Mark Mcdermott Email and Phone Number

Lead the professional services in NDORMS, supporting the academic Head of Department in the management of the department. Responsible for delivering outstanding operational support to academic staff, researchers and students. Provide a visible, engaged and accessible focal point to all 480 staff (85 Professional Services) and 150 students. Directly oversee finance, HR, communications, IT, Information Governance, compliance and assurance,, EDI, graduate studies and continuous improvement, and indirectly, facilities management, research facilitation and general administrative support. Proactive and innovative in the development and implementation of strategic and business plans, including development of a 5-year financial strategy as part of financial sustainability review. Actively undertaking ambitious continuous improvement agenda, including comprehensive service reviews, seeking to transform professional services and make a step-change in efficiency and effectiveness. Initiated the introduction of AI to make a step-change in the quality, speed an cost of departmental operations.Ensure operational resilience, while providing solutions to potential threats and problems and capitalising on opportunities. Take a leading role in development and execution of the departments Equity Diversity and Inclusion policies, including implementation and assessment of their success, and contributed to successful Athena Swan Silver renewal. Ensure departmental procedures conform to relevant laws and government legislation, and to the university’s statutes, regulations, policies and procedures. Contribute to divisional activities (establishing and leading a Continuous Improvement Hub in the Medical Sciences Division and representing departments’ interests at several committees) and University-level (Senior Responsible Owner on a large-scale capital project and co-sponsor of the CI Community of Practice). Coach others as part of the University’s Coaching network.

I managed a diverse portfolio of activity, including strategic planning, capital projects, communications, IT, continuous improvement, shared services, EDI, governance and H&S. I developed strategic plans for estates and IT, and implemented in liaison with colleagues in central teams, such as Estates Services and IT Services, departmental stakeholders and third parties. I oversaw the creation of a new shared team for Communications and acted as the University's Senior Responsible Owner on two capital projects, one a £30m major building refurbishment. Proactive member of divisional Senior Management Team and worked collaboratively with the academic Head of Division, Divisional Registrar and professional services colleagues across a range of functions to develop and deliver the divisional office’s annual and strategic work plans. Contributed to cross-university initiatives, representing the division on the University’s Data Executives Group, Digital Transformation Steering Group and Estates Strategy Demand Sub-Group, and co-chaired the UAS Communications Service Review.

I was the senior administrative lead for the activities undertaken by UK-based groups in the Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, coordinating finance, grant activity, HR and facilities. The role involved proactively responding to the operational challenges facing the Oxford Centre, implementing procedural change and contributing to strategy and policy.

I managed the operations of the business, including administrative, customer liaison and finance, ensuring all quality standards are achieved, systems improved and customers satisfied.

I was responsible for the effective and efficient management of the Centre’s administration team (25 posts) and line managed the functional group heads, providing guidance to ensure high quality administrative services were delivered to the 200 Oxford-employed staff and students and 2,000 locally-employed staff overseas. Combining strategic and operational duties, I took an innovative approach in developing new ideas to improve systems and streamline workflows, enhance the research portfolio and fund scientific initiatives. I led resource planning, capacity management and demand forecasting, and in 2015-16 undertook a full review of the support team structure and processes, before developing and enacting a change management programme that created time savings of up to 85%, 55% reduction in throughput, 50% cut in backlog and 500% increase in satisfied customers. To assist this programme, I designed, built and implemented IT systems for finance and HR, introducing automation, improving control and producing management information and KPIs. I prepared, negotiated and reviewed contracts, held governance responsibilities in the areas of risk, security, health and safety and IT, managed facilitates and made effective use of space. I oversaw the financial management of a £370M portfolio with spend of £50M p.a., producing annual budgets and quarterly forecasts for 245 projects and 55 general ledger cost centres, and ensured systems of control existed to manage the Centre within the financial resources available, a high level of service was delivered to internal customers, funds were expended on their designated purpose and compliance was achieved with regulatory requirements. I monitored progress against the Centre’s business plan, provided explanations of variance against targets and adjusted the plan in response to changing conditions.

I managed the finances, research grants, facilities and HR functions of the Ludwig Cancer Research Oxford Branch and line managed key support roles in operational management, laboratory management and scientific output. I led departmental financial planning and forecasting, funding agency reporting, budget management of a £30M Research portfolio and assisted in the implementation of Enterprise Level Systems. Responsible for non-academic strategic business planning, I ensured adequate administrative, technical and operational support were factored into future developments, identified income streams and coordinated match funding to leverage resources, increasing overhead recovery from £0 to £100K p.a. I led a project of process improvement and commercial business development, creating a new mechanism for costing 15 research facilities, setting charge-out rates and monitoring performance, leading to 3 facilities making a profit for the first time.

I managed the finance and research administration teams who supported a £106M portfolio, ensuring high-quality services were delivered to the Centre’s 470 staff and students. I produced annual budgets and research project forecasts, monitored the income and expenditure position of 8 small research facility business plans, chaired the monthly grants management meeting, strategically reviewed the Centre’s grants portfolio, liaised with HR regarding employment contracts and sat on the Equality/Athena SWAN Committee. I initiated a programme of process improvement, implementing new systems for the financial management of research facilities, research project financial reporting and management of general ledger recharge cost centres.

I was asked to cover this role at short notice, and took on administration of the Ludwig’s research projects, assisted senior researchers with grant applications, managed the general ledger cost centres, performed University and Ludwig Global budget setting and financial reporting. I identified and resolved historical errors and effectively organised financial records, as well as preparing for and overseeing the implementation of the Oracle Financials R12 finance system.

I line-managed the Purchase to Pay Team, producing the annual budget, quarterly forecasting, assisting researchers with complex and high-value grant applications, contract management and research project administration. I undertake process improvement, developing a compliance/assurance control template for financial reporting, improving the Tropical Medicine research project management information system with VBA macros and pivot tables, and implementing an electronic filing system to improve record-keeping and data retrieval.

I received a wide range of training, mentoring and hands-on practical experience in the areas of finance, facilities/space management and human resources. I covered the OCDEM Administrator role at short notice, supporting admin team during a period of unsettling disruption, submitting a major EC application and correcting project set-ups and reports.

I managed the finances of a subset of Research Projects, monitoring grant expenditure, checking overseas accounts, transferring funds, processing contract payments and expense claims, financial reporting, raising purchase orders and processing journals. I identified process improvements and designed and implemented a project management information system, introducing financial control, streamlined processes, time savings and a foundation that supported a 335% expansion in research portfolio from £23M to £103M.

I managed all departmental finances to ensure management and the teaching and research teams were kept informed and empowered during a transitionary period.

I founded and managed a digital media company, including administrative organisation, financial management, strategic planning, contract negotiation and client liaison. I developed, initiated and reviewed a marketing strategy and established the company's reputation for high quality, achieving year-on-year sales growth, primarily based on word of mouth referrals and repeat business. In 2016 I identified a market gap for a niche web video service and diversified the business, and this commercial business development showed sufficient potential to attract a sale to a private investor.

I managed the operational activities supporting multiple remote teams roaming the UK, undertook data analysis of the company's weekly results and line managed staff. I conducted process improvement, developing and implementing efficient processes and a management information system, which enabled evidence-based decision-making and rapid expansion from 2 to 20 teams.