Sherie Culley - Finalist for Team Leader of the Year at the Credit Strategy Women in Credit Awards

We are proud to announce that last month, four amazing members of our team were finalists at the Credit Strategy #WiCAwards!

The awards, hosted by Credit Strategy, and judged by prominent industry leaders came together to celebrate, and champion the work of incredible women, and those who empower them across the entire credit and financial services industry. They support and recognize achievements among inspirational women and allies in the industry.

See below for a profile of Sherie Culley, Head of Operations – Finalist for Team Leader of the Year

With a career taking her from Resort Management in the Swiss Alps to the glamourous world of auditing and risk, and from Head of Compliance & Customer Relations to Head of Operations at Optimum Finance, it’s safe to say that Sherie’s career to date has always been on an upwards path. Her time in Invoice Finance has been characterised by success, with leadership skills to match.

But where Sherie truly excels, is through her talent in adapting teams to differing environments, driving their collaborative efficiency and positively reinforcing team behaviours to breed a culture of innovation, confidence and togetherness which yields significant reward.

Since becoming Optimum’s Head of Operations, the UK has gone into, and come out of a global pandemic, placing significant strain on funders to manage their exposure. It has required a committed, and personable approach towards maintaining client relations and motivating a team during economic and personal uncertainty and encouraging staff to learn and develop – in part to close an industry-wide skills-gap – and her efforts have been nothing short of spectacular.

In fact, under Sherie’s supervision, her team have achieved many incredible results, from collecting over £800m from debtors of our clients to delivering market leading stats including DSO. Sherie consistently receives CEO commendation for exemplary work.

With particular talent for identifying individual and team strengths and weaknesses, an internal restructure presented an excellent opportunity for Sherie to demonstrate her organisational skills, defining a new way of operating and providing the skills training to equip the team for future growth.

Thanks to Sherie, Optimum Finance has grown exponentially in the last few years. Whilst coy over stating personal achievements, she selflessly dedicates this nomination to her exceptional, independent team. As with any successful team, however, this is rarely achieved without a strong leader.

A big well done from all of us at Team Optimum.