Michael Evans

Your Story:

I am currently the CFO of LendInvest plc. I started my career training as a chartered accountant at Ernst & Young before moving to Barclays Capital for three years once I qualified, including an eight month secondment to New York just as the global financial crisis was beginning. After that I moved to National Australia Bank for 8.5 years across a range of finance and operations roles, including the head of finance and operations for the UK Commercial Real Estate business. I wanted to move into Fintech after discovering Monzo and Transferwise and seeing the impact new companies, focussing on technology and customer service, could do things better than the incumbents in the space. I subsequently joined LendInvest in January 2017, initially as the Finance Transformation Director, then had a range of roles before moving to CFO in December 2020 when the former CFO unexpectedly passed away. Three months after taking over, we started an IPO journey onto AIM, which we subsequently completed in July 2021. I led this process along with our CEO. Since then, I've been adjusting to life as a listed CFO but will be leaving at the end of July 2023 to move to Octopus Electric Vehicles as they grow into becoming a much bigger Fintech in the coming years.

Your Impact:

Given my seniority in the business, it's really important for me to be visible to everyone as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community and to ensure we are fully represented in decisions affecting the business. The culture of the business is a really important part of that and I'm proud to encourage everyone to bring their authentic self to work and for them to know they are embraced in the company. I was a member of the Pride panel we hosted for all staff during June 2023, where four of us across the business answered questions about our lives and the challenges we face in industry as members of the community. I was on a similar panel in June 2022 for our auditors, BDO.

Your Advice:

The most important piece of advice would be to target the companies that you feel are most aligned to your values and where you feel you can be yourself. It's difficult for members of the LGBTQIA+ community as we need to regularly come out throughout our lives so being in an environment where ultimately nobody cares where you are straight, gay, queer or anything else is really important. When you can be yourself at work, you will be much better at it too.