Winning Moves informs and supports better tomorrows through digital, data and know-how. Through our research, evaluation, digital consultancy and business diagnostic platform, we bring insight to changemakers who are seeking to make the world a better place. Trusted by those who deliver public policy, our work is used to improve economic, environmental and societal outcomes. Our team of subject-matter experts are innovative thinkers and problem solvers, driven by a passion to deliver exceptional results. We think differently to deliver better solutions, faster.

Vibe 1 is Mid Staffordshire’s local radio service (formerly Stafford FM), proudly focusing on Stafford, Stone, Penkridge, Eccleshall and the surrounding areas. We broadcast live from our studios in the heart of Stafford 24 hours a day on FM, Online, Smart Speakers & Mobile.

Bent’s operates as a hospitality consulting and software business. We also operate hospitality businesses brilliantly. With many years’ experience in developing, managing and delivering business support programmes, across many sectors, Bent’s was formed to utilise what we know about starting and growing businesses to the hospitality sector. The team behind Bent’s has supported business all over the world; has provided consulting and project management support to intermediaries – such as local authorities, growth hubs, government agencies and international development organisations – has developed and delivered training programmes and has created bespoke business improvement software products. Our work has influenced hundreds of thousands of businesses internationally.Key activities: - Shaping operations of a successful coffee lounge and bar with letting rooms. - Designing and mapping processes to ensure efficiency and to train staff. - Building table booking and ordering software for use during Covid restrictions - Implementing compliance checks including food hygiene to HACCP, health and safety, fire safety. - Delivering numerous events including a 2 day music festival (Efestival) which showcases local artists from across Staffordshire and the surrounding areas, to attract visitors to Eccleshall and drive economic growth. - 2nd venue refurbishment and operation. - Delivery of consultancy & training project targeted at visitor-economy businesses, on behalf of Wolverhampton City Council, to determine their robustness (business and project idea) for receipt of grant funding, and to help said businesses develop their strategy and plans for sustainability and growth. - Development of the Eccleshall business community and creation of the What's on in Eccleshall website and social media presences (www.woie.co.uk)

- Project manager and consultant supporting the sale of the business in February 2023- Accountable for HR, programme management, project management and day-to-day business management of a range of IT/software, business support and research and evaluation services. - Responsible for mobilising and delivering ERDF-funded projects designed to help businesses start-up, develop and grow. Clients: Staffordshire County Council, Allerdale Borough Council; Worcestershire County Council; Cheshire East BC. Provision of 1-2-1 consultancy to businesses involved in these projects, focused around digital marketing and digital operations - Responsible for design and delivery of a £750K ERDF project on behalf of Staffordshire County Council to help tourism businesses start up, develop, grow and attract more visitors to Staffordshire. The project has been independently evaluated as excellent. - Operationally, and pre-Covid, transferred Winning Moves’s ICT systems including document storage, management and telephony to enable mobile working, making the business more resilient by harnessing the power of digital.

Self-employed providing project management and consultancy support, delivering a wide range of high-risk projects for Staffordshire County Council ICT. These have included conducting procurement exercises for renewal of the Staffordshire PSN network, mobilising the Council’s Strategic Property Partner, negotiating the termination of current Service Delivery Agreements with Entrust switching the County Council’s banking provider, implementing a new payroll system for pensions services, development of new systems for use in Children’s Services and Property Services. Project delivery has been a combination of Prince2 methodology and agile development. Key achievements:• successful switchover of County Council’s banking systems with no lost payments resulting in quantifiable monthly savings• project management and successful transfer of pensions payroll from SAP to third party system to provide long-term financial savings and immediate efficiency benefits• development of new business processes for use by the newly established pensions payroll team• requirements capture and development of bespoke software for Children’s Services to address market gap• development of replacement systems for management of property data using agile methodology• support re-procurement of the provider of the PSN network• support for the establishment of a Strategic Property Partner with the County Council including contract negotiation• support to separate out Entrust services from Staffordshire County Council as an independent, self-sustainable entity• development of business cases to deliver financial and/or efficiency savings• negotiation and management of third party suppliers to ensure delivery on time

My role was multi-faceted and I undertook project management, business management, product development and business development tasks. Responsible for the ‘engine room’ of Winning Moves, making sure everything runs smoothly on a day-to-day basis and that compliance with contracts is achieved. Activities included management of external client projects, internal premises issues, HR and staff management and ensuring the business operated to ISO9001 quality standards. I designed and managed projects for both the software and consultancy sides of the business. These projects saw me liaising with the United Nations, to develop and agree a specification for a benchmarking system to improve business performance in developing countries, to finding and engaging businesses who would best benefit from funded consultancy support, and co-ordinating/quality managing the delivery of consultancy as well as providing 1-2-1 consultancy to businesses directly.

Managing and working on a variety of projects ranging from to zero-budget process tweaks, up to large scale change programmes. I worked on a £60m change and business transformation programme that merged and aligned the activities of the City Council and the local Primary Care Trust for the benefit of the service users. This involved the building of new, joint health and social care facilities, implementation of a combined ICT system and business process re-engineering to ensure smooth transition to new ways of working.I engaged with stakeholders including internal members of staff, service users, affected local residents, councillors and the Department of Health.