I helped CVCheck lose its training wheels: Meet Jenny Cutri

Explain your role at CVCheck?

There are two parts to my busy role at CVCheck which I do on a part-time basis. The first part, as Chief Compliance Officer, involves anything to do with the governance and legal side of the business. I work closely with CVCheck’s General Counsel, Craig Sharp, who I have actually known since my University days.

The second part of my role, as Company Secretary, is a role associated with CVCheck being a publicly listed company and in that role I report to the Board (Directors) of CVCheck. The company secretary is responsible for the efficient administration of a company, particularly with regard to ensuring compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements and for ensuring that decisions of the board of directors are implemented. In addition to providing guidance to the Board on governance matters, the Company Secretary is also responsible for monitoring that board policy and procedures are followed, and coordinating the timely completion and despatch of board agendas and briefing materials.

Tell us about life before CVCheck? What led you here?

I started my career as a lawyer in a large law firm.  After that I have always worked in compliance in both the private and government sectors.

Before I came to CVCheck I was actually the Head of Marketing Compliance at Bankwest. In this role, I had a team which provided legal and regulatory compliance guidance on marketing comms to 21 lines of business within Bankwest. Marketing comms included a range of matters from TV ads, social media, print media, OOH (which I found out meant out of home advertising and is basically the large billboards you see around), to letters to customers.

The opportunity with CVCheck came from my friend, and now colleague, Craig Sharp. As I mentioned earlier, we studied at the University of Western Australia together and were even in the same cohort. Yes, I have a few stories (but I think he may have a few more on me so I will remain shtum).

He sent an email asking if anyone was looking for a new challenge to work with him in a legal role. I phoned up and we had a chat, and the role morphed into also doing the Company Secretary role as well as legal work.

For a number of years, before the Bankwest role, I was the Assistant State Manager of the Australian Securities Exchange, which involved evaluating entities prior to listing on ASX, their compliance with ASX Listing rules and working on transactional matters publicly listed companies were involved in. This was an area I was keen to get back to, and as CVCheck had just listed I thought there would be exciting transactional opportunities ahead.

What is the best part about working with CVCheck? 

What is fantastic about this company, is that each team member comes with incredible expertise and specialties that make them extremely capable in their roles. CVCheck encourages a strong culture of knowledge sharing and working together as a team, which is absolutely embodied by the whole company (from the Board, to the CEO and to the most junior team member). Everyone is so generous with sharing their skill sets – there is always an opportunity to learn a new skill!

I like to think the opposite of the old saying (and as interpreted by me), I am a slightly older dog that can always learn a new trick!

Because of this, when an issue arises, everyone is eager to bring their A-game to the table which means the problem is solved quickly and in a very effective way. That goes for all departments, from Operations, IT, Client Services, Sales and Marketing through to Corporate and Finance.

During your time with CVCheck, how has the company evolved?

When I first joined, CVCheck was a newly publicly listed company – and I could see they still had their training wheels on. Since then CVCheck has matured as an organisation on a number of levels from cost management, financial management and reporting, reporting to the Board, to understanding the Corporations Act and ASX Listing Rule requirements.

What I loved most about watching this evolution, is that while some aspects of the company had to change, the culture of collaboration has not changed, rather, it has been further nurtured and developed over the years.

What does innovation mean to you?

For me innovation means devising something new, or a new process, which changes the way you do things, that results in more efficiency and stronger gains. Innovation always includes creativity. CVCheck has a number of highly innovative people, demonstrated by the way they find creative solutions to an issue. This is particularly demonstrated by Col, Murray and his team. Although the same can be said of Operations, Client Services, Marketing and well in fact, all the teams here at CVCheck.

Describe the culture at CVCheck.

I’ve touched on it a lot, but the way this company encourages team collaboration and fosters a really open working environment is what I truly value about working with CVCheck. There aren’t many organisations like it. There is none of that internal competitiveness or rigid hierarchal structure that you may find with other corporate organisations, everyone really respects everyone’s skills and capabilities.

What element of your work do you find to be the most rewarding?

Oh, that’s easy, I really enjoy working on the more commercial aspects and transactional parts of the business, rather than the pure legal and secretarial functions. It’s far more exciting and rewarding.

What career advice would you give to your younger self?

Stop stressing! There is always a solution to any issue – it’s all about risk mitigation. Even if the solution is not optimal, there is always a solution. Firstly, accept you have an issue and then it’s about choosing a solution which is the best or causes the least pain.

This is a lesson I always try to pass on any new persons to the workforce. Always let someone know if you think there is an issue, because it is best to try and resolve it at the time and there is always a solution.  Don’t try and hide it, it will fester and grow, and always come out at some point.

How do you relax and unwind after a busy work day?

Good food, good wine, good company and possibly a good movie!

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