Head of UAE
ACCA
مجموع سنوات الخبرة :19 years, 2 أشهر
* Head of UAE, ACCA: November 2012 - present
➢ Leading the successful implementation of ACCA's strategic and business development objectives in the UAE. Actively building ACCA's presence to achieve membership growth by developing and maintaining key relationships with employers, tuition providers, members, students, national bodies and regulators.
ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) is the global body for professional accountants. As a not-for-profit organization it has 162, 000 members and 428, 000 students in over 173 countries. My role includes:
• Leading the strategic positioning of the ACCA brand in the UAE in line with corporate global policy.
• Growing, engaging and supporting the expanding membership and working closely with the Members Advisory Committee to ensure close ties are maintained between the members, the ACCA and employers.
• Growing student numbers through enhancing relationships with academic institutions and tuition providers.
• Building relationships with key employers to help them grow their finance capability and ensure that the ACCA designation is recognized as the qualification of choice and enhances ACCA’s reputation in the market.
• Build and maintain influence with strategic stakeholders and influential groups connected with the accounting profession eg. government departments, local accountancy bodies, regulators, qualifications authorities.
• Actively promote ACCA’s brand and portfolio of qualifications and services through events, media coverage, social media, websites, newsletters etc to maximize brand coverage in the local market.
• Managing a focused team committed to providing an international accountancy voice in the local market.
• Coordinate with corporate Headquarters and other national and regional offices across the MENASA region to ensure successful delivery of transactional business activity for members and students.
• Build relationships with senior finance professionals and influencers to enhance ACCA’s reputation & influence.
* Membership Officer, British Business Group, Dubai: October 2011 - November 2012
➢ Maintaining and growing the 2000+ membership of a Dubai based, not-for-profit organisation focussed on business networking and development.
The British Business Group is a not-for-profit organisation that provides a networking platform of over 100 networking, social, sporting, educational and professional events per year for it’s 2000+ business and individual members. As Membership Officer I am responsible for managing and growing the membership. My role involved:
• Working alongside the Committee & Focus Groups to ensure the membership proposition is compelling.
• Identifying potential new members at all levels, SMEs, large corporates and new entrants to Dubai.
• Managing, reporting and delivering on a pipeline of potential new members and contacts.
• Making introductions & connections to advance business relationships and productivity across the community.
• Collaborating with other networking groups, the UKTI, SDI, Embassy etc to enhance BBG connections.
• Representing/promoting the BBG at functions & through presentations, collateral, meetings, social media etc.
2007 to 2008: Digitalparents Ltd
Jointly established a new business venture to provide support and advice for parents getting to grips with the technical communication demands that their children are facing in the digital age. Produced a detailed business plan, started to identify funding opportunities whilst building web site collateral and delivering seminars in schools.
* Full Time Mother: May 2000 - September 2007 and June 2008 - October 2011
1998 to 2000: Virgin Atlantic Airways
Virgin Atlantic is constantly transforming itself to improve the way it works in order to maintain & build on it's creative & innovative approach to business. The Consultancy is a critical element in problem structuring, process review/redesign, change management & performance improvement & measurement on a business wide basis.
My role was to support the business's hunger for improving it's brand, products and services whilst maintaining its reputation as a cutting edge, high quality airline.
Virgin Atlantic is constantly transforming itself to improve the way it works in order to maintain & build on it’s creative & innovative approach to business. The Consultancy is a critical element in problem structuring, process review/redesign, change management & performance improvement & measurement on a business wide basis.
My role was to support the business’s hunger for improving it’s brand, products and services whilst maintaining its reputation as a cutting edge, high quality airline.
Business Consultancy Manager : May 1999 - April 2000
• Turned around a dis-functional team to provide critical support & direction on a business wide basis.
• Led & managed a team of 12 business consultants, including all aspects of line management.
• Created, negotiated & implemented team strategy in line with board level, business-wide transformation goals.
• Managed team budget (c.£750k) & established clear team performance measures & reviews.
• Established utilisation & scheduling mechanism to optimise the planning & tracking of team skills.
• Led a programme of personal development for each team member.
• Improved professional governance by implementing business cases & post project reviews.
Senior Business Transformation Consultant : November 1998 - May 1999
• Implemented significant changes to improve morale, communication, processes & credibility.
➢ Completed in-depth internal review & analysis of the team.
➢ Presented my proposals & achieved senior management support for my transformation plans.
• Set up a programme for personal development from scratch.
➢ Created a structure & timeline for planning, training, appraisals & project reviews.
➢ Created a method for planning & tracking the deployment of team skills across the business.
• Consultant on the re-launch of Virgin’s Upper Class offering.
➢ Devised methods for project planning & performance reviews across the business.
➢ Offered guidance & support to senior managers with conflicting business priorities
1991 to 1998: Various roles in BT/Syntegra (Systems Integration Business of BT)
I joined Syntegra as a graduate & utilised 3 years of IT development experience to gain several senior management roles focussed on transformation, business improvement, people development & performance management.
I joined Syntegra as a graduate & utilised 3 years of IT development experience to gain several senior management roles focussed on transformation, business improvement, people development & performance management.
Marketing Information Manager : March 1998 - October 1998
• Brought in to over-haul Syntegra’s approach to information management throughout the business.
• Developed a centre of excellence & led a team of experts to deliver against this board level initiative.
• Managed suppliers & contracts in line with budgetary constraints & ongoing business requirements.
Programme & Project Manager - Acquisitions & Partnerships : August 1995 - March 1998
1. Corporate Acquisitions Programme Manager :
• Defined & implemented Syntegra’s approach to acquisitions in order to resolve a number of issues, including poor team organisation, a lack of clear processes & a poor, un-coordinated relationship with key BT managers.
• Pulled together commercial, financial, personnel & legal tasks & resources to project plan each acquisition.
• Established a network of essential contacts to ensure BT buy-in & ratification of acquisition propositions.
2. Project Manager for several ‘active’ acquisitions :
• Key role in driving two successful international acquisitions (& others that were not concluded).
• Planned & managed the due-diligence tasks/resources & communication with the target and BT, our sponsor.
• Drove post-acquisition plan to ensure contractual obligations were fulfilled in line with purchase objectives.
• Developed a detailed business plan & negotiated & agreed the proposals with our Japanese counterparts.
People Manager & Graduate Recruitment (part-time role, ongoing): January 1996 - October 1998
• Interviewed & made recruitment decisions to ensure the successful integration of graduates into the business.
• Monitored performance & development through regular formal appraisals, pay reviews & project evaluations.
Bid Production Manager : November 1994 - August 1995
• Created a viable commercial & financial model to re-align the teams’ focus & add more value to the company.
• Led the team through substantial change involving exploring & exploiting new technologies & approaches.
• Dealt with difficult staff issues, including redundancy & unwillingness to embrace the changes etc.
• Re-branded the team to change their image/offering & ‘sold’ the new capability back to the business.
• Re-defined the corporate bid process, to increase effectiveness in winning future business.
Implementation Manager for large systems integration project : December 1993 - November 1994
• Formulated a detailed implementation plan that I negotiated & agreed with the client (TNT).
• Co-ordinated team to roll-out the software & hardware to 35+ sites around the UK.
• Devised & delivered on-site training & personally supported the customer at all levels.
• Established & co-ordinated a support group to provide 24-hour on-line support on an ongoing basis.
1988 - 1991 University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Degree: Computer Science BSc.
1981 - 1988 Birkenhead High School, G.P.D.S.T., Wirral: 'O' levels (x9), 'O/A' level, 'A' levels (x4)
