AI Automation.Finance

In this episode of AI Automation.Finance, we sit down with Tom Parkinson, CFO at Matrix iQ, to explore how automation, cloud technology, and AI are transforming modern financial leadership.

Tom details his career evolution from auditing at Ernst & Young (EY) and structured credit investment banking at Santander and HSBC to earning recognition as an ICAS Top 35 CA Under 35 sustainability leader. 

He shares key learnings from scaling SteamaCo—a VC-backed IoT startup connecting off-grid communities to electricity in Sub-Saharan Africa—and outlines his current mandate driving growth for Matrix iQ, a B Corp-certified fleet intelligence platform backed by Bridges Fund Management.

Episode 1: Oliver Conger, Owner & CEO, British Rototherm Group

British Rototherm was founded in Port Talbot in 1847. Under Oliver Conger it has become one of Britain's great engineering success stories, exporting precision measurement technology to more than 90 countries. Its customers range from commercial brands to government and defence, and it has been named the Lean Exemplar for the UK Nuclear Submarine Programme. Its sensors measure everything from Tsingtao beer density to IKEA meatball temperatures to global energy pipelines. In 2020 it rebuilt its factory floor in weeks to make 13 million masks for the NHS.

Olly's first years as CEO faced lot's of challenges as he looked to take a legacy British engineering name and transform it into a global success story that we see today. The turnaround came from Toyota's lean principles: removing waste, simplifying processes and building discipline across the workforce. That foundation is why AI is now working for Rototherm. Over the last 12 months the company has built an internal AI team of five and put AI "employees", with human names, on the org chart. It is now seeing real cost, revenue and productivity gains.

Olly's view is that tech must earn its place and that the groundwork comes before the tools. That makes this essential listening for any CEO or CFO making technology decisions in the AI age.

This is an outstanding first guest and not one to miss. We hope you enjoy it and take away something useful for your own business.

Hosted by James Davies, CFA · AI Automation Finance