Never a boring day, with Imogen Sanders of Zetland Capital

For those who don’t believe a humanities degree can lead to a graduate scheme at EY, think again. Imogen Sanders completed her classics degree and did just that – and it turns out the skills aren't as different as you'd think. In this episode, Alice sits down with Zetland Capital's VP Finance and Senior Fund Controller to talk honestly about the journey: the decisions that shaped her career, the mistakes she doesn't regret making, and why she loves the variety and comradery or working in a smaller firm. 

Imogen is a founding member of our next gen The Line Up, and this conversation has that spirit running through it. It's all about what it actually feels like to be mid-journey: navigating your role, your network, your identity at work, and an industry that's changing faster than anyone predicted.  

Key discussion points:

• From classics to accounting: why Imogen chose a degree she loved over one that made obvious career sense, and how EY actively welcomed it 
• Starting out at a Big Four firm: the underrated value of a peer group when you're new to the working world and sitting professional exams 
• Cutting her teeth at Coller Capital: what a large, best-in-class institution gives you, and when it's time to want more 
• Joining Zetland Capital: why she chose a smaller, faster-moving firm and what that's meant for the breadth of her experience 
• The evolving finance function: how the role has shifted from predominantly backward-looking reporting to something far more strategic and forward-facing 
• LP demands in an uncertain market: why investor requests are at an all-time high, and what that means for the finance team's role 
• AI in practice: how Zetland uses Claude, what it's genuinely saved in time and effort, and why the implementation behind it matters as much as the tool itself 
• On the word "culture": Imogen's original opinion, and why she thinks culture is something you create rather than inherit 
• Smaller vs. larger firms: the honest trade-offs, and why the right answer depends entirely on your personality 
• Networks and peer groups: why the people you qualify alongside matter more than you'd expect, years down the line 
• Never stop learning: how Imogen thinks about career progression in an industry that's changing faster than ever