Rob
Churchward was born in South
Africa in 1962. After 2 years
national service in the South
African Army, he went on to
qualify as a Chartered Company
Secretary, and in 1985 joined BTR
Dunlop as an Internal Auditor,
covering all audit functions
throughout the group.
In
1987, Rob moved to Tanker Services
Ltd, a leading South African road
transport company, as
Administration and Financial
Manager. There he managed
the Finance and Admin departments,
and had regular contact with key
customers and Government agencies
to improve cash management.
He
then joined Dorbyl Marine, a
specialist manufacturer of luxury
yachts, ships and oil platforms in
1991 as the Major Projects
Accountant. One of the most
noteworthy initiatives, which he
was responsible for, was the
financial control of the
“Columbia” project, the
building of three container
vessels, worth some £40 million
and employing over 3,000 people in
the yard.
Leaving
South Africa behind, Rob moved to
the UK in 1993 and qualified as a
Chartered Management Accountant.
During this period he was Head of
Financial Accounting for the
British Rail division responsible
for track infrastructure
maintenance in the south-east.
He subsequently joined Constructor
(a former Electrolux company), as
Commercial & Finance Director.
His track-record there included
increased margins, the
establishment of a
product-training culture which led
to improved customer service –
and a saving of £300k pa - and
led negotiations with key
customers, resulting in £2.2m of
orders within only 12 months.
In 1999,
Rob decided to join the dotcom
revolution, becoming Chief Finance
Officer (CFO) and Head of Fraud
Prevention for bol.com, a leading
Internet media and entertainment
shop. Wholly owned by
Bertelsmann, one of the world’s
biggest media companies,
working at bol.com allowed Rob to
combine an entrepreneurial
“dotcom spirit” with all the
business practices of a
traditional company. Rob has
overseen the company through its
start-up phase, and it’s
expansion into new product
categories (music, film, games and
software) in addition to the core
product (books). Rob
established a positive margin
trend, and ensured that the staff
all understood the “value for
money” concept. He
developed financial controls,
including budgeting, forecasts and
audit processes, and terminated or
renegotiated a number of
under-performing marketing deals.
Capitalising
on his knowledge and expertise in
shared and outsourced services,
Rob has recently founded The
Finance Function Ltd. This
company will provide a
professional outsourced finance
function and financial director
service for the small to medium
sized company.
Rob
is a qualified pilot having
completed his initial flight
training in 2000 at RAF Halton
Flying Club. He holds a Night
and IMC rating. In addition to
this he qualified as a Bush
Pilot in 2008 in preparation for
a trip around Namibia, Zambia,
Botswana and South Africa in
July 2009.
Rob
Churchward in a nutshell:
·
Proactive, profit driven CFO with
international and domestic B2B,
B2C and change management
experience.
·
New media and “traditional”
industry background.
·
Proven track record of identifying
opportunities and building
effective teams to deliver results
in a competitive environment.
·
Adapts to ever changing situations
to get the job done on time and
within budget.
Rob can be
contacted for comment on Internet
fraud, control measures in start
–up companies, shared and
outsourced services.
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