OmniSpotlight: Ally Pixley

Born and raised in Brisbane, Australia, my first love whilst growing up was swimming. I raced competitively alongside future Olympians and got to know that black line very well during the obligatory 10 – 12 training sessions required of a swimmer each week. It was around the time of the 2004 Olympics in Athens that I realised just how good you needed to be to reach the very top. For me, I had to accept that it was time to hang up the goggles. It was now time to make something of my second love at the time…debits and credits.

Wind forward 8 years and I hit the tarmac at Heathrow just in time for the Olympics in London 2012, where, whilst I watched my old rivals on big screens across the city, I searched for my first job in arguably the financial capital of the world. Having qualified as a chartered accountant on the graduate scheme at Grant Thornton in the intervening period, I decided there must be more to the life of accounting, and here I am nearly 9 years later.

I’ve since held a variety of roles across a host of industries from Fintech to insurance broking; from large corporates to private equity backed. My first taste of the start-up life came about early on in my career as Finance lead for a product offering in the KYC (Know Your Customer) space.

From this point onwards, I’d caught the start-up bug. I took a number of roles to build both the technical and commercial skill sets required of aFinance professional and eventually ended up at Entrepreneur First, where start-ups are born. This is where I came across Matt, Guenther and Omnipresent.

Years in Finance has meant that I have experienced the challenges our customers face that prevent them from employing around the globe. Not only do we handle all aspects of payroll, but we remove the immediate need for customers to establish entities to employ, which (as anyone in Finance will attest to) provides huge relief for our customers. I love turning up to my desk (kitchen table) every day, as the Head of Finance for Omnipresent, knowing that we are making life easier… easier for our customers to employ and easier for their employees to work from just about anywhere.‍

I’m often asked why I choose to live in the UK instead of Australia. Up until now the answer has always been due to the work opportunities available in London. Now that we have Omnipresent, one day, I may not be on the receiving end of that question…you never know. #OmniLife