Building a Personal Brand

CPA Women in Business Discussion Group

Tuesday 25 September 2012 | 6pm – 8pm | CPA Centre

Being good at your job is no good enough anymore; it’s a minimum requirement. So what do you have to do to stand out from the many Accountants in the market and secure the career progression you desire? It all starts with building your personal brand and making sure its one that sticks and gets recognized. Find out how our group of panel speakers have done this for themselves and get the “how to guide” by a finance personal brand specialist, Stella Petrou Concha from REO Recruitment who will facilitate the discussion.

Our Confirmed panel speakers include:

Lynda Dunn, Financial Controller at Orica  (Bronson & Jacobs) – ASX Top 50

Natalie Ahamed,Group Financial Controller at Nepean Group (Privately held A/T > $500 Million)

Serena Madgwick, Commercial Manager at Onesteel

Siobhann Langan, Finance Director at Hasbro (US listed global FMCG)

This event is proudly sponsored by REO Recruitment.

Stella is Co-founder and Recruitment Director of REO Recruitment. Stella's mission and purpose in life is to help others succeed. She started her recruitment career in a global finance and accounting recruitment agency. Stella quickly rose to the top in her field and became the recognised number 1 recruiter in the Asia Pacific district.

REO Recruitment's mission is to build teams and build careers. With a proven track record in building the finance and accounting teams for many global blue-chip organisations, Stella has differentiated herself and REO Recruitment as a leading human capital management brand in the Sydney business arena.

 

BIO: Lynda Dunn CPA

Finance Manager Australia, Bronson & Jacobs Pty Ltd (A Division of Orica Chemicals Group)

Personal Brand: I am a Business Partner – not a number cruncher

Lynda Dunn has more than 10 years experience working in Finance roles across various organisations mainly in FMCG and Healthcare in organisations such as Roche, Baxter, GE Healthcare and most recently a division of Orica, Bronson & Jacobs.  Lynda began her career in sales and marketing analyst roles, becoming qualified as a CPA later in her career.  This strong analytical background and understanding of the sales and marketing function led her to pursue Finance roles with more commercial focus, having a strong desire to be a business partner rather than be perceived as just a ‘number cruncher’.

Currently, Lynda is working as the Australian Finance Manager for Bronson & Jacobs, part of the Orica Group.  In this role, she manages a finance team and is responsible for the end to end Finance function for the entire Australian function.  Her greatest achievement across her career is being seen by the business as more than a “number cruncher” but a true value add business partner that has brought sustainable and measurable changes to the business she has worked for.

BIO: Natalie Ahamed, B Fin Admin, M Comm, CPA

Group Financial Controller, Nepean Group

Personal Brand: I am a Collaborative Change Manager

Natalie Ahamed has more than 12 years’ experience in senior financial management roles in such companies as Inchape, Thomson, Downer EDI and currently Nepean Group.

Initially after completing school Natalie started her career completing a Fashion Diploma and quickly discovered that she much preferred the business side than the high energy competitive fashion arena.

Natalie is passionate about change management and collaboration to support teams and colleagues in challenging multinationals and large companies constantly changing environments.   

Natalie finds the best aspect of being a senior financial manager is the diversity of business scenarios that require solutions.  Striving to achieve the best outcomes and building strong successful teams that actively support the business are the rewards.

BIO: Siobhann Langan

Finance Director, Hasbro

Personal Brand: Prepare to win

Siobhann Langan is started her career with Hasbro and for over 20 years has dedicate her financial and commercial controllership to this organization. Siobhann chose accounting as a vocation after quickly realising that it is considered the language and basic tool of business. Her goal in each day is to learn from what happened yesterday and build from that foundation for the future. Her  favourite quote is ‘it’s not the will to win that’s important, it’s the will to prepare to win that really separates those who wish and dream from those who make it happen’.

Siobhann Langan is a 20 year veteran of Hasbro Australia Limited. She has worked in a number of roles from Accounting Manager to Financial Planning Manager and now Finance Director.

BIO: Serena Madgwick, MBA, CPA

Commercial Manager, Onesteel

Personal Brand: Change Manager - Finance and Systems Project Specialist

Serena has over 10yrs experience in Finance and Accounting across companies such as Onesteel, Origin Energy and Subaru.

Serena Madgwick is currently a Commercial Manager with OneSteel with in the National Distribution Team working her way up from Corporate Accountant to Commercial leadership in just 6yrs. Serena's passion includes leading and managing projects, largely with a systems focus to bring about process rationalization.Prior to joining OneSteel Serena worked with Origin Energy specialising in Financial Instruments and Treasury Finance.