I lead the development and implementation of a comprehensive commercial compliance framework that ensures our adherence to all regulatory requirements, internal policies, and good governance practice. This includes:Partnering: Collaboration with cross-functional teams to identify, document, and refine commercial processes that meet and exceed customer expectations, while aligning with compliance best practices.Trusted Advisor: Act as a strategic advisor to the business, working hand-in-hand with leadership to develop compliant solutions for commercial challenges.Deep Expertise: Develop and maintain in-depth knowledge of relevant laws, regulations, and industry standards, including those governing contracting and funding relationships.Risk Management: Evolve the compliance framework with risk-based policies and procedures. This includes maintaining the Company Risk Register and Anti-Bribery and Anti-Corruption programs.Culture of Compliance: Champion a culture of compliance within Apogee. Partnered with the CFO, CSO, and commercial leadership to ensure alignment with the spirit of all applicable laws and regulations (e.g., FCA).Training & Development: Provide regular guidance and training to employees on compliance matters to raise awareness and secure adherence.Audits & Assessments: Conduct regular audits and assessments to identify areas for improvement and guarantee ongoing compliance within the organisation and its commercial processes.Liaison: Serve as the primary point of contact for regulatory inquiries and act as a company liaison during audits or inspections.Proactive Monitoring: Proactively track changes in laws and regulations, keeping stakeholders informed and ensuring timely adjustments across the business.Executive Reporting: Deliver regular updates on compliance matters to the Executive Leadership Team and the Board of Directors.

• Provided specialised support to the business in achieving audit readiness, focusing on compliance with ESFA funding rules.• Assisted the existing team in preparing and delivering a mock ESFA audit, aiming to mitigate identified risks.• Developed an audit plan based on recommendations from the mock audit and personal observations, ensuring comprehensive coverage and alignment with regulatory requirements.• Designed a two-stage onboarding process to facilitate scalability in accordance with the organisation's future growth targets.• Collaborated closely with cross-functional teams to seamlessly integrate compliance measures into existing operational processes.• Offered ongoing guidance and support to stakeholders, ensuring sustained adherence to compliance standards and best practices.• Established the groundwork for fostering a culture of compliance awareness and accountability throughout the organisation.

Recognised as a key figure in guiding the company through Compliance, Funding, and Audit initiatives, with a direct reporting link to the CEO, Executive Suite, and Group Boards. Responsibilities include:• Oversight of regulated activities related to FCA SMF29 Function and data protection.• Steering the business in meeting and upholding legal and regulatory obligations, encompassing UK Data Protection, Consumer Credit, and Consumer Protection.• Ensuring compliance with ISO 27001, Cyber Essentials Plus certification, Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) obligations, Matrix Quality Assurance standard, and external educational accreditations (CIPD, BCS).• Managing governance and risk management frameworks.• Leadership roles in Group boards, including Learning Quality, Information Security, Risk Management, Audit, and Funding boards.• Providing appropriate representation on boards to enhance awareness and engagement among executive and board members.

Promoted to Head of Group Compliance reporting into the Executive and Group Board responsible for:Heading up the team – the people and the process – to support the management of compliance, data protection and information security agenda within Avado. Maintaining, changing where required, the compliance framework (people, systems, policies, and processes) in a way that is values focused and commercially purposeful.The preparation, development, and implementation of compliance reporting for various governance groups (including Group Board of Directors), and coordinating the delivery of actions and required outputs, including compliance investigations.Leading the business in fulfilling and maintaining our legal and regulatory obligations under UK Data Protection, Consumer Credit and Consumer Protection.Leading the business in maintaining compliance of our ISO 27001, Cyber Essentials Plus certification, Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) Obligations, Matrix Quality Assurance standard, as well as external educational accreditations (CIPD, BCS).Contributing to, and leading where necessary, the development and implementation of compliance-focused learning programmes for the group.Maintain an up-to-date high level of knowledge and understanding of internal policies and procedures.Monitor adherence to policies and report on Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) compliance and monitoring activities undertaken by the department.Oversee and monitor the implementation of a cohesive Compliance Monitoring Programme (“CMP”)Pro-actively share CMP findings with colleagues to ensure policies, training and support addresses any shortcomings.To set a risk and compliance framework for Avado in line with its principles and culture and take overall responsibility for the advice, management and development of Avado’s risk and compliance systems.Advise the Management Board in the enactment of risk and compliance matters across the Group.

Following the expansion of the business into the Asia Pacific, US markets and the purchase of an Apprenticeship business I undertook the role of Group Compliance Manager to support the various business ventures which included the expansion of our offering into business-to-business markets, working with local government, whilst maintaining suitable levels of regulatory compliance in each sector of Avado group.Additional responsibilities included management of- company secretaries and company house filings and company director updates- insurance broker and ensuring that the business has suitable levels of insurance- use of external legal counsel relating to commercial and supplier contracting- information security and data protection for the businessAchievements:- Successful implementation of Salesforce within the business ensuring the integrity and security of our data was maintained and operational practices were successfully rebuilt and trained into the workforce.- Led the implementation of our information security management system and achievement of ISO27001 and Cyber Essential Plus Certification.- Led Implementation of GDPR and management of companywide change to ensure compliance with data protection.

Promoted to Head of Student Services & Compliance following a restructure. Responsible for the continued success of the customer service function with added responsibility of managing the compliance and monitoring. The expansion of responsibilities required an enhanced understanding of regulation to support the business alter its model from a lender to a credit broker. Responsibilities included the implementation of a compliance monitoring plan, risk management regime and training and monitoring of our customer journey. Maintenance of our regulatory register, reporting and relationship with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).Achievements:- Part of the team who supported the application for our firm’s authorisation with the FCA.- Implementation and management of external FCA mock audits- Management of external relationships and implementation of new lenders that work with Avado to offer credit to our learners.- Implementation of new training solutions for Consumer credit, AML, TFC, Fair treatment for vulnerable customers and complaint management.

Appointed Student Services Manager responsible for the end-to-end management of customer services. After a relocation of the business from our Kent office to London I was responsible for hiring, training the new workforce which consisted of 2 team Leaders, 10 service operators and 4 exam administrators.Achievements:- Successfully hired trained and embedded a new workforce- £250,000 worth of Up sell revenue generated during our peak intake periods annually- Part of the creation and implementation of a bespoke examination venue booking service.

The creation of a new retentions team from the ground up, with the sole purpose of ensuring the customer engagement process, for new students, is as carefree and pro-active as possible. I trained thisteam of 5 to be responsible for ensuring every effort is made to overcome customer objections and retain/reduce cancellations and ensure all contracts received are enforceable. Over the years this team slowly developed into an integral part of the organisation and moved on from dealing with general enquiries within the statutory cancellation period to complex enquiries covering all areas of the student journey.Achievement- Reduction of the cancelation rate from 25% to 20%- £2,000,000.00 in saved revenue for customer retention activities- £3,000,000.00 in saved revenue for contract chasing activities- £600,000.00 worth of early settlement payments generated- Production of new student contracts- Assisted implementation of new close call scripting for the telesales team

Increase the return rate of telesales contracts, review other cost saving activities relating to customer retention. I worked within this role for a 3-month period and was then offered the opportunity to create and run my own retentions team.

The handling of day-to-day customer service correspondence and complex enquires, concerning study and financial queries. Main Responsibilities included Financial Administration e.g., taking and negotiating loan repayments, routine and complex queries via telephone and email, Investigating, and responding to customer complaints/enquiries in writing on behalf of the company for example: CAB, FOS and Solicitor Letters and liaising directly with managers concerning customer support working procedures and Academic Managers concerning old & new courses.