Lyndsey Longson joined Sovereign Guernsey in November 2017 and is Systems Operations Manager for the office. We caught up with her by Zoom when she was celebrating a new qualification.
Guernsey-born, educated at the island’s Grammar School, “thirty-something” Lyndsey is married to Guernseyman Andy and is the proud mother of eight year old daughter Neva.
Lyndsey joined Sovereign from another local pensions and fiduciary company. She was attracted by the office’s enviable reputation as an exciting place to work; she cites its go-ahead business culture, work in the local community, commitment to managing diversity and sympathetic attitude toward mental health issues. She was already well aware of the Sovereign Art Foundation’s Guernsey Student Prize (established in 2015) that continues to create enormous goodwill in the island.
Having secured her ACCA CAT accounting qualification early in her career, Lyndsey moved away from regular accountancy work. She has gone on to develop her skills as a data analyst and most recently completed the Level 4 Data Analyst Apprenticeship.
She develops her skills by focusing on problem solving or as she puts it “making sense of things”. Always systems-based, Lyndsey was encouraged to expand her role from the start as Sovereign realised its inestimable value. Hers is not a pure IT background but rather a marriage of systems and analysis to solve the issue at hand.
Lyndsey describes her job as translating the business’ operational requirements into IT based solutions. Good examples of her work include the development of Annual Pension Statements as well as the creation of Management Information dashboards for local board meetings.
She highlights the office’s “fantastic team spirit” particularly when change is required. The collaborative atmosphere means that even where adjustments are more challenging a solution is (almost) always reached.
The States of Guernsey – the local island government – funded her participation in the 16 month Level 4 Apprenticeship programme and is equivalent to a first year degree course. Lyndsey was in the first local cohort; her fellow students came from all over the UK and work in both the private and public sectors. The apprenticeship concentrated on the technical side of the data analyst’s role – “the what?” – and also covered the softer but equally important aspects – “the how?” and “with whom?” Read more at www.digitalgreenhouse.gg.
Away from work, her life as a mother takes up a lot of her time. She is open about the challenges – and huge rewards – of bringing up her daughter who is autistic. Lockdown was difficult at times (as it was for everyone) but she is enormously proud of Neva and her amazing development as Neva learns how to deal with a world “not necessarily geared towards her”.
For relaxation, this keen walker confesses to being “a bit of a nerd” – happy in the knowledge that her colleagues say the same! The word quiz Countdown is a favourite; she is a Rubik’s Cube fanatic and (of course) has embraced Wordle.
As for the future, Lyndsey is determined to study more, continuing her development. Her skills are valued by the wider Group and she forms part of the One Viewpoint Project team. She welcomes opportunities to share her knowledge and similarly revels in readily soaking up others’ suggestions like a sponge.
Lyndsey is cheerfully in command of her subject, a credit to the office and the Group. The last word goes to her Operations Director, Leigh Higgins, who says:
“Lyndsey has been a great contributor to the operations and spirit of the Guernsey office since she first joined us in 2017 as Senior Accounts Administrator. She is now working in a role that she clearly loves, which works very well for Lyndsey and for Sovereign. It has been a pleasure to see her career develop and I have no doubt that her continued professional development will be of benefit to all concerned.”
