Newcastle Upon Tyne, England, United Kingdom
Experienced Portfolio Manager. Skilled in Portfolio/Programme/Project Management, Business Strategy and Planning, Practice Management, Practice Improvement, Change Delivery and Stakeholder Management. Possessing a wide and comprehensive change background covering multiple business sectors including; food on the go, retail, manufacturing, professional services, compliance & risk management, financial services, pharmaceuticals, charitable/not for profit and publishing. IT projects implemented include the Microsoft D365 stack, from project to portfolio level, including; F&O, CE, Field Services, Sales, Customer Services, BI and Retail. Has also delivered integrations to Power BI, E-commerce platforms, legacy systems and with ISV's. Programmes/Projects under management have been in the range of £1mil to £30mil. Non IT Projects include capex projects to renovate retail departments, internal logistics optimisation and shop fits etc. A proven Senior Manager with a track record for delivering effective and sustainable change. Driven by customer satisfaction and a passion for business transformation. A passionate Change Practitioner with a breadth of experience in practice improvement, ways of working alignment and continuous improvement. Skilled in numerous Project Management techniques including; Agile, Scrum and Waterfall. PMP qualified. Strong presentational skills and exceptional communications ability across business hierarchies from end users to senior stakeholders.
Responsibility for the vision setting, oversight and leadership of the Business Change Team comprising of; the PMO, Project Management service, Change and Readiness service, Agile Delivery service and Business Analysis service. Ensuring the Portfolio with all our Programmes, Projects and engagements are managed effectively, in a joined-up way and in line with agreed principles delivering value to Greggs.
•Created an enterprise‑wide, joined‑up delivery model by leading the Portfolio, Project and Scrum teams, establishing clear visibility of risks, dependencies and capacity, and aligning the portfolio narrative to Greggs’ strategic priorities. •Strengthened delivery consistency and value realisation by embedding practice standards, continuous improvement frameworks, and transparent reporting improving stakeholder confidence and enabling better decision‑making across IT & Business Change. •Delivered major cross‑functional programmes including the Power BI transformation and post‑ERP stabilisation initiatives, while mentoring and developing the PM community and influencing the formation of PMO/Change/Portfolio functions to enhance governance and operational readiness.
Brought in initially to manage a large scale BI Programme replacing Oracle reporting with an innovative and scalable Power BI reporting solution across the business. This role developed into managing other projects - such as legacy systems decommissioning - in the wake of a large scale SAP ERP implementation and the Power BI programme. Alongside this I was also able to initiate and support an internal project focussing on practice improvement and continuous improvement to align our project management ways of working and create a dynamic engagement strategy. The desirable outcome was to create a culture of continuous improvement and to standardise our ways of working whereby we constantly monitor and challenge our own processes to remain aligned with best practise and Greggs culture. I also helped mentor and support a growing PM team and helped create a case to support the need and formation of a PMO and Portfolio to help maintain quality outputs from the team.
In this voluntary role I work as part of the Association Committee. We oversee the management and maintenance of over 4 miles of Association water stretching from Alnwick to Alnmouth. Or passion and focus is on environmental improvement and sustainability methods in pursuit of outstanding game fishing for Salmon, Sea Trout and Brown Trout. We regularly participate in scientific surveys, habitat restoration projects and works commensurate with providing access to fishing. We are also responsible for all aspects of running the Association including working with our landlord to negotiate rights and work, maintaining a website and contact with the public, staying current with all laws and regulations as well as maintaining finances in order to keep it viable.
I was a member of the Army Reserve, holding the rank of Sergeant, part of 101 Regiment Royal Artillery. I was the Battery Training Officer responsible for the formulation and co-ordination of training programmes for 50 soldiers. I was also responsible for ensuring soldiers were placed on courses that I negotiated with the chain of command to meet their needs and to help increase their experience and value to the unit. I regularly taught in varied areas from weapons through to tactics. I regularly undertook personal career development training on leadership principles as well as the values and standards of the British Army which I imparted in my non-military life as well including integrity, selfless commitment and respect for others. I attended numerous career development courses with an emphasis on leadership and communication. As a result I planned and ran many team building and team work exercises to ensure the standard of the soldiers within the Battery was consistently improved so they could succeed in their career development courses and progress. Another part of my role was as a Command Post Officer. This involved leading my team, and others, to ensure communications within the Regiment were maintained in the field using an array of signals equipment. It also required that I briefed senior officers and ensured orders were passed quickly and accurately between distant units to ensure missions were carried out in a timely manner due to their high degree of time dependency.
I was mobilised for regular service in Afghanistan and during this period and was attached to 29 Commando Royal Artillery for Operation Herrick 9. I was the Detachment Commander of a mortar locating radar, managing and living with a close knit team of 3. I specialised in Surveillance and Target Acquisition. This involved gathering intelligence on enemy firing points and making decisions on how best to deal with the threat. I also worked closely with intelligence cells and interpreters to both gather and provide information on enemy indirect fire capabilities. Due to the fast moving nature of the threat we were facing I had to make quick decisions on what to do with the intelligence gathered. This also meant managing a relationship with multiple agencies engaged in neutralising this threat in a theatre where resources were often tight, in order to achieve my goals. My role meant I had to pay close attention to the laws surrounding armed conflict (LOAC) and rules of engagement to ensure that property and non-combatants were not unnecessarily engaged. This law can be complex at times and requires careful interpretation and application. I also had to regularly brief Senior Officers on the high level ground situation in my area of operations to enable them to make informed command decisions. I moved all around South West Afghanistan, including mobile strike operations into Kandahar and Uruzghan province, although I was predominantly based in the more kinetic areas of the Helmand Valley including Sangin and Nad-e-Ali.
Working for a Microsoft Inner Circle Partner and Presidents Club member. I worked on multiple Projects and Programmes implementing solutions throughout the Microsoft Dynamics AX and D365 stack. These were complex ERP implementations also included integrations with legacy systems, e-com solutions as well as plugging in Power BI to data sources. Implementations were spread over various business sectors including; Retail, Pharma, Financial Services, Media, Marketing and Advertising, Not for Profit, Manufacturing and Legislation Compliance. This has given me a wide experience of how different sectors operate and how business objectives and aims can differ by circumstance, as well as developing ways to manage within these differing environments. Outside of Project delivery, I worked with my teams to deliver multiple Practise improvement initiatives, many of which I identified and flagged as areas for change and development. This included work to develop and deliver a uniform Project delivery approach to the Business utilising Azure Dev Ops. I delivered template methodology plans and process mapped Practise activities to codify working methods and improve consistency.
I reported directly to the Project Director to deliver Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 CU10 as an ERP solution to 12 sites - 9 retail and 3 warehouse. We looked at CRM, D365 (Finance) and e-commerce integrations. I designed and implemented the programme plan - including all development tasks and cutover plans. Due to this, I had to make key decisions that affected the programme which were often time critical, whilst managing my own workload. I also liaised and interacted directly with Senior Stakeholders to help coordinate and implement the solution for the Business. My team comprised of 3 project managers, who manage teams of around 30 each, and reported to me on the status and progress of their individual phases via regular meetings where I planned and prioritised their tasks. The responsibility for ensuring the project teams were correctly resourced and that staff were sufficiently trained rested with me. I regularly used a range of Microsoft tools to aid me in my role including Project, Excel, Word, Visio and PowerPoint. My role was predominantly Newcastle based with travel to other Retail and Logistics sites in York and London when necessary.
I reported directly to the Project Director to deliver Microsoft Dynamics AX as an ERP solution to three Phase 1 Stores. We rolled out Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 CU10 across three sites - two Retail and one Warehouse. I managed a core Project Team of over 30 and the roll out affected over 200 business users. There is scope to roll AX out in phases across the rest of the business. This role saw me design and implement the roll out plan for Phase 1 including all development tasks and cutover plans. I also liaised and interfaced directly with Senior Management and Business Stakeholders to help coordinate and implement AX as an ERP solution for our Business. In this role I made crucial decisions and implemented change on the Projects Data plan. This completely changed the way the Project collects, handles and migrates its data onto the new platform. This saved time and resource, as well as making transition to computerised systems easier for the Departments. The Data Plan is produced a much higher quality of data migrating into the system. I also undertook a Project Team review, re-implementing JIRA as a PM tool, restructuring work streams and formalising job roles to manage workload and increase visibility of Project critical tasks for all areas. My role was predominantly Newcastle based with travel to other Retail and Logistics sites in York and London when necessary.
I worked directly under the Head of Retail Operations and headed up a services team of over 30 staff. I was responsible for all stock movement and space allocation within the store, working closely with our external suppliers and Warehousing teams. Department layouts and fixture moves were orchestrated through me and, in collaboration with my team’s supervisors, I planned and communicated back to Senior Stakeholders when tasks would be complete. This was a time critical task as layouts are redone to increase sales opportunities and are often pressured. The responsibility for planning and delivering services support for all major store events internally and externally lay with me. I worked closely with the Maintenance Manager and Warehouse Manager to ensure the implementation of an integrated services approach. This, in turn, fed into Senior Stakeholder plans around store strategy with regular meetings and input from myself. Utilising skills gained from studying Hazzard and Risk management at University I created and maintained the COSH register to ensure legislative compliance. I was also responsible for all the materials and goods purchasing for Maintenance and Services. I monitored the budgets and allocated finances within the Services area to ensure that materials purchased met our high standards and represented the best value for money. Alongside that I also compiled and managed the work planners for both these areas. I was the main point of contact for all external shop fits and conducted the project management and follow up on internal developments such as the Foodhall Project.