The story
14 years. Three countries. Every role chosen deliberately.
Soldering iron, not spreadsheet
I started with a Diploma in Mechatronics. My final-year project was a working PEM fuel cell test station — built for A*STAR, Singapore's national research agency. National Instruments published it as a case study. I was 20. It was the first time I understood the difference between being capable and being responsible for something that actually works.
Building a finance function from scratch — the first time
I left engineering for accounting deliberately. I tested two ACCA exam papers first to verify I'd actually like the content. Then enrolled in a degree while working. My manager at AXA Global Health Insurance held the standard so high that monthly close was exhausting and formative in equal measure. She taught me how to work. I built a finance function there from scratch — accounting software, chart of accounts, everything. I didn't know I'd do it again.
HP: the best team I ever worked in
Five years in project accounting at Hewlett-Packard. EMEA operations. M&A support during the HPE/CSC merger. My journal entries were flagged internally as examples of good internal control documentation — the quietly satisfying kind of recognition. When the function was wound down and roles moved to India, I was the last one standing. I chose what came next.
Confidential deals, five entities, and a CFO standard I've carried since
I immigrated to Canada. Two months later I was in a basement, under NDA, supporting a CFO on a confidential acquisition by the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan. Three more acquisitions followed. Five-entity consolidation. I learned what it looks like when a CFO understands the business deeply enough that a wrong number just looks wrong — before anyone checks the source.
Employee #2. Built everything from scratch. Again.
I joined Audi RED as the second employee. Implemented the accounting system, built the chart of accounts, designed the financial model, hired and mentored an accountant now doing their CPA. We grew from 2 people to 31. In March 2026 I was promoted to Director of Finance. And somewhere in the middle of that, I started building something of my own.