Caroline Gardner: Founding Member Profile

Introducing Caroline Gardner, SVP Commercial Finance & Egencia CFO, AMEX Global Business Travel. In this interview we find out why Caroline became one of Potentia's Founding Members and how she has navigated her career in finance to date.

Please outline the journey you have taken to get to this point in your career:

After qualifying with Deloitte, I spent 15 years experiencing different parts of Finance at Diageo & learning from incredible leaders. My final role at Diageo was setting up a Finance academy for the 2,300 strong Finance function and creating a development programme called CFO Excellence, which spurred me on to realise this ambition for myself. Since leaving Diageo, I have brought all the skills & experiences I have learned together in CFO roles of different shapes and sizes, adding start-up, M&A, transformation and turnaround experiences, which, together with the business experiences I have worked through, have shaped me into the Finance leader I am today.

Aside from your career, what makes you, you?

I am married with 2 children, all of whom have musical or artistic talents and careers, so I am the ‘odd one out’ by working in Finance! Having said that, I am also a creative at heart… I love to read, write, paint and being curious, I constantly push myself to learn new things. I also believe that my non-Finance family and my artistic streak both keep me grounded & help to keep me centred on the people that I lead and work with. We live on the outskirts of a town, so I also love to run in the countryside to keep both my mind and body active.

What key things do your think would have supported you / made it smoother when you were starting out on your career?

I believe having role models and/or mentors who had both family and success in their Finance career would have been incredibly helpful. During my children’s early years, it felt like I was the only senior woman in Finance who wanted to work part-time. Luckily, the business I worked for supported me through this period, but it was an unusual request and both me & the leaders I supported had to navigate this unchartered territory together, with lots of learnings along the way!

Why Potentia?

Potentia is an amazing opportunity to help others and give women the support that was missing when I was starting out in my career. It also aligns with my beliefs that as a group of senior female leaders in Finance, we should have a voice to drive change & shape the future for others. Potentia gives us that opportunity to speak out and make things happen…watch this space!

If you are interesting in joining Potentia, please register via https://www.potentianetworking.com/register