In this series of ‘Emma Meets', Emma Peterson, Director of Recruit 121 Finance & Accounting Solutions, finds out more about the sponsors of the Finance Awards Wales 2026.
Finance Awards Wales is designed to recognise, attract and invest in the talented finance professionals working in Wales, showcasing the best of the best in the finance industry. In this edition, Emma Meets John Cullen, Restructuring & Insolvency Partner of Menzies.
Menzies has supported Finance Awards Wales for many years. From a personal perspective, what keeps you coming back year after year?
It's really important to me that the strong community in Wales continues to thrive. And if we want to be part of that community, we have to be active and present and contribute in ways that benefits us all. Supporting awards is a small part of enabling us to give back as not every business can do it. So it's important if we can, to make it happen.
Menzies has long championed diversity, equity, and inclusion within its own business. How does sponsoring the Excellence in DEI of the Year award align with your wider strategy and goals for building an inclusive, high-performing organisation?
Success in business is often about mitigating risk. Every time you take on a new challenge, what better way to do it than by approaching it with a diverse team with different life experiences and lenses through which they see the world. Beyond it being the right thing to do, it’s a fundamental part of being as successful as you possibly can be. Sponsoring awards and sharing our good practises and the mistakes we've made along the way is part of giving back to a community that needs to remain strong for us all to be successful. It’s a business imperative.
Having been involved in the awards for some time, is there a particular moment, winner, or story that has stayed with you over the years?
That's a hard question because every story is unique and impactful. Everyone has a story that's different from everybody else’s. Taking part and being nominated for awards allows one of those stories to be told. And that's going to inspire someone else. There's a strong element of paying it forward by doing something amazing and then agreeing to tell your story about it.
Sponsorship is about more than visibility. Behind the scenes, what conversations, experiences, or connections through the awards have been most meaningful for you and your team?
One of my partners from elsewhere in the UK visited Cardiff some time ago and we were walking down St Mary Street. It was a busy lunchtime and as we wandered, we ran into a lot of people that I knew and I could see my partner was surprised to see the closeness of the community. Anyone who has seen the video created for The Verve and the song Bittersweet Symphony can imagine the scene, bumping into people as we were wandering along. It's the connection in that community and being part of it and in the middle of it that makes us strong.
DEI is a key focus across many organisations. What qualities or achievements in this year’s entries would make you feel proud to see recognised?
Being entirely selfish, I want to be able to copy and implement really great initiatives. Every bit of success that we have as a firm has been created from good ideas that others have thought of and I'm not embarrassed to emulate them. I'm proud to have an opportunity to do so and I will be looking for everything that Menzies isn't currently doing so I can take it back and see how I can make it work.
On a personal note, what makes you most proud to see Menzies involved with Finance Awards Wales and supporting initiatives like Excellence in DEI of the Year?
I'm part of a business that provides me and my colleagues the opportunity to contribute something. It's humbling to think about that. Somehow, I have ended up in this position. Menzies will continue to support these initiatives with or without me but the thought that I have been able to design something to contribute to this is something that astonishes me every day.
Looking ahead, what are Menzies’ key business priorities for 2026, and how does involvement with Finance Awards Wales support those goals?
Our reach across Wales increased significantly in 2025 and that has been replicated in England. We have scaled up our offerings with our own investment and we are at last in the position to provide a complete full service for businesses and individuals to support and manage their financial needs in good times and bad times, planning for the future, both nationally and globally. 2026 is about delivering that.
