Who We Are: Robert McLaurin

Robert has expertise in the media, marketing services and PR sectors among others. Immediately prior to joining FD Solutions, he was FD of ICM Research, a market research company, where he improved the financial structure, financial controls, reporting and budgetary systems of the business as it met the increased depth and frequency of reporting requirements of being part of the listed Creston group.

Robert qualified as an ACCA in 1984 through the finance training scheme of the Central Electricity Generating Board. After a further spell with the CEGB, Robert decided to develop his career in the private sector and held positions as:

• Financial controller for TVi (a television facilities company) and The Zoom Production Company (a producer of training and educational films) that were part of the Rank Organisation.
• Business analyst in the London head office of Abela, a $300m airport, site catering and hotel group.
• Company accountant of the satellite broadcaster Scansat/TV3 where he set up the financial controls and accounts department of this start-up business.

In 1989 Robert joined Infratest Burke/NFO and was FD of the business as it grew from annual sales of £3m to £45m through a combination of organic growth, acquisition and mergers. The company was initially owned by a German group, before being sold to Interpublic, the US advertising and marketing conglomerate, and ultimate acquisition by TNS, the worldwide UK-listed market research business. In this time, Robert:

• Managed development of financial controls, reporting and budgeting structures of the business as it increased in size and complexity.
• Was responsible for two successful software implementations.
• Managed the integration of an acquired business into the company.
• Managed the integration of four companies into a single finance department with a common financial control, reporting and budgeting platform.
• Was involved in the due diligence process during the sale of Infratest/NFO to TNS.
• Was part of the project team that migrated data from Great Plains (the Infratest/NFO software) to the Oracle Platform employed by TNS.

After leaving Infratest/ NFO in 2004 Robert took a position with Santé Communications and was the financial lead, main point of contact for the buyer’s due diligence and legal teams, and advisor to the business owners during its trade sale to Financial Dynamics.

Robert joined FD Solutions in 2011.