How Rachael Nevins is the business leader with a personal touch

Finance professionals aren’t always known for being people centric but you can safely say that Rachael Nevins goes against the grain in that respect.

The CEO of Huddersfield-based print and communications firm, Adare SEC, is creating a people first culture.

It’s a culture that runs across all levels of the business, from the factory floor to the executive team.

Ms Nevins says that the business is in a unique position in that it is big enough to provide confidence to clients but small enough to provide a personal touch as well.

“It’s very important to us that, for example, people feel they can contact every member of the executive team,” she said. “Clients can contact me directly if they need to. That personal front is really important to us as a business.”

Ms Nevins’ career began in the mid 1980s at a Bradford-based chemicals company. She started off as a trainee accountant before working her way up to financial controller.

“I was always very good at maths at school,” Ms Nevins says. “I’m quite a logical thinker, I guess.”

Ms Nevins has always looked to challenge and test herself, a trait that she has carried into her role at Adare SEC.

“I always think ‘how can I improve’ and that’s what gets me up in the morning,” she says. “I suppose it’s about making a difference, ‘how can I make this better’, ‘how can I improve it’.”

Ms Nevins joined Adare as a chief financial officer three years ago. A year later she took over as CEO, replacing Richard Slee in the role.

The business, which is backed by private equity firm Endless, was going through change and Ms Nevins was the ideal candidate to lead Adare through this change.

She said: “My background is in finance but it’s also change oriented. I’ve done a lot of work with businesses to help them perform better and look at their strategies.

“It made sense when Richard chose to move on. It was a natural move for me and the business because I’d already been working on a lot of the strategies for change so it fit well. I’ve worked in a lot of private equity backed businesses as well.”

Ms Nevins was brought to Adare SEC by Endless. She had a strong relationship with the private equity firm having already worked with it at Huddersfield-based business, FMG.

She was the chief financial officer there and helped Endless complete the sale of the business.

Ever since taking the reins of the business, Ms Nevins has put an emphasis on putting clients first.

The other part of the strategy is to ensure staff feel a part of the journey and “feel real pride” in the business.

Ms Nevins said: “We embarked on a programme called Great Place to Work and really tried to engage and inspire our colleagues to get involved with the business and really have that pride for it and make sure that we give something back as well.”

A lot of work has been done on improving communication with workers. Adare is also engaging with them to see how the work environment can be improved for them.

Ms Nevins says this shift in culture is already paying dividends during the ongoing pandemic with staff pulling together for the business.

A focus on operational best practice is another key tenet of the strategy.

The changes are reflected in the numbers with Adare seeing revenues rise by £1.7m to £71.4m for the year to October 31, 2019, while earnings increased by 52 per cent to £5.4m.

Ms Nevins attributes that growth to the strategy as well as a lot of its clients choosing to renew contracts.

Adare SEC has 400 employees of which around 260 are based in Huddersfield. It also has facilities in Nottingham and Redditch.

Unlike other print and communications firms, the business does little in terms of direct mail marketing. Instead its bread and butter is in mandatory and regulatory communications.

Its clients include the likes of Santander, Allianz and Aon. The firm also prints prescriptions for the NHS.

Print is a part of what the business does and part of its strategy is to look at how it can meet client needs in an increasingly digital world.

Ms Nevins said: “Part of our business plan is looking at what methods our clients will want to use to communicate in the future. It could be things like more of a move to WhatsApp and those kinds of social media platforms. It’s making sure that we can send very secure, highly regulated messages through a number of different routes.”

However, print will still be a part of the mix, Ms Nevins believes, and it’s about creating more choice for people.

She said: “With the type of critical communications that we do, there will always be a mix. There will always be some element of print. People just react differently to a printed output to a digital output. I also think there will be more and more choices.

The CEO of Adare SEC may have always been involved in finance, however, she has worked for a broad array of companies from large multinationals to SMEs.

That broad experience has enabled her to bring fresh thinking to the table.

Ultimately, her aims at Adare are pretty simple. She wants to ensure the business is successful for the long term.

Ms Nevins said: “What I’ve got now is a very strong team of executive members, who lead their functions in a very capable way.

“It’s about building a business that is there for the long term, that keeps colleagues in good jobs for the future, meets clients’ demands now and for a long time to come.”

Despite coming from a finance background, being people-centric is a trait that has always existed in Ms Nevins.

She says: “I’ve always been referred to as a breath of fresh air when I was in finance. An accountant with a personality is quite a rarity – or it was. I’ve probably offended my old finance colleagues there.

“I’ve always been one to not follow the norm. I suppose there’s a bit of Bradford bite in me as well and a bit of a cheeky way about me that just manages to influence and engage people with a bit more passion and enthusiasm I guess.”

Curriculum Vitae

Title: CEO

Date of birth: November 1967

Lives: Adel, North Leeds

Favourite holiday destination: Club La Santa, Lanzarote – sport in the sun – perfect getaway with lots of running, tennis, fitness, along with sun and wine

Last book read: I’m reading Dare to Lead, Brene Brown – given to me by a kind colleague, insightful around heartfelt leadership

Favourite film: Shawshank Redemption.

Favourite song: Anything from the 80s

Car driven: Jaguar F-Type

Most proud of: At work – the success of my team at Adare SEC in my first year as a CEO; personally – running the New York Marathon

Education: CIMA accountancy qualifications at Leeds Metropolitan University