Lorraine Hirst has worked for Adoption UK since 2014, fulfilling several roles including transforming their training program. She streamlined products, ensured profitability, and delivered their most successful annual conference. Lorraine recruits and develops talented teams, and ensures services continuously improve and meet client needs through evaluation. She has strong financial and relationship building skills. The testimonial recommends Lorraine for her broad skill set and ability to lead change programs.

1.
January
2016
Testimonial
for
Lorraine
Hirst
Lorraine
has
worked
for
Adoption
UK
since
August
2014.
In
that
time
she
has
fulfilled
a
number
of
roles,
hitting
the
ground
running
with
recruiting
and
training
a
team
of
Regional
Managers
whose
role
it
was
to
relationship
manage
and
grow
the
business
development
in
England
as
well
as
develop
voluntary
support
groups.
More
recently,
Lorraine
was
moved
into
a
new
role,
where
she
has
transformed
Training
in
particular,
where
previously
it
had
struggled
to
be
financially
viable.
Lorraine
quickly
streamlined
the
products,
created
new
ones,
ensured
that
all
training
products
are
income-­‐generating,
de-­‐risked
the
portfolio,
instilled
a
customer
focus
for
the
service
and
has
delivered
a
profit-­‐making
training
service
across
the
UK,
including
the
oversight
and
delivery
of
the
best
sell-­‐out
Annual
Conference
that
the
organisation
has
ever
hosted
in
our
time.
An
evident
project
and
change
management
approach,
flexibility
and
an
ability
to
self-­‐manage
are
certainly
skills
that
Lorraine
has
demonstrated
in
her
time
with
Adoption
UK.
Lorraine
is
also
able
to
quickly
build
strong
relationships
across
the
organisation
and
with
external
partners.
She
would
be
well-­‐suited
to
consultancy,
associate
and
interim
work,
which
we
know
that
she
has
done
some
of
in
the
past,
as
well
as
permanent
and
time-­‐limited
roles.
Before
becoming
Trading
Manager,
Lorraine
recruited
and
inducted
a
highly
dynamic
and
skilled
team
of
regional
managers
in
her
role
as
Development
Manager
England.
She
has
a
good
eye
for
talented
people
and
how
to
develop
them,
individually
and
as
a
team,
as
well
as
having
strong
team-­‐building
skills.
Keen
on
continuous
improvement,
Lorraine
ensures
that
services
are
fully
evaluated
and
that
the
performance
and
impact
of
any
service
is
measured.
Always
looking
for
opportunities
and
using
her
service
development
skills,
Lorraine
has
ensured
that
many
of
the
training
products
are
aligned
to
ring-­‐fenced
funding
sources
and
emerging
needs
of
clients
–
both
parents
and
professionals.
Her
sales
skills
are
excellent
and
she
has
a
good
aptitude
for
finding
solutions
that
are
commercially
viable.
Lorraine
has
shown
her
financial
acumen
in
her
time
with
AUK,
ensuring
that
all
costs
are
monitored
and
that
income
is
achieved
through
a
range
of
marketing
and
relationship
building
approaches.
With
a
keen
nose
for
new
developments,
Lorraine
has
trialled
the
use
of
webinars
and
created
new
training
offers
for
clients,
keeping
abreast
of
legislation
and
client
needs.
A
good
all-­‐rounder,
an
ability
to
lead
and
emotionally
intelligent,
Lorraine
has
a
broad
skill
set,
accumulated
from
her
25
years
in
the
public
and
not
for
profit
sectors.
She
can
be
trusted
to
run
services
or
lead
change
programmes,
including
Learning
and
Development
initiatives,
with
enthusiasm
and
skill.
Any
organisation
would
be
enhanced
by
having
Lorraine
as
part
of
their
team
and
we
would
recommend
her
unequivocally.
Hugh
Thornbery
CBE
CEO,
Adoption
UK
Andrew
Wilkinson-­‐Sharpe
Director
of
Finance