We had the pleasure to exchange with Catherine Elhaut in the beautiful GSK headquarters, where her insights illuminated the room as much as the natural light streaming through the windows.
From her beginnings in Italy to her current role as the Financial Director for Belgium and Luxembourg at GSK, Catherine’s journey is one of both personal and professional triumphs. In this interview, we delve into the depths of her experiences, exploring her reflections on leadership, navigating the complexities of the finance world, and redefining the narrative of womanhood in the modern era. Alongside her career achievements, Catherine shares candidly about her battle with breast cancer and how it profoundly shaped her perspective on life and work.
Join us for a captivating conversation with Catherine, where her warmth and expertise shine through every word.
And for those who prefer a visual experience, the video version of the interview awaits you here.
Catherine’s Journey
Kingsley: Hello Catherine, could you please introduce yourself?
Catherine Elhaut: Hello, I’m Catherine, I’m 41, I’m married and I have 3 children. I work for GSK as a financial director for the sales department in Belgium and Luxembourg.
K: If you had 3 adjectives to describe yourself?
CE: I’d say I have an independent temperament, I’m stubborn and probably a little impatient.
K: Can you tell me about your educational and professional background?
CE: I grew up in Italy and lived there for 18 years. I arrived in Belgium at the age of 18 and started studying business administration in Namur. I then launched my career in Finance, I’ve been in finance all my life. I started at Caterpillar, where I stayed for 10 years. In this company,I had a number of different roles and I ended up in Poland as CFO for the Polish entity. I then moved on to Doosan another construction company before joining GSK, 7 years ago now. At GSK, I had several roles. First I worked in production support, then in the R&D department. Then in various other sectors before joining my current position as CFO for Belgium and Luxembourg in July 2023.
K: Were there any particular reasons for the job change?
CE: I’m a curious person. I like to learn. I like to take on new challenges when I feel I’ve covered everything I need to know. At the beginning of my professional life, I used to work a lot like that, but with time I feel I’m a bit more deliberate in my movements. I try to see what I want to do in the future and try to put in place the steps to get there. What’s interesting is that in Finance you can touch on several things. Having had a diverse experience allows me to say to myself: “I remember that this could have an impact on such and such another team or another part of the organization.”
K: What was your dream job when you were little?
CE: That’s not an easy question to answer. When I was younger for a while, I used to say I wanted to be a truck driver, but I think it was more out of a rebellious instinct. I also said I wanted to be a doctor, but then I realized I was afraid of blood… In the end, I took a more pragmatic approach and said to myself, “What do you like about this subject? ” and I went for the studies I did.
K: And today, is this a dream job?
CE: Ah yes, today if you ask me, I really like what I do
K: If you had to give one piece of advice to Catherine from 10 years ago, what would you say?
CE: I’d tell her that life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain. I’ve had a few episodes like that in my life that have shown me that life has its ups and downs, and that this is what life is all about. And that the important thing is to learn to get through these moments.
Work life
K: How would you describe your job as CFO at GSK?
CE: I’d say it’s a bit of a co-pilot job with the director. It’s a hands-on partnership where you’re dealing with a wide variety of financial issues, but it’s also being part of a management committee and being involved in all kinds of decisions that are made for the company in general. It’s important to have a certain amount of trust from the business, which is built through credibility, and I think that’s where having a diverse background can help.
K: What do you think are the key skills for working in the world of finance?
CE: To work in Finance, what’s key is to have a somewhat analytical mind, as well as the curiosity to understand the world around you beyond the numbers and Excel files. You need to be able to create professional relationships that work well, to be consulted and listened to when decisions need to be made. You also need a dose of humility, it seems to me, because finance is a broad field, and you have to accept that you can’t know everything. It’s important to be able to admit this, and to know when to turn to the experts.
K: What specific challenges have you faced as a woman in a management position?
CE: I was lucky enough not to have experienced any discriminating moments. I’ve experienced situations that were sometimes a little uncomfortable for me as a woman, but it was more the fault of individuals who were a bit stupid than the company as such.
Personally, every time I came back from maternity leave, I put a lot of pressure on myself, telling myself that I had to prove myself and that I wasn’t “just a mom” and that I existed beyond that. But I think it’s a pressure that I put on myself and that nobody imposed on me.
K: At that time, did you have any examples of women around you who had just returned from maternity leave and were putting a lot of pressure on themselves?
CE: I have the feeling that when I started working, the women who had somewhat impressive professional careers were women who had chosen to put their professional lives first, and who had therefore made the choice to perhaps not have children and concentrate on their careers. Today, I think the situation is different and that as a woman, you can really dream of having a family life, and a job and going out with your girlfriends, and doing sport and travelling all at the same time, I think these are things you have the right to dream about today.
K: Is there a project you’re proud of that you’d like to talk about today?
CE: Three years ago, I had breast cancer, so when it hit me, it hit me like a bolt from the blue, like a piece of news that shattered my whole world overnight. And from one day to the next, I, who’m usually quite strong-tempered, a bit independent, telling myself that I have control, maybe not over what happens to me, but over how I control it. Well, from one day to the next, I found myself catapulted into this role of fragile little thing, and it wasn’t easy to live with. At first, I was in complete denial I had even convinced myself that I would continue to work during my treatments – I tested it for you, it doesn’t work – it was hard to conciliate. At that point, life forced me to take a break. I’ve been very well-supported by my family and friends, but also at work, the people I’ve worked with have been really great, and the medical profession has also done its job.
After this health break, I went back to work, and I really wanted to prove to myself that my identity wasn’t just limited to this episode in my life. I wanted to get back to everything, whether it was my professional life or my private life. I’d been told “you’ll see Catherine, maybe you’ll take things less to heart…” In fact for me, it had the opposite effect, I had this kind of impatience and this kind of urgency to make the most of it, to seize the opportunities offered to me even more than I did before.
K: Thank you for sharing this with us, did this episode change your perspective on some things ?
CE: Not as much as you would think, it did make appreciate my birthday more. I used not like my birthday and be reluctant to celebrate it until I received the news 2 weeks before my 38th birthday, and it made me realize there’s worse than getting old, there’s not getting old. When you’re going through something like this, you want to get something positive out of it. So I try to share this idea with my children that even if difficult things happen, we can get through them.
And I also hope that if women who go through this kind of episode see my testimony, that it can give them a message of hope, that yes, there can be an aftermath.
K: What is the most important lesson you’ve learned during your ascension ?
CE: It’s a bit linked to the experience I shared earlier. When I first started working, I’d see people with great careers, and it seemed like good news after good news. But real life isn’t like that, in real life you sometimes have moments that are a little more difficult, sometimes seizing an opportunity wasn’t necessarily the best idea. But that’s okay, it’s all small steps that help you grow. So the lesson I’ve learned is that evolution isn’t just about ascending, it’s also about ups, downs and turning points.
K: You expatriated for your career, moving to Poland. Was it a difficult choice?
I grew up abroad, so for myself, going to work abroad wasn’t a worry. When the opportunity in Poland came up, I was on maternity leave with my second child. After discussing it with my husband, who supported me directly, we decided to leave. He handed in his resignation, and we left with my two children for this new experience. A little anecdote on this subject is that when we decided to go to Poland, we explained it to our friends and family and their first reflex was to turn to my husband and ask him “oh and what’s this opportunity for you in Poland” and he was obliged to say no it’s not for me it’s for Catherine. Which often surprised people.
K: Would you do it again today, if you were offered the opportunity to go abroad again?
EC: Why not, there are plenty of things to take into account. Is this the right time for my husband’s career, for my children – these are all things I take into account when I ask myself this question. For me, leaving is attached to a family project, because it has an impact that goes far beyond work alone.
K: If you had to give advice to young women aspiring to a position like yours in the world of finance, what would you tell them?
EC: I’d say that the important thing to ask yourself is what do I aspire to, what do I want to do and what skills do I need to be credible the day I want to apply for this kind of job. It’s good to see where we’re at and make a plan of every piece we’re missing and finally get down to putting it all together. I often say that the only way to eat an elephant is to cut it into pieces.
K: What makes a good leader for you?
EC: A good leader is someone who is inspiring, who can manage self-motivated teams without always having to be behind them. I’d say it’s someone who’s capable of making decisions, even if they’re unpopular. And someone who admits their mistakes and is able to react to them.
Today’s women
K: Do you have the feeling to evolve in a masculine world in your professional life ?
EC: I think things are moving in the right direction. At the start of my professional life, I was often one of the few women around the table, but today that’s much less the case. I’m aware that I’m evolving in a privileged environment in the sense that I’m in a privileged part of the world.
K: What does being a woman in 2024 mean to you?
EC: I don’t want to be too flowery, because you have to admit that we live in Belgium, in a rather privileged part of the world, and that the status of women here is not representative of what we see in other parts of the world. I’d say that to be a woman in 2024 is to be able to choose not to choose, to be able to have a career, to be a mother, to be a wife, to play sports, I have the impression that it’s a change that has evolved compared to the model of woman we had in the past. When I think of my mother or my grandmother, it was much less the case. And I’d like to think that my daughter, for example, will be able to build the life she really wants.
K: Do you have any future objectives or projects?
EC: I always have lots of plans, to keep learning, and to keep making an impact in the organization. I want to do this while maintaining a balance by being there for my children at the same time and having time to travel and do sport.
Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain
Catherine’s story serves as an inspiration, demonstrating resilience, adaptability, and the pursuit of both professional success and personal fulfillment. Her journey underscores the importance of embracing challenges and opportunities with courage and determination.