Claire Price: Founding Member Profile

Introducing Claire Price! Claire has spent 15+ years at C-Suite level with roles ranging from CFO to Regional MD, Interim and Deputy CEO, COO, NED and Board Advisor in companies including Vodafone, Dentsu, Framestore, Company3 and IDX. In this interview we find out why Claire became one of Potentia's Founding Members, how she has navigated her career, the risks she has taken, and what could have supported her better when she was starting out.

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

My journey has been a series of opportunities which I’ve grabbed with both hands and turned them into stepping stones along the way. I was offered the chance to take a 6-week secondment in California whilst with PwC and I took it (who wouldn’t?!?) and converted that to a 3 year transfer once there. At Vodafone I was offered a non-finance secondment into HR to lead finance development and create a CFO pipeline - it might have seemed a strange move to some but I took it and built a great network of finance connections that subsequently led to my first CFO role and a relocation to Luxembourg with a baby in tow.

After my second child was born I was planning on taking some time out but an opportunity came along for a CFO role at Dentsu that I couldn’t refuse, so I worked out how to juggle, how to be a great mum to my kids whilst still being an inspirational leader at work. It wasn’t easy but nothing worth fighting for ever is. Take those risks, seize opportunities and make the story your own.

Aside from your career, what makes you, you?

Whilst I’m proud of my career to date, I’m prouder still of raising two beautiful children into well-rounded teenagers at the same time. The juggle is real but it’s important for me to find time to switch off, connect with the great outdoors, enjoy nature and love living life. For me that’s hiking, skiing, camping, anything to do with mountains and getting back to basics, surrounding myself with like-minded friends (old and new) and family, enjoying simple things, living in the moment and never losing that sense of adventure.

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

It would have been great had there been more female role models in the businesses I worked in when I was starting out my career. Sadly they were few and far between and the ones who were there were too busy trying to out-man the men, so not really fulfilling the vision of who I wanted to be. Having someone to follow who had successfully juggled family and leadership whilst staying authentic to their true self would have been a great support in those early years. Aside from that a better attitude on flexible working and the art of the possible would have also made things a lot smoother. Great to see how much things have changed on both counts since then!

Why Potentia?

Because I didn’t have the role models in business that I would have liked, I am delighted to have the chance to be able to support the next generation of aspiring female leaders. Potentia has brought together a fabulous group of strong women in finance leadership roles and I fully support the vision to do whatever we can to continue to increase female C-suite representation. Potentia gives us the chance to actively do something to help achieve this goal and a platform for our voices are heard.

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