I led Internal Audit for Iron Mountain, an S&P 500-listed enterprise information management business with 30,000 staff across 50 countries, overseeing a team in London, Boston, Buenos Aires, Bangalore, Kuala Lumpur and Budapest.Over the course of five years, I substantially enhanced the quality and depth of internal audit, driving high standards of management, compliance and financial controls, continually improving IA processes through standardisation and automation.In addition, I developed and led the global Sarbanes Oxley compliance programme, was a key stakeholder during the business integration of multiple acquisitions and partnered with IT leadership to strengthen overall IT controls and capabilities with focus on cyber security.

I headed the Global Management Office, delivering a global workforce strategy. Highlights include full legal and operational set-up of a Fidelity Investments’ entity in Asia, part of a strategic initiative for building IT development capability.

Returning to Fidelity’s US operations, I led delivery of risk support services to their brokerage platform, the largest in the US, with 20M people investing their own life savings and 10,000 financial advisory firms needing investment and technology solutions to invest their own clients’ money. My team of 70 provided operational services focused primarily on fraud prevention, regulatory compliance, AML controls, OFAC screening, regulatory inquiries, privacy breaches and Fidelity fund compliance, and also included technology, operational and retail risk specialists. Throughout this period of increased business volume, complexity and regulatory / internal scrutiny, I continuously increased the capability and performance of Risk Management, ensuring a joined-up approach with Corporate departments to drive risk management at an enterprise level. New systems, including dashboard / reporting functionalities, re-engineered processes and top new talent all contributed to this.

As head of global relationship management and product support, I oversaw 15 of Europe’s largest global banking clients, driving new opportunities and steering product development through pan-European visibility and information share of client interaction. I worked closely with the Product Specialist team, enhancing performance and value of their contribution to the sales pipeline.

I held management responsibility across all operational activities of FIL’s European Retail business, with teams in the UK, Germany, Luxembourg and India.Maintaining Fidelity’s #1 position for Customer Service levels in Europe, I drove the quality of client interaction and depth of staff product knowledge via continuous improvement of systems, processes and training. Operational transformations, including offshoring, workflow automations, consolidated reporting and streamlined client documentation, enabled control of the cost base during a period of significant growth.

I built and led an Internal Audit and Risk function, a team of 20 in London, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Taipei, which provided internal control evaluation and risk management services for the rapidly growing non-US business.

Working closely with executive management and relationship management teams, I enhanced financial controls and commercial rigour of the FIIS business, maintaining strong profit growth during a period of increased market competition and client requirements.

I developed an Internal Audit function which helped to increase coverage and focus for one of Fidelity’s fast growing institutional businesses which included the 401k record-keeping services organisation.