Abigail Williams Email and Phone Number

Led the portfolio, programme and business change project function within a top 50 national law firm. Guardian of the firm’s programme governance framework, ensuring all projects and programmes fit within the firm’s strategic plan. Facilitate and support the firm’s executive management committees in devising projects for inclusion in the firm’s change portfolio ensuring that business transformation, benefits, training and organisation development is achieved.

Led the information management function within the UK’s Quality Assurance Agency for the higher education sector. Provided strategic and operational direction for all matters pertaining to information and knowledge management, and the systems and services to improve and support effective information and knowledge management and information governance. In addition to managing relations between the team, suppliers and users, was responsible for a range of information and knowledge management projects including enterprise records management, data protection, SharePoint collaborations, business continuity and web and intranet development.

Headed up the evaluation and risk function within an economic development and regeneration agency. Responsible for reviewing the economic, social and environmental impact and value for money of the Agency’s and the region’s European structural fund investments and feeding lessons learnt back into policy and strategy development, investment decision making and knowledge management forums. Also lead the corporate risk function with the Agency, contributing widely to its performance management framework. Through both elements of the role, oversaw the integration of risk management and evaluation learning into the corporate and business planning cycles, utilising the research and evidence base to assess strategic fit with the Agency’s corporate priorities.

Headed up a newly created business excellence function within the economic development agency. Accountabilities included managing the performance of the Agency’s corporate strategy; business planning; project appraisal; state aid compliance and internal business processes. In particular, was responsible for overseeing the incorporation of project best practice in investment appraisals, ensuring compliance with Treasury green book standards for economic impact assessment, and combining the value for money assessments of EU structural funds and national funding programmes. With responsibility for initiating a business excellence model and performance management framework, oversaw the Agency’s approach to continuous improvement. This included leading on elements of the Agency’s change management programme: redesigning the Agency’s core processes, managing cultural change, working with human resource colleagues to integrate the organisation’s and individual performance management frameworks, and contributing to the development of the organisation’s vision and values in the establishment of corporate strategy and priorities.

Headed up the information and knowledge function within the Strategy and Communications Directorate. Responsible for internal strategy and policy development in information management, communications and business process and external national and regional tourism strategy and Internet marketing. Accountable for information compliance (data protection, freedom of information, copyright etc.), library services and records management. Expert in knowledge management, business analysis, intranets and web services. Programme manager for enterprise wide client relationship management implementation, business intelligence solutions and project executive for associated business change projects. Responsible owner of all Agency corporate information systems.

Management responsibilities for client relationship management and key knowledge management systems within the Corporate Finance practice area of Clifford Chance. Responsibilities included the maintenance and development of the Intranet and Extranet services, managing legal precedents and reviewing external databases for the practice area. Drew on qualification mix to bridge the gap between IT and business users and consequently managed a range of projects and programmes comprising information management and application development, web development, data / information quality and business continuity.

Provided professional information and research support within the central library, property, tax and European information functions, maintaining know-how systems, practice area internal communications and benefits realisation for practice area knowledge management services.

Provision of an educational information service from the European Union’s Mobile Information Centre on behalf of the European Commission Representation in the UK. Responsibilities included presentations and ‘sign-posting’ those seeking technical information, media relations and developing an educational resource base on European affairs.