Michael Walker Email & Phone Number

South Africa

As Program Manager for Group IT at IWG plc, I manage the successful delivery of multiple back-end IT projects, overseeing cross-functional teams and budgets to ensure alignment with business objectives. My role involves managing business expectations, fostering collaboration among global teams, and navigating the complexities of diverse cultural approaches and time zones.Key Responsibilities:Strategic Project Oversight: Managing a portfolio of IT projects, including a flagship… Show more As Program Manager for Group IT at IWG plc, I manage the successful delivery of multiple back-end IT projects, overseeing cross-functional teams and budgets to ensure alignment with business objectives. My role involves managing business expectations, fostering collaboration among global teams, and navigating the complexities of diverse cultural approaches and time zones.Key Responsibilities:Strategic Project Oversight: Managing a portfolio of IT projects, including a flagship initiative to migrate management reporting from a legacy platform to a modern, cutting-edge system, while driving other projects that enhance operational efficiency and innovation.Stakeholder Engagement: Collaborating with senior management and business to understand needs, address concerns, and align on expectations.Team Leadership: Coordinating multi-disciplinary teams, promoting an Agile mindset, and ensuring delivery excellence across geographically dispersed regions.Project Governance: Implementing and maintaining governance frameworks to support program success.Budget and Resource Management: Managing budgets and resources to ensure all projects are delivered on time and within scope.Risk Mitigation and Delivery Assurance: Proactively identifying risks and implementing strategies to minimize potential impacts, fostering alignment and cooperation across teams. Show less

Johannesburg Area, South Africa

Gestatt Consulting provides advisory services to SMB clients in a range of fields including social media marketing, e-commerce store development, business strategy, project management, and technology development.As a Consultant, I provided strategic and tactical planning and advice to help companies capitalise on emergent opportunities and respond to industry and/or competitive challenges.

Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa

Recruited back into eDart by the company’s executive team and Board, I oversaw the activities of 60 personnel across manufacturing, quality assurance, order processing, after sales support, inventory control, and regulatory compliance. As a senior executive, I have also offered strategic inputs in long-term planning, budgeting and forecasting while building trusted relationships with clients to understand their individual requirements. Some major actions since my time back include:•… Show more Recruited back into eDart by the company’s executive team and Board, I oversaw the activities of 60 personnel across manufacturing, quality assurance, order processing, after sales support, inventory control, and regulatory compliance. As a senior executive, I have also offered strategic inputs in long-term planning, budgeting and forecasting while building trusted relationships with clients to understand their individual requirements. Some major actions since my time back include:• Establishing safety and quality parameters, controls and audits that have served to protect employees, adhere to regulatory guidelines and receive the ISO 9001 certification• Incentivizing continuous improvement to incorporate feedback and suggestions directly from factory workers on process re-engineering and elimination of waste• Championing progressive practices such as increasing the frequency and quality of training sessions, as well as improving equity and diversity in the workforce to maintain positive industrial relations and higher employee retentionMy primary mandate when re-joining the company though was a turnaround of its factory base where production was being hampered by several operational challenges. Therefore, after taking a few weeks to understand the underlying issues, I undertook the following:• Consolidation of 2 production facilities into one to capture operating synergies, reduce costs, and collectively gain access to optimal transportation routes• Process improvements that bolstered output by 2x while keeping costs flat• Re-engineering processes across the floor to implement lean methodologies and ultimately turn the factory into a profit centre Show less

Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa

Rennies Travel (part of the Bidvest Group) is Africa's leading corporate and online travel management company. After being hired to lead its e-commerce business development strategy and operations, I worked in conjunction with other members of the senior leadership team to build out a cohesive growth plan by product and geography. In my scope of responsibilities, this included overseeing the concept, launch and performance management of several marketing and advertising campaigns that delivered… Show more Rennies Travel (part of the Bidvest Group) is Africa's leading corporate and online travel management company. After being hired to lead its e-commerce business development strategy and operations, I worked in conjunction with other members of the senior leadership team to build out a cohesive growth plan by product and geography. In my scope of responsibilities, this included overseeing the concept, launch and performance management of several marketing and advertising campaigns that delivered vastly accelerated results in hits, conversion rates and sales. Beyond the digital marketing expertise I gained though, I also steered project management activities as below:• Coordinated remote development teams in the integration of new features and innovations• Supervised a helpdesk staff that ensured prompt troubleshooting for technical problems with both internal personnel and external customers• Added new financial controls and policies to the infrastructure while governing capital and operating budgets to balance growth with fiscal discipline Show less

Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa

Launched a start-up that developed and manufactured bespoke solutions and hardware with integrated IOT solutions primarily for the beverage industry.

Johannesburg Area, South Africa

On account of my operational capabilities, I was offered an expanded role in sales and marketing to grow the company’s international presence. After developing relationships with agents, distributors and resellers, we successfully expanded to the Americas and Australia, offering diversified revenue streams and a healthy mix of developed/emerging market revenues.

Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa

As one of the first employees of the start-up company at the time, I led the set-up and establishment of operations including production, warehousing, inventory management, production planning, purchasing and procurement. I also worked directly with key decision-makers in a customer acquisition capacity to negotiate contracts with some of the company’s earliest clients.

Johannesburg Area, South Africa