Old Mill’s new Group Finance Director
West Country accountants and financial advisers, Old Mill, which has offices in Exeter, Yeovil and Shepton Mallet, have another new recruit in the form of new Group Finance Director, Ian Carlson. Ian, who qualified as a chartered accountant at Arthur Andersen in 1995, will be working mainly in the group’s Yeovil office; he says he decided to join Old Mill because it has such a refreshing approach to finance.” Old Mill is different; it stands out from the rest because of its progressive culture,” said Ian, “and the fact that there is a huge amount of ambition and drive to take the organisation forward.”Thirty-six-year-old Ian, who lives in Taunton with his wife Debbie and three young sons Ollie, Max and Toby, has had a varied career so far, “I started my career at Arthur Andersen, in their corporate tax team, and have worked in a range of different roles since then,” said Ian, “including working in Marks & Spencer’s financial planning team, were I implemented their first balanced scorecard.”One of Ian’s most significant positions was at the Met Office, where he started as Head of Finance but was promoted to Finance Director following an impressive record of strategic planning and major capital investment, including £30million on supercomputers and £500million on weather satellites.Ian, who enjoys managing his local junior football team in his spare time, has also worked at Kingfisher Plc and was Head of Finance for General Merchandise Logistics. He comes to Old Mill from Bicton College where he was Director of Finance and Planning, and says he is looking forward to the challenges his new role at Old Mill will bring.”Old Mill is a very progressive firm and is actively looking to expand by delivering a first class service to a growing client base,” explains Ian, ” and any business looking to expand like this must have good financial management on a day-to-day basis. I intend to provide this, as well as strategic financial input to the firm’s growth.”Managing Partner Jolyon Stonehouse says he is pleased to have Ian on board: “Ian has thirteen years of financial knowledge, with both financial and commercial experience at strategic and operating levels, so will be a huge asset to Old Mill.”