100 People Behind Bay Business - 2023

ACCOUNTING AND ADVISORY
| PEOPLE
FIONA WELTEN
director, Baker Tilly Staples Rodway
Quality questions get rewarding results.
When Fiona Welten was a
schoolgirl, she wanted
to become a lawyer or an
accountant. A stint as an
assistant hairdresser tipped her towards
the latter. She’d been hired to sweep,
wash hair and make tea, but ended
up doing the bookwork, relishing the
chance to help “run” the business.
Now she’s been an accountant for 32
years with Baker Tilly Staples Rodway
Tauranga and its predecessors. She’s
a Business Advisory Services director,
who’s also raised children, paved the way
for other working mums, and established
business relationships across the Bay of
Plenty.
She’s captivated by the variety in her
career and loves hearing clients talk
about their lives and work so that she
can help tailor paths to their goals.
Along the way she’s been inspired
by others and brought those learnings
into her own approach: Things like the
importance of leading with kindness
and a level head, cultivating a fun yet
motivated work environment, and not
sweating the small stuff.
With the latter, she advises
“delving into the reasons for your
feelings because sometimes what
you’re concentrating on is only a
manifestation… It’s why I like to keep
asking questions, because then you
get to the real problem and have more
meaningful conversations”.
Her colleagues say her biggest
strengths are strategic thinking, getting
to the heart of issues, and simplifying
them for others. “Her most endearing
thing is her laugh,” says fellow director
Ian Renner.
That positivity helps her take life in
her stride. A keen entertainer who loves
cooking new and innovative meals, on
rare occasions when they don’t go well,
she serves an extra drink for guests and
breezes on through. Outside of that,
she loves reading, and on a fine day, you
might see her on her e-bike or at sea
with her husband.
100 – PEOPLE BEHIND BAY BUSINESS | 2023 | 7