Barbara Cox Awards 2022
nominees: Ciara Raison
of V12 Vehicle Finance
Brief biography of you and your career
Ciara is the Commercial Director for V12 Vehicle Finance (V12VF), the vehicle finance division of Secure Trust Bank. Ciara is responsible for leading the UK Sales, Marketing, Product and Partnerships teams to grow market share within the franchised and independent dealer sector, across both Wholesale and Retail Finance.
Since graduating with a Master’s degree in Mathematics, Ciara has worked in Financial Services for 20 years, spending 10 years developing as a manager and leader with NatWest Group. Ciara holds a Chartered Banker Membership, viewed as the gold standard for professionals working in the banking sector, recognising their detailed knowledge of modern banking and its ethical and professional requirements.
Ciara joined the automotive industry in 2014, taking up a newly created position as Head of Sales for Close Brothers Motor Finance, developing and executing the sales strategy to be the specialist finance provider of choice across a Motor Dealer network of around 4,000 dealerships. Ciara’s ‘once-in-a-career-time’ opportunity came when she joined Secure Trust Bank to form part of the Senior Leadership Team behind launching a new business: V12 Vehicle Finance. Ciara thrived in launching a brand new proposition to the market, which placed the dealer at the centre of its entire operations, helping them to fulfil their ambitions.
Passionate about diversity and championing female success in the automotive and finance industries, Ciara was appointed as an Ambassador for the Everywoman organisation in 2019 and Strategy Lead for V12VF’s membership with the Automotive 30% Club in 2022. She is a founding member of the Secure Trust Bank equality and diversity steering committee, which was formed in 2018. As a result, women now make up 57% of the Motor Finance team and 59% of the salesforce, outstripping the industry average.
Ciara is committed to building brands and partnerships, driving transformational change and enhancing the customer’s experience to improve customer advocacy. Ciara notes that her success stems from having a relentless focus on talent development, helping individuals unlock their real potential and creating high performing teams who can dominate markets.
Tell us what this nomination means to you?
The whole ethos of this award is about embracing change, inspiring others with great leadership skills and being very committed to the community.
As a leader, you want to inspire greatness in everyone around you and create an environment within which people can thrive and achieve more than they ever believed possible. I really enjoy seeing others surprise even themselves with what they are capable of. A great example is the personal growth programme available to everyone at Secure Trust Bank called ‘Blazing my trail’. The headline of the programme is ‘Be Bold, Be Brave, Be Yourself’ and has been designed to help people understand their authentic self, build confidence and self-belief, plan career progression and take control to make it happen. Within the four month programme, I delivered a workshop called, ‘The art of believing anything is possible and busting self confidence myths’.
I’m very open with sharing my own experiences with being brave, taking chances, putting myself forward and positive thinking. The sessions are very honest and I share techniques to control the limiting self-beliefs, which can creep in.
Being nominated for this award means two things to me:
- Recognition from my peers and colleagues that I am making a difference, that I am embracing change, inspiring others and giving back
- Underlining the importance and truth behind the advice I’ve shared with others during ‘Blazing my trail’ to help inspire them to keep investing in their own development
What advice would you give to a woman considering a career in automotive?
The advice I would give to any women focussed on a career in automotive, and any industry, is:
- Be brave, take chances and picture yourself being successful and winning.
Keep asking yourself ‘What’s the worst that could happen? More importantly, what’s the best outcome?’ - Know your strengths and showcase them daily
Spend more time on the areas where you shine and worry less about the areas where you could improve. I know this is potentially contrary to standard advice to work on your development areas first. My advice is to invest time making your strengths into absolute towering successes – that’s much more fun and will propel your career faster. - Trust your team to cover your gaps
Surround yourself with people who have different skill sets than you. Recognising where others can excel and thrive, while playing to the strengths of a team is common sense but not always common practice.
