In celebration of 2017’s International Women’s Day theme #BeBoldForChange, we take another look at 5 Talmix consultants who have taken the ultimate bold step for change with many leaving established careers within the corporate world in return for full control over their career independence, delivering what they know, to those who need it most.
Here’s a recap of some of the great profiles we’ve shared previously.
1. Dilek Akca: Financial Management
"I got married, and my husband was headhunted by a bank, which meant the both of us moving to Singapore," she says. “I took up projects for start-ups as an independent consultant, working for three years across ecommerce companies and impact investment funds, understanding what was out there and essentially conducting forays into company culture.”
Dilek started her career in banking in London. Following an MBA at London Business School as a Goldman Sachs scholar and specialising in entrepreneurship and private equity, Dilek realised that her passion lay in start-ups which resulted in her launching a new business with her classmate in online retail which became part of the prestigious London Business School Incubator. Her passion about entrepreneurship led her to work as an independent consultant for start-ups and PE investors.
From Europe to the Middle East to Asia-Pacific, Dilek’s work experience has enabled her to become a true global citizen, but more importantly, equipping her with an internationally-enriched approach to her clients and the projects she undertakes.
2. Brigitte Herren: Strategic Management
For Brigitte, the decision to become an independent consultant was not a sudden one. After completing her MBA, graduating with High Honours from the Boston University Graduate School of Management, and a 5-year commitment with Accenture, Brigitte was at the start of a new phase of her life and the offer to join Deutsche Bank’s internal management division was one that would allow her more opportunity to balance her family and work life as much as she needed to. “With 2 young children at the time, I was looking forward to being able to cut down on hotel nights as the opportunity of working for 1 client within their internal consultancies was a lot more appealing to me at the stage of life I was at”, she says.
Brigitte offers her clients over 15 years’ experience in assessing, improving and monitoring orgnaisational effectiveness for multinationals. Her diverse skills include strategic management, analytics, change management, business growth, systems thinking, integrated reporting and more; all of which unlocks the joint value of financial and non-financial information. A natural leader, Brigitte is a collaborator.
3. Christina Wiharto: Procurement Management
From the start of her career, Christina has been involved in supplier management in some shape or form. Whether she was procuring cooperate services such as marketing, facility management, HR and Finance or whether she was working with teams to identify new retail products in the Far East and Europe, Christina has operational and strategic procurement embedded into her consulting makeup – serving as a platform on which she bases her consulting services today.
With over 20 years’ experience, and fluent in English and German as well as being equipped with a MBA from Cranfield School of Management and a German Textile Engineering degree, her core values are described as customer centricity, outcome focus, accountability, honesty, challenge & growth, lead & support. Christina’s rich personal heritage holding ties to UK, Indonesia, China, Germany means that she offers her clients a truly international view on their procurement strategies. And as a procurement specialist, transforming the cost bases of the organisations she works with whilst bringing your teams with her, and adding value as someone who can strategise but also practically implement working solutions, is a winning recipe that Christina is proud to offer.
4. Barbara Spurrier: Financial Strategy
Barbara Spurrier is a qualified certified accountant (FCCA) with more than 25 years’ experience in financial and accountancy roles. As an experienced CFO, Barbara focuses on achieving corporate and social objectives and delivering shareholder value through the implementation of profit-centred strategic plans. Her focus is on financial and cash management, profit optimisation, and implementation of long-term strategic objectives.
Throughout her career, Barbara has served as CFO for 4 AIM listed PLCs, the majority in the technology sector, as well as Financial Director and Company Secretary of a PLUS quoted PLC in the life science sector and VC backed companies. She has successfully secured funding, undertaken M&A and MBO projects and has stepped into the CEO/COO role on an interim basis when the need arose.
5. Katy Huang: Strategic & Financial Management
“I guess I’ve always had a functional focus. Clients and employers don’t hire me to tell them things they already know about their own industries. They hire me to help resolve the problems they have, in an innovative way. The fact that I have always been strategic in my approach to projects, has allowed me to work across industry and across customer type. Very often, the questions that I have to ask, are the same questions. I ensure that I take the time to get to know their business and their market, but ultimately, they hire me to help them adopt a new way of working that will take them to the next level of success”.
With an Imperial Chemical Industries scholarship to Oxford University reading for a Master of Engineering in Chemical Engineering, Economics and Management, Katy’s career boasts extraordinary opportunity and expertise. Trained by the McKinsey Business Technology Office in London, Katy has worked across three continents and consulted for multiple industries, and has had the privilege of working in-house for businesses Moet Hennessy Diageo China, as well as Beazley, Lloyd’s of London’s insurance syndicate).
Katy also holds a MBA from Harvard Business School.
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