Why Every Treasurer Needs A Mentor with Karen Van den Driessche

It’s been an exciting few weeks as we continue to celebrate Women in Treasury month here on the Treasury Career Corner podcast, where I specifically interview female Treasury professionals who have successful treasury careers.

I’m delighted to welcome Karen Van den Driessche, the Assistant Treasurer at Avnet, onto the show. Headquartered in Phoenix Arizona in the USA, Avnet is one of the world's largest distributors of electronic components and embedded solutions.

Karen is a capable, pragmatic and dynamic personality, gifted with an analytical mind and a knack for building lasting strategic alliances with her business partners. She enjoys working in an environment where creativity and ownership are encouraged and where people can rise to the challenge and deliver results.

I thoroughly enjoyed my conversation with Karen as we explored everything from how she built her treasury career to where she sees both herself and the treasury profession going to next. We also talk about how she ‘gives back’ as the VP of ATEB the Belgian Treasurers Association and the benefits of having a mentor.

On the podcast we discussed…

• Karen’s experience working as a Treasury Manager at Coca-Cola Enterprises
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• How Karen built her successful career within treasury
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• The evolution of Avnet and an overview of Karen’s career growth within the company from working as the Treasury Director to Assistant Group Treasurer
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• The process of reviewing the company’s treasury system to provide a new global system that offers more efficiency and visibility within the treasury organisation
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• Essential qualities that Karen looks for when it comes to recruiting
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• How candidate mindsets and career aspirations have changed with the generations
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• Why you should seek out a mentor to help you grow both personally and professionally
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• The benefits of coaching other team members and seeking a mentor outside of your main department
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• An insight into where Karen sees the role of treasury going in the future

If you would like to get in touch with Karen, you can reach out to her via her LinkedIn profile or send her an email karen.vandendriessche@atebforum.org

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