Colleague Spotlight: Michelle Wanless – Commercial Finance Director
A career in utilities is anything but ordinary. In our Colleague Spotlight series, we’re going to showcase our amazing colleagues and the varied careers that are available within Avove Utilities.
Exploring careers at Avove – Michelle Wanless
Meet our Commercial Finance Director, Michelle Wanless. We asked her to take us through her journey with the business and to share her advice for a successful career within the utilities sector.
How long have you worked for Avove?
I’ve been with Avove for about five and a half years. I joined the company when it was part of Amey in 2019, and then became Avove when we separated in 2022. I was fully involved with the creation of Avove at the very beginning, which was very exciting and a great experience to be a part of.
In a nutshell, can you summarise your career so far?
I struggled to choose my A level subjects but chose to do economics as it sounded different from the typical subjects and I absolutely loved it! I loved it so much that I decided to pursue it at university, so I went to Loughborough University and did a business economics and finance degree.
When I finished university, everybody was asking me: “what are you going to do now?”. Everybody assumed when you’ve done a finance degree, you’re going to be an accountant, but I was convinced that wasn’t going to be the pathway for me, as I didn’t really understand the breadth of opportunities that were available within the accounting world. I went back home after university and there was a Junior Accountant role that came up in a small, local company, so I went for that, and I really enjoyed it, so I started to come around to the idea of being an accountant.
I started my studies with that small company, and from there I was offered a role at British Gas, where I stayed for 10 years. When I was ready for the next step, I joined Amey as a Finance Business Partner back in 2019, and after about 18 months, I was promoted to Head of Finance. An opportunity then arose, just prior to separation, to take on the role of the Financial Controller at Avove. This year I was promoted to the role of Commercial Finance Director.
What did you see yourself doing as a career when you were younger?
When I was really young, I wanted to be a vet because I really loved animals, but then I realised that I’d have to see animals poorly, so I changed my mind quite quickly after that! After watching the Red Arrows as a kid, I decided I wanted to be a Red Arrows pilot. Then as I got older, realized that I didn’t enjoy flying that much. So, that went out of the window. When I was at school, I wanted to be a sports physio because I was really into my sports. Then I discovered economics, and since that point, I have just followed what I enjoy and this has led me to where I am today.
What does your current role at Avove involve?
I have just been promoted into the role of Commercial Finance Director, where I have responsibility for the cashflow forecasting and management for the business, budgeting & forecasting and working with the operational & commercial teams on the contracts to understand our financial performance and exploring areas for margin improvement. My previous role was the Financial Controller, where I was responsible for the Management Accounts team who produce the Profit and Loss accounts and balance sheets for all the contracts, the Central Finance team who look after business overheads, VAT, corporation tax, audit and expenses and also Transactional Services who manage our payments to our supply chain.
What’s the best thing about working at Avove?
Working with lovely people is an important part that drives a lot of the enjoyment in my job. I genuinely think the Executive Team have done a brilliant job with the culture here, it’s more forward thinking, more progressive and an empowering place to work. It’s also cool to be part of a growing company.
If you could pick one highlight of your career so far with the Avove, what would it be?
The separation to become Avove and having such a key role in setting us up to be a standalone company, which was a challenging but incredibly rewarding task. The entire team felt empowered, as we had the opportunity to explore different finance systems and find the one that worked best for the team and the company. It was a challenge, but the satisfaction of seeing everything come together made it worthwhile.
What advice would you give to somebody looking to get into your line of work?
Enjoy the journey, not just the outcome. You spend a lot of time at work. A podcast I listen to mentioned a success formula which is success = hard work + sacrifice x joy. Obviously, working in finance this is very apt for me to use a formula based approach, but it is true for all careers. So, no matter how much hard work and sacrifice you put in, if joy is zero, success will always be zero. So if you can find a career that sparks your passion, that’s a good starter for success.
Specifically addressing finance careers, there is this misconception that finance is boring – I thought that too before I worked in this sector – but I’m here to tell you that it isn’t! There are so many possibilities and if you have ambitions to work in senior leadership or run a business it creates a solid foundation of knowledge that is vital for success in any senior role.
Advance Your Career at Avove
Looking for a role where you can make a real difference? We’re growing and are looking for passionate and self-motivated individuals to join our team.
We’re committed to nurturing a working environment that allows our team to unlock their full potential through providing training and continuous development. So, if you’re looking to advance your career within a company that cares about your professional and personal development within an industry where you can make a real difference, explore our current opportunities today.