The Purposeful Strategist, a podcast from Menkus & Associates in partnership with Norman Broadbent, shares conversations with CEOs on how they translate organisational purpose into bold strategy, real impact, and lasting results.
How do you build a global financial services firm in a part of the market most people rarely see? In this episode, Mia Drennan, Founder and CEO of GLAS, shares how she grew an independent loan agency business from just £6,000 into a global platform administering hundreds of billions in assets.
Emerging in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, GLAS identified an opportunity in a function that had traditionally sat within banks but was often under-served. Mia explains how the firm stepped into this gap - bringing focus, execution, and independence to complex loan administration and restructuring scenarios. What began as an entrepreneurial response to market disruption has since evolved into a business operating across private credit, banking, and capital markets on a global scale.
Mia reflects on the role of opportunism and optimism in shaping the company’s growth, sharing how early high-stakes mandates helped define its strategy in practice. Looking ahead, she discusses the shift toward a more technology-enabled model, the potential of AI to transform operational processes, and why trust, culture, and human judgement remain essential as the business continues to scale.