When Motorway, an online used-car marketplace, was seeking its first finance chief, it found the perfect candidate in Liz Kistruck. After starting her career in engineering, Kistruck was drawn to finance by sheer curiosity. She landed a job as finance manager with the online travel agency Expedia Group in 2008 and had worked her way up to CFO of Hotels.com by 2016. Kistruck took the CFO role at Lyst, an online fashion marketplace, after 14 years at Expedia, before joining Motorway in 2023.
Her varied experience in online retail was exactly what Motoway needed in it’s CFO and the challenge of driving a scale-up company to growth was exactly what Kistruck wanted in the next chapter of her career. Here, she discusses the most exciting aspects of helping a company grow, explains why curiosity is the most important trait for modern finance leaders and shares the advice her father once gave her that still influences her financial decision-making today.
How did you become a CFO?
I actually started in engineering. I studied it at university and worked on heavy-engineering projects including chlorine plants and a copper mine. But I became more curious about how the businesses we were advising really worked and that curiosity led me into finance.
Once I made that shift, I spent more than a decade at Expedia, eventually stepping into CFO roles at Hotels.com and Expedia for Business. After that, I moved into the area of fashion marketplaces and now I’m at Motorway. For me, it has always been about following that curiosity and wanting to understand businesses more deeply.
What skills or traits do you think a good finance leader needs?
Curiosity is essential. Finance today is much broader than it used to be. My role covers finance, legal, risk, analytics and some operations – but it is also about being a partner to the CEO and helping to shape strategy. You cannot do that without being curious about how the whole business works.
That means building relationships with teams across the organisation, including product, tech and marketing. You need to understand how they work, so they see you not as the person who says no, but as someone who can advocate for them and make joint decisions about what is right for the company.
What excites you most about your current role?
The most exciting thing about Motorway is the growth and the opportunities ahead – we are nowhere near finished! I really enjoy the pace of working in a scale-up. There is less red tape, fewer layers and more room to be creative.
A big part of my role is stepping back and looking at how we make decisions. We want the process to be high-quality but also fast, so that we can pivot quickly. That requires strong relationships and ensuring people aren’t working in silos. Everyone must know what is happening across the company to move as one team.
What’s the biggest challenge facing your sector at the moment?
The move to electric vehicles (EV). Although EV sales in the UK are rising, we are not on track to meet national goals. There is momentum, but there is also nervousness. Consumers still worry about range and infrastructure. Dealers are squeezed too, because margins are thin and the transition creates costs and inefficiencies.
For many dealers, EVs are completely new. It is not like selling a vehicle they have known for decades and are confident about the value. EVs carry a lot of uncertainty. Motorway is supporting dealers by assisting with purchasing decisions for EVs – when to buy them, which ones to buy and how many to take on – while also helping to strengthen their core business to build resilience through the transition.
What single thing do you think would make your job easier?
More time. Specifically, more time to talk to people. When employees say they want more communication from leadership, they don’t mean more broadcast messages. They want real two-way conversations.
I love getting out to the business, whether it is visiting our call centre or sitting with teams to hear directly from sellers and dealers. You learn so much more about the real experiences that way. I try to use every efficiency tool I can, from AI note-taking to writing tools, so I can devote more of my time to those conversations.
What’s the best bit of advice you’ve ever received?
When I bought my first car, my dad told me, “If it has to be now, it has to be no.” I was only 18, and the dealership was putting a lot of pressure on me to close the deal. His advice helped me walk away and a few weeks later I bought a much better car for less money.
That advice has stayed with me my whole career. Women are often trained to be accommodating and, in business, you sometimes face strong negotiators who know every closing tactic. If I feel pressured to make a quick decision, I just say “no”. A deal that is right will still be there when the pressure comes off.
Which book should every finance leader read at least once?
Orbiting the Giant Hairball: a Corporate Fool’s Guide to Surviving by Gordon MacKenzie. It is not about finance at all, but about keeping creativity alive inside a structured corporate environment.
It is short, easy to dip into and full of creative illustrations and examples. Every time I read it, it makes me think differently about leadership and organisations – how to keep teams inspired, how to balance structure with creativity and how to motivate people while still delivering on commitments.
What do you do outside of work to protect yourself from burnout?
I live in the countryside, which gives me a natural break from London. But my secret medicine is having a dog. He is a Bernese Mountain Dog, huge and fluffy, and he is always by my side. Whether he is sitting on my feet while I read or out walking with me, he keeps me present and reminds me to appreciate the moment.
He never adds questions to my day; he just brings loyalty and joy. Having him has been the best antidote to stress.
What has been your proudest achievement in your current role?
This question is difficult because it’s very rarely just me – it’s always the team. Whether it’s winning award nominations, landing a tough process change or bringing new insights to the business, I am proud of what they deliver.
My biggest achievement is building that team, bringing the right people together and watching them thrive. Once it clicks, you can step back and admire what they can accomplish together. That is the most rewarding part of the role.
If you weren’t a CFO, what would you be doing?
I would be doing something creative. I love crafting and the process of imagining something, learning how to make it and bringing it to life. I have even made wedding dresses for friends before and I think that is a special gift because an incredible dress can transform how someone feels.
For me, the imperfections tell the story. I love the Japanese art of kintsugi, where broken pottery is repaired with gold, making it more beautiful. There are parallels there with business and financial leadership. You learn the most from mistakes and the process of fixing them can make things stronger than they were before.
When Motorway, an online used-car marketplace, was seeking its first finance chief, it found the perfect candidate in Liz Kistruck. After starting her career in engineering, Kistruck was drawn to finance by sheer curiosity. She landed a job as finance manager with the online travel agency Expedia Group in 2008 and had worked her way up to CFO of Hotels.com by 2016. Kistruck took the CFO role at Lyst, an online fashion marketplace, after 14 years at Expedia, before joining Motorway in 2023.
Her varied experience in online retail was exactly what Motoway needed in it's CFO and the challenge of driving a scale-up company to growth was exactly what Kistruck wanted in the next chapter of her career. Here, she discusses the most exciting aspects of helping a company grow, explains why curiosity is the most important trait for modern finance leaders and shares the advice her father once gave her that still influences her financial decision-making today.
