A woman who looks out over a breathtaking landscape from her office window now has the complete financial overview of a famous North Wales company.
Maria Faulkner, who has just taken over as Finance Director at Clifford Jones Timber Ltd, in Ruthin, admits she can’t believe the stunning view of Moel Famau – the highest hill in the Clwydian Range – she has from her first floor office at the firm’s purpose built headquarters in Brickfield Lane.
She said: “It’s a bit different from what I could see from the office window of my last job in Liverpool and is quite amazing. I haven’t been up there yet but, hopefully, one day I’ll get to the top of the hill I can see just by turning my head away from my desk.”
Not that Maria, will have much time to climb hills in her new role overseeing the finances of the business which has been selling its range of timber products through its family of companies for over 60 years.
Apart from being in charge of the three-strong accounts team her new position also takes in responsibility for the firm’s human resources operation which looks after the interests of the entire workforce of 68.
But even if she hasn’t yet scaled the heights of Moel Famau Maria did spend quite some time working her way to the summit of her own profession, starting from the days when she helped her father with the books at his newsagents shop back home in Tranmere on the Wirral while she was still at school doing her A levels.
After leaving Prenton High School for Girls, Maria joined a large electricity supply company on the Wirral as a customer accounts clerk. A few years later she moved to a similar job with a company in the same area supplying machines to the leisure industry.
She took her first step on the promotion ladder when she became an accounts supervisor with a firm in the cosmetics business.
Later, splitting her time between her job and home-based study, she obtained a qualification essential to progressing in her career from the Association of Accounting Technicians. In 2002, she followed this up by becoming a qualified chartered accountant.
Maria spent three years as a management accountant with a clinical trials packaging company based on the Deeside Industrial Estate in Flintshire before moving to become financial controller with a large Liverpool computer company. Maria then spent the next 10 years as Financial Director of the company.
She later occupied the same position with a home retail company in Liverpool before taking on the top finance job at Clifford Jones Ltd.
Away from work, she likes to do pilates and is an avid reader of murder mysteries.
She’s also done her share of charity work, previously taking part in the Wirral Race for Life in aid of Cancer Research UK and the Starlight Stroll to raise money for a hospice near her home.
Maria says of her new role with Clifford Jones Ltd: “It’s a very varied and interesting job and I’m glad of the opportunity to join a growing company, especially when the national economy is going through such a difficult time.
“It’s definitely challenging but I am very much looking forward to helping the company to grow.”
