Variety in Treasury Careers with Richard Luke

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Featuring

Mike Richards

CEO, The Treasury Recruitment Company

About this episode

Treasury is often the first to fall in an acquisition. It’s been a theme in the career of this week’s guest, but not one he’s bitter about. In fact, it has allowed him to experience a variety of treasury roles across a range of industries.

In this episode of the Treasury Career Corner podcast, I am joined by Richard Luke, the Treasurer at Spirit Energy.

Spirit Energy is one of Europe’s top independent exploration and production companies. They have operated and non-operated interests across the UK, Norway, the Netherlands, and Denmark, with 33 producing fields and 146 exploration licences.

Spirit Energy was formed in 2017 by combining Centrica E&P business with Bayerngas Norge AS. Today they are focused on growth in North-West Europe by being lean, agile, and sustainable. Their vision is to become a leading full-cycle exploration and production player, running assets to their highest standard, and achieving great commercial deals.

Richard is a senior corporate treasury professional with over 20 years’ experience working in capital markets and bank financing, cash management, and financial risk management gained within large international organisations. Before Spirit Energy, he held a variety of treasury roles at Shire, BG Group, BPB, Vodafone, and Tarmac. He has extensive experience in planning, driving, leading, and executing risk management strategies, as well as in-depth knowledge of global debt and derivative markets.

If you want to find out how varied a role in treasury can be, don’t miss this episode.

On the podcast we discussed…

  • How Richard’s year out at Tarmac got him started on his treasury career
  • The downside of Treasury being first to fall during an acquisition and how his career and been heavily shaped by mergers and demergers
  • How being pragmatic and adapting has served him well in all his positions
  • Why Richard recommends the Association of Corporate Treasurer (ACT) exams
  • Richard’s view on the evolution of Treasury and anticipating future risks
  • Richard’s lockdown TMS implementation and why he believes its better to have treasury teams out of London
  • Richards tips for advancing your career and why it’s important to hire people on your wavelength

If you would like to connect with Richard, you can find him here on LinkedIn.

Are you interested in pursuing a career within Treasury?

Whether you’ve recently graduated, or you want to search for new job opportunities to help develop your treasury career, The Treasury Recruitment Company can help you in your search for the perfect job. Find out more here. Or, send us your CV and let us help you in your next career move!

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🎧 Earn CTP & FPAC Credits by Listening to the Podcast

Whether you’re at the gym, on your commute, or walking the dog – you can now make your podcast time count toward your professional development.

We’re thrilled to share that Treasury Career Corner podcast episodes now qualify for CTP and FPAC recertification credits through the AFP’s Independent Study category.

How It Works:

  • Each episode comes with a short multiple-choice quiz
  • Score 80% or higher and you’ll receive your credit confirmation
  • You track and submit your credits to AFP directly – nice and simple

➡️ The longer the episode, the more credits you can earn:

  • 30-minute episode = 0.6 credits
  • 45-minute episode = 0.9 credits
  • 60-minute episode = 1.2 credits

No filler. No fluff. Just real conversations with top treasury leaders on strategy, leadership, risk, tech, and team building - everything AFP expects at an intermediate to advanced level.

🧠 Quick Facts:

  • 📝 Quizzes are 8–10 multiple choice questions
  • 🎯 You need to get at least 80% to pass
  • 📨 We’ll send confirmation - you log the credit with AFP
  • 💼 You can include this as part of your recertification record