Employee Spotlight

Introduction 

I am Vale, Head of Product & Innovation Strategy in the CEO office at Oakbrook Finance. I joined Blenheim Chalcot in 2022, straight out of my MSc in Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Management at Imperial College. Before that, I had spent a few years in industry, in ecommerce strategy consulting for Zalando in Berlin and in commercial expansion at TJX Companies across Europe. Since joining, I have worked in education technology and professional learning, in marketing attribution technology, in media, and now in fintech and consumer lending.

Working at BC 

Venture building is a highly formative environment because of the combination of high trust in autonomous strategy decisions and, at the same time, responsibility for their successful delivery. One gets to lead transformations and to see them actually take place, as well as to navigate the human side that comes with them, whether that is a company strategy pivot, a new product launch or the embedding of a new technology. Change is hard, but it is also where most of the learning sits, and where the greatest opportunities for development lie.

What makes Blenheim Chalcot a true career growth multiplier is its shape and its principles. It is structured as a set of satellite portfolio companies operating around a central office that builds the key structures and trains a pool of top talent to keep ventures on the cutting edge of technology and continuously scanning for new opportunities. In practice this translates into immediate exposure: working directly with CEOs and senior leadership teams and contributing to investment boards. Blenheim Chalcot also instils a handful of principles in all of its employees, and they will remain ingrained in how I work: weekly reflection on the improvement you have actually delivered, 1% improvement every day, test fast and fail fast, and a strong bias for data and for quick action.

In my case, I deliberately pushed for breadth: different industries, different business models and companies at very different stages of growth, from incubation and launch through growth, expansion and market entry to turnaround and exit. Along the way I met exceptional mentors and managers who greatly supported me in shaping my path.

Naturally, this model attracts extremely ambitious, high-agency people, which in turn creates an exceptional launchpad for building a professional network, for cross-learning from peers and, not least, for making great friendships. 

My Role at Call AI 

At Oakbrook, I report to the CEO and lead a cross-functional team across lending, servicing, collections and core platform technology. I set the product strategy and own the roadmap end to end, from spotting an opportunity, to making the commercial case through to owning its performance once live. I am digging deeper into product and technology with a focus on embedding AI in operations and innovation.

Crucially, I continue to act as an agent of change. This includes making operations more efficient and competitive, as well as expanding the company's capabilities or creating entirely new ones. That has meant embedding GenAI in credit underwriting strategies, launching innovative consumer payment methods, making journey optimisation faster and better, and leveraging LLMs as new acquisition channels.  

Looking Ahead 

Working at BC has been a continuous period of growth, and every challenge has been different enough to force me to adapt and keep improving.

Looking ahead, I still have a great deal of work to do to make Oakbrook a stronger business. Along the way, I plan to perfect my skills in building products and expand my knowledge in all the technical facets of running a business. Hopefully, one day I will be building ventures or running one. Luckily, I am in the right place. BC is a great place for great people to build great businesses.