2018 CFO Awards

16 Acquisition International - 2018 CFO Awards cultural challenges to achieve implementation. My time in the City was demanding, both physically and mentally, but it has equipped me with the skills of dealing with the financial, commercial and regulatory challenges of today.” Currently, Katerina’s role at Ventient, as she begins to explain, encompasses a wide range of responsibilities, which she works hard to undertake. “Occasionally, I have been met with the perception that I am ‘too nice’ to be a CFO, but that is soon dispelled when I share my experiences of two decades working in the City. At Ventient, I have already led many finance activities, which a CFO would ordinarily experience over many years, or perhaps never. These include refinancing the entire portfolio under better terms for greater flexibility and to create a platform for future growth; making key strategic asset disposals as part of portfolio restructuring; recruitment of a new in-house finance team; integration of finance systems and change in accounting policies to name a few. I would not necessarily advise one tackle all of these in year one, but newly merged, this was the challenge we faced.” Another core aspect of Katerina’s role is leadership, and as such she is eager to showcase her pride in her firm’s supportive internal culture and discuss how she contributes to this in her own role as head of the firm’s finance department. “Having worked with companies of all sizes from small private individuals and partnerships to large listed PLC’s, I can safely say that Ventient truly have created a very family friendly environment. Staffed by high-quality professionals, many of which have large firm background, they bring those skills, best practices and experience to us. It’s a very unique company and one which provides constant challenges and stimulation to all functions as we have integrated new assets. At Ventient, everyone contributes to the bottom line and we invest time in ensuring high levels of employee engagement and accountability. Staff are empowered to take decisions and innovate with a focus on delivery and quality. We regularly seek out and act on staff feedback and look to ensure that our values are embedded into our day to day activities and behaviour. This feeds back into our stakeholders and ultimately our local communities. “As CFO, my leadership role extends beyond that of purely head of the finance department. A natural collaborator I act as a strategic partner on all major decisions, play devil’s advocate in any discussion, and to ensure that as well as a financially robust business, we are delivering the right measures and tracking against our performance and strategic goals. I enjoy the strategic work drawing on my wide experience and knowledge to help create the future vision for the company as well as inspiring our future leaders in the business. “Even though we are a small company by headcount, around 42, we are large by asset size and so communication against our key goals and objectives is absolutely vital to ensuring we are on track to deliver them. At a recent off-site, our staff defined our values as a business as “Passion, Delivery, Safety and Innovation”. As a leader, it is my job to bring these values to life on a daily basis and really ‘walk the talk’.” With success comes great responsibility, and whilst Katerina’s ascent to success has not always been smooth, her achievements have been vast over recent years. Keen to support others at all times, as evidenced by her supportive leadership style, Katerina shares her top tips for those keen to achieve success in the tough and competitive financial space. “Over the years, I have found that it helps to be confident, assured, firm, but always encouraging to achieve the best response from colleagues and teams. Of course, this is not always easy. My journey to CFO has been far from smooth: deadlines so tight you sometimes feel are physically impossible; last minute urgent requests when you have made other plans; plus, the inevitable unforeseen events. Then there are personal challenges. Work pressures can, and usually do find a way, but I have found the hardest days are when home and work overlap, which they inevitably do from time to time. In those times, working in a supportive, understanding environment, with a strong team around me helps immensely. Being a wife and mother also keeps things in perspective. “Having overcome many challenges, I have always enjoyed using this experience to mentor and develop staff with numerous successful mentees in the past. My advice to anyone looking to follow a similar path is to really understand how the business works and learn from those more experienced than you in any field. Don’t be afraid to take on a new challenge – be it a new project, new role or a completely new sector to broaden your experience. Stay current. Always have some life outside of work, to stay balanced.” Today, thanks to the hard work of Katerina and the entire team, Ventient owns and manages some of the oldest and newest wind farms in the UK which are based in some stunning, albeit challenging locations and can experience arctic conditions in winter months. Although her role is predominantly finance, Katerina takes a keen interest in her firm’s work in the renewable energy space and is eager to share her knowledge on this burgeoning market and the changes she is seeing there in. “Following significant development and completion in the construction of wind farms, our immediate strategic goals include what we term ‘operational excellence’: operating cost reduction, asset optimisation and performance improvement. We have particular focus on the asset life extension of the older assets in the group, safely extending assets 20-25 years old and beyond which brings new complexities taking us into new territory in UK renewables. This will further contribute financially to the local communities over a longer period and enhance investor returns. “At the same time, we are reviewing potential M&A opportunities for future growth. These could be as broad as acquisitions in European and OECD countries and as diverse as entering into other technologies, such as solar or battery storage. An increasingly important part of the executive team’s role, including mine as CFO, is to stay abreast of changes to the market and be aware of opportunities as they emerge, something which we are looking to give greater focus on in the future. This is always underpinned by strong financial management of all existing plus potentially new businesses.” Globally there has been considerable recent growth in the development of renewable energy assets and the UK has been a leading market for renewable energy in the last 10 years with up to 30% of the UK’s electricity now being sourced from all renewable energy sources. Thanks to this, going forward Ventient believes that onshore wind has a great future with new onshore wind projects now the cheapest form of new build electricity, something that the team, and Katerina, are very passionate about delivering. She is proud to conclude: “Looking ahead, at Ventient we seek to to grow and optimise our business to continue to provide a valuable return to the communities and our investors. My own personal aspirations are of continued development, leadership and challenge. With a Greek heritage, my move from England to Scotland started out seeking a greater work life balance and an improved quality of life. I would like to thank all those with whom I have crossed paths thus far. It is friends, family, colleagues and mentors who remind you that there may be lonely times, but it is never a solo walk. Despite the hard periods, I have had a fabulously rewarding time. “Having worked in sectors largely dominated by men, it’s important to never be intimidated, know your facts, and be confident in your message. Always strive to be the best you can be. Finally, in the famous words of Coco Chanel ‘Keep you heels, head and standards high’!”.