About

Graeme Weeden, CA(SA)

25 years of board-level finance leadership across private equity, SaaS, events, investment banking and independent consulting — with a growing edge in Python-driven data analytics.

Photo coming soon

London, United Kingdom
+44 7493 513 169
graemeweeden@croftlandsconsulting.com

Profile

Senior Finance Leader & CFO Advisor

Graeme Weeden is a Chartered Accountant (South Africa) with over 25 years of experience operating at board and executive level across private equity-backed, acquisitive and complex multi-entity businesses in the United Kingdom and South Africa.

His career began at KPMG in Cape Town, where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant before moving to London and building a decade of experience in investment banking — as a product controller and treasury risk manager at Lehman Brothers, UBS Warburg, CSFB and EBRD — before returning to South Africa to take on C-suite roles at ABN AMRO and Coronation Capital.

Since 2010, Graeme has operated primarily as a finance consultant and interim CFO to SMEs and growth businesses, with recent senior engagements at Dext Software (global PE-backed SaaS), Informa plc (FTSE 100) and Raccoon Media Group (PE-backed international events).

He is currently enrolled in the MIT Professional Education Applied AI & Data Science Program (2026 cohort), applying machine learning techniques — churn prediction, time-series forecasting, customer segmentation — directly to client mandates.

Qualifications

CA(SA)

Chartered Accountant (South Africa), 1992. Big 4 trained — KPMG Cape Town.

B.Compt (Hons)

University of South Africa — Tax, Audit & Accounting, 1990.

B.Commerce

University of Cape Town — Mathematics & Accounting, 1985.

MIT AAIDSP

Applied AI & Data Science Program, MIT Professional Education, 2026 cohort (in progress).

CS50 — Harvard

Introduction to Computer Science, Harvard University (completed).

Python & Deep Learning

Complete Python Bootcamp (Pierian), PyTorch for Deep Learning (freeCodeCamp, in progress).

Career Timeline

2024 – 2025

Interim Chief Financial Officer

Raccoon Media Group Limited — PE-backed international events group, ~£11m ARR

Led day-to-day finance in a rapidly growing, acquisitive group. Designed and implemented 12-week rolling cashflow models, preventing a liquidity shortfall. Centralised US accounting function, delivering $96k annualised savings. Implemented granular event-level P&L reporting, management packs and investor reporting.

2023

Finance Integration Lead

Informa plc — FTSE 100 global events, intelligence and academic publishing group

Led finance integration across two acquired businesses (EV $340m and EV £22m), including chart of accounts mapping, ETB management, deferred revenue accounting, PPA and governance across a 6-month integration programme.

2021 – 2023

Interim Finance VP & Head of Finance Integration

Dext Software Limited — PE-backed global SaaS business

Built and led the global finance team across UK, North America, APAC and South Africa. Delivered monthly close at T+4, automated deferred revenue recognition, led group consolidation in NetSuite, managed worldwide transfer pricing, completed group statutory audit and acquisition integrations. Identified and corrected a £500k prior-year restatement.

2018 – 2019

Principal

Gate One — Business transformation consultancy (LIBOR transformation)
2010 – Present

Finance & CFO Advisory

Independent Consulting — South Africa and UK

Strategic finance advisory to SMEs covering balance sheet restructuring, company valuations, ERP selection, M&A support, finance function design and growth modelling.

2007 – 2010

Head of Equities Change

Barclays Group Africa (Absa Capital) — Johannesburg

Built the equities business from scratch — formed Absa Capital Securities, implemented equity order management systems, migrated derivatives traders to Front Arena and restructured the equities division.

2002 – 2007

Chief Operating Officer

Coronation Capital — Johannesburg, Cape Town, Dublin, London

C-suite executive responsible for risk, compliance, finance, IT, legal and internal audit across PE, hedge funds, structured finance and property divisions. Led wind-down of 70 structured finance SPVs, saving approximately £1m in client dispute resolution.

1999 – 2002

Head of Market Risk

ABN AMRO Bank — Johannesburg

Designed and rolled out a market risk framework across equities, FX, fixed income and interest rate derivatives. Implemented VAR reporting and Kondor+ front office system.

1997 – 1999

Head of Operations / Middle Office

ABN AMRO Bank — Johannesburg
1992 – 1996

Contract Roles — London Investment Banking

Lehman Brothers · UBS Warburg · CSFB · EBRD

Fixed income product controller, equity product controller, FX exotic options product controller and Treasury Market Risk Manager across leading global investment banks.

1987 – 1992

Articled Clerk → Audit Supervisor

KPMG — Cape Town

Systems & Technical Skills

Expert in Excel / VBA financial modelling. Proficient in Python (NumPy, Pandas, Matplotlib, Seaborn, statsmodels, scikit-learn), SQL and JavaScript. Data visualisation using Power BI and Tableau. ERP experience includes NetSuite, Sage, SAP FC, Kondor+ and Front Arena. Accounting systems: Xero, Pastel.

Work With Graeme

Available for interim, fractional and project-based engagements across the UK and internationally.

Get in Touch