Challenges and opportunities for new R3 president Nicky Fisher

Last month, Nicky Fisher of Herron Fisher was appointed President of insolvency and restructuring trade body R3. A Licensed Insolvency Practitioner with 30 years’ experience, Nicky has been a pillar of R3 and its Smaller Practices Group community for many years. We sat down with Nicky to discuss her new role and the challenges and opportunities that it brings.

What are you most excited for in your new role?

One of the things I’m most looking forward to is representing the profession – going to meetings with MPs, peers and government organisations like the Insolvency Service to put the profession’s views across. You just don’t get to do that when you work for a small practice, so I’m excited about the chance to do that and to represent the small practices within the profession, in these meetings and with our media and campaigning work.

The profession does so much to rescue businesses and jobs, but so much of what we do flies under the radar so I’d like to spend this year carrying on promoting our work and the value we add by supporting people, businesses and the economy.

I’m also looking forward to going round the different regions and nations at R3. It’s a chance to meet other members, hear about their challenges and successes, but also to tell the story of what R3 is doing.

R3 does so much for members and the profession that people aren’t aware of – some of our meetings with stakeholders, for example – and I think being President and going these meetings gives me a chance to explain just how much the team are doing – at a one-to-one level, as well as at events and conferences.

On the flip side, what do you envision will be the biggest challenge?

I think the biggest challenge the profession faces is the long-awaited response from Government on the Future of IP regulation, in particular to know whether we’ll be moving to a single regulator model as was originally proposed by them. At the moment, we’re waiting to hear what the Government is proposing to do in terms of changing the framework, but whatever the change is and no matter how carefully it’s managed, there’s going to be disruption of some kind.

A key focus for me this year will be making sure that our members’ views and any concerns they may have about the proposals will be communicated to Government at every opportunity. We’ve got a real chance to help shape the future regulatory landscape in a way that works for the profession and the people we support, and I want us to make the most of it.

How has taking leadership roles with R3 and other industry organisations helped you in your career, and what advice would you give to younger professionals in this respect? How can they too get involved?

I’ve got a lot from working with R3 and the AAT (Association of Accounting Technicians) – I got involved initially with the AAT because I wanted to give something back for the start the qualification it had given me at the start of my career. Instead, it kept on giving and built my confidence and helped me to develop skills I never thought I'd have which led me to become part of the Presidential team at R3 back in 2020. Since then, I’ve appeared on the radio, I’ve gone to meet journalists, MPs and stakeholders to talk about policy and what’s going on in the profession, and I’ve spoken at conferences and events.

I’d tell any young professional who wants to get involved with R3 or another industry or trade body to do it. Be brave, you never know what you are going to learn, you’ll get far more out of it than you can imagine – more than enough to outweigh any nerves you feel about the prospect of getting involved.

The younger members of the profession are the profession, so the earlier they get involved, the earlier they can help shape things to meet their needs and the demands the profession will place on them – both now and in the future.

Tell us something unique about yourself that most of your colleagues and clients don't know :)

I’m a second generation IP – my Dad also worked in the profession (and was the proud holder of insolvency licence number 33).

I think I’m one of the few people in the profession of my generation who doesn’t have a degree and isn’t a Chartered Accountant – that was the way people entered insolvency when I started out. I started working for my Dad while I did my AAT qualification, but then decided to sit my insolvency exams instead, and more than 30 years later, I’m still here.

It was only meant to be a temporary job, but it’s turned into a career – and an exciting, enjoyable one at that!