BLAXLAND CONSULTING LIMITED

𝗛𝗲𝗹𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗰𝗼𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗩𝗖𝗣 – 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗶𝗱-𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗲-𝗲𝘅𝗶𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 

Diane is a senior adviser to private equity portfolio companies.  She helps investors and portcos to deliver robust growth against value creation plans - including via post-merger integration.  She has a sweet spot in Tech-enabled B2B Services including Professional Services in the UK and EMEA.

Her experience includes:

- pre-deal MDD and post-deal operating reviews of portcos - eg for Blackstone, Mercia, Silverfleet, LDC, Rockpool, Foresight
- rapid recovery of post-merger integration and transformation, ahead of an IPO (backed by TPG)
- commercial risk analysis for a PE portco, triggering an exit via secondary buyout (backed by ICG)
- recovery of an off-shore proposition, re-positioning for growth ahead of a merger
- design and global rollout of a post-merger data integration model.

Her skills include P&L management, business strategy, sales, operations, business transformation, and change management – drawing on her experience in startups, scaleups and global business.

Founder

Career Coaching by Diane Blaxland

🚩 How will you know if my Career Coaching is right for you? Five quick signs: 

•	there is a gap emerging between your career and your satisfaction level 
•	addressing the gap is increasingly important to you 
•	there are risks if you do something, and risks if you do nothing 
•	you have some advice, but you want to take a wider, longer term view 
•	talking it through with an experienced executive feels like a good place to start 

#ExpertLeaders #Careers #PersonalDevelopment

Catalysis Advisory Ltd

𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗣𝗘 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗰𝗼 𝗕𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝗱𝗲𝘀:
🔺 𝗽𝗿𝗲-𝗲𝘅𝗶𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 - 𝗕𝟮𝗕𝟮𝗖 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵 (𝗘𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲)
🔺 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁-𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗶𝗱-𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 - 𝗕𝟮𝗕 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗘𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀
🔺 𝗽𝗿𝗲-𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗕𝟮𝗕 𝗥𝗲𝗴𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵, 𝗕𝟮𝗚𝟮𝗖 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵, 𝗕𝟮𝗕𝟮𝗖 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵, 𝗕𝟮𝗕𝟮𝗖 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘂𝗳𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗕𝟮𝗚 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗰 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵

Business Advisor

Johnson Controls Inc

$5b EMEA region of $20b Business Services division of $40b Fortune100 listed company

Director Change Management, EMEA

Blaxland Consulting

Advising clients on operational and commercial change.

CPA Global

£100m global Business Services company, backed by Private Equity

Director Strategy

Williams Lea

£20m Division of this £1b global Business Services company, part of DAX30 company DeutschePost

Managing Director 

Clifford Chance LLP

£100m+ M&A practice of this £1bn global Professional Services firm

Head Business Development Operations

Blake Dawson Waldron

A$350m international Professional Services firm (now part of £1b Ashurst LLP)

Business Development, Sales & Marketing management

CEO & Founder Expert Leaders™ | Career Direction & CV Coaching | £1B PSF | $40B Fortune100 | PE scaleups | London Business School

I help professionals step into clarity, confidence, and growth - especially when navigating complex career transitions in challenging or unfamiliar markets.

My clients are technically brilliant, ambitious … and many are internationally experienced. They’re often MBAs, engineers, M&A/finance experts, consultants, lawyers, or technology & data/AI specialists. 

They're ready to step into senior leadership, but something isn’t landing. Their pitch isn’t quite resonating. The growth opportunities they seek feel just out of reach.

That’s where I come in.

With more than 10 years in senior leadership - including as Managing Director responsible for 550 people - I’ve led growth, transformation, and turnaround across organisations from under £10m to over $5Bn. 

I’ve advised private equity investors and portfolio companies on operations, building robust solutions to complex problems. 

And I bring that same level of focus, clarity, and strategic thinking into my coaching practice.

My sweet spot lies in tech-enabled B2B services - including engineering, data/AI, finance, legal, and consulting. 

Highlights of my work include: 

▪️Steering post-merger integration for a $6Bn PE-backed global professional services firm, resolving operational failures, client complaints, and transformation across 15 countries.
▪️Leading the recovery of a £1bn NHS Trust’s lab project post-dispute, bringing together investors, clinicians, scientists, suppliers, and engineers to co-create a viable solution.
▪️Delivering commercial risk analysis that identified a -70% risk to a target exit valuation for a PE-backed £100m B2B services firm, unlocking a £1Bn exit in under three months.
▪️Repositioning a struggling new BPO offshore (India) proposition for profitable growth, delivering 50% savings to the client in a new £3m contract while also tripling profit margins.
▪️Rolling out a post-merger Sales/Marketing/Finance integration model for a £1Bn global professional services firm across 30 offices in 20 countries, deployed to 4,000+ staff.

All of that senior experience now feeds directly into my career coaching.

Many of my clients are mid-career or post-MBA, and sense a need to reframe their narrative, sharpen their presence, and navigate a system that may not easily understand their value. 

We don’t just talk. We rehearse. We edit. We test. We build influence from the inside out.

Whether you're preparing for interview, pitching for promotion, or making a full pivot, I’ll help you to tailor your story, build trust, and move forward with strategic clarity.

🎯 Diane Blaxland

Busuu

FP&A Director

The Economist

Achievements:
Defined pricing strategy to mitigate inflationary pressures, growing lifetime value by £60m
Partnered Education business to grow from zero to £2m revenue inside 2 years
Finance transformation; offshored and automated key processes using Anaplan

Responsibilities:
Leading global monthly forecast, budget and strategic planning processes. Using analytical rigour and commercial acumen to manage 1.2m subscriber base/400k new subs annually
P&L ownership of business units with turnover £220m, direct costs £45m, marketing £35m
Finance lead on our largest projects – product & pricing  strategy, finance transformation
Guardian of customer lifetime value (CLTV), consumer economics and investment appraisal metrics, providing actionable insights to help drive improved decision making
Developing a team of 6 through clear objective setting, regular reviews and open feedback

Head of FP&A - Subscriptions

Achievements:
Proposed and agreed a plan with CFO and VP to move to quarterly forecasting, freeing up significant finance team time for more value-add activities

Responsibilities:
Finance leadership of business units with turnover >£200m
Co-piloting alongside the C-suite, enabling the business to adapt and meet deliverables

Finance Director (paternity cover)

Achievements:
Project lead – drove subscription revenue up 20% by working in partnership with pricing consultants; quantifying price elasticity per customer segment, scenario modelling P&L impacts before implementing a price increase across the entire subscriber base
Finance lead - commercial review of entire business ahead of critical data insourcing project Enabled informed decisions on how our business will change post-migration
Implemented cloud-based planning tool, along with a new forecast process, improving accuracy of both P&L and forecasted volumes (to 99% accuracy)

Responsibilities:
Managing £55m marketing budget. Translating regressive model data into actionable insights, enabling e-commerce leaders to balance short term deliverables vs customer lifetime value
Leading global monthly forecast, budget and strategic planning processes
Telling the story behind the figures; presenting regular trading updates to senior leadership, quantifying risk and opportunities from across the business to help us manage to plan
Project manager for all finance initiatives, using communication and prioritisation skills to ensure strategic goals are met in the midst of a fast-moving environment
Overseeing continual process improvements to make business as usual tasks more efficient
Partnering with data science and systems teams to ensure data integrity

Head of Commercial Finance – Subscriptions (3 direct reports)

Achievements:
•	Designed and embedded new processes, enabling the e-commerce team to deliver +30k subs.
•	Project lead - globalising subscriber retention processes, driving £2m efficiencies in budget.

Responsibilities:
•	Partnering e-commerce and retention teams, providing commercial insight and analysis.
•	Management of marketing (£15m) and overheads (£2m) budgets.
•	Coordinating 7 global submissions each month totalling £160m revenue.
•	Partnering social media team to maximise conversion of fans into paid subscribers.

Senior Global Circulation Analyst

Financesoftskills.com

Side hustle: coaching better soft skills for finance professionals

Starbucks

Achievements:
•	Delivered £3.4m of cost reduction initiatives in 2013.
•	Starbucks head office employee of the quarter Q2 2013.
•	Modelled ROI for all initiatives, allowing prioritisation and quicker time to market for new products.

Responsibilities:
•	Presenting weekly results to EMEA board, identifying commercial risks/opportunities.
•	Creating weekly management info pack for EMEA, showing performance against strategic targets.
•	Forecasting, scenario modelling and analysis for direct costs (£100m) and marketing (£12m).
•	Project lead - partnering cross-functionally to identify and deliver £3.4m savings to UK P&L.
•	Investment appraisal for all marketing, pricing and new product launch activity.

Finance Business Partner

Quarterly budgeting and forecasting for business unit with turnover of £60m, including modelling and ownership of complex manpower costs.
Owning the month end reporting process including gap analysis and coordinating submissions from all business units.
Cashflow analysis and tracking of billing progress to ensure maximum cash liquidity.
Delivery of monthly management information packs and review with department heads to highlight commercial risks and opportunities within the business.

Management Accountant

Ernst & Young

Maintenance and review of financial performance for engagements totalling £30M working capital, including analysis and reporting of risk to senior finance staff.
Challenging senior managers and partners to ensure company revenue is maximised. 
Forecasting and budgetary analysis including setting cash collection & revenue targets.

Engagement Analyst

Dell

Assistant Accountant (7 months)
Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Internal Controls Officer (10 months)
Credit Controller (10 months)

Contractor: Various Finance and Audit Roles

With over 15 years experience in finance, I am a CIMA qualified professional who leads the global forecast, budget, and strategic planning processes for The Economist's subscription business. I use analytical rigour and commercial acumen to manage a subscriber base of 1.2 million, helping drive revenue growth and profitability.

As the head of FP&A, I partner with the C-suite and business units to define and execute product and pricing strategies, finance transformation initiatives, and customer lifetime value optimization. I also have a passion for coaching and developing finance professionals to improve their soft skills and communication abilities. I run a side hustle at Financesoftskills.com, where I share tips and resources on how to succeed in finance.

taplio

The Battle

🎯 Diane Blaxland

Howard Tunnicliffe

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