Roles Recruited
Chief Financial Officer
At The CFO Practice, Rob is deeply committed to supporting our clients’ diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) objectives. When MS-RT approached Rob to lead the search for its newly created Chief Financial Officer position, a commitment to improving diversity within its senior leadership team was a core part of the brief.
MS-RT is a fast-growing British automotive business that designs and manufactures high-performance, custom variants of commercial vehicles. Headquartered in South Wales with a second major facility in the London area, the company employs around 220 people and is experiencing continued growth both in the UK and internationally.
The Situation
MS-RT required a commercially minded CFO to help shape and execute its strategic growth agenda in close partnership with the CEO.
Importantly, the business saw this hire as an opportunity to continue strengthening diversity in a sector where boardroom representation remains limited. The geographical spread of MS-RT’s operations also meant the CFO needed to have practical access to both sites in South Wales and Essex, with a wider search focused across the southern half of the UK.
Our Approach
Rob led a bespoke, proactive search process focused on identifying senior finance leaders with experience in high-growth engineering environments, ideally with exposure to M&A or prior company sale processes.
Alongside traditional search methods, additional emphasis was placed on reaching candidates through specialist DEI networks and professional communities. This ensured the widest possible candidate pool, reflective of diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences.
The longlist was drawn from over 700 potential candidates across a 300-mile radius. The resulting shortlist reflected strong gender and ethnic diversity, with the final stages of the process featuring a majority of female candidates.
The successful candidate was an exceptional, female CFO with over 15 years’ experience in car manufacturing and a proven M&A track record, including two successful company exits.
The Outcome
Since joining MS-RT in February 2025, the new CFO has already made a significant impact — driving strategic decision-making and enhancing financial and operational processes across the business. Her appointment marks a key milestone in MS-RT’s growth journey and ongoing commitment to building a more inclusive leadership team.
This case study illustrates how a focused, inclusive search process can deliver outstanding leadership talent while actively supporting a client’s strategic and diversity objectives.
We had the pleasure of working with Rob from The CFO Practice to fill a senior critical level position within our business. From the outset Rob, demonstrated an exceptional understanding of our needs and bespoke requirements. His dedication to finding us the right candidate was evident in the thorough selection process and in the high calibre shortlisted professionals he provided us. The successful candidate has had a significant positive impact on our team. We would highly recommend using The CFO Practice and couldn’t be more satisfied with the outcome.
Sian Williams, HR Director & Joe Pace, CEO
MS-RT