Associate Director of Finance

Background

After a Maths degree and an International Health Policy masters, I started my career at the National Audit Office, on a graduate accountancy scheme. My most interesting work there was as part of the UN Board of Audit, in particular for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) - an opportunity which enabled some fascinating travel to places with high refugee populations. Importantly it felt like the work I contributed to improve their financial operations had a really tangible benefit in supporting them meet refugee needs. 

Following this I moved to C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group ('C40') a sustainability charity, as their Management Accountant, and later interim Head of Finance and Group Financial Controller. I really enjoyed helping C40 grow at speed, operationalising their multi-national work, with philanthropic and government funders. 

My most recent role before Forum was as Head of Financial Systems & Change, and later Head of Financial Operations at Citizens Advice. I enjoyed working with a large charity finance team - improving systems, processes, and culture to create a high performing (and in one memorable instance, award winning) team.  I'm really delighted to return to the sustainability space with Forum - I think there's so much potential, and benefit to the 99.9% (and probably more), in reshaping much of how we live and operate as society. I look forward to being part of the positive change. 

My dream project

Being in a role that is primarily about money, I'd love to see more being done about reshaping our perspectives of wealth and money, to support a more just and regenerative world. I am fascinated in this at the individual level (e.g. purposeful purchasing), at a community level (e.g. community assets) and at a more global level (e.g. shifting away from GDP narratives). But I still think I'd like to win the lottery! 

What floats my boat outside work?

I am big on urban cycling - I love getting about on 2+ wheels (increasingly on e-bikes as I get lazier). I have particularly enjoyed adding various child-friendly attachments to my bike in previous years to support getting around with family. I play some football (increasingly injury-prone), adore skiing & snowboarding (similarly injury-prone) & enjoy most competitive sports.  I've always loved the potentials of technology, and thus am currently both fascinated & horrified by AI.