Published: June 01, 2014
This month, Patricia Greenfield, Head of Treasury Operations at AstraZeneca plc talks to Helen Sanders, Editor, and shares her experiences derived from a treasury career that has extended over forty years.
Our group treasurer role is currently split between two positions: Keith Darlington, who heads up treasury strategy, such as funding, capital markets etc. and myself, as head of treasury operations. I look after issues such as cash concentration, FX, investment, intercompany funding and act as the main business partner for bank-related issues.
I joined Unilever in 1974 in a junior position, as part of my training in general finance and administration. At that time, the concept of a treasury function had not yet evolved. The department I worked for was a back-office function responsible for cash, banking and FX, in which I was involved in activities such as bank account reconciliation. I found this environment very motivating, as unlike most office roles that were generally task-based, I was gaining exposure to far wider horizons. Within a few months, I had been promoted and invited to join the Cash & Banking team, which was effectively a dealing room. This was quite an intriguing place in which to work, as few people knew what we did! In addition to my cash and banking role, I became involved in an FX project, and so gradually developed my role and expertise in what would now be termed treasury.[[[PAGE]]]
The ten or twelve years that followed saw enormous changes within both the Unilever business and the wider markets. The treasury profession emerged and matured, not least due to the decline and abolition of exchange controls in the UK, which brought significant change in treasurers’ role and activities. Our team developed into a UK Treasury department, and I remember being very proud when the new department was featured in Unilever’s staff newsletter.
In addition to my cash and banking role, I became involved in an FX project, and so gradually developed my role and expertise in what would now be termed treasury.
By 1994, I had worked my way up the department and become head of the dealing room. We also had treasury functions in Rotterdam, Zurich and in the United States. The decision was made to consolidate these treasury departments into a global treasury which would be located in Rotterdam, partly as it would have been quite difficult to dismantle this operation under local labour laws. I considered relocating, but it was not the right time for me or my partner. I was approached by a professor who worked for both Unilever and Zeneca, and introduced me to Zeneca. At this time, Zeneca had just demerged from ICI and was in the process of moving to Mayfair. Zeneca consisted of Pharmaceuticals, Agrochemicals and Specialties businesses. This new company was seeking a senior dealer, and in August 1994, I moved to Zeneca after 20 years at Unilever.
At the time of the Zeneca demerger from ICI, the Treasury Department consisted mainly of previous ICI personnel who had specifically chosen to move to the new company, so it was an intensely dynamic and exciting business to be part of, with a large proportion of younger staff and a fusion of new ideas. Over the next few years, I was fortunate in being part of a new Zeneca treasury department, and in a short time we had we introduced a number of initiatives such as zero-balancing cash pooling, intercompany funding etc. It was not long, however, before Zeneca embarked on another restructuring, with the demerger of its agribusiness to Novartis, and in 1999, only five years after the incorporation of Zeneca, we merged with Astra to form AstraZeneca. This in turn was followed by other mergers and acquisitions, such as the acquisition of MedImmune which is a world-class biologics R&D organisation which focuses on disease areas including: Oncology; Respiratory, Inflammation and Autoimmunity (RIA); Infectious Diseases/Vaccines; Neuroscience; and Cardiovascular & Gastrointestinal. This transformed our business from cash-rich to a debt-based company, which like every other major organisational change we had undertaken, resulted in a complete reinvention of our treasury function.
Since then, we have been focused on streamlining and simplifying processes and embarked on a ‘finance fast forward’ programme. This aims to position every aspect of our finance function, including treasury, at the forefront of the pharma industry, an initiative that has been further inspired by our new CFO and CEO who bring new energy and vision to AstraZeneca. We are now starting a new chapter in our history, with a new science hub, including both a global R&D centre and corporate headquarters, being developed in Cambridge, UK and the expansion of our global manufacturing site at Macclesfield, UK. Our treasury function has migrated from London to Alderley Park in Cheshire, UK, with a number of new hires and a new Group Treasurer due to join the company later this year.
It is unusual nowadays to spend an entire career in only two companies: in my case, 20 years each in Unilever and AstraZeneca. In both cases, the companies themselves, the financial markets and the corporate treasury profession went through enormous changes, which has made my career very exciting and rewarding. It has been a difficult decision, but I have decided to retire later this year rather than relocate to Cheshire. My years at both Unilever and AstraZeneca have been extraordinarily happy ones, and I have been fortunate in having the trust and confidence of senior management that has empowered me to make the changes that have in turn helped support both companies through critical periods in their history.
The workplace in 1974 was unrecognisable compared with today. It was only in 1975, soon after I joined Unilever, that the Sex Discrimination Act in the UK was passed, resulting in a number of changes: for example, women were permitted to wear trousers to the office for the first time, and they were no longer obliged to stop working when they got married. During my early career, we were most definitely ‘women in a man’s world’: a view that was held by both men and women. Women were not equal in what they were paid, or how they were treated, and in most cases, nor did women expect equality. Sexism was rife and social values quite different, so a lot of behaviour in the workplace would have been considered completely inappropriate today. The only way of handling it was not to take comments or behaviour personally, to respond professionally and to remain focused on what was important for the business. Perhaps fortunately, I have always been considered quite outspoken, which was useful during those early years.
Over the past 15 years or so, there has been significant progress made towards workplace equality which has been wonderful to see and be part of. I have made it a priority in my team that men and women should expect to be treated with the same dignity and respect, and we encourage people to speak up if they feel that this has not been the case. Opportunities are equal at AstraZeneca and we are seeing similar proportions of men and women on our training programmes. Both men and women need to feel comfortable in their own skin; for example, women should not feel that they should emulate men, rather both men and women bring value to the workplace that should be welcomed and nurtured.
Absolutely. Treasury used to be a small department behind a locked door. Few people knew what we did, and fewer still understood it. Forty years on, and treasury is at the forefront of finance strategy and its role as a key strategic partner for the business is respected. The board now engages directly with treasury and treasurers have a key finance leadership role.
Opportunities are equal at AstraZeneca and we are seeing similar proportions of men and women on our training programmes.
A treasurer of 1974 – although they would more likely to have been termed a dealer or analyst – would have needed to read markets, examine trades, hedge exposures and reconcile positions. While an understanding of the financial markets remains important, of course, these skills alone would be completely inadequate in today’s treasury. Treasurers need to partner the business, which requires a depth of understanding of what the business does, how it is structured, its strategy and the conditions in each geographic area in which it operates. They must be proactive to help drive and deliver on strategy, not simply responsive to changing market conditions, and need to demonstrate interpersonal, negotiation, influencing and management skills to bring together and lead teams that include diverse groups across the business. Although treasurers are unlikely to be experts in topics such as tax and law, they need to be conversant in these issues and engage the right people as appropriate to each projects.
When recruiting a treasury analyst, for example, we would expect candidates to demonstrate core skills, which we test routinely, but this is rarely a problem for people that have a couple of years’ experience in a major corporation. Beyond these technical skills, however, we are looking to see how they respond to particular situations. We have five core competences, including issues such as awareness, business acumen and how people manage their time. As part of the interview process, we ask at least one structured question within each category to give us a feel for how a person operates in practice and how well they will fit in with the rest of the team. This approach has proved successful and we are very pleased with the abilities, attitude and culture of our treasury team.
This is a difficult issue, and it depends on the requirements for each role. In general, I would tend to favour experience over qualifications but formalising these skills by taking ACT exams can be very helpful in ‘future proofing’ the department by developing a breadth of skills and knowledge. Furthermore, treasury education shows a commitment to the profession and a willingness to expand horizons, so we support and encourage the team in pursuing ACT qualifications. In addition, we offer more general business training, mentoring and coaching in-house which also has a very important role to play in professional development. We are considering taking on an apprentice into treasury who has enthusiasm and a willingness to learn, but who may not have a typical academic background or experience. This will be very valuable in building grass roots experience and encouraging new entrants into the profession.
Recent graduates often have a view that they ‘know it all’ and do not always realise the value of the opportunities they have or the experience from which they can benefit. When starting out, people need to be willing to listen, learn and ask questions. They may have learnt the theory but this is not the same as understanding the practice. With the right grounding and experience, treasury should become intuitive, but without the right attitude early on, people don’t develop this intuition and can find it very difficult to progress.
That’s a difficult one! Probably the best holiday I had was spending nearly a month on the west coast of the United States, including a week in Hawaii. I also love skiing with friends.
I’m reading George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones and I’m loving it! I read serious books of course, but fantasy books are great as they’re escapist. I don’t watch many films, but I saw Philomena recently and enjoyed it very much.
Treasury’s move to Cheshire last year was the catalyst for me to think about what I wanted to do next. My husband retired a couple of years ago, so I decided that it was an opportunity to retire and spend more time doing what we enjoy. I love our garden and allotment, and we want to travel and spend more time with our family. While there is often a focus on careers in their early stages, there also need to be greater attention given to the latter stages of people’s careers. Coming to the end of a full and varied working life is difficult, and you need to think about what you want to do when you leave. In addition, the team you leave behind needs to manage without you. We are managing this is as a gradual transition, so I divide my time between working from home and the office, so that everyone gets used to the change. I have had a wonderful career, and I’m now looking forward to directing my energy and enthusiasm into the next phase.
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