Olympic challenge for Wood to get back into Deloitte
LOCOG CFO's triumphant return to employers Deloitte sees him facing a barrier to entry - literally, muses Taking Stock
TS WAS LUCKY ENOUGH to catch (ex-)LOCOG CFO Neil Wood’s presentation at the FD Summit yesterday.
If you don’t know what LOCOG is by now, then TS is tempted to tell you to clear off. But TS won’t, coz we’re not like that. LOCOG was responsible for getting the London 2012 Olympic Games up and running and Neil was in charge of the finances.
It’s fair to say that his closing speech for the FD Summit was pretty awe-inspiring. From the first financial projections put together on a laptop “using accounting software bought from WHSmiths”, the organisation grew to contain a whopping 60 business units responsible for using a £2.5bn budget.
The presentation, running through the almost constant budgetary process and rigorous but slick checks and controls, saw Wood practically deified by the FDs and CFOs in the audience.
Yet there was a wistful air to proceedings as he spoke of this being his first week back at Deloitte, – the people he worked with in 2003 no longer there, and that he didn’t even have a blooming security pass to get into the office. Wood, you see, was seconded from Deloitte to LOCOG a mere TEN YEARS AGO.
TS is sure that someone at Deloitte will have a recollection of who you are, Neil. You might just have to hang around Shoe Lane and Stonecutter Court for a little while longer to find a familiar face.