Eton Bridge Podcast Eton Bridge Partners

In this series, we dive deep into the world of business transformation and change, exploring the challenges and triumphs of real people who have worked on the front line of incredible transformations and achieved outstanding results, whilst learning many valuable lessons they learned along the way.



Episode 3: Delivering successful finance transformation

Our highly experienced Business Consulting team work closely with our clients as ‘one team’ to deliver better and more sustainable business results through transformation.

In our latest Q&A, Matt Dunn talks to Kunjal Haria and Mitul Patel, both part of Eton Bridge Partners’ Business Consulting team, about their extensive experience in delivering successful finance transformation, and some of the lessons learned along the way.

Kunjal Haria has been delivering Finance Transformation for over 20 years and has worked with Eton Bridge for 10 of those years. An ACA accountant, he spent the first half of his career at Ernst & Young, IBM and Accenture. He’s currently leading a global finance SSC/GBS and ERP programme for Eton Bridge Consulting.

Mitul Patel has over 20 years’ experience delivering Finance Transformation. A qualified Accountant he’s delivered complex finance transformation and ERP for global clients including Takeda, Westcon, and Cushman & Wakefield. He was an Executive Director at UBS and a Management Consultant at Ernst & Young.

Mitul has worked with Eton Bridge for 6 years, most recently leading an international GBS restructuring programme and implementing a Finance TOM for a global EB Consulting client.

Welcome to the very first episode of a new podcast series for Eton Bridge Partners, exploring the secrets behind successfully navigating leading the people side of significant change with Sarah Scannella, Partner within the Human Resources Search Practice at Eton Bridge Partners.

As an executive search, interim management and consulting firm, we very much put people at the heart of business, taking great care to build trusted long-term relationships with clients, candidates and our employees alike. Our passion for people means we are very fortunate to be able to work alongside some of the most inspiring business leaders who bring unique perspectives on the world of work. This presents us with a great opportunity to share their insights and learnings, to contribute to making the world of work even more human.

In this podcast series, we'll be chatting to a number of senior leaders from many walks of life who will be sharing the real secrets to successfully navigating big change and how they led the people side of it. 

In this episode, we shine a spotlight on social mobility.

Helping to improve social mobility is hugely important. We believe that every person, irrespective of their background, should be able to achieve their full potential.

For those who are new to the subject, social mobility refers to change in a person's socio-economic situation, either in relation to their parents and wider family (inter-generational mobility) or throughout their lifetime (intra-generational mobility).

Social mobility is linked to equality of opportunity: the extent to which people have the same chances to do well in life regardless of the socio-economic background of their parents, their gender, age, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, birthplace, or other circumstances beyond their control.

Research has shown that people from disadvantaged backgrounds have fewer opportunities to climb the socio-economic ladder. In European OECD countries, children with the greatest socio-economic disadvantage grow up to earn as much as 20% less as adults than those with more favourable childhoods. Across OECD countries, it takes nearly five generations for children from low-income families to approach the average income in their country.

In addition, round 65% of working-age OECD citizens worry they won't be as financially secure as their parents; an almost equal share fear their children will be even less secure. We also know that people who are most concerned about their chances in life are also less happy and feel less represented in politics.

Which brings us to the podcast; Olivia Sharp, Partner within the Executive Search, Human Resources Practice at Eton Bridge Partners, talks with Daniel Kasmir and Rob Bray, to discuss how the corporate world can promote and secure equality of opportunity.

Daniel Kasmir is Chief People and Procurement Officer at TalkTalk and has been with the company since 2019. Before that, he gained extensive experience in HR at a number of organisations including Shell, Manpower, FNZ, Xchanging and BDO. He’s worked in Private Equity as both an adviser and within portfolio companies for General Atlantic, JC Flowers and Bain Capital. He currently sits on the Board of Trustees at Lowry Arts Centre and is Chairman Remuneration Committee at YouView TV Limited as well as the Chairman of Employment Board at HMP (His Majesty's Prison service).

We are also joined by Rob Bray. Having worked in HR for 20+ years, including for some of the world’s best known consumer brands, most recently as Chief People Officer for Nandos in UK&I, A member of the board of directors at Nando’s, Rob led the people and social impact strategy across their UK& I restaurants and head office for more than 22k people.  Since he joined Nando’s, they have been regularly voted one of the best places to work in the private sector and the number one employer in the hospitality industry. Rob is hugely passionate about growing people and organisations, and has a particular interest in inclusion and environment, as well as youth employment.

In this series, we dive deep into the world of business transformation and change, exploring the challenges and triumphs of real people who have worked on the front line of incredible transformations and achieved outstanding results, whilst learning many valuable lessons they learned along the way.

 

Episode 2: How can we really influence culture and people to deliver truly transformative outcomes?

 

In this episode, Matt Dunn, Business Consulting Partner at Eton Bridge Partners, talks to Brad Skinner and Kevin Paterson and who are part of our Business Consulting team, about their extensive experience in delivering successful transformation and some of the lessons learned along the way.

 

Kevin Paterson has worked with Eton Bridge for over 10 years. Having spent the early part of his career in Senior HR roles, he went on to run large scale transformation for Vodafone, Dixons Carphone and Costa Coffee. He’s currently leading a complex integration for a European retailer as part of EBP’s Business Consulting team.

 

Brad Skinner is a long standing partner of Eton Bridge. He’s currently Group HR Director of BMI Group.  He has over 20 years’ experience of driving large scale transformation for businesses including Barclays and SAB Miller.

 

In this second episode of Transformation from the front line, we'll be discussing our experiences and thoughts on how to really energise your people and use your culture to deliver long lasting transformation outcomes.

 

Here’s a quick taster of the topics we’ll be talking through:


How do we really leverage people to transform businesses?
What are the first things transformation leaders should do to engage people when we’re mobilise a transformation programme?
How do we keep people engaged, energised and really wanting to drive outcomes?
How do you think the CPO/HRD role will evolve in the coming years?
What’s the future for the Chief Transformation Officer role.
How can people become truly successful transformation leaders and really motivate their own teams to keep going and deliver through adversity?

Matt Dunn talks to some of the Business Consulting team about their extensive experience in delivering successful transformation and some of the lessons learned along the way.

Kevin Paterson has worked with Eton Bridge for over 10 years. Having spent the early part of his career in Senior HR roles, he went on to run large scale transformation for Vodafone, Dixons Carphone and Costa Coffee. He’s currently leading a complex integration for a European retailer as part of EBP’s Business Consulting team.

Tracy Kingswood has spent over 30 years leading retail transformation with 18 years in Asda 14 years with Dixons/ DSG. She’s currently building and leading the Transformation Management Office for one of EBP Business Consulting’s retail clients.

Kat Stewart, Partner within the HR Practice at Eton Bridge Partners is joined by Cecilie Sondergaard Nielson, executive coach and founder of the leadership consultancy CN8, to promote confidence in the workplace for women, and to discuss a few of the main issues female leaders encounter in their rise to more senior positions in the workplace.

 

Cecilie has an impressive track record of working with senior leaders to identify and change the dynamics that stand in the way of delivery and progress. With a special interest in supporting women in senior leadership positions, Cecilie is an advocate for diversity in leadership, and has extensive experience with issues surrounding female leadership in traditionally male-dominated industries.

 

As an executive search, interim management and consulting firm, we are in a privileged position of being able to meet many senior leaders across lots of different organisations in the UK, as well as internationally. Through these conversations, we have identified that women in leadership roles struggle to change themselves to fit a ‘mould’ of what they feel is expected of them, often questioning themselves, pushing themselves harder and often never quite feeling ‘enough’. Despite the progress made in recent years, with females in senior leadership roles, there’s still work to do. We’re back with episode 3 on the topic of ‘authority’.