Ben Yager Email & Phone Number

London, Gb

London, Gb

Finance & Operations lead for Pearson's Corporate Functions e.g., HR, Legal, Strategy, CTO. Responsible for supporting the Exec with strategic planning and operational management of £100m+ of annual spend and 1,000+ employees. Strategy and delivery lead for Strategic Projects.

London, Gb

M&A Director at Pearson PLC, the worlds largest education company, focused on transforming Pearson by investing, buying, integrating, growing high-growth EdTech businesses / carving out non-core assets globally.M&A Director, accelerating growth and success of Pearson's acquisitions and divestitures.M&A transactions: - Faethm.ai (Leading HR Analytics Platform)- Mondly (World #3 Languages App)- ClutchPrep (Learning Video Production)- Credly (Digital Learning Credential Company)- PDRI (Talent Assessment Platform)

London, Gb

Responsible for leading the portfolio of BBC Studios’ UK Major Projects including the purchase and integration of UKTV, transition of Broadcast Playout, D2C initiatives, and all major procurement activity for the UK region. UKTV is a 7-channel network (Dave, Gold, Eden, W, Yesterday, Drama, Alibi) that is now part of BBC Studios. Ben also supports the launch of new BBC Studios channels domestically and internationally on both Linear and OTT services as well as new direct to consumer initiatives such as UKTV Play.

Worldwide, Oo

Lead a number of high-profile separations / integrations including Deutsche Bank's carve-out and IPO of Deutsche Asset Management on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, Rolls Royce's carve-out of Rolls Royce Commercial Marine and sale to Kongsberg Marine AS, ABInBev's acquisition of SABMiller, YoSpace's acquisition by RTL Group and BBC's purchase and integration of UKTV.Advised throughout the M&A life-cycle from M&A strategy, vendor assist and diligence, through to post-deal deployment and deal value maximisation.

Toronto, On, Ca

Technology focused M&A associate with specialism in AI, Big Data, and Digitally Enabled Businesses. Worked across the M&A lifecycle including:- Core IT Diligence; assessing the reliability, scope and opportunities arising from IT strategy, applications, operating models, processes, infrastructure, digital technologies and teams, and how well they meet industry requirements and the pace of growth of "the disrupters".- Assist global FTSE 100 clients in the assessment and quantification of IT synergies to develop robust synergy cases that can stand up to private and public reporting if required.- Advise CEOs, CFOs and CIOs of the UKs largest organisations on their choice of IT operating models, how to optimise their organisational structure and how to streamline their IT strategy post acquisition / merger to maximise shareholder value.- Provide technology / platform / product due diligence services, reviewing the capabilities of IT products versus claimed benefits, competitors’ offerings and against market developing capabilities I.e rapidly evolving digital technology trends.- Review and advise on Transitional Service Agreement design, construction, costing, dependency and risks, and help our client ensure seamless sell-side separation.- Integration and separation support and planning, helping clients realise the intended benefits, identifying risks, barriers and enablers – including dependency on IT and stand-alone IT separation considerations.- Assist clients in planning for and driving through the integration of acquired businesses, focusing on securing value and managing risk in the first 100 days post-completion.

Mountain View, Ca, Us

- Analysing the current market for trends and opportunities within the Google Enterprise Search space to identify the need for increased marketing spend and focus.- Managed and introduced several new clients to the business including senior IT representatives from UBS and Domestic & General, therefore increasing Google's Enterprise revenue potential.- Designed various creative campaigns alongside Google's marketing folks to attract new FTSE100 companies to Google's Enterprise offerings.- Organised an innovation workshop for the CIO of Investec Global which had a great response from all parties. - Interacted and regularly communicated with several key stakeholders from Google's partner organisations such as CloudSherpas (Now Accenture) and Appsbroker.- Organised and Co-Lead the Google Atmosphere September 2014 event which hosted 150+ guests from 10 industries. Responsibilities included interacting with numerous third party suppliers and managing marketing tools such as Salesforce and Magento which manage website traffic and attendance statistics. The event was a great success and achieved if not surpassed all of its planned KPIs.- Assisted Google's charity arm, Google.org, in the running of a global initiative, Google Impact Challenge, which supported 20 innovative, technology based charities with a £250k grant. Responsibilities included; guest welcoming and registration, logistics, creating brochures and assisting our special guests (Richard Branson, Jimmy Wales and Peter Jones).- Highly commended for efforts to improve relations with YouTube's content creators. Approached and directly contacted high profile artists to communicate the importance of Google+.

London, Mayfair, Gb

Nova Founders is one of Asia's largest Venture Capital firms by portfolio size. It has started more than 30 successful internet businesses which employ thousands of people and have a combined valuation north of US$2 billion. As a venture analyst, head-hunted by the HR team, it was my responsibility to add value and launch various ventures in a variety of regions within South-East-Asia. One of which, CompareAsiaGroup, has grown to become Asia's largest online money saving comparison tool used by millions each day.

CompareHero.my is the leading financial comparison service in Asia. The online service helps customers find the right product at a competitive price, and therefore save them time and money.As a business development manager, I was tasked to build partnerships with Asia's largest, most prominent banking, insurance and telecoms providers including pitching to CMO's and CEO's of Citibank, Maybank, Ambank, Zurich Insurance, Standard Chartered and Telecom Malaysia to name a few. The role had incredibly high levels of responsibility from day 1, working towards weekly, ambitious KPI's. The company now has over 500 employees and millions of visits each day from across the world.W: CompareHero.my; CompareAsiaGroup.com

Nottingham Entrepreneurs (NE) is one of the University of Nottingham's most successful societies. As an ambitious community of like-minded students, we assist our members to think creatively, challenge themselves and to learn new skills to ultimately launch their own venture. In 2009 and 2011 respectively, we were awarded The James Caan Student Spirit Award and were nominated for Best Business Clubs in the 2011 Midlands Business Awards. Having undergone a complete re-brand in advance of the 2014/15 academic year, NE was successfully awarded 3 major awards. With sponsorship from EY, ICAP and Barclays, Nottingham Entrepreneurs held the largest conference ever hosted by the University, inviting international speakers and inspiring the next generation of business owners.E: ben@nottingham-entrepreneurs.co.uk W: Nottingham-entrepreneurs.co.uk

Founded in 2007, Atomic Events is a national company distributing technical equipment used in the Sound and Lighting Industry for major events. This entrepreneurial endeavour started at the age of 13, providing equipment for DJ’s and Bands including organising discos for charities, schools and friends. The initial small start-up company has been transformed into a highly profitable SME.Directors have grown the business from a team of 2 and an initial investment of £5,000, to a business with a team of 8 hiring out stocks in excess of £60,000 across the UK. Built relationships with suppliers and clients including completing management of companies books and preparing forecasts and budgets.Future plans include adding an E-commerce engine onto the existing website to offer clients the latest technical equipment for reasonable prices. Other plans are also in the pipeline such as the development of interactive software to control specialised lighting fixtures.E: Ben@atomicevents.co.uk W: Atomicevents.co.uk

Nottingham, Gb

SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise) is a Non-Profit Company aimed to promote economic opportunity for people in the local community and abroad. SIFE Nottingham is a branch of SIFE UK made up of 150 members and has been one of the most successful UK teams in the annual SIFE National Competition. This year we were one of the top 4 teams out of 47 in the country, presenting in the final round in front of 500+ people including CEOs from blue-chip companies.Throughout my time with Enactus, I worked on a variety of projects which included, Building Business India, a project which aimed to help deprived Entrepreneurs in Pune, India, kick-start their business to fuel an ever-growing economy. Our team worked closely with NGO's based in Pune along with local institutions to communicate with potential business leaders and give strategic advice and grants to aid success in the short and long term.

Worked as a member of the technical department on all 4 Olympic and Paralympic Ceremonies. Worked closely with technical leaders in the industry, learning how large scale events are organised according to tight deadlines. Helped to enhance personal leadership and team working skills including communication and time management. Received a letter of personal thanks from the Prime minister, David Cameron.

London, Gb

Successfully completed a challenging Summer Internship in the tax department of a leading accountancy firm. Trained on AlphaTax Software for the completion of various tax computations. Analysed the accounts of several large retail chains and property development companies to aid group taxation planning. Highly commended by senior management and partners for attention to detail and quality of written communication. Directly interacted with clients and possitively contributed to various Tax Consultancy meetings. Met with BDO Chief Economist Alex White to discuss the Eurozone Crisis relating to the Bank of England Target 2.0 National Competition.

Completed a 2 week placement in the Base Metals department of this major inter-dealer brokerage firm gaining an insight into how markets operate on a global scale. Worked closely with a team of 6 to help in the analysis and trading of major metals such as Tin, Zinc and Copper. Had a particular interest in future options trading and their inherent volatility. Finished the experience with a day trip to the London Metal Exchange to see first-hand how the price of base metals is set and traded across the world.

Bachelor’S Degree, Finance, Accountancy & Management

Chartered Institute Of Management Accountants, Finance And Accountancy

Economics, Geography, Maths

Economics, Geography, History, Maths

Biology, Chemistry, English Lang, English Lit, French, Geography, History, Latin, Maths, Physics