North East, Business Consultant, Expert, Transformation, Middlesbrough, York, Management Consultant, Near Me, Yarm, Expert, Fractional, Advisory Role, Non-Exec Director NED, Programme Manager, Due Diligence, Interim, Freelance, J Sainsburys IT Director/CIO, Endava TAC/CIO, Yarm Business Consultancy, Highly Experienced Facilitator, Business Solutions, Process Optimisation, Cost Cutting, Cost Savings, Target Operating Model, a digital innovator, 80+ start-up businesses in the past 8 years, Azure, AWS, Agile, AI & ML, IT Strategy Development, Business Strategy Development, BSS/OSS
PROFESSIONAL PROFILE
Global CIO | Programme & Strategy | Private Equity / Carve-Out | Advisory | Business & IT Consultant | Transformation & Technology Leadership
Executive Summary
I am an accomplished and results-oriented Commercial, Technology and Business Transformation Director with over 34 years in the professional services, retail, engineering, oil & gas, manufacturing, logistics, facilities management, transport, and financial services sectors. I have a successful track record of driving business growth through strong leadership and strategic decision-making. Experienced in delivering critical initiatives that span business & IT, operations, strategy, and planning. Throughout my extensive career, I have held numerous senior management and director positions including IT Director for J Sainsbury's PLC, and currently Global CIO for LoneStar Group. I am a tech and business startup advisor & NED to various boards.
Personal career highlights include
-
Led Global teams of 600+ personnel across multiple time zones.
-
Work with/for consulting firms such as Deloitte, KPMG, Endava, and Accenture.
-
Global CIO for the LoneStar Group.
-
Total change portfolio's £5.1m to £20.1m
-
Proven experience as an IT Director, CIO, and in similar leadership roles.
-
Extensive experience in fifteen global Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and carve-out across multiple sectors.
-
Background in Private Equity-backed businesses, ideally with exposure to the entire business lifecycle, including exit.
-
Experience in running large and small businesses through to trade sale exits.
-
Business/Tech Start-Up advisory.
-
Managed budgets of over £120M.
-
Driven several transformation programmes across all business domains for major Global companies, including change management, business process improvements, budgeting and planning.
-
Extensive digital strategy and transformation experience.
-
Providing CTO/CIO Advisory.
-
Developed 'Same Day Delivery' Strategy for Argos.
-
Author of several eBooks on Transformation and Cyber Security.
-
Developed maturity models for IT and Data capabilities, introducing best practices, governance, and efficiency measures.
-
I am experienced in delivering RPA and AI automated solutions to support business transformation further.
-
Extensive procurement experience across multi-sourcing, outsourcing and offshoring. Negotiated over £20M in vendor savings while maintaining IT service levels and performance.
-
Experienced Project and Programme Management, Programme Due-Diligence & Recovery.
-
Solid understanding of process management, optimisation, data analytics and implementation.
-
Strong internal and external stakeholder management and ability to lead and work within high-performance teams.
-
I have extensive experience in business integration and IT enablement, for example, with clients such as Mothercare and Game Station acquisitions.
-
Regularly delivered industry papers and insight on transformation, strategy, technology, artificial intelligence, and machine learning.
-
Experience in Preparing Businesses for Sale, with a solid understanding of process management, optimisation, data analytics and implementation.
-
The development and implementation of Target Operating.
-
Lead the development and implementation of a comprehensive technology and data strategy, ensuring alignment with business goals.
-
Understanding of Data-Driven Businesses, managing data governance and data management.
-
Excellent leadership, communication, and stakeholder management skills.
-
Strategic mindset with the ability to align technology initiatives with business goals.
-
Worked with 80+ start-up businesses in the past 8 years.
Outcomes Delivered
35% reduction in BI reporting.
Headcount reduction by 12% driven by efficiencies.
Reduction of technical debt £0.7m - £2.5m driven by off-premise and consolidation platforms and systems.
Reduction in operating debt c. £40m driven by BPO.
Reduction in process waste by %11.
Compliance & efficiency savings ~75,000 hours.
Negotiated over £20m in vendor savings.
Business Process Outsouring (BPO) delivering £2m saving (Year 1)
Received in 2001, "North East Teesside Business Technology Award" for the e-2-e removal of paper across warehouse and supplychain using voice recognition in the warehouse's and RF devices in store, Bells was the first UK retailer to achieve this. Saving £0.3m in costs.
My Kindle Publications
I am an experienced professional with expertise in the fields of Ecommerce, Transformation and Cybersecurity and currently work as a freelance consultant
I also write frequently in my LinkedIn blog, where I share my insights and experiences in the world of AI, Ecommerce and transformation. I have published several books on the topic, which can be found below to download.
I am passionate about helping people and businesses to succeed in the increasingly digital world.
Digital Transformation
Shopping in the digital age
Cybersecurity for the boardroom
I have made the above publications directly available from my website. *no registration required*