James Chambers Email & Phone Number

London, United Kingdom

Overall responsibility for the effective running of all business operations whilst driving the company’s strategy to achieve profitable and sustainable growth. Responsible for the execution of the business plan; leading all business transformation initiatives and change programmes, managing financial and operational risk, driving business performance levels, and leading the organisation redesign whilst fostering a culture of continuous improvement.Key responsibilities:• Work with the MD to set the company’s strategic direction and execute the business plan• Set comprehensive goals for performance and growth• Oversee financial planning; agree investments, set budgets and regularly review performance• Analyse actual and forecasted revenues and expenses to determine progress toward goals and objectives• Establish human resources, procurement, marketing and technical services policies and practices• Evaluate and measure the effectiveness and efficiency of business processes• Promote best practice across the business and maintain quality by establishing and enforcing operating standards• Develop and maintain key customer and partner relationships• Ensure there is a clear and consistent communication and ongoing strategic alignment between senior management and the business development teams• Build an environment in which employees thrive

Sydney, Australia

Brought on to redefine the strategy and transform the customer experience for the General Insurance organisation. Responsible for orchestrating the long-range planning and short-term tactical delivery to maximise operational efficiency and drive financial and operational results.• Developed a 3-year roadmap, anchoring the business around 4 new strategic priorities. Presented to Board and gained unanimous approval and commendation• Built up the business transformation function from a team of 8 to 25 and provided leadership, direction and guidance to a team of 6 direct reports.• Established a new program office and hired a team of 3 Programme Directors responsible for executing key business initiatives and continual improvement efforts to increase operational efficiencies and minimise costs.• Successfully demerged the General Insurance business from the Wealth Management division and established a new governance structure• Spearheaded a new regulatory response committee to enable the timely and thorough response to government inquiries and regulator requests• Initiated a series of customer focus groups to evaluate both the online and offline end-to-end customer experience. Rolled out Net Promoter Score (NPS) as a new measure of customer advocacy and established a team to address detractor feedback.• Oversaw a complete end-to-end review of the Claims Management function and managed the subsequent change requirements

Sydney, Australia

Headed up Amex’s Insurance Services division for Australia and New Zealand with 2 key objectives:1. Returning a stagnant business to a position of sustainable and profitable growth2. Optimising the business and evaluating alternative operating models• Full P&L accountability and ownership of the marketing budget and investments• Created new branding to improve product awareness and customer engagement• Developed and executed a new product and distribution strategy• Significantly improved the online customer experience and drove demonstrable growth in digital sales• Built strong working partnerships with our underwriters, advertising agencies, aggregators and tele-sales providers• Ensured all compliance, legal and regulatory requirements are met and established best in class distribution practices• Led the Insurance Services organisation and established a positive, engaged employee culture• Led the commercial and contractual negotiations for the outsourcing of the business

Sydney, Australia

Asked to direct the launch of the first Shop Small Australia following the success of the UK programme, and deliver a programme that connected card members with small businesses.

London, United Kingdom

Successfully directed the launch of the inaugural Shop Small UK customer engagement programme, managing the programme budget and leading a team of 30 business representatives and stakeholders.• Set the strategy and led the development of the program construct• Coordinated a team of over 30 LOB representatives and stakeholders• Established industry partnerships and negotiated commercials and deliverables• Managed all data requirements; initial scoping, segmentation and data analytics• Oversaw the development of marketing creative and collateral• Established robust servicing procedures

Sydney, Australia

Headed up the partnership acquisition team that signed in excess of 10,000 new small and mid-market businesses and delivered AU$100M+ in billings per annum.• Negotiated and managed acquisition partnerships with the major banks in Australia and New Zealand• Assessed and determined new partnership opportunities to grow merchant coverage• Launched a new outbound tele-sales team• Developed tactical marketing campaigns to drive growth and exceed sales and activation targets• Engaged with Blue Box referral partners and external lead prospectors to balance key coverage goals with demand driven LIF and billings targets• Developed a strong working knowledge of American Express policies and procedures, compliance, legislative and regulatory requirements• Leveraged best practice across the JAPA and EMEA regions• Managed the financial planning and investment decisioning process

Sydney, Australia

Validated the strategic direction of the Merchant Services division and identified business priorities through analysis of performance and developing a sound understanding of the external regulatory environment.• Managed the comprehensive strategic and financial planning process, and investment decisioning for the Merchant Services division• Optimised business processes to drive efficiencies and deliver cost reductions• Developed new, innovative pricing structures for small merchants to dramatically improve card acceptance in the SME space• Designed and executed tactical plans to address differential surcharge by industryAchievements• Delivered cost savings of $2.5M per annum by outsourcing POS inventory and servicing• Increased SME card acceptance by 12%• Reduced the number of SME businesses applying a differential surcharge by 6%

Sydney, Australia

Sydney, Australia

Sydney, Australia

Wolverhampton, United Kingdom

Audit & Accountancy

Education record