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Inspiring Future Leaders 2025

Connecting aspiring younger members with senior finance leaders of large organisations

Overview

Inspiring Future Leaders connects our senior finance leaders with our younger members, sharing experiences and insights through group discussions.

We are now taking applications for 2025.

Format

Our senior finance leaders will each host four, free, one-hour virtual roundtables over a three-month period. They will share their experiences, stories and insights with a small group of future leaders. 

The first session will begin with introductions followed by the senior leader sharing their career journey with Q&A after. The second, third and fourth sessions will focus on particular themes and will be in an informal, confidential environment where members can discuss challenges and ask questions.

Previous topics covered include building a career and career transitions, leadership and inspiring teams, personal branding and influencing, work/life balance, resilience and the CFO skillset.

At the end of the year, we will bring together the senior finance leaders and future leaders for a celebratory dinner at Chartered Accountants' Hall, London.

Why apply?

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A unique opportunity to gain insight from a CFO of a large organisation in a confidential environment.

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Ask questions and benefit from invaluable practical advice.

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Four, one-hour virtual roundtables on key topics to support and progress your career.

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Meet your peers and share challenges in confidence.

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Prepare for the next step in your career.

The IFL programme was extremely insightful and rewarding, diving into the insights of our CFO's career path and sharing some great advice on how to tackle challenging situations. I've learnt a lot from the anecdotes shared and resonated with a number of the challenges faced. A huge thank you to our CFO, cohort and ICAEW for facilitating such a great programme.

Younger member - Feedback from 2023 Inspiring Future Leaders

Who can apply?

ICAEW members who are:

  • Five-to-ten years post qualified
  • Working in business in a large organisation or aspiring to work in a large organisation
  • Ambitious and keen to progress their career

The ICAEW Inspiring Future Leaders programme was a fantastic way to learn from an industry leader whilst networking with peers from a wide range of backgrounds - bringing true diversity of thought to the table. Highly recommended to members looking to take the next step in their careers.

Younger member - Feedback from 2023 Inspiring Future Leaders

Our 2024 senior leaders

2025 senior leaders to be confirmed

Headshot of Sarah Ashby
Sarah Ashby CFO, Mamas and Papas

Headshot of Bruce Condon
Bruce Condon Finance, Legal and Procurement Director, Weetabix

Premal Parekh
Premal Parekh Previous CFO and Head of Transformations and Investments, Operations, LSEG

Headshot of Vivek Patankar
Vivek Patankar Divisional CFO, Convatec Group

James Richardson
James Richardson FD, Stansted and East Midlands Airports

Kelly Smith
Kelly Smith CFO, Kantar Insights UK & Republic of Ireland

Sarah Walker Smith
Sarah Walker-Smith CEO, Ampa and Shakespeare Martineau

Connecting with the finance leaders was a fantastic opportunity to openly reflect, share and engage on development topics relevant for now and the future. The sessions had a good balance of pre-selected themes, and time for open and honest discussions to share my personal and professional experiences. It was rewarding to see the level of engagement and enthusiasm across the ICAEW members, and I am confident they will achieve their career goals in the very near future.

Group CFO, National Grid - Feedback from 2023 Inspiring Future Leaders

I thoroughly enjoyed being part of this programme, an informal, fun and open forum, sharing stories and learning from each other. Great to step back from the day to day and to get the opportunity to reflect and share insights.

FD, ITV – Feedback from 2023 Inspiring Future Leaders

Apply now

Places are strictly limited and subject to a successful application

Complete the form