helping secure additional equity investment during a difficult period for the nature-based solutions market. • Introduced greater rigour to pricing, commercial evaluation and forecasting to strengthen decision-making and improve long-term transaction readiness. • Developed and implemented a significant cost reduction plan alongside the founders, extending cash runway and improving resilience. • Developed the finance team to better support strategic priorities and build confidence in board and investor engagement.
Ascensos is a global leader in retail and e-commerce customer management (CXM), employing 3,000+ colleagues with annual revenues exceeding £60m. • Led strategic and financial due diligence to support expansion into new territories, helping double revenues and move the business from loss-making to sustained profitability. • Directed sell-side diligence across multiple jurisdictions, culminating in the £42m sale of Ascensos to Firstsource Limited. • Transformed the finance function to improve efficiency, insight and strategic support, enabling growth without increasing headcount. • Led refinancing and funding activity across the business lifecycle, maintaining strong relationships with lenders, investors and key stakeholders.
A division of John Menzies plc specialising in final-mile delivery, employing 10,000+ staff with annual revenues exceeding £1bn. • Integrated three subsidiaries and four acquisitions into Menzies Distribution, strengthening control, reporting consistency and operating discipline across a complex multi-site business. • Led financial due diligence on four acquisitions, supporting expansion and post-deal integration. • Implemented cash governance processes that improved visibility, discipline and cash conversion. Responsibilities:- • Leadership of a team of 85 finance colleagues. • Responsible for Payroll (10,000 FTE), Record to Report, Order to Cash, Purchase to Pay, Margin Control, Material Master & Customer Master data functions within financial control together with all finance change projects. • All external audit and internal finance audit matters. • Responsible for tax compliance, including dialogue with HMRC.
The UK’s leading pub, cider, and beer company, with annual revenues at the time of £2.2bn. • Led transformation of business-wide reporting to deliver faster, more decision-useful financial insight.
Achievements:- • Delivered the "ONE Financial Language" initiative, standardising financial communication across the company. • Success of the project recognised at UK Management team level. • Negligible disruption to business. • Streamlined internal financial language from a variety of non-reconciling languages, definitions and formats into one. • Simplified source data massively from approx 700 unsupported and uncontrolled SAPBW queries to 5. • Delivery of training and education, coordinated to appropriate key Commercial and Supply Chain colleagues (c750) prior to go-live. Responsibilities:- • Business Lead & overall responsibility for the above project. • Responsible for all stages, scope, planning & analysis, design, build & implementation. • Managed a fluid cross functional team of approx 12 colleagues at any given time • Ensure governance and control of the project was maintained at all times. • Full responsibility for wide communications across the Heineken UK business using a variety of means.
Achievements:- • Integrated sales, marketing, and operations planning in response to market shifts. • Championed best-practice trading terms, ensuring customer investments aligned with business objectives. • Managed communication of wildly fluctuating market and market share conditions from 2008-2010. • Implementation of new ways of working linking the need for commercial discipline & control. • Transformation of approach to managing HMRC duty increases, leading to c£0.3m pa margin saving. • Focus on the levers required to deliver greater cash performance. Responsibilities:- • Managing a team of 7 finance professionals, six fully qualified. • Business Partner for the UK Off Trade Sales Director; (£1.1bn annual revenues; £0.5bn net revenue; 8m Hectolitres of volume ) • Responsible for ensuring team responsibilities were aligned behind business’ objectives
Business Partner in Off Trade Sales Division
Various Finance Manager roles within Off Trade Sales, Distribution & Central Finance.
Finance Analyst - Scottish & Newcastle UK Head Office