The Channel Islands Co-operative Society’s CFO discusses social media scepticism, campanology and making memories with family.
Louise Read started training as an accountant at the tender age of 14 while doing work experience at a small practice. After gaining a degree in business economics and accountancy at the University of Southampton, she completed her chartered accountancy qualifications at PwC in Jersey.
Prior to joining the Co-op in May 2019, Louise spent nine years with the Channel Islands Competition and Regulatory Authorities, which included seven years on the board. She also worked at Jersey Post, as group financial controller.
What’s your day-to-day work routine?
This is quite a hard one to answer because I am still finding my feet after only being appointed CFO on 1 June. I have a to-do list each day, but it can feel aspirational rather than founded in reality. There are very few definites in my day.
- 7.30am Leave for work / school with the family
- 8am Start the day
- 12pm Lunch normally ‘al desco’ – thanks to my husband who prepares it for me
- 6pm Finish work for the day (hopefully)
- 6.30pm Dinner with the family
- 7.30pm Activities, including bell-ringing, transporting children to and from various activities (and looking forward to the day my eldest can drive)
- 10pm Bed
The reality may be more like:
- 7.40am Finally leave for work / school with the family
- 7.45am Return home to pick up whatever has been left behind
- 8am Start the day
- 10am Drink a mouthful of cold tea (made an hour earlier)
- 3pm Remember that I haven’t had anything to eat so raid the department biscuit tin
- 3.10pm Re-stock department biscuit tin
- 5pm Start to-do list
- 6.30pm Dinner with the family
- 7.30pm Jobs at home – whoever said tidying a house with children in is a bit like shovelling snow while it is still snowing, is correct
- 10pm Bed
What’s the most interesting thing about your work?
No two days are the same. I love the fact that we talk turkeys in June and Easter eggs at Halloween. Accountants can sometimes hide behind a screen and sit at a desk all day but there is no chance of that here.
The Co-Op’s community focus has afforded me a great deal of variety. This includes the opportunity to get out and about, from meeting team members, walking between the island’s stores in a day for charity, participating in a CI Pride march, to stacking the shelves in-store to support colleagues.
What are you watching/reading/listening to?
Book: Lady in Waiting. My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown by Anne Glenconner. A remarkable life as lady-in-waiting to HRH Princess Margaret whilst coping with a challenging home life including the death of two of her five children, one from AIDS and the second from complications following years of drug abuse.
Radio: BBC Test Match Special – the sound to accompany the summer. Best listened to with a glass of Pimm’s.
What are the last three accounts you followed on social media?
I don’t engage hugely in social media and view it with a healthy scepticism. That said, there are times when a well-timed tweet or post shared can be of benefit.
Facebook: Youthful Minds – a Jersey based offshoot of the charity Mind. A group of young people aged 11-25 aiming to tackle the stigma and raise awareness of children and young people’s mental health in Jersey. I was prompted to follow by my daughter who I am so proud of for getting involved.
When are you happiest?
When I am with my family creating memories that will be recalled in the years to come (often getting more and more fabricated at each telling). The best memories are often created by accident.
What keeps you awake at night?
Feeling that I have not done the day justice, given of my best, and have left things undone.
What traits do you like in yourself?
Hardworking – the downside being is that I find it difficult to know when to stop and switch off.
What traits do you dislike in others?
Apathy, particularly when I can see that the person has the ability to achieve so much more.
What do you do to relax?
Church bell-ringing locally, nationally and occasionally further afield. This is mostly for fun, but also for some notable occasions and competitively for Jersey.
There are few hobbies where you can just turn up and join in. We see lots of visitors to Jersey popping in to join us and we are always welcomed wherever we go. A particular highlight has been ringing at Trinity Church Wall Street in New York over Easter a couple of years ago, which, unusually, is televised and requires those present to dress for the occasion and wear the uniforms provided for you.
Covid-19 curtailed our church bell-ringing somewhat but we have turned our efforts to handbell ringing during lockdown.
Contrary to what appears on Christmas cards, we keep our feet firmly on the ground (most of the time).
How do you measure success?
As an accountant, I probably should come up with a clever metric but for me success is something a lot simpler: Are things better at bedtime than they were this morning? If so…job done.
