Profile: Mark Lumsdon-Taylor, FD of Hadlow College

The public sector is often knocked for being lethargic in its processes and floundering in delivery.

Hadlow College typified this with a run of scandalous accounting, coupled with poor leadership, which saw its assets either run into the ground or sold off. But the 100-year-old land college was hauled from the brink of disaster by Mark Lumsdon-Taylor, a young finance director with a drive to succeed.

The situation was without doubt extremly perilous, but it was the prospect of unattainable success, and almost certain failure, that stirred him up enough to take it on.

Lumsdon-Taylor stepped in to affect change as part of a team of auditors from Macintyre Hudson in 2002. He was just 26 at the time, but was already leading senior audits.

The firm was called in to rescue Hadlow as it entered into administration. Shortly before, the principal had been removed because of financial irregularities. The local press had a field day, tearing into the institution’s scandalous leaders and beleaguered finances.

Macintyre Hudson had its work cut out, and Lumsdon-Taylor was singled out by the acting principal to step in and support the finance operation. Lumsdon-Taylor was no stranger to the way things had been done at the college - among audit personnel at his firm the college became something of a standing joke, with a reputation for being one of the worst clients in the sector.

‘Previously, when we met to do the audit, we would ask for the accounts, as you would normally do,’ says Lumsdon-Taylor. ‘Their response at the time was along the lines of “we thought you were supposed to do it”.’

‘We had to build the accounts from scratch and had to call in another team to do so, before we could do the audit,’ he adds.

The college’s accounts were, to say the least, dire.

‘The college did not have a budget system that worked properly and the actual accounting system was just not working. Heads of departments were never told how the business was run… it was as though nobody had been interested before,’ he says.

By this time, the Learning and Skills Councils had extremely serious concerns about the college so Lumsdon-Taylor and the Macintyre Hudson team had to act quickly ñ shedding 60 staff and re-launching internally by February 2003.

The brief was concluded, but Lumsdon-Taylor’s work ethic, slick business acumen and determination were noticed. So much so that, at the rather tender age of 27, the college’s board offered him the opportunity to improve college further as head of finance, registry and information technology.

Lumsdon-Taylor leapt at the chance, fully acknowledging that he’d reached a temporary glass ceiling at Macintyre Hudson.

‘I knew I would never make partner until I was 28Ö I had led external audits for several further education and development public sector bodies. I felt ready for something different, so Hadlow was a logical progression.’

But the euphoria was quickly replaced with a sense of dread on his first day at Hadlow, with news of cash flow problems. This surprised Lumsdon-Taylor, as Macintyre Hudson had left the college with £1m in its account.

The college it seemed, invested, but omitted crucial costs of professional fees.
It was also payback time for the LSC, which decided to claw back all the funds from the college.

‘The balance sheet went into freefall. I remember sitting with the weekly cheque flow, deciding which ones to pay and which ones to hold off on.

‘I guess the darkest moments were around questions of whether we could afford to pay staff salaries ñ but I never let them know that, and they never went without.’

He also had to earn the respect of the staff, most of whom were older than him.
‘I knew it was going to be bloody tough. I felt in a way people would question the 27-year-old city boy who came along and told them how things are going to work,’ he says.

But he did earn their respect ñ enough for them to pull together with him to move Hadlow from losses of £500,000 into profits in excess of £400,000 annually, transforming the culture and business and focus of the organisation with annual growth of 25%.

‘I could never have done it without my staff ñ I wouldn’t do it differently,’ he adds.

DO’S AND DON’TS

Lumsdon-Taylor gives his tips for a successful career:

Do:

• Be loyal and committed
• Work hard and play hard
• Don’t be a nerd just because you have to study
• Challenge, listen and learn when you are wrong

Don't:

• Be arrogant when in training
• Be afraid to think outside the box
• Stop learning
  

Like this story? Spread the news by clicking below:

 del.icio.us     Digg this     reddit!