When did you join the VG team?

I joined the VG family in October 2020, having spent 12 and a half years as a client relationship manager at another local trust company.

What attracted you to VG?

I’d heard that the people were lovely and that VG’s culture had a family feel to it which you don’t see at the bigger or institutional firms. I had also been told that VG supports its staff and career progression was celebrated.  As soon as I arrived at VG, I realised that all that I’d heard was true.

People are my passion and I thoroughly enjoyed my client facing role but had an interest in people management that I hadn’t yet explored to a great extent. The opportunity for my position managing a team of client facing administrators came up out of the blue and I jumped at the chance to take on my exciting new role.

What does a day look like in your role?

We receive so many new busines enquiries a VG and so I regularly liaise with potential clients and intermediaries to see how we can assist them.

As most of the team are working from home including myself, I ensure that I reach out to everyone in the team at least once a day on a call, to check in and see how they are doing. Working from home has its benefits but it can also be isolating and lonely so checking-in on people is important.

While the administrators in my team have day to day responsibility for their clients, I am often asked by them to assist them in the more complex matters so I spend quite a bit of time providing guidance and oversight, attending client calls and meetings when required.

I report to the director of the team on various matters such as progress on projects and deadlines and of course, debt and cash collection. That also involves quite a lot of discussions with the administrators to ensure that the right approach is being taken on matters and that they are supported through any issues arising.

Then quite a bit of my time is spent dealing with HR related issues ranging from any kind of staff related matters including training, development, interviewing and appraisals.

What is the next step for you and how has VG supported your ambitions?

As I only recently joined VG, I am enjoying my role and the new challenges that it brings. My priority is making sure that my team members are supported and happy and that we are providing a quality service to our clients.

What is your favourite thing about life at VG?

As VG is an independently owned and managed trust company, it is agile and can adapt quickly. There is very little “red tape” and people work collaboratively to get things done. This is very refreshing!

I was given an extremely warm welcome which really helped in my settling in.

VG is going through an exciting period of strengthening both on the talent side and in terms of its business offering; so it’s really an exciting time to be here. There are lots of opportunities to work with very interesting clients and colleagues and I am delighted to be here.