Citywealth Leaders List, 60 second interview – Claire Abrehart, Harneys Fiduciary
This week’s 60 seconds Citywealth Leaders List interview is dedicated to Claire Abrehart, BVI Managing Director at Harneys Fiduciary.
Tell Citywealth readers a bit about your role.
In my current role, I am the Managing Director of our BVI office, which is the largest in the Harneys Fiduciary group with over 100 employees. I am also the Global Head of our Directorships and Trusts service lines. I also have my own portfolio of clients where I serve as a director on the boards of their companies, so that keeps me extremely busy as well.
What does a typical day look like for you?
It generally starts in the gym, which no one is more astonished about than me! This is a relatively new thing for me, really only for the last couple of years but not only do I feel better physically, my ability to cope with stress and busy days has improved dramatically. On those days when I have very early calls and I don’t make it to the gym; I can really tell (and probably so can my team!). The morning is usually taken up with calls and meetings, whilst trying to juggle client requests that have come in by email. Afternoons are for finishing up any client work and then finally early evenings is when I can get a bit of uninterrupted time to work on some bigger projects or read through long documents.
Tell us about some recent, interesting client instructions/requests you have received.
I work with a wide range of clients and it’s by far the most interesting part of my job! Some of the projects that my clients are involved in are fascinating. A few clients are investing in the AI space, so I’ve learnt a lot about companies operating in that area. From investing in data centres; chip makers; LLM’s and more niche applications that are being built using AI (think medical diagnostic tools). And speaking of AI, I have a client working on reducing the number of hallucinations that AI is producing. Moving away from AI, one client invests in startup medical companies, developing technology for wound care, after surgery care and wearables that measure many more vital signs than your Apple watch does!
What challenges do your clients face and how are you helping your clients to overcome them?
Clients want personalised service; they want to know who they can contact and that that person will respond quickly. Unfortunately, the advent of automated email boxes and AI chat bots hasn’t quite worked, they are just not sophisticated enough yet. Other challenges of course are things like opening bank accounts, which seems to be a pretty global issue, so staying on top which banks will offer services to clients is very important and clients appreciate the introductions.
What is your proudest professional achievement?
Being in a senior leadership role almost 30 years after I started my career as a junior administrator! While I am often still the only woman in meetings, that’s not the case at Harneys Fiduciary, where our Senior Leadership team is evenly split between men and women and there are a number of very talented women in our organisation getting ready to take the next step up in their careers.
What do you consider to be the most important attributes for a leader?
I believe some of the most important attributes of a leader are confidence, adaptability, and the ability to encourage diverse perspectives. Throughout my career, I’ve often found myself in environments where I needed to be intentional about speaking up and contributing thoughtfully to discussions. Those experiences have reinforced for me the value of different viewpoints around the table. When leaders create space for a range of perspectives, it leads to more balanced conversations and ultimately better decision-making.
Where was the last place you travelled to for work or pleasure?
Vietnam – which was both work and pleasure, I had a work conference in Vietnam and my husband came with me a couple of weeks before the conference and we toured around Vietnam. It was a fantastic trip; we were blown away by the country and the people. Definitely an amazing country to visit, I can’t recommend it highly enough! Most of my work trips are to the same places that I’ve been to a number of times so the chance to visit a new country with a number of my colleagues was amazing.
If you weren’t in this industry, what else might you be doing?
Running a bookshop of course! Perhaps with a café attached but as long as I am surrounded by books, I will be happy.
How do you relax after a long day?
See above – reading a book! It’s a running joke in my house that I am always just finishing a book so please don’t disturb me and I am an avid Kindle reader which means I can no longer be judged for how fast I read and can avoid comments like “not another new book”!
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