Past Speakers

A Senior Leader with over 13 years’ experience at Global listed companies, Paul joined ADP from Centrica-owned British Gas in 2016. Before that, Paul graduated as an ACCA qualified accountant whilst completing his professional training at The Automobile Association.  

Paul brings with him a wealth of experience across the finance function but has specialised in strategic planning, commercial analysis and financial management. Always aiming to add value by navigating through complexity and ambiguity, Paul has also recently completed a successful nine-month assignment as Acting CFO for ADP UK & Ireland. 

 Although born in the east-end of London, Paul now resides in Surrey and is a proud Dad to two young daughters. In any spare time he can find, Paul will either be at the gym (as a qualified personal trainer and group fitness instructor), playing golf, or supporting the FP&A community through his work on the FP&A Trends (London) Board. 

Founder of Finance OTC Consulting Ltd, Evelyne Legaux is a senior Order_to_Cash (OTC) professional with over 25 years of global Finance & Accounting experience across multiple industries & operating models.  

Finance OTC Consulting Ltd is a Cork based consultancy helping B2B businesses grow & thrive through uncertain times by shaping the management of Accounts Receivable & Credit Risk for the future. They provide expert advisory services to companies on Order_to_Cash optimization, by conducting a health check review of their Working Capital business processes & operations. They also work with management to develop strategic Transformation initiatives aimed at creating value & insights to support better business decision-making. 

In addition, Evelyn’s background includes leading Finance Order_to_Cash (OTC) Transformation initiatives, implementing technology solutions, developing AR & Credit management policies & strategies, and designing / improving business processes & internal controls.  

Evelyne is passionate about turning her clients’ Finance OTC organization into a business driver through improved performance & customer satisfaction. 

Nivi is a Finance professional and a qualified Chartered Accountant, currently working in the finance transformation and change space. Her background has involved working with finance professionals through periods and projects of change and transformation. She has also previously worked in tax and accounting roles.

Thomas Sutter is part of Oracle NetSuite’s Finance Centre of Excellence. In this role, Thomas uses his extensive financial experience background to provide counsel to customers, support product development and best practice, and advise on software implementation strategy. Thomas regularly engages with finance professionals to build their understanding in how they can advance their business, focusing primarily on the core pillars of technology, processes and people. 

With 25 years’ advising planning, business intelligence, analytics, data and digital transformation initiatives, Morton is now leading the financial solution practice for EMEA at insightsoftware, specialising in SAP, financial intelligence, and data integration. Experience includes Accountancy at London Borough of Hillingdon, European Capacity Planning Manager at Kodak, and Director of Strategic Programmes at SAS Institute. He also completed an MBA in Finance from Henley Business School specialising in internet business models. Morton specialises in helping organisations make the most of their processes, data, and people, with special reference to business intelligence, analytics, big data, and operational excellence. His mission is to enable finance teams to be self-reliant and not depend on IT for reporting and analytics. 

Over the past 20+ years with Accenture, Daniel has enjoyed a number of roles across UKI and Asia. He has been the UK & Ireland CFO for the past three years. Prior to taking the UKI CFO role in 2017 he was based in Japan as their Finance Director and held a number of Commercial Director roles in Singapore. In the UKI, Daniel worked across multiple industry areas including Financial Services, Resources and Products, holding a number of commercial finance roles during that time. Daniel is a qualified CIMA Accountant and passionate about innovation and the future within finance. 

Christian is a Senior Partner within Mercer’s Wealth business and is currently on the UK leadership team as leader of Mercer’s Corporate segment.   Over his near-30 years with Mercer he has worked extensively with both trustees and sponsors, negotiating outcomes that enhance the security of members’ pension benefits.  He has also advised on retirement programmes that support employees in their later careers and eventually through the transition to full retirement. 

His clients are almost all FTSE100 or equivalent and include both UK and overseas-owned organisations in sectors that include education, financial services, engineering, retail, utilities, banking and insurance.  

In a previous role, Christian led Mercer’s M&A group in the UK, which focusses on the people-related issues and risks associated with corporate acquisitions and disposals.   

David is a Partner in Mercer’s Career business. He helps clients maximize the value of their investment in their staff by increasing the effectiveness, innovation and sophistication of their career and reward programs.  

David’s consulting work focuses on maximising the employee experience, including the development of:  

• the ideal EVP and supporting career and reward programs 
• employee engagement strategies including communications and manager guides to ensure the experience is felt 

• the HR operating model that supports the expected employee experience. 

 A significant amount of his time is dedicated toward assisting companies through major organisational change, and much of David’s time is directed towards merger and acquisition projects, and supporting clients with their harmonization.  

David also advises clients on the impact of evolving employment regulation, and helps develop innovative and practical solutions to this ever-changing minefield.  

David has a BSc in Psychology, an MA in Employment Law & Employee Relations, an MSc in Voluntary Sector Management and is currently pursuing a PhD researching pay management practices in not-for-profit organisations. He is a full member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. 

Clive brings significant financial experience from a variety of industries spanning engineering, broadcasting, software development, construction, and manufacturing across Europe and the US. His career spans FTSE 100, NASDAQ, and SME companies being responsible for the financial, procurement and resourcing groups that have developed his strategic steer and benefited a variety of start-ups initiatives.   

Clive has led during the big challenges following the financial crisis of 2008 and has seen his techniques adopted to establish and strengthen organisational stability. 

Nick is a Chartered Accountant who after leaving practice has spent most of his career working in the IT industry. Based in Cambridge, in his time at Fujitsu he has gained a wide range of finance experience including being the finance lead for various hardware and IT services parts of the business and also covering finance transformation programmes in the UK and across Europe. In his current role he looks after Fujitsu’s HMRC and Enterprise Platform Services division. He is also the chair of the finance and operations committee and board member of the London Design and Engineering University Technical College. 

Qualifying in 2007, James is a fellow member of the ACCA and having achieved the International Diploma in Business Analysis is an associate member of the British Computer Society.  

Setting up Precision Finance Consulting he’s delivered consulting for 8 years to a variety of large and small businesses covering many sectors, including Technology, Media, Retail and Engineering.  With proven success leading change initiatives and supporting global transformation programmes, he now specialises in Business Intelligence for SMEs. 

Paul has been the Financial Controller for Chubb in Europe for 4 years and recently has also been responsible for a Global FP&A Transformation programme. Prior to joining Chubb, Paul has worked in several Finance roles at AIG, spent a number of years working for Deloitte in their Corporate Finance practice, and also worked in both Banking and Energy in general management roles. This broad range of experience means that Paul is very focused on how to provide businesses with better insights on their performance and the success of their strategies. 

In 2019, I took the brave decision to stepping out of the “comfort zone” and embrace the challenging role as Head of Corporate Governance and Internal Controls at Diamond Developers, the real estate developer that built the first sustainable city in the Region. The Sustainable City in Dubai is one of the World’s first fully sustainable community and GCC’s Happiest Community for three consecutive years (2017, 2018, and 2019).
At Diamond Developers, I have worked with the CEO/Board and the leadership team to ensure our decision-making is supported by quality information, driven by adequate mechanisms of performance reporting/ KPIs, which help us in achieving our strategic objectives. This is an ongoing work and I would define it as an exercise in changing a corporate culture in “bite sizes” by building relationships and winning hearts and minds, one step at a time.
I promote our own sustainability by working across the organisation in establishing a strong infrastructure based on adequate internal controls, well-documented policies and procedures, clear reporting lines and communication channels supported by appropriate technology platforms.

While in The UK, I worked at British Airways, National Grid Plc, Monitor and over the last 10 years that I have been in the UAE, I experienced the endurance at the transactions services department at Deloitte and led the internal audit and financial due diligence services at Crowe, an American public accounting, consulting, and technology firm, based in Dubai and also had a short spell, working as an independent consultant.

As Director of Presales at insightsoftware, Tim is responsible for sharing how Tidemark enables organizations to achieve digital transformation.  He has over two decades of domain experience mostly focusing on financial software implementation as well as leading corporate finance teams.  By using information gathered over a myriad of implementations in almost every industry, Tim brings a unique view about what is practical, important and achievable. 

A qualified accountant, Ambrose has supported a number of major institutions in  delivering finance transformation programs across Platform, Data, Intelligence and Talent. He is a thought leader on the “Future Role of the Finance Function” and has provided advice to CFO’s and COO’s on the design and delivery of their digitally-enabled Finance organisation. I’ve worked across multiple industry and countries; specialzing in Financial Services for the past ten years.

Will has been leading finance functions for nearly 20 years. He is an expert at taking complex situations and providing clear recommendations for teams to deliver on. He uses in depth knowledge of the business to ensure that he delivers meaningful financial information in a way that enables it to be used to drive more successful outcomes. For the last six years he has been Finance Director for The Engine Group, the UK’s leading independent marketing services business with a £100m turnover and 800 staff. He works closely with the management team on the strategic direction for the business and ensures that it aligns with the objectives of the private equity sponsors. Prior to this he spent ten years working for a WPP agency in London where his last role was as Chief Operating Officer.            

He has previous experience in Telecoms and IT sectors, is a CIMA qualified accountant and studied Politics, Philosophy & Economics at the University of York. He spends most of his spare time trying to stop his young children from watching too much TV, in addition he is attempting to run once every day in his forties, not missed one yet! 

Paul brings with him a strong data and analytic background, having held positions in leading global technology companies. 

Paul’s deep experience in solving business problems, alongside the application of analytic techniques across data management, Self-Service Analytics and AI.  Recognised as a leader in the analytical industry for more than 15 years, Paul’s expertise lies in helping companies leverage technology as an enabler to improve profitability, grow revenue, become more operationally efficient and customer-focused. 

In the past 15 years, Paul has helped global companies such as Tesco, Shop Direct, IKEA, and many other companies develop their data analytics roadmap to becoming truly data-driven. 

With a background in auditing and consulting, Tom knows the importance of communication for finance professionals. It’s this ability to openly communicate and tell a story, that has led Tom to his role as CFO at Cytora, a startup that works to transform underwriting for commercial insurance.  
 
With Cytora, Tom is on the front line securing VC funding. He has helped to raise nearly $40m in Series A and Series B funding rounds and has worked with insurers to guarantee they are able to underwrite more accurately, reduce frictional costs, and achieve profitable growth. Tom also works to ensure all contractual obligations are met, and customers are satisfied.  
 
Prior to Cytora, Tom was Group Financial Controller of Yieldify, where he helped raise $11.5m in Series A funding and assisted in growing the company from 16 to 180 employees in just 2.5 years. It’s Tom’s attention to storytelling that makes him a unique member of the Finance Futurists – in fact, he is working on a fantasy fiction novel in his (limited) spare time! 

Harold is Vice President and Head of F&C of Nestlé Zone Europe, Middle East & North Africa since January 2018.

He joined Nestlé in 1995 through the water business and subsequently held various management positions internationally, building a solid finance expertise as well as a strong ability to adapt in a VUCA environment. In his current role he is overlooking one of the 3 Nestlé Zone comprising of 8 different lines of products across 52 countries.

Former board member of Ecopar in France (Recycling), Chairman of the Board of Gerber Life Insurance in the US and board member in Glycom Denmark A/S (BioTech company). He is currently Chairman of the board of Nestlé España S.A.

He has a Bachelor Degree in Finance and a Master in Sales & Marketing.

Terry Walby is a technology entrepreneur and Chief Executive of Blue Prism Cloud, part of U.K. software leader Blue Prism. The company’s award-winning intelligent automation platform enables enterprises to transform their business operations at scale and speed by deploying digital workers straight from the cloud.
Terry built a successful career in leadership positions for technology and IT services businesses, including IBM, GE Capital, Computacenter, and automation specialist IPsoft. He has a depth of experience in developing and scaling businesses that deliver innovation and optimization to organizations across the world. These experiences, and a passionate belief in the ability of technology to change the workplace for the better, inspired Terry to found Thoughtonomy in 2013 and create the industry’s first SaaS-based automation platform. 

In 2019, Blue Prism acquired Thoughtonomy and subsequently integrated the company’s market leading intellectual property into the overall Blue Prism portfolio under the brand Blue Prism Cloud. 

Tatiana is passionate about people and technology transformation. 

She holds a BSc (Hons) in Computer Systems Engineering and an MBA from the Metropolitan University in Venezuela, her home country. Prior to her current role as Sales Development Director for Oracle, where she focuses on SaaS (Software as a Service) solutions across Western Europe, she led the Global ERP Strategy and Transformation for Vodafone Group and was the SAP Finance Centre of Excellence Manager, before that. 

She has 20+ years multicultural experience, across several countries in Europe, Central and South America, and across several industries including Utilities, Retail, Manufacturing and Telecommunications; where she has focused on E2E ERP transformations in the area of Finance and its integration with logistics, procurement, sales and human resources; enabling long term business value by standardisation, simplification and modernization of processes, people and products. 

Nick Ludlow has 20 years of experience in the software industry. He joined Chrome River in 2013 as general manager in EMEA, and helped build the company’s European operations. He currently serves as the company’s regional vice president of sales for EMEA and APAC. 

Luke has been at TUI for the last 8 years after previously gaining his CIMA qualification at Stonegate pub company. He has a strong background in FP&A and led the Performance and Planning function at TUI UK&I for 3 years. For the last 18 months he has been the Finance Director for the UK and Swedish airlines and recently has moved to be the Finance Director at TUI Musement, a digital platform plus business providing experiences to customers both home (wherever that may be) and in destination. 

He has two young children, although he and his partner combined have four. He is a keen cyclist and enjoys films. 

In his role as Vice President, Finance, Keith is responsible for all aspects of financial management, including treasury, financial planning and analysis, internal management reporting, day-to-day accounting operations, oversight of external audit, and reporting to the audit committee. 

Keith brings a unique background to his finance role, having earned a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science before obtaining his Certified Management Accounting (CPA, CMA) designation in the UK, working for both a hedge fund and a data connectivity services company. 

Since joining Galvanize in 2013, Keith has bolstered his career experience by holding various roles in Finance—including a stint leading the data science department—affording him hands-on insight into the company’s commercial operations. 

His vision for Finance at Galvanize (and the office of the CFO more broadly) is to provide a truly scalable organization. One that provides forward-thinking insight while maintaining tight controls to ensure the accuracy of the company’s presented results. This will help assure the financial health of the company through cash management and identifying appropriate funding opportunities to drive accelerated growth. 

A Chartered Management Accountant with 20+ years finance experience and 15+ years Hyperion/Oracle EPM experience. 

An experienced Hyperion/Oracle professional with detailed functional knowledge and expertise in all of the EPM processes including: Planning and budgeting, Consolidation and close, Business intelligence and variance analysis. 

Leading the EPM business development strategy for UK&I. Programme lead for EPM EMEA wide business development programmes and subject matter expert in business development for projects. Helping customers see value in EPM and how to make improvements to their business processes 

French Qualified Chartered Accountant, Joanna started her career in France at E&Y Paris within the Complex Accounting Projects department and moved to E&Y London in 2005. 

She has been working for a number of industries mainly in Retail and Consumer Products but also Hospitality and Pharmaceuticals as a finance leader. She helps finance departments to align structure and controls with organisational goals and adapt to constant changes. 

She is also passionate about improving processes and setting up automation to deliver quick and accurate financial information to main stakeholders and support business growth whilst anticipating opportunities and risks. 

She is an active member of the team which re-dynamized the Faberge brand in 2008, scaled its operations within an international fast paced environment, supported the implementation of company growth strategy and set up the logistics department. 

Partnered with CEOs and Private Equity to drive 2 jewellery brands (Garrard/SW) forward by developing a comprehensive set of metrics and data analytics, reshaping the strategy and identifying opportunities for brands’ development 

Led the implementation of new Omnichannel KPIs to understand key drivers of profitability (De Beers J) and launched a digital transformation project (Power BI, artificial intelligence, RPA) to improve productivity and deliver business growth 

With more than 15 years’ experience behind him, James joined Yoyo from Mastercard in 2018 after heading up the finance team for Pay by Bank app, an open-banking scheme operating with the mobile banking apps of HSBC and Barclays.  Before Mastercard, he spent four years at Barclays, initially with Barclays Capital where he was responsible for the financial planning process and latterly within Barclays Group as part of the strategic finance projects team.  James qualified as a CA with Haines Watts in Glasgow and recently secured his MBA from the University of Strathclyde. 

Eleena started out at Octapharma as an accountant and has since moved on to be Business Controller and CFO.  Eleena has worked internationally (Russia, Sweden, USA, Portugal) for small, medium and large enterprises all privately owned. Her focus is continuous improvement. 

Ciaran O’Donnell launched Virtual FD in 2010, on a mission to help new businesses who needed Finance Director level advice, but weren’t ready for a full-time role. Since then, he’s advised over 50 ambitious start-ups and fast growth businesses – to get funded, grow, prepare to sell, stay on track – whatever’s needed. He was named CFO/Finance Director of the Year at the British Accountancy Awards 2019. Prior to Virtual FD, Ciaran spent 12 years at Hutchison Whampoa, Three and Carphone Warehouse, in a mix of strategic finance roles. 

Abby Obomighie is an ACCA fellow, currently Head of Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) at Hitachi with the responsibility for organizational-wide performance management (including budgets, midterm plans & business planning), and enhancing business partnering  while leveraging on digital finance systems to support business strategy. 

Prior to joining Hitachi, Abby has held various Senior/ Management finance roles, globally across different regions (EMEA, USA & Canada) . Abby’s work experience spans across several industries: Banking, Academia, Housing, FCMG, Consumer products, Pharmaceuticals and Clinical Research Organisation.  

A Certified DAMIC & Project manager (APM) with hands-on experience in delivering and managing finance related transformational projects including process and change management to system rollouts (ERP, Data analytics & Reporting). 

As a finance professional, Abby believes in the importance of compliance, automation/digital drive.  Abby is passionate in these 3 main areas:1)  talent development to be best in class encouraging self-directed  and a learning mindset to create high performing team. 2) Automation in finance, leveraging on data and technology while offering a value-added human touch to drive efficiency and commercial goals. 3) Delivering best in class business partners to influence and  support organizational performance. 

Rachel Seymour is head of product management and product marketing at Sage for the medium segment working across a portfolio of products including X3, Sage 200 cloud, Sage Intacct and Sage People. Rachel joined Sage in November 2019 from Epicor where she ran International Product Marketing.  Rachel has worked in product and commercial roles across a range of software companies including Act! CRM, Epicor and Exact. She started her career in corporate finance advising software companies on M&A and capital raising.  

Ranu is a young, ambitious woman who Heads up the International Operations and Technology Finance function at Vocalink, MasterCard.

She is a proud mother to a 4 year old daughter and a role model and mentor to hundreds of young youths.

As Ambassador of ‘Working Options’ and an active mentor at The ‘Girls’ Network,’ Ranu executes impactful motivational talks across London to help inspire and encourage young youths to realise their full potential and become the best version of themselves.

From Podcasting, to public speaking, from author contributions, to article writing, it is with great pleasure that we invite Ranu to speak at this year’s CFO Virtual Agenda.

A global leader in Finance, Guillaume de Pommereau excels in driving business value at enterprise level and leading financial organizations across complex multinational environments.

In leadership roles with Hitachi Europe, Takeda Pharmaceuticals Europe, Newell, and Dell Computer, he has delivered significant value while developing strong business partnership and maintaining the highest standards of compliance.

Leading a team of 70 finance experts at Hitachi Europe, he focuses as much on the revenue side as on the cost side, with a view that Finance is at the heart of a company’s performance ability.

Guillaume started his career in audit in PwC in Paris 26 years ago. He worked in France, Germany and is now based in the UK. His experience covers the technology sector at Dell and KPNQwest, the consumer goods sector with Parker Pen, Waterman, Papermate, the health sector with Takeda Pharma and Alliance Healthcare and the industry sector with Hitachi.

Guillaume is a graduate from EM Lyon Business School and holds a Master in Econometrics from Paris University. In 2009, he graduated from TRIUM, a Global Executive MBA delivered by NYU Stern School of Business, HEC Paris and London School of Economics.

A Chartered Accountant and also USA qualified, Paul started his career at Deloitte & Touche where he was a Senior manager in its USA practice. This was followed by a 13 year career at Exel plc where he held a number of senior finance and operational roles including Deputy Group Finance Director and was a member of the executive board of Exel plc and Chairman of their Acquisitions and Project Review Board. Paul was appointed Group Finance Director of Hays plc in 2006 and has helped transform the business into the preeminent global specialist recruitment business with operations in 33 countries.

Wendy Smith is currently the Chief Financial Officer for Glanbia Global Sport Nutrition.  Wendy has worked in multiple industries including E Commerce, Consumer Products, Medical Devices and Pharmaceutical.  She has also worked and lived in North America, Asia Pacific and Europe.  Prior to joining Glanbia, Wendy was the Vice President of Insights, Planning Analytics and Technology for Amazon where she worked in the Consumer Operations team helping to build new capabilities.  Before Amazon, Wendy spent her career in Kellogg in Dublin, Ireland, where she was the Chief Financial Officer for the Europe Middle East & Africa region, she also worked at Johnson & Johnson in various capacities in Finance, with her last role as the Chief Financial Officer for the Asia Pacific region for J&J’s Consumer business.   Wendy spend the early part of her career in Proctor & Gamble. 

One of Wendy’s favorite professional accomplishments are the Finance Transformation work she has done in Kellogg and J&J.  In shifting the Finance support model to Shared Services in order to maximize the value Finance can bring to the business, while lowering cost, and improving efficiency and effectiveness.  Wendy is a strong believer and champion for Women and Diversity, having been the executive sponsor for multiple initiatives at Amazon, Kellogg and Johnson & Johnson, as well as a frequent speaker at professinal conferences.   

One of Wendy’s most favorite quote is “put a dent in the universe” by Steve Jobs, as she is passionate about making an impact, and working with the team to achieve breakthrough results. 

Wendy is an advisor for the London Financial Times CFO Forum, advisor for the NYC Financial Times CFO Forum, on the Board for the LDS MBA association, and an active member volunteering her time in her community. 

Wendy is married with three sons and the family enjoys sporting events, traveling and trying local cuisines. She is an avid runner and loves to race half marathons. 

Nick currently works for Oracle and leads a team of business development directors focused on Cloud solutions for financial management and supply chain across UK and Western Europe.  Nick is also President of CIMA (the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants) and Vice-Chair of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants. 

Nick has had a strong interest in financial management and performance improvement throughout his career, working across a number of industries, including central and local government, energy, and utility companies.  He was a management consultant with Ernst & Young, and later Capgemini, specialising in financial and performance management.   

He moved to the Treasury in 2009 as head of finance professionalism, before heading up Finance Strategy and Planning at the Ministry of Justice, and then Director of Corportae Services for Ofsted, the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills  

In his spare time he can be found in: an art gallery; the kitchen; underwater; singing; or watching rugby or cricket. 

Bina Khatwani is a qualified Chartered Accountant (ACA) with 18+ years of experience. From Disney to British Telecoms and British Gas, Bina has worked with some amazing brands. More recently Bina has been operating as a Portfolio CFO, working with both early stage companies  as well as mature businesses. Bina enables these companies to make the move to the next stage  of their business life cycle; help them expand, prepare for an exit, or even just create a robust finance function. She has successfully raised funding, doubled profit margins, and achieved considerable cost savings for her clients.

Bina is a business partner. She’s fun, transparent and easy to work with. Her experience, vision and nurturing manner enables businesses to reach their full value potential.

Bina is passionate about diversity on Boards, empowering women, and family! Her vision is to continue partnering with growing businesses and create an outstanding virtual workforce of professional women who can work on their own terms.