Tracey Hudson: Sedgwick targeting ‘ambitious’ growth over next year

Tracey Hudson, the newly appointed chief financial officer of Sedgwick, is focusing on “making sure strong financial controls and governance are in place” across the organisation . 

Hudson joined Sedgwick earlier this year (6 June 2023) as part of the firm’s executive team in the UK – joining existing members chief executive Paul White, chief operating officer Neil Gibson, chief client officer Nicola Dryden and head of colleague resources Vicki Cowell.

Hudson has over 20 years of senior and board-level experience specialising in optimising profitability, cost efficiency and leading large-scale business transformations.

She previously served as portfolio finance director of professional services company Capita, where she led the financial management of major contracts.

Hudson also held several roles at telecommunications giant BT, including as head of finance and finance director.

Speaking to Insurance Times, Hudson reveals that Sedgwick’s motto “caring counts” was one of things that attracted her to the business.

She explains: “At Sedgwick, our motto is ‘caring counts’ and this is reinforced by the values that the business lives by on a daily basis.

“Throughout the interview process and in my first few weeks in the role, I have been impressed by the incredibly warm and welcoming culture within the business and the unwavering focus on its colleagues.

“The impressive executive and leadership team was also a key differentiator, with the level of expertise, capability and passion something very rarely seen in an organisation.

“I feel excited to drive the businesses’ growth and diversification over the coming years”.

Drive performance and growth

Sedgwick UK’s operations employ over 2,200 operational staff and comprise a wide range of disciplines tailored to towards diverse areas, including loss adjusting, claims management and risk solutions, surveying and investigations, legal services and resource solutions.

She adds: “I will ensure that the finance team works with the wider business as a strategic partner to drive performance and growth, creating incremental shareholder value.

“With ambitious growth plans and an impressive setup, Sedgwick was the natural choice for me.”

Process and culture

Hudson shares that she will also have a “strategic focus on process and culture at Sedgwick” as a part of its growth.

She explains that her role will involve “driving the finance digital strategy, which looks at standardising and automating our end-to-end processes, in order to ensure we work as efficiently and effectively as possible”.

“There are several strategic finance system integrations projects that I will be leading the team in delivering over the next 12 months,” she adds.

“Culture forms a key element of this, based on a shared vision based on Sedgwick’s values of accountability, collaboration, growth, inclusion and empathy, enabling us to deliver positive change to support both colleagues and clients.

“We will be continually focused on superior client service”.

Future plans

Looking to the future, Hudson says Sedgwick is “focused on maintaining its position as the market leader in the sector through exceptional execution and customer satisfaction, alongside an increasing drive towards diversification”.

She continues: “Sedgwick is targeting ambitious growth over the next 12 months, through focusing on activity to support revenue growth and the businesses diversification strategy, which includes propositions such as legal services, resource solutions, commercial repairs and commercial surveying and design.

“To achieve these targets, my role is to strategically support the identification and delivery of growth and diversification opportunities and ensure the business continues to deliver tangible benefits to clients and customers”.