Working with the great team at Emapsite as interim finance director with the specific remit to support the business through an acquisition by Idox and the subsequent integration work required for an SME to becoming a functioning division within a Plc.

At Strata we support SMEs to achieve key milestones of growth. We provide all the standard accountancy services that allow them to Run their business, but more importantly we actively work alongside to ensure that they also Know and can Grow their organisations. We believe growth is delivered through better strategic alignment of financial process with business goals, underpinned by technology.In close partner working with clients we deliver what they need to grow their own success; we provide board-level support and engagement, commercial experience and a skillset that complements their passion for their business, whatever sector it delivers into. I am a chartered accountant and have worked commercially for nearly 30 years in both the private and public sectors and so understand many different ways of working and the challenges that present to organisations of all types and sizes. I have worked for blue-chip companies as well as smaller owner-managed businesses. I trained in the Big Four, and have also founded and run a consultancy business in Scotland, and now bring those skills to Strata. Having this background has given me a wide experience base to draw upon, allowing for the development of a framework for successful delivery. I combine core values of integrity, collaborative working, strategic vision combined with attention to detail, I prefer improvement to perfection and ensure there is always traction in delivery.Please get in touch via a direct message or by emailing kate.holden@strataco.co.uk if you want to know more about how the team at Strata can help your business.

The key focus of this interim role was was to undertake an organisational review of the current status of the business and the direction to follow for business growth and development in both culture and activity and present those findings to the board.

I joined Fenella Smith, an exciting and growing retail company, to bring structure and focus to the strong existing creative and operational team and drive the business to new levels

The regulation and delivery of improvement to both foundation trust and NHS trust hospitals has been consolidated within NHSI, previously Monitor, TDA and other improvement groups within the DH. This is to ensure consistency of treatment of all hospitals within the NHS and by extension to all patients in England. As Director of the South Central region, this role has quality, finance and performance functions reporting into it. I delivered this role with job share Amanda Lyons, and together successfully held the most senior job share position within the organisation.

Monitor is the regulator for the health care sector. I specifically focused on regulating the foundation hospitals in the south of England, working with troubled trusts to support and facilitate improvement in performance, with patient safety being the priority at all times.

5cConsultancy has achieved:■ repeated re-engagement from clients for projects sitting across multiple business disciplines■ 100% successful project completions on time and on budget■ consistent revenue growth through the economic downturn5cConsultancy has delivered varying types of business transformation, from finance centred process change, including payroll projects, procurement structuring and business process mapping to IT builds and strategic organisational change design and implementation. And while our clients and their needs have been very different, our approach has remained constant: integrity, rigour and structure through our 5c framework.

Role included full supply chain review to facilitate realisation of significant savings leveraged through organic and aquired growth. Included liaising with 35 hospitals to generate management information tools to support the finance function, and undertaking business process mapping to identify & resolve blockages.

Working as part of the senior management team this position Kate played a lead role in pulling together a strategic review of the hospital’s business as well as developing annual operating plans.

Responsible for worldwide dubbing costs for TV and interactive products, this role included negotiating contracts with studios across Europe, the Middle East and South America. This included full project management, incorporating ideas and concepts from all relevant parties, and the creation of databases to better analyse results and formalize the process through the use of templates and reporting tools. This created massive efficiencies both internally and externally and resulted in material financial savings to our customers.

Qualifying with first time passes Kate became a chartered accountant with ICAEW in 1999. Key audit clients included British Airways, The Whitbread Group, Hilton hotels and De Beers diamonds.