James Russell Email & Phone Number

London, England, United Kingdom

I acted as the project manager for the mobilisation and design phases for a programme to deliver new GL, Reporting tool and Data solutions. I had responsibility for:• Delivering the ERP solution design, options analysis and requirements• Developing a finance data strategy and options analysis• Developing a reporting strategy for FinanceI also led the design workstream for the finance function. I had responsibility for:• Mobilising the design function for the Finance Transformation Programme• Developed and quality assured key design decisions• Managed senior stakeholders to ensure efficient buy in and sign off to project timelines

I acted as a Project Manager in implementing a suite of strategic finance solutions with project costs in excess of £70m.Key responsibilities were as follows:• Developed and submitted the business case to the Finance Steering Committee which was approved first time following unsuccessful submissions by previous teams.• Overall responsibility for the end to end tool and vendor process including managing selection, contract delivery and ongoing partner management.• Responsible for establishing and maintaining programme governance and Steering Committee/business case delivery. This included managing a wide range of senior stakeholders from the programme, business and implementation partners.

London, United Kingdom

I acted as a transformation manager across a number of initiatives as part of a Global Transformation Programme with project costs in excess of £100m.Key responsibilities were as follows:• Establishing the programme governance framework and financial mechanics (including modelling the programme costs)• Leading a workstream in offshoring a finance operations team• Re-designing part of the group operating model • Delivering and presenting an outsourcing partner strategic analysis to key stakeholders• Process and control re-design of the Group Actuarial Function

London, United Kingdom

I was a Manager within the Financial Services Advisory practice for EY delivered a number of large and/or high profile engagements across Banking and InsuranceBupa Insurance | Close and Control Workstream Lead | July – Oct 2016• Designed a simplified and streamlined close process to reduce the reporting time from eight to three workings days (leading practice) through process re-design, automation and system enhancement. This would enable the finance team to focus on deeper strategic analysis and thought leadershipAspen Insurance | Close Engagement Leader | May – June 2016• Provided a number of tactical and strategic recommendations across two entities to accelerate the close period by up to 2.5 weeks to meet Solvency II deadlinesRSA | Regional Transformation Manager | Feb 2015 – Feb 2016• Had overall responsibility for one of the three regions in delivering annualised benefits of up to £350m by 2018• Identified incremental opportunities for areas such as process automation (robotics), contributing to an increase in benefits of over 100%• Contributed to the sell on of four additional phases of the projectAviva International Insurance | Engagement Manager | Nov 2014 – Jan 2016• Had overall responsibility for leading the project and designed a new Target Operating Model and organisational structure enabling the business to write significantly more premium Remediation Workstream Lead | Lloyds Banking Group | Apr 2013 – Oct 2014• Increased the workflow of cases threefold by increasing the size of the team, leveraging experience and streamlining the review process• Managed a team of up to 30 people and restructured personnel in order to develop case specialisms and maintain stringent quality standardsPractice Development | March 2013 – October 2016• Drove pursuits of over £6m through the development of strategic win plans for existing and target clients• Developed a standardised finance taxonomy for insurance across EMEIA

Cape Town Area, South Africa

I was given the opportunity to work with Zoona as part of the Vantage scheme. The scheme enables EY staff to work with entrepreneurial Financial Services businesses within its growth marketsZoona is a FinTech business helping people in Africa to send and receive money when they need it most so that communities can thrive.My key achievements during my six week secondment were:• Completed a business review which was presented to investors and contributed to the successful series B fundraising round where $15m was raised to support future growth• Reviewed the business growth drivers with all board members providing a maturity assessment of the current position and future aspirations along with the associated gap analysis. This enabled the board to assess the company’s capability to deliver its growth plans and gain clarity around strategic priorities• Enabled the business to meet its aggressive launch deadline for expansion into Mozambique by identifying and documenting the regulatory requirements for trading in the region

London, United Kingdom

I am working as a Senior Financial Analyst within the Group Finance department of JLT.• Improved the efficiency of the year end closed period process by automating the group analytical review. This saved 5 days of work from a qualified accountant and improved quality through reduced manual intervention• Successfully managed a project team of 6 people through the implementation of a new accounts production system across the whole UK business. This reduced production time by over 50% and streamlined the audit process• Had responsibility for the financial planning and budgeting process for the central cost centres (£25m total costs). This included drafting the budget, making cost efficiencies as well as developing and presenting an analytical review to the group COO on a monthly basis • Prepared a number of key sections for the analyst presentations and Group Plc financial statements including full responsibility for the earnings per share and share based payments disclosures• Prepared and presented the quarterly competitor analysis to the group CFO, enabling him to make strategic decisions in response to the performance of competitors

London, United Kingdom

A client secondment for their year end process.• Prepared and presented a board report reviewing key accounting treatments for items such as revenue recognition and potential alternative treatments. This enabled the board to make a decision on the suitability of the treatments based on the business they write• Prepared over 50 sets of financial statements for all of the UK subsidiaries on a tight reporting schedule and met the tight submission deadlines

London, United Kingdom

I was an Audit and Assurance Executive within the Insurance and Investment Management department in London.• Led teams of up to 8 people across the the audits of JLT Group, Groupama Insurance, Lockton International and Cooper Gay• Conducted regular meetings with the group and subsidiary CFOs and Financial Controllers throughout the year to share internal financial issues and external technical updates. This enabled them to improve controls within the businesses and ensure reporting meets current • Successfully sold a non-audit service to a client to reduce the number of entities requiring audits. This created substantial savings for the client as well as freeing up time of the finance team to focus on more value add activities• Reviewed the accuracy and reasonableness of the target’s forecasts as part of a £140m commercial due diligence transaction for a FTSE 250 insurance broker. This enabled to purchaser to make a more informed choice on the suitability of the transaction

Member

Bachelor Of Science (Bsc), Accounting And Finance, 2:1