Making energy easy, CooperOstlund is the UK's leading provider of gas engine specification, installation and maintenance services, with specialist expertise in the renewable energy sector.As an independent business, CooperOstlund works with all major engine manufacturers to provide an impartial solution which helps its clients make significant savings on utility bills, cut carbon emissions and minimise waste.Working across Education, Healthcare, Hotel & Leisure, Agriculture, Food Waste, Wastewater and Manufacturing sectors gives us unsurpassed experience in both co-generation (combined heat and power) and tri-generation (combined heat, power and chilling) engines.

Trading as AmaZing Venues, Clarenco LLP is a fast paced, growing entrepreneurial business operating 2 venues being a castle in Scotland, www.ackergilltower.com and two man-made islands in the Solent off the coast of Portsmouth, www.solentforts.com. Within these venues we provide UK and International groups with unforgettable experiences whether at a wedding, party or corporate event.My role as Finance Director requires strategic input to manage growth as well as hands on day to day management of the finance and IT teams, ensuring the smooth operation and running of these departments as well as the development and provision of accurate, timely and informative management information including budgets and forecasts.

Market Force Information is a global private equity backed customer intelligence business that I joined after it acquired Retail Eyes (UK) Limited. Retail Eyes was a fast growing entrepreneurial European customer intelligence business, providing customer insight via mystery shopping and customer satisfactions surveys. I joined Retail Eyes at its initial growth stage when the business had approximately £1.5m of turnover. My responsibilities were to develop the reporting function and appropriate systems and controls, including budgets and forecasts. As the business grew I recruited and trained a finance team of 6.My key achievements at Retail Eyes include:• Negotiating bank finance via invoice discounting. • Sourcing new property, negotiating lease agreements and organising an office move;• Reorganising the operations processes by function, shifting employees into new appropriate roles; and• Developing European partnerships to service global clients by partnering with European suppliers.By 2010 the business had grown to turnover of over £10m and we put the business up for sale. I managed the sales process negotiating a sale to Market Force Information Inc providing a significant return for the founders.I remained at Market Force as the SVP of Global Finance & Accounting, responsible for global financial reporting, budgeting and forecasting and presenting data to the Venture Capitalist board and potential new investors. This required me to learn US GAAP, global consolidations. My key achievements at Market Force include:• Determining valid transfer pricing policies and setting up the group structure to maximise the interest benefit within the thin capitalisation rules.• Restructuring the finance team (including managing the redundancy process) to relocate in Colorado and transferrin all data and processed to the US systems and realise all planned synergies;• Obtaining a VAT repayment of over £500k via the application of a new VAT ruling.

ICB was a fixed voce switchless reseller and mobile service provider. We provided UK businesses with a fully managed fixed voice and mobile service consolidated onto a single invoice.I worked at ICB from its early revenue stage through to the sale of the business to a competitor in 2005.When I joined the business my role to develop both the systems and controls to facilitate this. As the business grew also grew the department such that by the time we sold the business the finance team comprised of 5 heads.My key achievements at ICB include:• Supporting the business with the right infrastructure, controls and management information as it grew from a £3m to an £18m business;• Negotiating Service Provider agreements directly with both O2 and Vodafone;• Identifying and implementing a new billing system; and• Both advising the investors on the timing of a sale and negotiating the sale of the business to a competitor, providing a positive return on the initial investment.

I joined KPMG as a newly qualified accountant and worked predominantly in the “Owner Managed Business” department where the audit activity was secondary to taking a business advisory role and supporting owner managed growing businesses in a more consultancy capacity.Whilst at KPMG I also:• Was the “dot-com” champion for the office, reviewing business plans and supporting start-ups;• Was the charity accounting expert;• Was the millennium bug expert;• Spent 3 months on secondment in both personal and corporate tax• Spent approximately 6 months in Croatia valuing a chain of hotels.

I worked at Haysom, Silverton and Partners to train and pass my qualification as a Chartered Accountant. Working with a small firm gave me the opportunity to learn about all aspects of the client’s businesses in a more consultative role rather than being immediately required to specialise in audit or tax. This also gave me a strong insight into the pressures and requirements of small growing businesses.