Paul Finnegan, founder and director

Paul’s career spans over 30 years, with experience in professional services, finance and leasing, risk management, and FCA regulated businesses.  He was most recently Chief Operating Officer at Blick Rothenberg, a top 20 UK accounting firm and, since 2016, part of the  private equity backed, CogitalGroup.

 

Senior experience

From 2005 to 2018, Paul was part of the leadership team at Blick Rothenberg that consistently achieved double-digit organic revenue growth and post the sale to CogitalGroup increased the rate of growth both organically and through acquisition.

 

In addition to working with the leadership team on strategy and business planning, the COO role had direct responsibility for the finance, HR, marketing, IT, compliance and office service functions. This 13 year role has given Paul great experience of successfully running a fast-growing business and delivering a wide range of initiatives – see assignments.

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Prior to Blick Rothenberg, Paul was at KPMG for seven years, including as UK Head of Business Development and Executive Assistant to the Chief Operating Officer in their restructuring practice.

 

Practical approach

From the start of his career at Dun & Bradstreet, working as an internal consultant conducting operational reviews across Europe, through to his role as Chief Operating Officer at Blick Rothenberg working on the sale to CogitalGroup and subsequent acquisitions, there has been a consistent theme of quickly understanding what needs to be done, rigorous but practical planning, establishing the engagement of the key people and having a disciplined hands-on approach to ensure delivery.

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Qualifications

Paul has an MBA from Kingston University, specialising in strategy, project management, change management and services marketing.  He has also recently completed Executive Programmes in ‘Innovation in the Age of Disruption’ at INSEAD and ‘Managing the Company of the Future’ at London Business School.

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