Mark Buchanan Email & Phone Number

Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom

Responsible for leading delivery of Safe Families across the North of England and Scotland.Was able to lead key operational and cultural development within the team to reach peak performance. Demonstrated key outcomes in local authority areas, with reduction in the flow of children into care ranging from 9% to 16% and cost avoidance ranging from £58k to £233k. Key responsibilities include:• Local authority engagement/business development and contract development/negotiations• Team restructuring, recruitment, culture development and leadership• Church/Community engagement and volunteer recruitment strategy• Regional budget setting and management• National model development and key input within senior management structure

Durham, United Kingdom

Responsible for the strategic development of the operational model, moving to a consistent and robust structure during rollout from the North-East region to UK-wide.Recruitment, set-up and training of regional hub teams.Key engagement with local authorities, establishing and securing contracts across England.Line management responsibility for regional Programme Leads during hub development phase.

Durham, United Kingdom

Employed to lead the development and implementation of the central database, as well as development of the core operational model.

Durham, United Kingdom

Responsible for the delivery of various diverse key strategic initiatives. Lead multiple projects simultaneously. Key projects include:The transfer of school uniform suppliers from three separate retailers to a single provider, including the introduction of on-site school shops.The introduction of an online Health & Safety training facility for the entire Group.A communications system, providing text, voicemail and email links between the schools and parents.The migration of over thirty internet sites between external suppliers for the ULT/UCST Group and the introduction of an internal support team to provide helpdesk assistance and improved change management. This also included the facilitation of five new website developments, four of which included the full lifecycle from concept design to delivery.The design, development, content population and launch of a new website within the ESF Group, moving from an external to in-house solution.

Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom

Position held within the Business Services/User Systems & Support area. Responsibility more as a Programme Manager, leading up to twelve projects simultaneously. Also acting as mentor for direct reports and developing their project skills.Key project involved a major strategic initiative to replace all existing ATM and transaction processing services between third party providers. Also managed multiple policy-driven projects and acted as IT Security Champion, responsible for maintaining effective data practices.

Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom

Project Management within IT & e-Commerce, Business Systems and Consumer Services areas of the organisation. Managed many key projects, often simultaneously with excellent delivery record.Projects delivered include:The consolidation, migration and roll-out of a new mainframe systemRe-structure of the Sales and Service operation across multiple locationsDevelopment and introduction of a competency based training programmeDevelopment and introduction of a new business product aimed at the high net worth market