Our Finance Director, Dean Allsopp, recently celebrated his fifth work anniversary at iPac. To mark this milestone, we sat down with him to reflect on the past five years, which has been a period of exceptional growth and development for both Dean and the wider company.
Read on to learn more about our Finance Director and his integral work at iPac.
1. Can you tell us more about your role and background?
I am very proud to say that my background is very Newcastle-centric; I was born here and have lived in the North East throughout university and my CIMA accounting studies. I joined the business in January 2019 having previously been a Financial Controller at AkzoNobel N.V (International Paint Ltd), which is a Dutch-listed multinational paints company. My time at Akzo did allow me to branch further than Newcastle with working opportunities in three different continents, in roles comprising of Controlling, System Implementation and Management Reporting.
2. What values underpin your role?
As with any accounting role, I believe that honesty, integrity and professionalism are key to running a successful finance function as a byproduct of a successful business. I like to understand not just what happens within our business, but why it has happened. Asking “why” allows us to always improve and never stand still.
3. What do you enjoy the most about working at iPac?
While my title is Finance Director, I spend more than half of my time involved in multiple different areas of the business and this is exactly what I love about working here. For me, this is exactly how an FD should work – having a close involvement with Operations, Sales, HR and Systems allows me the best opportunities to “add value” to the business.
4. What do you see as your biggest accomplishment since you joined iPac in 2019?
Since being at iPac, I have worked on projects that I never envisaged I would be involved in when I started on my finance journey – this is what both personal and professional development feels like. As a result of that, the list of accomplishments is tough to narrow down!
Running the day-to-day finances of a business that has grown 500% since January 2019 is extremely rewarding, as was raising finance (including multi-million-pound debt and equity investments & management buyouts).
My biggest accomplishment personally has been implementing an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system into the business. I needed to understand all facets of the business and it was during this project that I truly got to grips with all of our processes across purchasing, production, warehousing and sales. This has then led to a continuous improvement mindset that follows the core values of iPac.
5. What is your hope for iPac? Where do you see the company in the next five years?
We are currently finalising our move to a second production site in the North East which will allow iPac to grow and develop further.
Since day one, we have never stood still and I envisage this continuing over the next five years. My hope for iPac is that we can continue to expand while improving the business for all of its key stakeholders.
Congratulations to Dean on this brilliant achievement and his continuous commitment to iPac’s growth and success. To find out more about our management team, click here.