Q&A with our Head of Finance Director, Deirdré Eloff
Tell us about your role in one sentence
My role is to safeguard the financial health and governance of Healix Health and enable informed commercial decision-making that supports both the financial long-term vision and shorter-term plans.
What’s the best part of your job?
The best part for me is being part of dynamic and talented teams and having a role that gives me visibility across the whole business. I can see how what we do translates into both financial and operational performance and, importantly, contribute to making that performance better.
Everything that happens in the business eventually flows through the financials, from what we have already achieved to the investments and decisions we are making for the future.
With Healix Health continuing to grow, there is a huge amount of energy and ambition across the teams. Seeing that activity come through in the numbers and knowing the story behind those numbers is what makes the role really interesting and rewarding. The numbers are not just numbers, they tell the story of what the business and our people are achieving and what the vision for the next 3 to 5 years will deliver for our clients and our business.
What’s a misconception people have about what you do?
Probably that I spend all day looking at spreadsheets! The numbers are obviously important, but the interesting part is understanding the story behind them.
My role takes me right across the business, helping us make better decisions.
Finance gives me the lens through which I can see how all those different parts of the business come together.
How do you make a difference for clients and members?
I think I make a difference from being part of our brilliant Executive Leadership Team. We all bring different experience and perspectives to the table, but we’re really aligned on delivering the best service and solutions for our clients and members.
Although I naturally come at things with the finance lens, my role gives me the opportunity to get involved in much more than just the numbers. I help shape where we’re going as a business, challenge how we do things and make sure we’re investing in the right people, processes and solutions for our clients and members.
As we continue to grow, it’s about constantly looking at how we can do things better whilst developing innovative solutions. Being financially strong gives us the foundation to keep investing and delivering real value for our clients and a great experience for members. For me, that’s where I feel I can make a real difference.
Tell us something about yourself that isn’t on your LinkedIn profile
I’m naturally curious, I like understanding how things across the business work, and I’m usually the person who asks, ‘Why and how?’. This works well to support my team to develop and question and problem-solve but
I do need to consciously stand back from getting too much into the detail and I am super proud of my team who constantly step up to be even more curious!
