Career highlights
- January 1971: Joined Portland after graduating from university.
- 1989: Opened and headed up Portland's London office.
- A member of the IPA since 1979 and R3 since its inception.
- Deal with all kinds of personal and corporate insolvency and virtually every type of business imaginable.
- A former member of the Insolvency Practitioners Association Future Plans Committee and a former chairman of the Freight Trades Protection Association.
- Practiced the 'rescue culture' long before the expression came into everyday use and am a firm believer in lateral thinking.
- Believe in maintaining close contact with professional clients so they can offer our firm's services as an adjunct to their own, I'm more than happy to offer advice in respect of their client's problems without this necessarily leading to receiving an instruction.
- Married to a solicitor in industry, who is a director of a number of substantial companies. Have a house in France and breed and show horses at national level.
Taking clients and their advisers seriously as people
Whilst the common perception of an insolvency practitioner is that of a financial undertaker, I have always thought of myself as being involved in a "people business." One of the most satisfying aspects of my job is the relief on clients' faces when after the first consultation they realise that there is a way forward for them and their creditors, after wrestling alone with the burden of their problems for many months.
Many of Portland's staff have worked for the organisation for a long time and because we are not overlarge, a continuity of approach means that we treat our clients as individuals rather than numbers, which helps them maintain their dignity and self-esteem.
