Julian Thomas Email & Phone Number

England, United Kingdom

Bromley, United Kingdom

Bromley, United Kingdom

Working part-time providing vital public services in my local community across the various libraries in Bromley

Bromley, Kent

After taking voluntary redundancy from the Natural History Museum, I took a career break to work on a number of key projects at home, and also to have the opportunity to spend some time with my family.

South Kensington

Following successful completion of my previous role as Ticketing Business Change Manager, which was a secondment, I reverted back to this earlier post, although in a part time capacity. See Apr 2013 – Aug 2016 for role details. However, the management structure of the Museum department that this post was under had changed during my secondment and consequently this post became redundant in that revised structure. I accepted voluntary redundancy from the Museum.

In 2016 the Natural History Museum began a major commercial project to procure a ticketing and events system to meet its expanding business aspirations as set out in its 5-year strategy. As Ticketing Business Change Manager my role responsibilities were as follows.• Technical and business analysis of tender submissions from all responding systems suppliers• Senior membership of the Museum’s ticketing project board, contributing to the final supplier decision• Following supplier appointment, planning and undertaking focused business change and migrations activities related to all ops and business processes• Co-planning and overseeing an implementation programme of system changes and defining a handover timetable of our live events between the old system and the new (Galaxy from Gateway Inc.) across all sales channels – thus ensuring continuity of event sales online and onsite and the continuity of ticket capacity and advance bookings with a minimal impact on business and customer experience• Maximising the new system’s business intelligence capabilities by initiating a process of stakeholder engagement to define a new suite of custom reports to meet existing needs whilst improving on the shortcomings of the old system• Working closely with the new supplier’s tech team, delivering initially 15 new reports based on MS SSRS platform (this streamlined reporting accessibility for all stakeholders and delivered many of the key new benefits as quickly as possible)• Overseeing an extended bedding-in period post go-live, focusing on business reports to ensure that available data were continuously optimised and new reports were developed, tested and rolled out• Overall, ensuring that the system and its capabilities fully met the Museum’s requirements as originally stated by the supplierThe temporary role ended after the successful first phase of the ticketing project was delivered.

Commercial Development

• Head of visitor sales with overall responsibility for visitor income generation from temporary exhibition ticket sales, onsite donations, public programme paid visitor offer, cloakrooms and new income generating visitor activities• Managing 1 deputy, 4 visitor engagement managers and up to 80 staff looking after the Museum’s temporary exhibitions operations, info and ticket desks, onsite donations and membership promotion teams, cloakroom services, telephone contact centre and customer services, school bookings• Contract maintainer of the Museum's ticketing system and board level stakeholder in procuring and developing major new commercial systems• Developing and maintaining a performance management framework for managers and staff based on defined promotional interactions to measure and increase onsite ticket, membership, donations and Gift Aid sales • Developing high quality face to face and phone answering visitor service standards• Developing and maintaining key visitor and sales data for the organization• Regular Site Management responsibility, overseeing the whole Museum campus, and part of the Museum's senior on call crisis management team• Budgetary responsibility for £5m+ income generation and £1.3m expenditure per year• Responsible for developing all key management processes within the section including 5-year business planning, financial reporting and auditing, health & safety control processes, risk assessments, operational procedure records, recruitment, selection and induction, performance management and appraisal, staff welfare and training, equality and accessibility and data protection• Representing commercial and visitor services at senior level on multiple executive and project boards covering areas such as major public offer development, building refurbishment, commercial digital strategy and general Museum ops and crisis management

Department Of Visitor Services

• Managing a team of three visitor experience managers and up to 40 staff (permanent and agency)• Running the Museum’s walk-up ticket sales operation (and phone based ticket sales operation up to 2009)• Co-managing our online and mobile device ticket sales with the Museum’s Interactive Media team• Running the ticket desks, information desks, departmental visitor reception and cloakroom services• Running all special exhibition operations• Running the Museum switchboard and phone enquiries services, internal help desk fault reporting and ticket enquiries until 2009• ‘Co- owner’ and maintainer of the ticketing and booking system (TOR Maxim system) and visitor counting/tracking systems (Intelligent Counting), including tender and project management of the original system implementations• Information Asset Owner for the ticket and bookings system• Driving ticket, merchandise and membership sales and Gift Aid conversions and contributing to commercial target planning• Implementing/maintaining high quality service and call answering standards in my section• Developing and maintaining ticket sales and visitor reports and spread sheets for various internal stakeholders• Duty, site and crisis management• Responsible for developing/maintaining all key processes within my section including setting and phasing team budgets, financial reporting, health & safety control processes, risk assessments, recruitment and selection, performance management and appraisal, induction and training, SOPs, and equality, accessibility and data protection policies• Representing Visitor Services at executive level on various projects and groups within the Museum, such as special exhibitions, gallery refurbishments, new commercial systems and general operations and crisis management

Department Of Estates

Secondment to the Museum's Estates department to restructure the Telecoms switchboard and Estates helpdesk services into a single 'one stop shop' internal and external telephone enquiries service.* Produced an investigative project report for the Museum's senior management team * Implemented a programme of changes based on my report recommendations* Streamlined operational teams and reduced staffing costs drastically * Implemented switchboard and IT systems modernisation* Brought about measured improvements to the service standards previously delivered and significant service provision benefits to Museum staff and external callers

Department Of Visitor Services

* Managing a team of up to 3 supervisors and up to 25 staff* Responsible for running the special exhibitions visitor operations at the NHM* Responsible for running and maintaining the Museum's ticketing system* Responsible for developing & driving sales in the section* Responsible for implementing/maintaining high quality service standards in the section based on departmental strategy* Responsible for implementing/maintaining all administrative processes for the section includinghealth & safety practices, risk assessments, recruitment and selection, performance management and appraisal, team SOPs* Responsible for running the ticket salesoperation at the NHM, information desks, visitor reception and cloakrooms

Visitor Operations

* Managing a team of up to 3 supervisorsand up to 25 staff* Responsible for running the special exhibitions visitor operations at the NHM* Responsible for running and maintaining the Museum's ticketing system* Responsible for developing & driving sales in the section* Responsible for implementing/maintaining high quality service standards in the section based on departmental strategy* Responsible for implementing/maintaining all administrative processes for the section including health & safetypractices, recruitment and selection, performance management and appraisal, team SOPs

Nhm Trading Company Ltd.

* Overseeing floor plan / fixture layout, product display and merchandising across multiple shops* Setting up and administering systems for stocking, cleanliness and safety in multiple retail outlets* Co-responsibility for selecting and ordering new product lines, dealing with suppliers and working to a budget * Co-responsibility for staff costs, overtime budget, staff recruitment

Front Of House Department

* Co-responsibility for 5 supervisors and all visitor facing staff and operations (admission, reception, retail, gallery and housekeeping) in the newly refurbished Earth Galleries building * Responsibility security, cleanliness and safety levels in all public galleries within this area*Administrating all admission and reception desk duties and procedures* Responsibility over the allocation and collection of cash floats and monitoring daily transactions, refunds, till and reconciliation procedures* Responsibility for staff training and development according to IIP standards including implementing a radical programme of multi-skilling and cross-training

Front Of House Department

Postgraduate Certificate In Management, Business Administration And Management, General

4 'A' Levels (1986), 8 'O' Levels (1984)