Cheryl Wright

• Reporting to and deputy to the UKI CFO, supporting strategic decision-making and financial leadership.
• Lead consolidation of full P&L for IBM UK Ltd (~$4.5bn revenue), ensuring accurate forecasting and reporting.
• Direct forecasting and reporting optimisation initiatives, including cash improvement (DSO) strategies.
• Partner with UKI General Manager and senior leadership on business-wide priorities across reporting, cash, planning, strategy, transformation, and productivity. Leverage data insights and analytics to identify gaps to budget to drive commercial outcomes and inform strategic decisions.
• Drive financial transformation programmes, including Finance Accelerate, operating model changes, and finance lead for UK restructuring initiatives.
• Lead finance contributions to headcount planning, productivity improvement, and investment decision-making.
• Oversee financial operations and process optimisation across key areas (e.g. medical trusts, pension outsourcing), and improving efficiency and controls.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with tax, treasury, procurement, legal, accounting, and CIO teams to support business initiatives. eg GTS (Kyndryl) spin off
• Partner with sales teams on commercial decisions, including contracts, budgeting, and investment cases.
• Ensure compliance with accounting standards, audit requirements, and regulatory obligations, including UK Government Strategic Supplier requirements.
• Contribute to diversity and inclusion initiatives as a member of the global Women in Finance programme.

• Member of UK Software Senior Leadership Team, partnering with VP, COO, and business leaders to deliver $1.3bn revenue and improve profitability by 2pts

• Managed UKI finance team covering Software, Cloud & Cognitive Solutions, overseeing reporting, planning, controls, annuity (SaaS) forecasting, expenses and DSO
• Led end-to-end headcount planning and workforce cost management.
• Partnered closely with sales and deal teams on key commercial transactions.
• Enhanced annuity forecasting, renewal planning, and trend analysis in collaboration with business leaders.

• Reported to UKI VP Finance, leading financial operations across planning, DSO, expenses, and resource modelling for Go-To-Market sales.
  • Delivered year-on-year expense reductions and consistently achieved budget targets, including tight control of Sales & Distribution headcount.
  • Served as trusted advisor to Global Market VPs across Sales, Operations, Technical, and HR functions.
  • Led strategic initiatives including UK Medical Health Trust implementation ($2m annual savings), Apprenticeship Levy rollout, and pensions outsourcing.
  • Established governance processes for headcount and resource approvals, including creation of UK market resource board.
  • Acted as key decision-maker on employee-related spend, resourcing, and HR operations.
  • Represented UK in global finance transformation programmes (e.g. WW GUDA project).

• Led a high-performance F&P team to support (and deputised for) GTS CFO and GTS GM to achieve brand and financial objectives in terms of signings, revenue ($1.5bn) profit and cash and provide
• Managed and improved GTS management reporting system in line with UK and Europe requirements.
• Transformed and developed GTS Shared services team off shoring key roles
• Implemented improved DSO management system improving DSO by 5 days

• CFO for multiple services units, leading global onshore and offshore finance, contract, and cost teams to deliver high-quality reporting and strong financial, business, and operational performance.
• Set UKI labour rates and developed cost models to support pricing and profitability.
• Led complex accounting and pricing matters, including OEM agreements.
• Member of the WW ITS Standards Council, driving global consistency in processes and reporting.
• Delivered offshoring objectives and strengthened contract management and service delivery capabilities.

• Joined IBM through SBCS acquisition and led integration of SBCS and IBM disaster recovery services to form BCRS within GTS. Recognised as subject matter expert due to portfolio of 18 UK sites and limited in-house finance expertise in disaster recovery at the time. Played a key role in ntegration across real estate, accounting, HR, contract novation, and financial planning, including tracking performance against acquisition business case.

• Schlumberger Sema Business Continuity Services: UK Finance Manager, March 2001 – April 2004
• Sema Group Recovery Services Ltd: UK Financial Accountant, March 1999 – February 2001
• Spectra International PLC: Assistant Financial Controller, October 1996- March 1999
• Royal Marsden NHS Trust: Assistant Management Accountant, August 1995 – October 1996
• Fraser Stewart Group: Retail Accountant and Administration Manager, August 1994 – August 1995