John Leighton

John Leighton has extensive experience in finance and financial management. John is currently serving as the Chief Financial Officer at Cresset Software and Discovery since April 2023. Prior to this role, they worked as the Finance Director at Sign In App | Visitor Management and Staff Sign In from November 2021 to April 2023. Before that, they held the position of Finance Director at Zoovu from July 2020 to October 2021.

From October 2016 to July 2020, John Leighton served as the Head of Finance at CashFlows, a FinTech company based in Cambridge. In this role, they led the finance transformation process, which included implementing new systems, restructuring and growing the team, developing new models for budgeting and analyzing the impact of new products, managing banking relationships, and reviewing and changing finance processes.

Prior to working at CashFlows, John Leighton was the Group Financial Controller at World First, a fast-growing FinTech money transfer company, from June 2015 to October 2016. Here, they managed the transition to a Big 4 auditor, identified control issues, and ensured unqualified audits for the group.

John Leighton also has experience as the Financial Controller at Coral Insurance Services Limited from July 2013 to June 2015, where they set up the finance function from scratch and managed complex audits and tax requirements. Before that, they worked as a Senior Manager in UK & International Finance at BGL Group from July 2012 to July 2013, where they managed IFRS audits, provided technical advice, and delivered new balance sheet control processes.

Further back in their career, John Leighton worked as a Manager in the Private Equity Finance team at Barclays Capital from May 2010 to July 2012. John also served as a Senior Accountant in the Real Estate Finance team at Abu Dhabi Investment Authority from October 2008 to May 2010, and as a Financial Reporting Accountant in the Private Equity Finance team at European Capital from February 2007 to October 2008.

John Leighton attended The University of Manchester from 1998 to 2002, where they obtained a degree in Physics (MPhys). Prior to that, from 1992 to 1997, they attended Stonyhurst, but no specific degree or field of study is mentioned for this period. In 2005, John obtained the ACA certification from ICAEW.