Robert Preston Email & Phone Number

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Recruited by the Chairman and CEO of this emerging health and well-being franchise organization with two businessunits to implement enterprise-wide quality control system, increase franchise revenue and customer retention byenhancing Operations and streamlining the IT processes.Successfully built the head office and IT infrastructure to support the centralised customer service operations of 44franchisee locations and a recent physician acquisition of Healthscreen’s Physician… Show more Recruited by the Chairman and CEO of this emerging health and well-being franchise organization with two businessunits to implement enterprise-wide quality control system, increase franchise revenue and customer retention byenhancing Operations and streamlining the IT processes.Successfully built the head office and IT infrastructure to support the centralised customer service operations of 44franchisee locations and a recent physician acquisition of Healthscreen’s Physician Services Division.Built a Call Centre and oversee staff of 20 measuring customer satisfaction, by implementing the following strategic keymetrics; Retention, Revenue per Customer, Net Promoter Score, New Customer.Liaise with the Marketing team to design projects to measure these metrics. Based upon statistical data, campaigns aredesigned and deployed to increase company achievement on these revenue producing factors while strengthening thecompany brand. Train the team on the collection of statistical data.Compile, communicate and make recommendations based on report of findings to the individual franchisees and theexecutive team on how the NPS scores compare to other industries and amongst their peers.Oversaw the migration and installation of VOIP telephony, software, servers and the rewiring of the head office.Delivered all systems on time and within budget.Responsible for the development and implementation of the IT and Operations budget and variance reporting to thefinance and executive teams.Successfully relocated the head office staff twice in one year while ensuring day to day operations remaineduncompromised. Show less

Co-founder of a boutique food services company delivering high end baked goods and sauces to the retail, food servicesand restaurant industries with annual revenues of $240,000.Responsible for all aspects of the business, from cold sales calls, vendor relations, sourcing and negotiation of contractswith suppliers and customers.Oversaw the automation of the operations from a manual process to a semi-automatic process through the selection andpurchase of… Show more Co-founder of a boutique food services company delivering high end baked goods and sauces to the retail, food servicesand restaurant industries with annual revenues of $240,000.Responsible for all aspects of the business, from cold sales calls, vendor relations, sourcing and negotiation of contractswith suppliers and customers.Oversaw the automation of the operations from a manual process to a semi-automatic process through the selection andpurchase of machinery.Instrumental in developing branding, packaging and pricing along with the development of new products.Two time recipient of the Canadian Liver Foundation, Live Right Awards, for best new product 2009-2010. Show less

Founding partner of this IT consulting practice focusing on technology deployment for small start-up companies, focusingon strategy and design and delivery of web based presence.Provided strategic consulting to an ERP software company looking to expand their presence internationally.Composed an IT strategy for a Colorado based water park and campsite company. Then oversaw the design,development, and installation of the web based reservation system.For a green housing… Show more Founding partner of this IT consulting practice focusing on technology deployment for small start-up companies, focusingon strategy and design and delivery of web based presence.Provided strategic consulting to an ERP software company looking to expand their presence internationally.Composed an IT strategy for a Colorado based water park and campsite company. Then oversaw the design,development, and installation of the web based reservation system.For a green housing development company in Tacoma, WA, designed and developed their web site showcasing their pastrenovations and design capabilities. Show less

Hired by the President for this newly formed position with a financial services firm.Reorganized the IT department to put controls in place and developed department policies and procedures from scratchPrepared and presented IT budgets and controls, and an IT strategic plan and presented to the board of Directors.Drove the software selection process with a cross functional team to select a new accounting package and led theconversion from Real World to Great Plains… Show more Hired by the President for this newly formed position with a financial services firm.Reorganized the IT department to put controls in place and developed department policies and procedures from scratchPrepared and presented IT budgets and controls, and an IT strategic plan and presented to the board of Directors.Drove the software selection process with a cross functional team to select a new accounting package and led theconversion from Real World to Great Plains eEnterprise.Designed and developed disaster recovery and business continuity plans. Show less

Provided vision and executive direction to the organization, budgeting/organization, staffing and integration/user relationswithin the larger organization.Managed the consolidation of multiple business units onto the same suite of applications while simultaneously building anew data center and moving the company’s voice and data lines into the new infrastructureLead the technical team on a critical join venture with the Bank of Montreal, to create a credit scoring system… Show more Provided vision and executive direction to the organization, budgeting/organization, staffing and integration/user relationswithin the larger organization.Managed the consolidation of multiple business units onto the same suite of applications while simultaneously building anew data center and moving the company’s voice and data lines into the new infrastructureLead the technical team on a critical join venture with the Bank of Montreal, to create a credit scoring system according tothe Banks specifications for a new credit offering. Designed, built, tested and delivered the system on timePerformed a build vs. buy analysis for a mission critical application, presented the report with the findings to the steeringcommittee and received approval to build. Led the software development team working with a cross functional usergroup to design, and build the system, delivering it in 6 months. Show less

Designed, built, tested and delivered a new Customer Service System for this financial services division.. Pulled data fromthe legacy billing application and presented in an user friendly Unix based front end.Developed and supported all backend applications, billing, accounts receivable, collections through an auto dialer,inbound customer service though a voice conversant system.Managed the outsourcing vendors for software development, disaster recovery, invoice print and… Show more Designed, built, tested and delivered a new Customer Service System for this financial services division.. Pulled data fromthe legacy billing application and presented in an user friendly Unix based front end.Developed and supported all backend applications, billing, accounts receivable, collections through an auto dialer,inbound customer service though a voice conversant system.Managed the outsourcing vendors for software development, disaster recovery, invoice print and enclosing, andremittance processing vendors. Responsible for the billing and collections of over 300,000 accounts with a lease portfoliovalue of $4 billion USD.Managed a staff of 35 with an annual budget of $7 million USD. Reduced data center costs by 50% over three years. Show less