Snowdonia Cheese Company Limited, based in Deeside, North Wales, is an up and coming company which produces specialty cheeses and chutneys. They supply into 23 markets across the globe as well as establishing themselves as a market leader for quality wax truckle cheese in the UK As Systems Manager I have responsibility for all things IT across four sites, The Deeside Distribution Centres, two production sites located in Rhyl and an administration hub in Wrexham. My duties include Supporting 90 users across three sites and home based Definition and delivery of an ERP Improvement Programme (Navision) across the business including MRP, Sales Budgets and barcoding Definition and delivery of an IT Improvement Programme to best utilise Office365, Teams and company infrastructure to improve user productivity Over Christmas the implementation of eCommerce stations using HHT’s and eCommerce tools to hel deliver Christmas Creation of the annual budget Day to Day management of a number of third-party support companies including and outsource support agreement

Since 2011 I have provided a fractional IT Director services to a number of organisations best utilising over 30 years experience in IT working at the highest level of management. • Experience of working in a number of different sectors including the Dairy industry and the finance sector including debt and legal recovery as well as a number of consultancy assignments in a wide range of businesses• 15 years’ experience at director level shaping the short term tactical direction of IT within organisations whilst developing a long term strategic plan to support the objectives of the business by developing existing technologies and introducing new ones.• Excellent man-management skills including restructuring departments following acquisitions and due to the poor performance of the IT Team. I have managed teams split across the entire IT spectrum including infrastructure, development, data management and business analysis • Experience of implementing and managing multi-site environments including a financial institution with 100 branches, a Dairy Co-operative with 55 sites within the UK and also a financial institution with sites across three countries• Experience of developing and the managing operational budgets up to £4.5m per annum and a demonstrable track records of delivering year on year cost savings.• Very strong Program and Project Management skills endorsed by an APM qualification and delivering end to end solutions as well as trouble shooting and turning around problem projects. Experience of implementing new methodologies into a number of businesses.• Starting my career as a Systems Analysist I fully understand complex business requirements and how best to furnish those with either bespoke applications or packaged solutions• Excellent contract and supplier management skills, including transitioning and then managing outsource agreement which enable me to leverage the best possible value for money from existing and new suppliers

Based in Bermuda, The Argus Group is one of the largest local providers of insurance products on the island providing personal and commercial lines for Property and Casualty, Pensions, Life Insurance, Health insurance and investment portfolios for high net worth individuals. The company also has two satellite offices in Malta and Gibraltar.The company is just over 200 strong, with the majority based on Bermuda, and has a turnover in excess of $200m. As part of the Operations Committee and reporting back the Chief Executive Officer I was responsible for the delivery of all IS related services to the business. Managing a team of 16 people, split between Systems Development, Systems Support and Service DeskKey Achievements• The implementation of core ITIL Disciplines and procedures within the department including Service Desk, Incident Management, Change Management and Service Level Management• Working with the Business Unit Heads and Chief Executives to develop a five year strategic plan and vision for the delivery of IS Services to Argus.• Reducing the annual expenditure budget from $5.5m to $4.5m whilst improving service levels• Introducing a number of critical internal development projects to overcome shortfalls in their line of business applications• The implementation of a completely new infrastructure to a new corporate headquarters including the implementation of VOIP, enhanced security and firewalls and desktop • Realigning the incumbent IS Suppliers to ensure they provide a cost effective service • Ensuring harmony across a team made up of different levels of experience and different cultures as the team was made up of 7 different nationalities• Programme managing a number of simultaneous infrastructure, development and Service Improvement projects ensure that the business was well supported

Dairy Farmers of Britain was a farmer owned co-operative which supported and processed the milk produced by 3,000 dairy farmers in the UK, with an annual turnover in excess of £500,000,000 per annumThe business included 2 administration centres, 4 milk processing sites, 2 dairy ingredients plants, 2 cheese factories and a distribution channel of 45 depots in the UK. The company had 2,500 employees, over which 750 were users of technology, either traditional PC’s or Hand Held Terminals used by our distribution channel. Reporting to the Chief Financial Officer my role was to ensure the Strategic Direction of IT met the demands on the business whilst remaining cost effective. I was responsible for a team of 21 people, split between Internal Development, Infrastructure, Business Analysis and Project Management and Service Desk. Key Achievements• Completing the Commercial Due diligence of a major acquisition and the early migration of DFB away from a Transactional Services Agreement 6 months early saving the business £500,000• Introduction of ITIL to the business then implementation of a number of key disciplines including Service Desk and Change Management • Restructuring the department within 6 months of the acquisition to ensure IT was fit for purpose moving forward and to ensure a more customer focused delivery of our services• Complete overhaul of the company infrastructure and the migration from an old expensive frame relay solution to full MPLS with VOIP• Implementation of a number of new line of business applications and upgrading a number of old legacy systems to meet the Strategic direction of the business• During my four years with the company I reduced the annual operational overhead of IT from £4.5m to £2.9m per annum.

London Scottish Bank was a sub-prime lender who also operated Robinson Way, a large Debt and Legal Recovery Business. Based out of Manchester the business included a network of 95 branches in the UK together with 5 specialist loan and financial companies providing personal loans, leasing and corporate financing. The company also operated two very large 16x6 call centres at its Head Office.The company had over 2,000 employees in the UK, with a user environment of roughly 500 users centrally supported by both PC and Citrix environments.Reporting to The Director of IT, my initial role was Infrastructure Project Manager designing and implementing a new Citrix environment to support the branches including the core servers, infrastructure, roll out and user training.However, after being with the company for only 6 months I was also asked to take responsibility for the existing Infrastructure and Technical support for the entire company.Key Achievements• Completing a formal Invitation to Tender process and then Project Managing the successful suppliers to deliver desktop services to our branch network of 300 users. The project was completed on time and to budget.• Designing and then managing the build of a new datacenter at our head office in Manchester and then the successfully re-locating all systems and services without the users, particularly the call centre experiencing any downtime.• Implementation of a new infrastructure for the head office, branches and operational units over frame relay , the implementation of improved security, firewalls and VOIP• Building a new support team virtually from scratch which was eventually 10 strong• Introduction of a central Service Desk, 2nd and 3rd Tier support structure.

Acuma were a technology provider in the mainframe and middle tier arena, however, during my time with them they moved to a more application based, rather than technology based solutions provider. Reporting directly to The Director of Projects, I was a Senior Project Manager and was their highest utilised resource throughout my time with the company and I successfully delivered over 30 projects, all on time and to budget. My time with Acuma saw me work with a number of Blue Chip companies in the UK including Argos, Vodafone, ICI, Scottish Telecom, Unilever as well as overseas assignments at LuxAir in Luxemburg. Key Achievements• Delivering high-end, complex infrastructure projects up to £10 million in value • Providing IS Strategy Planning for a number of companies, including ICI Klea• Developing and Introducing an ISO 9000 Project Management Methodology, which was rolled out and utilised company wide• An excellent record of delivering projects, regardless of nature, both to time and budget and managing complex technology and business strategy projects, with project teams of up to 20 people

Working for the Management Consultancy Department at KMPG from their St James office in Manchester, I mainly worked on Project Sanity and Project Management Assistance Projects, providing help to clients when projects were not achieving their expected targets.Working within a small team of four consultants and reporting to Executive Consultant Level, this was my first real exposure of working within a large, well structured and controlled organisation. Key Achievements• Gaining my first promotion within 8 months of joining the company due to my technical ability, work ethic and commitment• For the first time in my career being trained in proven methodologies for consultancy and project management and being able to put those into practice • The successful completion of over 20 assignments including Commercial Due diligence, Strategic Planning, Project Management assistance and Year 2000 evaluations. • Turning around a major ERP Implementation which was not delivering to its original objectives, managing and working with the suppliers to turn the problems around.

I spent my formative years in computing with a small software house based in North Wales. Starting as an assistant to two programmers, I was responsible for the usual important things, like making tea and taking backups. I struck up a very strong working relationship and friendship with the two company owners, which remains to this day. They both taught me a great deal about IT and business in general and that has formed the bedrock for my career. Due to my willingness to learn and my enthusiasm for the job, after 6 years with the company I was appointed Technical Director and made a shareholder.  Key Achievements• Development of large scale, bespoke applications including Lift Monitoring Systems, Debt and Legal Recovery, General Ledger, Stock Control, Payroll and Management Information Systems for over 100 customers• Setting up and managing a support network for our entire user base including writing a Help Desk application for internal use. • Building up and managing a small team of people by the age of 23• At 22 years of age being sent to Australia to implement a Lift Monitoring System for AMP in Sydney. The system was implemented and operational a week ahead of schedule