From Go to CFO

S4, EP4: Why You Should Always Put Your Hand Up: Nick Williams Road to CFO

[axr] Recruitment & Search Season 4 Episode 4

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0:00 | 44:39

In this episode of From Go to CFO, [axr]'s Kunal Gupta sits down with Nick Williams, CFO of Tellus Holdings, Australia's only geological repository for hazardous waste.

Nick's career took him around the world before it brought him home. Eleven years at BHP moved him from a graduate role in Melbourne to Adelaide, Houston, the Netherlands and Chile, building the kind of broad, hands-on experience most finance careers take twice as long to gather. A mentor he clashed with in his first week in Holland went on to shape the next decade of his career, encouraging him to make the leap to Brazil, and eventually back to Sydney.

He talks candidly about the private equity stint at Pacific National that changed how he saw the numbers, and the reality of his first year as a first-time CFO at Tellus, refinancing debt on a business with no contracts behind it yet.

Nick shares what he'd tell himself five years ago: get your team right before anything else, learn to sell the business you work for, and keep saying yes to the next hard thing.

This episode is for finance leaders navigating their own path to CFO, and anyone weighing up a leap into industry or a new country.