Kat Ferguson

Most recently Kat was Group CFO of Laird an engineering and manufacturing organisation. Previously a plc, Laird was taken private in 2018 by Advent International after a profits warning and rights issue saw the share price drop to an attractive level. Post take private Kat was promoted to Group CFO and oversaw a restructure of the Group which resulted in two quick exits and a development of 3 largely standalone businesses. The Group weathered COVID well and as the M&A market bounced back we started to divestment of the remaining businesses. Over the course of 18 months we completed the legal and physical separation of two of the remaining businesses, split the final one into two and sold all to a mix of strategic and PE buyers. Overall the six exits generated over $3bn in sale proceeds.

Prior to Laird Kat worked in a number of commercial and group roles at TalkTalk plc after qualifying as a chartered accountant with KPMG.