Strategy · Operations · Finance

Brandon Hughes

Chief of Staff

Working alongside the CFO of a private equity-backed global group across board and investor reporting, financial strategy and transformation. A background that spans strategy, client operations, treasury and corporate finance, grounded in training in both accounting and law.

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$10m+Cost Savings Identified
4Global Regions
CAQualified (SA)
01

Profile

Chief of Staff to the CFO at Apex Group Ltd, a private equity-backed global financial services group. The role spans board reporting, regulator relationships, strategy, transformation and AI adoption, and strategic projects across a global business.

Built on a broad base rather than a single track. Earlier roles covered client operations, global platform rollouts, team restructuring and treasury, alongside corporate finance, business transformation and business partnering. Experience spans startup, SME and private equity-backed businesses, with a track record of moving comfortably between a board paper, an operating model and a client problem.

Chartered Accountant (SA) and law graduate. The legal training shapes how risk is assessed, arguments are structured and detail is tested before decisions are made.

Board & Investor Reporting

Board packs, shareholder and regulator submissions, and the narrative that sits behind the numbers.

Financial Strategy

Planning, forecasting and capital allocation across a multi-regional group, from priorities to delivery.

Finance Transformation & AI

Tracking transformation delivery and building practical AI use cases across the finance function.

M&A & Integration

Post-acquisition integration, synergy modelling, value-creation programmes and directing their execution.

Operations & Change

Building client operations functions, rolling out global platforms and reshaping teams around clear KPIs.

Legal & Commercial

Legal training applied to contract review, commercial risk and the detail behind major decisions.

02

Experience

Apex Group Ltd

London · Jan 2025 to Present · Three roles

Mar 2026 to PresentCurrent

Chief of Staff to the CFO

  • Work directly with the Group CFO across the finance agenda, acting as the link between the CFO, the finance leadership team and the wider business.
  • Own board and executive reporting, shaping the analysis and narrative behind board papers and CFO communications.
  • Manage external reporting with private equity shareholders and regulators, including periodic submissions and ad hoc requests.
  • Shape internal financial strategy, setting priorities with the CFO and holding the function to account on delivery.
  • Track the finance transformation programme across workstreams, surfacing risks and progress to the CFO and leadership team.
  • Drive AI adoption across the global finance function, with use cases measured on two fronts: process improvement and hard cost savings.
  • Take on strategic projects for the CFO across the group, from cross-functional programmes to time-critical board and shareholder requests.
Aug 2025 to Feb 2026

Finance Business Partner

  • Led a core workstream in the global budgeting and forecasting cycle, advising senior leadership on investment trade-offs, cost initiatives and structural decisions.
  • Delivered consolidated planning outputs across the Americas, Europe, APAC and Africa, aligning regional strategies with group objectives.
  • Produced monthly performance analysis, trading updates and flash results for management and private equity stakeholders.
  • Led performance and efficiency analysis of the group's global delivery model, and co-led and mentored an international finance team.
Jan 2025 to Aug 2025

Corporate Finance & Business Transformation

  • Built synergy models for post-acquisition integration and tracked delivery against them, giving leadership a clear view of value captured.
  • Directed execution across value-creation programmes, turning integration plans into tracked actions with named owners.
  • Produced the financial analysis behind organisation design and operating model changes linked to group consolidation.
  • Identified and sized more than $10m of cost savings as part of the transformation team, tracking each initiative through to delivery.
  • Built financial models and scenario analyses to support investment cases and transformation priorities.
Nov 2023 to Jan 2025

WTax (VAT IT Group)

Finance Business Analyst · London

  • Partnered with the Managing Director on strategic growth initiatives for pension, hedge fund, and asset management clients.
  • Developed an analysis framework across client profiles, investment portfolios and funds, identifying service gaps, global markets to grow into and upsell opportunities.
  • Designed and implemented financial analyses and dashboards that improved performance tracking for sales and service teams.
  • Reshaped the North American client team, introducing the KPIs and process changes that improved client outcomes.

VAT IT

London · Jan 2022 to Nov 2023 · Two roles

Mar 2023 to Nov 2023

Strategy Analyst, Central Operations & Client Strategy

  • Set up a centralised global client operations department with the leadership team, aligning practices and service standards across regions.
  • Led the rollout of a new global online client platform, coordinating roadmap planning, system testing, training, and stakeholder reporting.
Jan 2022 to Mar 2023

Financial Strategy & Treasury Analyst

  • Consolidated global bank accounts and co-led the establishment of a new treasury entity.
  • Automated key month-end processes, shortening the close and removing manual bottlenecks.
03

Education

2024

Chartered Accountant, CA(SA)

South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA)

Both board exams passed first time

2021

Postgraduate Diploma in Accounting (PGDA)

Stellenbosch University

2020

Bachelor of Accounting and Law (BAccLLB)

Stellenbosch University

04

Tools

Adaptive Planning Power BI Workday Salesforce Sage X3 AI tools for finance
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Off the Page

A few things outside work.

Nature & Wildlife

Time in the African bush has been a constant since childhood, from KwaZulu-Natal to the Sabi Sand. Wildlife photography keeps that connection close.

Travel & Culture

Travel whenever possible, ideally somewhere off the obvious route. Working across four regions has made the habit useful as well as enjoyable.

Sport

A lifelong player and follower, South African first but happy to watch anything competitive. Most of what matters about teamwork was learned there.

Contact

Let's connect

Based in London, working across the Americas, Europe, APAC and Africa. Always glad to hear from people doing interesting work. The best way to get in touch is through LinkedIn.

Connect on LinkedIn