Our esteemed panel of judges is comprised of experienced practitioners from across the treasury, corporate finance, banking, and advisory worlds. Winners will be announced on 31 March 2022 at a live awards ceremony at One Great George Street, London.
Judges Chair - Lynda Heywood, Group Treasurer, Tesco
Lynda Heywood joined Tesco plc as Group Treasurer in August 2016. Before that she was at Kingfisher plc for many years in various treasury roles, becoming Group Treasurer in 2009. Lynda started her career with BDO Stoy Hayward before moving to Willis Group as Treasury Accountant. She now holds the designations ACA and FCT.
Tom Bindloss, Head of Treasury, Senior plc
Tom started working on Treasury audits whilst at KPMG more than 20 years ago and has been hooked ever since. He left practice soon after qualifying and then moved through various industrial sectors; chemicals, beverages and now aerospace. Tom is currently Head of Group Treasury at Senior plc, a FTSE listed high-technology engineering company serving aerospace, defence, land vehicle and energy markets. Tom has had varied experiences initially in Treasury accounting and control, moving into a Treasury transformation project for 4 years, and since then, was in Front Office roles as a Regional Treasurer (based in Asia) and now a Group Treasurer.
Tom has had the privilege to work with some fantastic people along the way, in great Treasury teams, and benefited from the perspective of large FTSE20 companies to FTSE350. In 2018, Tom completed his Advanced Diploma in Treasury Management, which is a great way to broaden your exposure to different types of sectors / credits and to think beyond the ‘Corporate Treasury’ mindset. He looks forward to contributing to the ACT through the Deals of the Year panel, putting his experience to good use and continuing to learn from the great work other Treasury teams are doing.
Alan Chitty, Director of Group Treasury, Tax and Risk, Pepco Group
Alan moved to the UK in 2004 after qualifying as a Chartered Accountant in South Africa. Since then, he has held a number of roles in internal audit, management accounting, technical IFRS conversions and then witihn treasury operations at Toyota Financial Services and Anglo American. Alan then moved to SABMIller and again had very different roles from TMS implementation and regional treasury centre rollouts to group treasury controller and then European & corporate treasurer – spanning eight years across six continents.
As part of the acquisition of SABMiller, Alan moved to Asahi International and set up the group treasury function, and then a group financial shared services which also involved recruiting great new talent, and travelling / meeting people from around the world.
Alan has recently moved to Pepco Group Limited as Director of Group Treasury, Tax and Risk and is enjoying working on a great projects alongside some extremely knowledgeable and talented colleagues and advisors.
Hailey Laverty, Group Treasurer, IHG Hotels & Resorts
Hailey has over 12 years’ experience in a wide range of treasury areas, including funding, cash management, systems, treasury control and accounting. She completed the AMCT in 2012. Hailey started her career at Deloitte and qualified as a chartered accountant in 2004, before moving to Rolls-Royce plc where she spent ten years in various accounting and treasury roles.
Alexandra Lewis, Group Treasurer, National Grid
Alexandra Lewis has been the Group Treasurer at National Grid plc since November 2017 and is responsible for managing the group’s £30 billion debt book and associated financial risks, including interest rate, currency and liquidity, as well as the risks around the group’s substantial energy procurement programme in the US. She is also responsible for Pensions and Insurance and a director of the UK regulated operating companies National Grid Electricity Transmission plc and National Grid Gas plc. Prior to being appointed Group Treasurer, she was Group Head of Reward at National Grid plc, responsible for reward strategy and implementation for the Board and top 200 executive managers. She is a Fellow of both the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England & Wales and the Association of Corporate Treasurers, and prior to her role in reward has undertaken various financial roles within National Grid plc, Lattice Group plc and BG Group plc.
Bente Salt, Group Treasurer, Rentokil Initial
Bente joined Rentokil Initial plc in December 2015, where she is responsible for all treasury and financing activities of the group.
Prior to joining Rentokil she has held various senior Treasury positions in Ceona, Virgin Management & Acergy.
She is a fellow of the Association of Corporate Treasurers and a fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants.
Richard Sedlacek, Managing Director, Debt Advisory, Rothschild & Co, and Co-Head, Corporate Debt Advisory
Richard Sedlacek is a Managing Director in Debt Advisory at Rothschild & Co and Co-Head of Corporate Debt Advisory. He is based in London.
Richard joined Rothschild & Co in 2008 having previously worked at Deutsche Bank for 19 years and prior to that 3 years at HSBC. Richard has over 25 years of experience in the debt markets where his clients span the full range of the FTSE-100 and FTSE-250, together with private and overseas corporates. He advises clients on capital structure, financing options and their execution.
The Debt Advisory Group at Rothschild & Co provides independent advice on the raising and refinancing of debt. This covers borrowers across all sectors, the full credit spectrum and debt market alternatives including advice on credit ratings, hedging and derivatives and liability management. The Debt Advisory Group undertake approximately 150 completed assignments every year representing circa €100bn of debt raising/refinancing.
Martyn Smith, Director, Metal Choirs
Martyn qualified with the ACT in 1987. He was elected to Council in 2009 and was President for 2014/15. He was a long-standing member of the ACT’s Programme committee is now on the Policy & Technical panel.
Martyn trained as a Chartered accountant with Touche Ross in Bristol. He then worked in various Bristol- then London-based finance roles with Tyndall group, Ætna Life, Midland Bank, Grand Metropolitan, Kingfisher and Delta group before joining Dyson in Malmesbury in 2001 as Director of Tax & Treasury. From 2013 to 2017 Martyn worked for Weybourne Partners (the Dyson Family Office) as Chief Financial Officer, based in Malmesbury. He now has his own consultancy business and has several roles with not-for-profit organisations.
Mark Venner, Treasurer Operations, BAE Systems
Following 10 years in investment banking, Mark joined BAE Systems Group Treasury in 2004. In his current position, reporting to the Group Treasurer, Mark is responsible for cash management, bank account management, foreign exchange and interest rate hedging and back office activities.
Mark holds an MBA and is a chartered accountant.
Paul Watters, Head of EMEA Credit Research, S&P Global Ratings
Paul Watters is Head of Credit Research for S&P Global Ratings in EMEA. He currently chairs S&P’s EMEA Credit Conditions Committee that focuses on emerging global and regional risks.
Prior to his current role Paul has held various senior roles within S&P’s Leveraged Finance Group since joining S&P in January 2002, that included being a primary analyst for a portfolio of high yield credits in the metals and mining, chemicals and oil and gas sectors..
Previous to S&P, Paul spent almost fifteen years working in debt capital markets in various senior trading and research roles with both Lehman Brothers and Nomura International.
Paul is a CFA Charterholder, and a Fellow of the Association of Corporate Treasurers.
For questions about your entry please contact:
Vicki Greenwood
Director of Global Events
deals@treasurers.org
Winners announced 31 March 2022 at a live awards ceremony.
