What is your role within RG?
I am an executive in the Corporate Finance team.
Tell me about your career to date…
My career began right here at RG in 2018.
Having moved up to Newcastle from Essex to study at university, I decided to say in the region after I graduated, joining the firm as a Trainee.
Following my 3-year training contract, during which I worked in Audit, Accounting, Personal Tax and Corporate Finance, I decided to make the move into RGCF, where I work today.
What does your current role involve?
As a team we advise businesses at all stages of the business lifecycle, assisting them in growth and transformation. The focus of our work is supporting our clients in executing transactions, be these acquisitions, disposals, MBOs or other corporate transactions.
My role involves supporting clients through the transactional process: this often entails preparing reports which require me to analyse companies and the markets within which they operate. I spend a lot of my time getting under the bonnet of a variety of businesses across a wide range of sectors, which is something I love about the role.
What makes RG different?
RG’s ability to support clients in all matters of financial advice is one of the many factors that sets it apart. RG’s full-service offering can support all businesses whether start-ups or established corporates. RG acts as a focal point for all of its clients’ requirements, working in collaboration with other professional advisers (e.g. lawyers, funders), enabling a long-standing, trusted relationship to be built.
My 3 most notable achievements to date would be….
- Graduating from Newcastle University with a First Class Honours Degree in Accounting & Finance made a lot of late nights spent in the library well worth it.
- Qualifying as a Chartered Accountant (ACA) and Chartered Tax Adviser (CTA), passing all my exams first time and becoming the firm’s first trainee to complete the combined programme.
- Outside of professional life, summiting Mount Kinabalu (4,05m) in Borneo in 2012 was a big achievement for me, especially with my dodgy knees!
Tell us about your day so far…
My day usually starts with a 7am alarm call followed by an enormous bowl of porridge. With the office now open again, I walk into Jesmond to get free from the confines of the ‘home office’.
My week usually starts off with team’s weekly meeting, whereby the full RGCF team gets together to discuss the week ahead. It is a great chance to catch-up with the team and to touch base on the many complex transactions currently being advised on.
Following the team meeting its time to get on the phone to speak with a few clients and professional contacts to receive updates on a couple of transactions, to make sure everything is running smoothly and going according to plan.
This week I then had a face-to-face meeting with a client and a prospective investor to answer some of the investor’s questions on my client’s business. It is great to be back having face to face meetings, one of the best bits about the role of a CF adviser.
The day wraps up with a bit of email clearing and a few update emails to my colleagues so that I am ready to hit the next day.
What do you enjoy outside of work?
I am a very simple creature: I like long hikes in the English countryside followed by a couple of drinks in one of the North-East’s excellent watering holes. Mine’s a pint of strong IPA!
Pre-covid I was also a keen traveller, having explored Sri Lanka and Ethiopia in the last couple of years. Hopefully we can all get back out and about in 2022.