Mar 2020 – May 2020 · 2 mos · London, England, United Kingdom

• Assessed a flagship programme for Vodafone’s Head of Big Data migrating on-premise data warehouses to Google Cloud Platform. Made recommendations in a number of areas (including: architecture, data and platform engineering, data model and data governance, testing, security, operations, programme management and governance, internal resource capability and systems integrator engagement) that were used to shape the roadmap for the next three years.

Sep 2019 – Dec 2019 · 3 mos · London, United Kingdom

• Mobilised a programme to transform IT Operations’ control environment including: risk assessment methodology, control selection and design, the supporting tools and resourcing, and skills and training requirements.

Mar 2018 – Aug 2019 · 1 yr 5 mos · London, United Kingdom

• Owned all operational aspects of this Shell and VC backed startup building blockchain applications for enterprise and startup clients across verticals including banking, telecoms, automotive and energy.
• Scaled the organisation to double annual revenue.
• Created and staffed a nearshore development centre in Portugal to remain competitive as London software engineer costs increased. Reduced per developer cost by nearly 50% whilst increasing gross margin by over 20%.
• Delivered more than 15 client projects, including the world’s first production blockchain derivatives trading platform for Shell.
• Performed a hands on role for complex projects, working with clients to understand objectives and requirements and managing development before hiring and coaching project managers to assume ownership.
• Created a standardised Agile process to ensure product quality and consistent client experience.
• Implemented processes to manage all aspects of a growing company operating in more than one location.
• Initially managed non-technical delivery resources (project managers and business analysts) and support functions (finance and HR) then took on direct management of all developers and devops - collectively more than 75% of the organisation.

Apr 2017 – Feb 2018 · 10 mos · London, United Kingdom

• Arrowgrass is a multi-strat hedge fund with approximately £5m AUM. Hired by the COO (a previous client at Deutsche Bank) to manage initiatives including:
• Launch of the firm’s fourth fund (enabling go-live a month earlier than planned)
• MiFID II preparation (including limiting the net impact of the requirement to pay for research to 5% of the existing research budget through rationalisation and offsetting vs reduced execution commissions)
• Coordination of an SEC inspection (concluded within the SEC’s tight timeframe with a minimal number of remediation points)
• In addition to owning specific projects, also introduced discipline around how change is managed. This included standard project roles and plans, minimum governance requirements, and monthly portfolio reporting to the COO and direct reports. This upskilled current change resources, ensured greater control and assurance of projects and provided transparency and prioritisation capability to senior management.

Sep 2015 – Mar 2017 · 1 yr 6 mos · London, United Kingdom

• Conducted front office operational risk assessments across Rates and Credit trading desks and country offices.
• Identified inherent risks (including fraud, market manipulation, money laundering and business continuity), assessed the design and operating effectiveness of over 100 controls and agreed residual risk and remediation actions with business heads.
• Led the remediation program for Global Institutional Debt Sales to close significant risks.
• Worked with the Equities COO following a high profile money laundering incident to assess Equity and Debt businesses in six high risk locations: analysed business and client profiles, booking and settlement flows, and governance and controls to identify risks and remediation actions.

Aug 2014 – Apr 2015 · 8 mos · London, United Kingdom

• Led a Lean programme across Equity, FX, Rates and Credit Middle Offices and OTC, ETD and Collateral operations using the McKinsey 5-lens methodology, covering1,100 FTEs in three regions and two vendor processing hubs with a budget of CHF 12m.
• Recruited and mobilised the programme team and ran the first project delivering 20% headcount reduction benefits.
• Partnered with line functions to convert initial scepticism into advocacy and the green-lighting of Lean initiatives across the whole of Operations.

Apr 2011 – Aug 2014 · 3 yrs 4 mos · London, United Kingdom

• Business management of Investment Banking Middle Office and Operations with more than 1,000 on and offshore staff and direct costs in excess of CHF 100m.
• Managed the 3 year plan for strategic investment and cost reduction initiatives to deliver a 40% reduction in direct costs.
• Built and led a team of business managers and partnered with operations heads to meet or exceed targets each year. Provided previously unavailable transparency into CHF 400m of predominantly technology costs allocated directly to the business.
• Implemented control improvements following a significant unauthorised trading incident, including:
• Identifying the middle office control inventory and associated risk metrics and instituting a weekly review and escalation process
• Implementing an extended balance sheet substantiation process to evidence enhanced control to the FCA and FINMA and avoid business threatening sanctions
• Coordinated governance and communications, including management committees and the associated reporting and townhalls

May 2006 – Apr 2011 · 4 yrs 11 mos

• Catalyst (now Sionic) was a niche consulting firm specialising in increasing the performance and value of IT and Operations in capital markets.
• Led and contributed to sales and assignment delivery, including:
• Transfer of KBC’s convertible bonds business to Daiwa Capital Markets
• Management of client onboarding and novations for the migration of ABN’s Rates and Credit derivatives businesses to RBS
• Vision, change programme and performance management system for Debt Markets Technology at RBS and similar operating model projects at Landsbanki and HSBC
• Implementation of performance and risk indicators across Global Operations at HSBC
• Identified an opportunity in Catalyst’s Leadership Training Program and developed an alumni website and community which became a significant contributor to the sales pipeline.
• Designed and implemented an assignment management framework to structure, control and continuously improve delivery which enabled the scaling of the firm prior to its private sale in 2008.

Feb 2005 – Apr 2006 · 1 yr 2 mos

• Led a programme to convert Global Markets Operations into a commercial shared service organisation with defined services, consumption tracking and billing.
• Managed a project to design the user interface to a new post-trade processing platform for Global Markets Securities Operations.

Jan 2001 – Sep 2004 · 3 yrs 8 mos

• Designed and implemented a workflow management platform to significantly scale processing capability, reduce cost per trade and shift internal focus from manual processing to service continuity and continuous improvement.
• Deployed new operational processes to 150 resources in four locations and outsourced 45 roles delivering an annual run rate reduction of EUR 6m whilst enabling increased trading volumes of more than tenfold.
• Member of Deutsche Bank's top talent pool and top talent review board member for the VP and AVP pools.

Jul 1996 – Dec 2000 · 4 yrs 5 mos

• Equity trade support and settlements positions before moving into a full time change role to manage Equity Operations preparation for the euro.
• Led the Equity Operations change team - accountable for defining, testing and implementing all technology and process enhancements.