Alastair Cotton Email & Phone Number

London, Gb

London, England, United Kingdom

In late 2023, Gilead launched a new Global Congresses and Events team, bringing together key congress and meetings activity within one global team for the first time. As a key member of this new team, I am the lead for Event Operations and Technology. My key responsibilities include:- Defining and managing new ways of working within the new global organisation, to drive performance, efficiency and value for the organisation, and helping to maximise the effectiveness of the team- Business ownership of Veeva Events Management for the Commercial organisation, collaborating with cross-functional partners to manage this critical tool for the business, including development and launch of new functionality and leadership of improvement projects- Business ownership of key event technology platforms, including Gilead's congress allocation platform and our event app platforms- Account management of our key supplier relationships, particularly with our key event management agency partners, to maximise performance and value for the business while setting our partners up for success

London, England, United Kingdom

Led global events activity outside the USA for the Commercial organisation. Key responsibilities included:- driving performance and leading delivery of key event management services for Gilead's Tier 1 and Tier 2 congress activity outside the USA- management of Gilead's outsourced event management resources, including 20+ team members at Gilead's preferred event management agency- adopting business ownership responsibilities for Veeva Events Management (VEM) for the Commercial organisation- line management for the Global Commercial Meetings and Events team

London, England, United Kingdom

London, England, United Kingdom

As the Senior Meetings Manager, I am the meetings and events subject matter expert for GSK's global travel and meetings operations team. In this role, I work extensively with colleagues across the globe at all levels of the business, acting as a business partner to deliver guidance, best practice and create solutions. I also play a key role in the team responsible for developing and delivering the company's global strategic meetings management programme, including:- developing GSK's new Cvent meetings management platform in close partnership with key internal stakeholders, Cvent and external agency partners- drafting a new global meetings policy to reflect new ways of working and evolving business priorities- driving the development of a new virtual meetings strategy for the business in close alliance with the global Tech and Comms teams, and communicating this effectively to key stakeholders- redesigning key team processes and ways of working to improve efficiency and increase the value the team delivers to the business- acting as a key advisor in the development of a new suite of BI and dashboards for senior leaders at GSK, ensuring data is presented clearly and provides compelling and actionable insights- playing a central role in the implementation of a new global lead agency in the company's largest markets, defining new SOPs, processes and training in partnership with GSK's sourcing team and global lead agency.In my broader role, I also lead the management of the meeting approval process globally, engaging with and influencing senior leaders (C-suite, SVPs, VPs) in the review, analysis and approval of GSK's highest spend meetings.

London, United Kingdom

London, United Kingdom

London, United Kingdom

Having first started my career at Gemini I returned as a Director with a broad remit of responsibilities across the business. Central to the role was delivering international events for our clients in the healthcare and professional services sectors, developing effective relationships and managing events from inception to delivery. This included providing strategic advice and consultancy, advising clients on how to evolve and improve their events through the implementation of alternative event designs, new technology and other tailored solutions. My role also encompassed business development activities, playing a key role in bidding for and winning new client business for Gemini.

London, United Kingdom

As the New Business Manager at CMS, I operated firmwide to identify, develop and manage a pipeline of new business opportunities and campaigns. These ranged from individual ad-hoc reactive opportunities to longer-term structured marketing campaigns. Core activities included working with partners to develop compelling client propositions and communicating directly with clients to present these propositions and establish new business relationships for the firm. As part of this activity I regularly engaged and managed external consultants to provide specialist support services. My primary objectives were engaging new clients for CMS, or developing new work streams with existing clients. Significant achievements in the role included the establishment of an effective new business pipeline management process, enabling regular reporting and the analysis of performance. Over the final 6 months in the role, I secured more than 50 client meeting opportunities, primarily engaging with general counsel and board members at major national and multi-national corporations.

As a bid manager at DWF LLP I delivered the full range of bids and tenders across the firm, managing the process from start-to-finish for all types of opportunity. Responsibilities included assessing bid opportunities; guiding the team on bid/no-bid decisions; chairing kick-off and subsequent planning meetings; managing the bid process; managing the creation of all bid materials and presentations; coaching team members; post-bid evaluations; and ensuring full reporting of bid activity work to the Head of Bids. After joining the firm in July 2009 I played a major role within the team in increasing the win rate of the firm from 25% to 69% while at the same time the volume of bids produced increased by over 450%.

I led the Sales Support Team with responsibility for a number of key activities within the company, encompassing: event management, procurement for events, supplier management, business tenders and event proposals. As a member of the senior management team, I was also involved with overall company management planning and strategy.

I established the new Sales Support Team at Gemini and redesigned the procurement process for events. I trained new team members in supplier sourcing, negotiation, proposal writing and budget management. Using my redesigned system I achieved a significant increase in productivity and quality levels, tripling the number of successful event proposals delivered in 2006.

In addition to my day-to-day event management role, I co-ordinated an extensive winning tender for event management services for a major corporate client over the course of 12 months during 2005. My role was central to the success of this bid, communicating between the management and finance teams to source information, analyse it and then to present it effectively. This work led on to additional responsibility in this area and promotion.

At HFS I gained excellent communication and negotiation skills through selling a range of financial products. In doing so I developed an in-depth knowledge of sales techniques and achieved the top sales targets consistently.

Mba Essentials Certificate, Business Administration And Management, General, 92.3%

Meng, Mechanical Engineering

High School