"Including different opinions from people from different walks of life and seeing things from a different perspective can only improve the end result"

Women are just as successful at leading and managing as any other person. It’s about equality of opportunities – that’s what we need if we’re going to have more diversity.

Farrell

Tell us about yourself and your role

I joined 1st Credit in the UK eight years ago before it was acquired by Intrum. After working as UK Finance Director, I became a Regional Finance Director and then moved into my current role. It made sense with my background in accounting and reporting. I look after technical accounting queries that come into the business, prepare the external quarterly and annual reports, and consolidate the group’s figures on a monthly basis. I spend a lot of time on process improvement, implementing new systems and regulation. I have a team of around 140 people including Intrum’s shared finance service centre. In addition, 17 of our Local Finance Directors have a dotted reporting line to me.

What inspires you in your career?

I have a degree in molecular biology and genetics but have always had an interest in problem solving and the analytical side of things. This role gives me lots of challenges and problems that need to be solved. It is full on but I’m a self-confessed workaholic and it really appeals to me.

What challenges have you faced as a woman in your career?

There are challenges, you just have to keep going and persevere. Not everyone you meet is going to be a modern thinker and you come across people who assume that a man’s opinion or intelligence are of greater worth than a woman’s. But that’s their problem. If you have the right managers, mentors and leaders that’s all that matters. If you don’t have, then you don’t need to stay where you are. In Intrum I’ve had brilliant support in handling any situations that have occured.

Which career achievements make you proud?

I’m proud of getting to this point in my career as it isn’t the norm in my family. I was a finalist in the Women in Credit Awards in 2020 and in 2023 we won the Finance for the Future award from Workday related to the Finance transformation we’ve undergone to date and roadmap we have moving forward.

What values drive you in your role?

Being open and transparent is important to me. I don’t have time for anything else. I want to hear other people’s opinions. You can’t always follow them but I like people to speak up. Treat people with common decency and you can’t go far wrong.

How do you promote and support inclusion and diversity in Intrum and beyond?

If you look around, women are in a minority in financial services and it’s not because of ability, talent or skills. There is a difference in the number of people who move into certain roles. But there is progress – if you look at Intrum in the Greek market there is a gender balanced management team and in Italy too. When I speak to recruiters I tell them I’m going to employ the best person for the role but I don’t want to see ten CVs that look the same. I want a spectrum of people from different backgrounds and with different experiences.

Have you had a mentor or role model who has particularly influenced your leadership style?

I’ve definitely learned a lot from the people I’ve been managed by. For example in learning to give people trust and also in experiencing managers who have very different career experience and skill sets to mine. I expect my team to disagree with me and tell me when I’m wrong. Nothing should be a surprise at annual reviews – we should be having these conversations all the time. I’m always here for people to talk to if there’s a problem, I just ask that they come with ideas to discuss.

How does this year’s IWD theme ‘inspire inclusion’ resonate with you?

For me it’s about getting other people’s viewpoints and opinions so we have a stronger solution at the end. Including different opinions from people from different walks of life and seeing things from a different perspective can only improve the end result.

What are the most important next steps in improving gender diversity?

The fact that we don’t yet have gender equality, equal pay and equal representation on boards and management teams shows we should be highlighting International Women’s Day and talking about these issues. Women are just as successful at leading and managing as any other person. It’s about equality of opportunities – that’s what we need if we’re going to have more diversity. Equality in parental leave is also an important ingredient if we’re going to make things equal for men and women.

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