Petra Thacker

Experienced manager with CIPD and ITIL qualifications

Biddulph, England, United Kingdom

About

Strategic problem solver with a versatile approach and passion for a job well done. • Strong track record of building good working relationships with people at all organisational levels • Wide IT experience including defining strategy and procurement process • Skilled at creating processes and systems from scratch • Project management experience • Bilingual – English / Swedish • CIPD Level 5 HR Management Certificate

Experience

  • Business Support Manager at Premier Estates Limited
    Jun 2012 - Present · 14 yrs 2 mos

    • Managing the team that deals with all the back office for the business: HR, IT, facilities, car fleet, travel. • Responsible for creating and implementing the strategy for these areas. • Managing all high-level projects in these areas – for example sourcing and implementing a computer-based HR system, a new phone system and a document management system. • Giving HR advice to the board of directors as well as to line managers on topics such as TUPE situations, complex disciplinary procedures and settlement agreements. • Liaising with IT support, software vendors, team members, directors and other members of staff to make sure that all IT services are running smoothly and are continually being improved.

  • Executive Assistant at Arbor Ventures
    May 2006 - Dec 2011 · 5 yrs 8 mos

    • Assisting with documentation and research for investment opportunities. • Office management for the London office. • Event management. • Business and personal travel for the entire family – full door to door trip arrangements for complex itineraries. • Diary management. • Budgeting and doing monthly accounts for the family estate.

  • Symbian Ltd (6 yrs 1 mo)
    • Executive Assistant to CEO, CFO, Chairman
      Sep 2004 - Apr 2006 · 1 yr 8 mos

      Full PA support for the CEO, the CFO and the part-time non-executive Chairman. The role required absolute discretion as it dealt with very sensitive company and personal information on a regular basis. Duties included: • Arrangements for Board meetings: preparing agenda with the CFO; collating papers and commissioning documents from senior management; liaising with board members in Korea, Japan, Finland, Germany and the UK regarding meeting dates and travel arrangements. • Diary management and complex travel arrangements worldwide. • Being the gatekeeper for all three directors internally and externally, which meant knowing the business well enough to be able to tell when something really was urgent / important. • Taking on extra projects as and when required. For example: setting up an employee council with representatives from all departments. Finding candidates from all departments and organising a voting procedure where all the company (~1,000 staff) could vote for their representative.

    • Personal Assistant to Executive Vice President Software Engineering
      Aug 2001 - Sep 2004 · 3 yrs 2 mos

      The EVP was a director of the Operational Board of Symbian as well as the head of the largest department in the company, Software Engineering. Apart from full 1:1 PA support, the role also included being an active member of the Software Engineering Management Team and taking on projects on a regular basis. Examples include: • Arranging a departmental kick-off event for 400 people with only 3 weeks’ notice. The event was arranged on time and on budget. • Chairing a working group responsible for the move of 300 staff to a new location closer to the new head office in south east London. Included risk assessment for loss of staff and the setup of the building. • Volunteered for extra responsibilities including: Health & Safety representative, Risk Assessor, Chief Fire Marshal and secretary of the company Sports & Social Club.

    • Project Administrator
      Feb 2001 - Aug 2001 · 7 mos

      Working on a major release project assisting the project team with all aspects of administration.

  • Senior Awards Unit Admin Assistant (temp contract) at City & Guilds
    Feb 2000 - Apr 2000 · 3 mos

    The role dealt mostly with standard tasks like filing and correspondence. I added value by: • Creating an Excel-based system for recording, tracking and analysing payments to and from the unit • Setting up a contact database for all people involved with the City & Guilds Fellowships • Creating an FAQ for future temps with detailed instructions for all the recurring tasks and standard templates for all correspondence.

  • IT Consultant (project contract) at IT@Kalmar län
    Aug 1998 - Dec 1999 · 1 yr 5 mos

    Contract for a government project. The aim of the project was to aid small and medium businesses in the local area to make use of the internet to open more routes to business.