Director of Operations
Gems Education
Total years of experience :19 years, 6 Months
The Director of Operations is responsible for directing and developing the Gems Group school operations and administration in order to support delivery of the company's objectives. This involves strategic and pro-active management of people, resources and infrastructure and the development of administrative and business functions of the group. My role is to ensure high-level operational compliance is maintained across all GEMS entities by fostering a positive and proactive safety culture and providing support and guidance to all entities and teams on School Operations matters. The Operations Director also ensures legal and regulatory compliance and the highest operational standards are in place.
In my current role, I am a Senior Leader of the MENASA School Operations Support Centre (Corporate Office) Leadership Team, responsible for leading all school based Operations Managers (50 schools) across UAE, Qatar and Egypt and the development and implementation of all group wide operational strategic aims, school based support services, external service provision, international staff housing (2, 600+ units) and support staff accommodation functions (housing 2, 200+ staff). Achieved 2.6M AED savings in comparison to last year utilities costs by implementing smart dashboard reporting and best practice sharing across schools
• Provide support and guidance to the School Operations teams and support service functions
• Provide support and guidance to all Principals and school leadership teams
• Be the organizationʼs central point of contact for all Operation matters
• Conduct ongoing school visits to liaise and discuss Operational matters with Principals and teams
• Establishing team and business key performance indicators and measuring performance against them.
Compliance and standards
• Establishes and implements short- and long-range organizational goals, objectives, policies, and operating procedures; monitors and evaluates effectiveness, and proposes changes required for improvement.
• Monitor and keep up to date with relevant laws and regulations, making sure any relevant operational changes are made
• Establish the Ops audit program, supporting in ensuring audit actions are identified and addressed in a timely manner
• Provide audit reports to senior management for discussion
• Develop and implement policies and procedures to ensure a consistent approach is achieved
Accident and incidents
• Monitor all accidents and incidents through the GEMS HSE system
• Review accident and incident data on a continuous basis, establishing potential areas of improvement
• Provide regular senior management and board Operations reports, covering accident and incident data/management
• Identify and implement proactive measures to drive down accidents and incidents
• Review team accident/incident investigations
Training and development
• Identify training needs in teams, review any gaps for Ops teams
Risk management
• Ensuring key risks are identified and mitigated
• Providing an update of the top 10 key Operation risks to the audit committee
• Review risk assessments where necessary
• Provide regular Operations reports to senior stakeholders
• Update the board on Operations matters and performance
• Communicate effectively with external stakeholders and regulators
• Establish positive lines of communication with Principals, HODS, and School ops teams
• Crisis management & emergency response
• Be the central point of contact and communication on crisis management
• Maintain the crisis management plan
• Provide training as and when needed on crisis management
• Ensure schools conduct the relevant emergency exercises, in line with any GEMS/legal requirements
• Manage the Shamma Group's business and investments in the Food & Beverage, Real Estate, and Fashion sectors, as well as their expansion.
• Redesign and revitalise existing businesses and processes by leveraging industry standards from the hospitality industry and operating them as a technology-enabled enterprise.
• Carry out feasibility studies for new business ventures and markets.
• Established joint ventures in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to franchise Zahr El Laymoun and other Asian markets.
• Savings of 8 million AED from effective rental waiver and other charges negotiating with Emaar and Shurooq landlords during Covid-19.
• Board Member of Loacker Middle East to advise on strategic and operational insights
• Designed a five-year growth and franchise strategy for Filful, a Lebanese quick-service restaurant, and successfully conceptualized a quick-service restaurant format.
• Spearheading the management of Jones the Grocer and other Sharjah Investment and Development Authority (SHUROOQ) outlets.
• Responsible for managing the Yas Marina Zahr El Laymoun outlet from feasibility to operationalization, including Capex negotiations with Miral Abu Dhabi .
• Development and implementation of the corporate strategic plan in collaboration with the Strategy team, emphasizing key milestones and respective business unit key performance indicators throughout the development and operational phases to ensure the destination's timely opening and organization's overall efficiency.
• Monitoring and assessing existing assets' financial performance in accordance to the business plan in order to detect potential gaps and provide mitigating strategies.
• Implemented the Business Process Framework, which enabled the integration of all 22 DPR departments through the establishment of strategic and departmental objectives.
• Spearheading the Dubai Parks ISO 9001, 14001, and 45001 certifications, resulting in the establishment of an Integrated Management system.
• Developed and deployed the Fikra Innovation Management System, which is responsible for overseeing the innovation strategy and ideas at Dubai Parks and Resorts across all zones.
• Directed on the execution of 13 game-changing concepts, resulting in revenue and cost savings.
• Using Six Sigma methodology and tools, lead company-wide process improvement projects focused at enhancing performance and effectiveness.
• Leading Dubai Parks in obtaining the Dubai Chamber's CSR certification for its community-focused efforts in partnership with a number of prominent UAE Non - governmental organizations.
• Assisting Dubai Parks Strategy team in developing the Balanced Scorecard, which incorporates financial, customer, internal processes, and human capital factors.
• Analyzed park operations and customer data, through the use of daily and weekly metrics, and measured and improved key performance indicators through the use of management dashboards.
• Overall responsibility for the implementation of the group-wide Retail Compliance Framework and Inventory Operations across 170 Retail outlets in the MENA and Far East, managing a team of 9 Managers.
• Completed a Six Sigma Green Belt Project for Retail Inventory Optimization across Retail Brands, resulting in a 3 million AED inventory shrink.
• Retail equipment optimization project implemented successfully in the UAE region, resulting in a 500K AED savings.
• Responsible for the business strategy and expansion of Al Futtaim Retail Group's Retail Central Procurement (Ariba e-Procurement), leveraging economies of scale in Cafeteria, Uniforms, Freight, Stationery, Consumables, Capex projects, and other non-merchandise spends, effecting in 40 million AED savings over three years.
• Evaluate the operational effectiveness of processes and systems on a monthly basis, identifying and resolving compliance gaps.
• Reduced inventory shrinkage across the Marks & Spencer, ACE, and ToysRus brands by implementing the Cyclic Count method.
• Develop and implement risk-based regulatory compliance and business continuity initiatives, with an emphasis on reducing administrative workload and prioritising resources and budget.
• Provide relevant and tailored operational and compliance reporting to Senior Management and the Chairman.
• Held the position of Process & Compliance leader for the Sharaf Retail group, responsible for championing the framework's creation and implementation across the division and coordinating with Process & Compliance champions across various geographies.
• Lead the implementation of Group Internal Audit recommendations and adherence to retail process & compliance policies.
• Hold quarterly meetings with all Business Heads to examine policy and compliance gaps and to ensure that they are addressed with manual/automated controls.
• Responsible for the active adoption and implementation of risk management in accordance with the ERM Framework across the Retail Division.
• Make independent judgments, frequently based on the interpretation of ERP and/or local policy or the knowledge of various risk disciplines (credit, market, operational, strategic, and / or reputational)
• Develop risk registers based on Group Internal Audit findings and a review of existing policies, processes, and procedures; so that risks are appropriately identified, classified, and assigned to appropriate areas of responsibility.
• Risks and issues are immediately and timely reported and escalated to the right parties with little surprises.
• Demonstrate market awareness and draw attention to the management of potential risks in the retail sector, regulatory environment, and market dynamics, all of which should be weighed in terms of their impact on Sharaf Retail or the Group as a whole
• Conduct scheduled and unscheduled internal audits to ensure regulatory and policy compliance.
• Establish reporting systems from the ERP to ensure that KPIs and margins are being fulfilled in accordance with approved criteria.
• Conducted a GAP analysis report based on time and motion research to close process gaps, resulting in a two-day improvement in turnaround time for store deliveries.
• Conducted an in-depth business analysis to determine the feasibility of entry, incorporation, and expansion into Australia, Egypt, India, and Turkey for growth and franchising Forever 21, Cotton On and Woolworths brands.
• Conducted sales audits in 14 countries, successfully preventing fraudulent transactions and saving 300K AED through the definition of effective internal process controls.
• Member of the Sharaf group's steering committee charged with implementing a HRMS spanning MENA, the GCC, and the Far East.
Mapping Client requirements and coordinating in developing,
implementing, transitioning, migration of processes in line with
specific guidelines from Opportunity Identification to
Stabilization phase.
Solution designing and working with cross functional teams for
implementation and operational effectiveness.
Setting Quality standards, developing FMEA for the process to
ensure adherence of Process and Quality standards
Create healthy relationship with all client managers through
performance, communication and their involvement.
Developing business process models, key performance indicators
and its analysis
Expert in people management and in driving key initiatives at the
portfolio level which are critical to performance.
Overall Control over Inward and Outward Freight for entire
division by coordinating with various wings within Railways and
customers.
MIS Reporting, Freight Operating System Control and effective
Customer Relationship Management.
Preparation of Financial Statements, monthly and assisting
Internal Audit team.
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