The Portfolio Executives

Most of the founders I talk to are running businesses that have outgrown their bookkeeping but are nowhere near needing a full-time Finance Director. They want to know which products actually make money, whether the cash will hold, and what the business is worth building towards. A founder-led business still needs a finance function, whether in-house or outsourced, and cloud systems and AI have made that part far cheaper to run well. What is usually missing is the strategic insight on top: the judgement a leadership team gets from an experienced Finance Director. After twenty years in finance, that’s what I bring, at a size and cost that makes sense for a founder.

My journey started in corporate finance and audit in Johannesburg, where I qualified as a CA(SA) with PwC, before moving into business finance and pricing at Hogan Lovells in London. There, I completed my ACMA and CGMA through CIMA, becoming a Fellow in 2025. From there, I spent eight years at Redington, progressing from Finance Manager, where I led the outsourcing of the finance function, to Head of FP&A, Interim CFO and ultimately Finance Director. I built the reporting that the Board and business units ran on and supported the business through private equity investment and its later acquisition by Arthur J. Gallagher. That gave me the opportunity to see the whole cycle of growth, transaction and integration from inside finance. The decision to leave a stable role and build something of my own didn’t come easily. I’m not a natural risk-taker; I prefer things properly structured and thought through, which is exactly what you want from the person looking after your finances. Phoenix Advisory is the result.

One of my first important decisions was defining exactly who the practice was for. I chose health optimisation brands in e-commerce because the choice is personal as much as commercial. My life outside work is built around endurance sport, previously triathlon and open-water swimming and now ultra-trail running. I’m also the customer these brands are trying to reach. I train seriously, care about what I put in my body and think carefully about the products I buy. Focusing on a sector I understand from both sides has shaped everything since: who I talk to, what I write and what those first conversations are about.

Along the way, I’ve learned that building a practice requires much the same discipline as running a finance function: get the structure right first, then let the work follow. Every engagement now starts in the same way, with a free Discovery Call followed by a Diagnostic Review as the structured first step. It means founders can see the shape of the opportunity before committing and make a better-informed decision about working with me. I’ve also found that the qualities people have consistently recognised in me over twenty years still hold true: I’m calm under pressure, methodical, responsive even when the workload is heavy, and honest. That means I’ll tell you what you need to hear, even when it isn’t good news.

It’s working for me now because the work fits the life. Portfolio work gives me the freedom to do what I’m good at: making finance land for people who don’t live in it, working with founders who genuinely care about what they’re building, and doing it from wherever I am, with time for training and for the people who matter. What a founder gets from me is a steady pair of hands and a straight answer.

Looking ahead, I want to build a practice that supports the life behind it, both for my clients and for me. What matters most is the process, the standard you hold yourself to and who you become along the way.