Executive Secretary to the Finance Director
PALM UTILITIES
Total years of experience :24 years, 0 months
• As an Executive Secretary to the Finance Director of Palm Utilities LLC, I am assigned to provide direct administrative support to the Finance Director and CEO (as 2nd point of contact) and indirect support to the Executive Management, its Committees, while managing very confidential material and information. Provides support and oversight of the office administration function. Appoints as Committee Secretary (CS) of Tender Committee and Management Information System (MIS) meeting, acts as Committee Secretary of Executive Management Committee (EMC) in the absence of the appointed CS.
Administrative Support: Manage the Director’s (& CEO) diary which includes the control of meetings with the various heads of department, suppliers, customers as well as other staff appointments, and assisting in the prioritization any unscheduled appointments. Schedules and coordinates registration, travel arrangements and visa processing. Transcribes drafts, proofreads and revises correspondence, memos, flyers, agendas, minutes, resolutions and policies. Provides assistance in ensuring policies/procedures are met and or updated where needed. Assists with project monitoring and budget tracking. Assists in preparing financial report such as Budget, supporting financial data required by top management, board and auditors; and other various reports as and when needed. Prepares and edit presentation report. Ensures Delegation of Authority is applied appropriately. Tracking the progress of various projects, monitoring and prioritizing of any backlog or pending issues, and following up with the relevant persons (staff, customers, suppliers etc) ensuring that objectives and commitments are met. Exhibits willingness to ensure successful inter-departmental relationships
Support for Committee & Board Meeting: Completes the Director’s & CEO report, which requires input from all departments and is presented to the Board of Directors or Committee members. Prepares and edit presentations. Provides administrative support for the completion of documentation of Board or Committee agenda items. Provides transcription and dictation of Committee meeting minutes. Disseminates information to Committee members and department managers regarding changes to documents, policies and procedures, providing clarifications as needed. Reviews, tracks and updates action points in the meeting and ensures that the assigned task is completed within specified timelines.
Communication and Correspondences: Communicates and coordinates with the banks regarding Waiver Request, Hedging and Hedging Extension, Voluntary Payment, Funding of different accounts and any correspondence related to Refinancing. Communicates and coordinates with the lenders regarding Compliance Certificate, Yearly and Half Yearly Financials, Operating Budget, Hedging and Interest Fixation. Communicates and coordinates with auditors regarding Engagement Letter and audited financials Communicates and coordinates with shareholders regarding presenting and approval of yearly Budget and Consolidation Package.
Commercial Management: Appoints as Tender Committee (TC) Secretary. Arranges meeting with TC members as and when required. Ensures accurate tender documents and in accordance of controlled documents. Process tender documents such as opening forms and award sheet to ensure that Commercial Dept will issue Purchase Order in line with the approved tender documents. Minutes and transcribes tender meeting. Tracks action points and updates of the meeting. Assists in monitoring Commercial Service Level Agreement with other departments. Tracks periodic updates on any issues, concerns or outstanding projects. Assist in processing payments for key vendors.
I was tasked with scripting and prioritizing the daily tasks plan. This included updating and collating sales information that pertained to monthly sales results, coordinate with various accounting heads of department on a weekly and monthly basis ensuring that financial weekly statistics and any other statistics or data is obtained on time and consolidated where required. Through coordination with the Director, the sales project plans were reviewed and completed as required. Serving as the key point of contact between the Director and associates both internal and external my position extended to interact with all parties in a competent and professional manner. In preparing agendas and presentation for meetings the position called for documented minutes and follow up correspondence to the relevant persons involved. Within Al Dobowi Ltd the coordination of these tasks extended throughout the Middle East, Canada, Germany, Ethiopia, North - South Africa and China. Associated tasks with respect to the geographical territories contained within Al Dobowi Ltd extended to procurement and logistics. These tasks were monitoring of supply chain pricing and reporting anomalies, monthly monitoring of stock levels and inventory. Maintaining shipment arrival records and coordinating with logistics departments for imported and exported product. General task orientation extended to ensuring Director’s diary, travel, visa and accommodation were completed to requirement. Standard discharged of duties included completing filing systems, monitoring incoming telecommunication and electronic mail.
Scripting and Prioritizing the daily task plan: Manage the Director’s diary which includes the control of meetings with the various heads of department, suppliers, customers as well as other staff appointments, and assisting in the prioritization any unscheduled appointments or meetings as and when these arise. Tracking the progress of various projects, monitoring and prioritizing of any backlog or pending issues, and following up with the relevant persons (staff, customers, suppliers etc) ensuring that objectives and commitments are met.
Research and Confidential Work: Perform research and develop background information material for the Director as support information for his participation in all meetings (Board Meeting, etc) as necessitated from time to time. Conduct research for the management team as support for their projects and presentations such as Market Studies, Yearly Business Plan presentations, Distributor’s training presentation and Company Profile. Confidential work included the typing / compilation of draft legal documents such as shareholdings agreements, management agreements, supply agreements, exclusive distributor contracts, non-disclosure agreements, lease contracts and other relevant confidential documents.
Communication and Correspondences: Assist in the development and maintenance of a standard corporate image by ensuring that the standard communication tools such as use of company logos, letterheads, business cards, company presentation and other internal and external communication are in line with agreed standards. Served as point of contact in the office of the Director. Inscribe and communicate agendas of meetings, minutes of meetings and followed up correspondence to persons or departments involved. Assist in drafting of office procedures and policies after taking into account legalities, procedures and policies of other group companies as well as after consideration of UAE & JAFZA rules and regulations. Implement office policies as outlined by the organization. Modify ISO Documents as and when required, ensuring that the requirements and procedures in ISO (HR and Admin aspect) are respected.
I was tasked to filter and communicate the correspondence, email and calls of the Managing Director and CEO. This included proactively responding to correspondence subsequent to the discussion with the MD or CEO. I served as the key point of contact between the MD and associates both internal and external and interact in a professional manner. The task extended to maintaining the confidential documents such as licenses and signed agreements made on behalf of the company, and informing the MD as and when the licenses or agreements are about to expire or scheduled for renewal. Monitoring of seasonal buy or budget - compared proposed budget against the actual in able to accumulate sales forecast for the upcoming season. Addressing the issues, requirements and concerns of the sales staff working in more than 20 retail stores owned by the company to the MD and attend to it in accordance with company policies. General tasks include managing MD and CEO’s diary management, travel arrangements and visa processing.
Coordinated with local and international suppliers in Europe, Asia and USA. Coordinated and corresponded with Retail Leasing Departments of different real estate and developers such as Majid Al Futtaim Group, Emaar Malls Group, Al Futtaim Group Real Estate LLC, Al Ghurair, Wafi Property LLC and other well-known real estate developers to acquire retail spaces for the company retail brands such as Ed Hardy, Adidas, French Connection, Philipp Plein, Christian Audigier and Kitson. Assisted in establishing and completing requirements in obtaining spaces such as business plan and company profile.
Handled and managed the corporate contract with courier service like FEDEX, DHL, TNT and UPS. Monitored the contract and price changes with forwarder like GAC, Allport and Freight Systems. Managed and controlled service contracts of the office equipment like heavy duty and multi-purpose network printers, IT solutions, including contract with cleaning services company and AC maintenance.
Collated seasonal catalogue, look book and line sheets from international retail supplier to place order and simultaneously edit the same to distribute to the wholesale customers or franchisee so they could place their order as well. Managed, process and monitor wholesale customer order. Supervised seasonal and monthly change or installation of Wall Graphics and Window display of the shop and coordinates with the Visual Merchandiser locally and internationally in UK, Germany, Europe and USA. Helped create customer awareness in the UAE market and other GCC countries including India through advertising, media and prints - brochure, billboards, events, television and print sponsorship, promotional voucher, etc.
Helped in managing and monitoring of seasonal buy or budget - compared proposed budget with the current in able to accumulate Sales forecast for the upcoming season. Request proposed budget from the supplier like French Connection and coordinate with the Accounts Department to formulate and come up with the sales budget. Extremely monitor items from the date of purchase, confirmation, payment, until the delivery of goods from the origin to the destination. Handled importation and exportation of goods. Coordinated and planned delivery of goods to customers in various destinations within the company’s distribution territory such as India, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Bahrain, etc. For export goods, Provided shipping documents such as Invoice, Packing List, Certificate of Origin, Shipper’s Declaration and applied for Certificate of Origin and Importation of Dangerous Goods. Served as the main contact between the agent and consignor. For import goods, ensured that all original documents should be on hand prior to the dispatch of the shipments from the supplier’s warehouse to Dubai. Ensured that the agreed freight charges are applied in the freight invoice or billing statement.
Contract Management.
I was tasked to process client accounts and billing information, prepared monthly billing statement, sales invoices, generation of collection reports and business center income. Handled reconciliation of telephone calls of the tenant in the call accounting report. Managed account history in the Point-of-Sale systems, handled accounts receivable and submitted sales report. Handled client inquiries and complaints. Coordinated with the service provider regarding the services acquired by the tenant.
Publishing I was tasked to assist the manager in creating marketing and sales strategies to persuade not only the advertisers but the subscribers of the comic book as well. Conceptualized layout for the comic’s article, games, news releases and promotions to be printed and published in the comic book. Assisted in ensuring the comic book circulation in the market by ensuring that in every bookstore never runs out of comic book. Managed the manager’s diary, travel arrangements and help in prioritizing the works.
Certificate in Basic CS3 Photoshop and Illustrator - Karama, Dubai UAE
Certificate in Medical Transcription - Phoenix Institute - Makati, Philippines
Bachelor of Arts Major in Mass Communication - Adamson University - Ermita Manila Philippines
