Olivia Rosser Q&A

Olivia joined Cardew in 2019 as an account executive and has worked her way up to Director. She explains a bit more about life at Cardew: 

Tell me a bit about your background and how it’s helped you to be where you are?

I started my career in financial services, training as an accountant at BDO in Manchester and at Deloitte within the consulting team. While I enjoyed the world of finance, I realised I wanted to do something slightly more dynamic and client facing, and financial communications presented the perfect opportunity to align my interest in business and media with my affinity for building relationships, critical thinking and writing. The biggest advantage a background in finance has provided me with is the ability to understand a P+L and balance sheet, which is important if you want to be able to communicate the numbers to investors. Interestingly though, I work alongside fantastic colleagues with backgrounds in all sorts of industries, and we all bring something different to the team – there’s certainly no prerequisite, other than the desire to work hard and deliver excellent work for our clients. 

What’s the best thing about working at Cardew?

For me, it’s the people I work with and the variety of work – we’re a really tight knit team made up of individuals from a range of backgrounds and industries, including journalism, investment banking, in-house comms, politics and the sell-side. Being surrounded by and learning from my colleagues has undoubtedly made me better as a comms professional, and importantly - we have fun while doing it. Since I’ve been here I’ve worked on everything from the biggest M&A transaction in 10 years, corporate crises, and shareholder activism through to preparing clients for (some very early!) morning broadcast slots on BBC. I’ve worked across sectors including retail, private equity, healthcare, financial services, property and investment platforms, so there’s definitely a real variety of work to get stuck into.   

What makes Cardew different?

I’d say it’s our flat structure, where everyone is encouraged to share ideas and opinions, especially about how we can continually do better for our clients. As an executive you work closely with your peers but also the Directors and Managing Partners, so it’s a great opportunity to learn directly from people with 25+ years of experience. 

What would you say is the most important thing to succeed in this role?

A good work ethic and an interest in the media – you can learn everything you need to know at Cardew, but working hard gives you the best chance of success. The dynamic nature of today’s news cycle means there can be some early mornings and later nights - especially if something big is happening for a client - so teamwork is really important. I find that exciting and I particularly enjoy when there’s a project to get stuck into with my colleagues, but if you’re after a 9-5, PR probably isn’t the job for you!

How would you describe the culture?

Collegiate, aspirational, and fun! 

What does a normal day look like for you?

It sounds cliched but no two days are the same – I could be working on financial results for a listed client, giving advice on media strategy, or profiling a new CEO, all while keeping up to date with the business news and keeping track of emerging themes, opportunities and risks for my clients. I’m certainly never bored, that’s for sure! 

What are the opportunities you’ve had while at Cardew?

There’s been lots – the most exciting one probably has to be working on Fortress’ £6bn bid for Morrisons supermarket which ended up in a takeover panel governed auction, while the opportunity to be involved in important client meetings and workstreams even while still relatively junior has been really valuable for my career development. 

There’s also the opportunity to pursue external opportunities for career progression: some of my colleagues have pursued qualifications in ESG and AI, and in 2021 I began studying for the CFA’s Investment Management Certificate - 240 hours of learning and two exams across economics, business finance, investment practice, regulation, and ethics - which Cardew fully encouraged.