Mentor spotlight: Justin Dionne

06 June 2025

Justin Dionne, Director of Official Receiver Services at the Insolvency Service, speaks about his unexpected route into insolvency, the value of guidance, and why he is proud to support R3’s Mentoring Programme.

What made you pursue a career in insolvency?

That’s a really interesting question and I, like many others, did not set out for career in insolvency. My background is accountancy.

Having undertaken a degree in finance and accountancy, I was looking for a training contract that would fund an accountancy qualification but did not involve auditing. I stumbled across an advert for a job in the local paper (very old school) for a little-known government agency, the Insolvency Service, which is part of the Department for Business and Trade (although I can’t recall what it was called then!) as a trainee examiner.

The job sounded really interesting, as I would be interviewing individuals subject to bankruptcy orders and company directors of failed companies and, which was important to my future career aspirations, they would fund a professional accountancy qualification – ACCA. That was over 25 years ago, and I have to say, I have thoroughly enjoyed my career in insolvency. 

The unique challenges and it’s a bit of a cliché, no two days are ever the same, have kept me interested. During my career, I have held office as Official Receiver (as trustee and liquidator) for Southend and London and also our Public Interest Unit. 

What made you want to get involved with R3’s Mentoring Programme?

I was delighted to be asked to mentor under R3’s Mentoring Programme. Like most in our chosen career, I stumbled into insolvency and fumbled my way up the career ladder, maybe by accident, who knows really!

I think I would have really benefited from some early direction. It’s a unique and rewarding career, which to be honest, very few outside of the profession have heard about and it is a tiny profession. As for the JIEB exams; what can I say about those, other than good luck!

I have had the privilege of being involved in mentoring in the Civil Service for some time and mentor under the Catapult scheme, which is a social mobility scheme to support those from lower socio- economic backgrounds. It’s enormously satisfying to see a mentee develop, and I’m sure I get as much out of it as I hope they do!

Why do you think initiatives like the Mentoring Programme are important for the profession?

I think the launch of a mentoring programme is a fantastic idea. As I mentioned above, I spent my early insolvency years drifting a bit, not really knowing where I was going, or where I wanted to go for that matter, in my career.

I eventually decided to do my JIEB for no other reason than I was a bit bored of what I was doing, and I thought it might lead to other options. I didn’t realise quite how difficult they were when I made that decision and longed for the boredom of my pre-JIEB days quite quickly after I started!

Insolvency is a really challenging career choice and it’s a small community, so I whole heartedly support R3’s mentoring programme. It feels like a no brainier to me.

If you could go back and give your younger self one piece of career advice, what would it be?

Great question! I was thinking about this just a short time ago when my son did his work experience in this field. He tolerates me talking about my work and some of the press headline work I have been involved in. However, he’s a kid whose interests are football and Xbox, so it’s quite difficult to impress upon him what an interesting and rewarding career insolvency and restructuring could be for him.

In all honesty, my career advice would be to take advantage of the opportunities that come your way - don’t worry about taking yourself out of your comfort zone. I spent years avoiding presentations but actually quite enjoy them now!