1. Alison Eldridge Experienced Operations Manager
 4 The Garth, School Aycliffe, Co. Durham, DL5 6QL  01325 307576 / 07970 910156  alison.eldridge@hotmail.com
Profile
An accomplished general manager with a wide range of skills developed through extensive experience spanning a variety of industries including IT,
financial, manufacturing and public services. Has a proven capability to work with senior leadership to tackle tough business issues through developing
innovative strategies and solutions. Able to lead teams and departments to deliver a range of complex business projects in line with time, cost and
quality parameters, and with strong technical, organisational, communication, relationship and stakeholder management skills.
Key Expertise
Project Management – Strong track record of success in the management and delivery of business critical projects within time, cost and scope
constraints; extensive exposure to full project life-cycle and experienced in scope planning, schedule development and progress monitoring
Operations Management – Experienced in all aspects of business leadership including responsibility for all aspects of financial and budget
management; Health & Safety management; staff training; professional development and team building; also highly skilled in identifying and resolving
operational issues
Change Management – Competent and experienced in handling change management functions for a range of business projects including department
centralisations; skilled in building and maintaining relationships as well as identifying and providing for training and support needs to help staff cope with
change
Career Highlights
• Developed a streamlined process that resulted in an increase to the order book from 43% to 61% scheduled within a 6-month period, a reduction
in the delivery of free of charge work by 30% and exceeded the invoicing targets of £475k to £580k per month.
• Introduced a new telephony system and associated processes that resulted in a reduction of 95% of call waiting times to less than 2 minutes,
closely aligned with service level improvements
• Cleared a significant backlog of outstanding work within 2 months including successfully delivering a 30% reduction in overall outstanding
transfers and a 41% reduction in transfers outstanding over 30 days (against an SLA of 30 days); this was achieved through reviewing and re-
designing operational processes and procedures to improve efficiency; also appointed as an official Signatory for the company, with the authority
to sign off unlimited payments
• Successfully led a project team in re-pricing 68,000 client accounts with a total portfolio to value of £12.4 BN over a 12-month period in line with all
requirements and specifications; also led a team which managed the transfer of 3,000 clients (portfolio value £80.7M) to a newly introduced
managed portfolio service as well as resolving all associated operational and service issues; maintained client attrition rates of less than 4% over
both of these projects
Career History
PMO Scheduling Manager, TSG, Gosforth, May 2014 to Present
I have overall responsibility for the scheduling and co-ordination of TSG chargeable resources, including the creation of a project from orders received
via the sales team to final customer delivery. Working closely with managers and staff within the Project Office plus Directors and team leads from all
other silos in order to streamline TSG project processes.
Key Responsibilities:
• Manage the PMO's team of 14 Scheduling Coordinators
• Control and closely monitor the scheduling of all resources within TSG
• Review and maximise chargeable time for all resources
• Manage coordination of the project implementation process from initial sales order through to project completion
• Advocate TSG’s bespoke project management methodology ‘GURU’ throughout the business
• Liaise with the sales team for all orders, gathering information, obtaining a project handover from sales to PMO, providing and publishing
information such as lead times for each silo
• Manage within SLA the creation of new projects for CRM and subsequent initial customer contact
• Analyse and report on project statistical data up to board level
• Maintain internal systems to ensure TSG One way processes are followed and ISO compliant
• Assist with the forecasting and smooth delivery of all projects
• Manage and streamline the installation process from a scheduling perspective including liaising with implementation team members, consultants
and project managers to arrange and confirm implementation dates with the customer
• Ensure CRM project records are accurate and up-to-date
• Develop and provide coaching and development for the Scheduling Coordinators
• Regular reviews of PMO processes for accuracy and improvement
• Manage escalations from project Scheduling Co-ordinators and internal departments
Key Achievements:
• Improved the percentage of order book scheduled from 43% to 61% within a 6-month period
• Within 3 months reduced the delivery of free of charge work by 30%
• Exceeded the invoicing targets resulting in improvements in billing from £475k to £580k per month
• Developed and delivered over 12 months a training workshop plan for both the scheduling team and call control functions which led to further
improved levels of service within both teams
• Successfully led an ISO audit of the Project Office which resulted in renewed accreditation for TSG along with a highly commended report.
• Developed and delivered a PMO dashboard to track departmental service levels
Alison Steel CV  07970 910 1561

2. Operations Manager, North Star Housing Group, Thornaby, November 2013 – April 2014 (Fixed Term Contract)
Worked closely with key service delivery managers to develop and deliver a new Customer Service Centre. Responsible for the operational link
between customers, customer service representatives, tenancy officers, property services, PR & communications and finance control. This included
fixed costs management, functional guidance of personnel, succession planning, training, people development.
Key responsibilities:
• Managed the organisation and co-ordination of the day to day duties of the customer service team, to ensure delivery of the highest standards of
service to customer.
• Ensured customer enquiries were dealt with by planning resources; assessed and developed the team effectively through ongoing coaching,
training and motivation achieving required performance standards
• Managed and monitored the policy and process for customer damage and recharge based on business expectations
• Introduced differentiated Service levels for the segmented customer basis and service customers according to measured service standards
• Influenced the commercial business model and how we interacted with customers on pro-active initiatives, based on the in-depth understanding
and interpretation of customer and business expectations
• Continuous Improvement - Established processes to continuously benchmark the department against best-in-class leaders
• Established processes for external/internal feedback-loops in order to evidence strengths and weaknesses
• Continuously implemented the Customer Service Vision with concrete actions
• Identified and proposed ways to improve and simplify the repair and maintenance processes and thus identifying saving potentials
Key achievements:
• The project planning and introduction of a new telephony system to the business successfully launched in March 2014
• Developed a business specific Customer Relationship Management system for the improvement of future knowledge of customers that further
improved service levels
• Worked with Tenants and Managers to develop, deliver, and manage systems to capture customer insight
• Monitored and reported on performance and customer insight
Transfers Administration Manager, Brewin Dolphin, Newcastle, April 2013 – October 2013
Overall operational responsibility for the administration of client holdings transferred both into and out of the company. Responsible for controlling the
financial budgets as well as handling all forecasting and capacity planning, ensuring that functional targets are achieved. Additionally, selected to join
the G3 Steering Group April 2012; this involves participating in weekly meetings to discuss and plan strategies and initiatives for Business Support
following directives from Senior Executive level.
Key responsibilities:
• Led and directed a team of 10 Account Managers and 25 Administrators, including all handling all HR recruitment and selection functions as well
as delivering induction and additional training
• Resource and Capacity planning (both short and long term), included handling daily workload planning along with key members of the department
• Conducted staff appraisals and development reviews including developing career progression plans and performance improvement plans; also
handled absence monitoring and management
• Daily, weekly and monthly MI reporting up to Board level; also chaired the weekly executive level stock control meetings in addition to attending
weekly conference calls with Heads of Office to discuss key business issues
• Provided representation to the department during external and FCA audits
Key achievements:
• Handled the planning and recruitment of 25 FTE to cover backfill for SME support of I.T. system migration – handled all recruitment and interview
for the department and this project
• Designed and presented ‘Transfers Lifecycle’ and ‘Fees’ workshops for re-pricing attended by key stakeholders as part of a new initiative to
improve communications between different areas of business; this included inviting key staff from various business areas to discuss processes and
issues
• Planned, organised and supported all office relocations for Newcastle Business Support
Manager (Fiscal Integrity Team), Brewin Dolphin, Newcastle, January 2012 – April 2013
Worked closely with a team of Directors to manage specific and unique projects involving Data Cleansing and System Migration. This also included a
Client Pricing and Proposition programme that involved analysis of 90,000 clients for the purpose of re-pricing and aligning the structure of their
accounts.
Key responsibilities:
• Led and managed the team, prioritising work, allocating appropriate resources and dealing with problems to ensure deliverables were met as well
as ensuring the delivery of excellent customer service at all times
• Managed the collation of information for the Weekly Business Support Project Plan (BSPP) and undertook analysis the BSPP and its outputs for
accuracy before releasing it to the Group Steering Committees
• Prepared statistical data for the purpose of M.I. which was distributed to Key Stakeholders, Senior Management and Directors
• Proposed direction relating to Key Management Initiatives to ensure that resourcing issues were resolved
• Coached and instructed the team in continuous improvement initiatives to ensure that agreed levels of service were achieved
• Planned the organisation and delivery of data cleansing tasks, managed priorities so that the correct levels of resources were allocated to meet the
needs of the business as well as resolving operational issues
• Led and managed the team on a daily basis to identify, analyse and resolve data quality issues including monitoring data validity and providing
daily progress reports flagging potential risks and providing recommendations to minimise
• Responsible for staff development and monitoring team performance through monthly and quarterly development reviews and performance plans;
also delivered coaching to team members
• Participated in the recruitment of new team colleagues and delivered induction training; also disseminated technical advice to the team to advise
them on new Strategic Initiatives
Key achievements:
• Wrote and presented proposals that identified Key Indicators which enabled effective management of sickness absence and also a reconciliation of
the process for client AML checks, achieving a further improvement in agreed service levels
Alison Steel CV  07970 910 1562

3. • Ensured that effective risk management processes were established within the team in accordance with the company’s risk appetite and risk and
control framework
• Led the development and delivery of a productivity tracker to evaluate staff performance against KPI's
Front Line Manager (Operational Reconciliations), Lloyds Banking Group, Newcastle, January – December 2011 (Fixed Term Contract)
Worked closely with senior managers and directors to deliver a specific and unique project (the largest ever of its kind) that involved the movement and
integration of 30 Million customer’s data from one IT platform to another following buy-out of HBOS. Personally tasked with handling data mapping to
ensure correctness on new system; this involved command and control of several weekends and overnight shifts of test migration.
Key responsibilities:
• Led and directed a team of three team leaders and 50 colleagues as well as deputised for the Operations Manager when required; also handled
team recruitment
• Controlled financial budgets, all forecasting and capacity planning, to ensure that future targets were achieved
• Worked alongside senior project managers to develop a strong risk matrix as well as leading quarterly reviews
• Coached and mentored team champions within the department whose focus highlighted major issues for the site, which included Risk, Continuous
Improvement, Gemba, Lean and 5’s and TCF (Treating Customers Fairly)
• Handled change management functions throughout all stages of the process; this included managing several disciplinary matters and working
closely with union representatives to minimise any potential negative consequences
• Conducted daily meetings to assist the effective communication of issues to the team and provided a daily commentary to senior management on
daily operations and team performance against agreed goals
Key achievements:
• Set up and ran a dedicated complaints team that dealt with incoming correspondence and outbound calls; in response to a business need relating
to an increase in customer volumes
• In September 2011 set up and led a new team that were involved in the processing of maturity instructions for customers with fixed term deposits
Tender & Event Manager, Acorn Event Catering, April 1997 – December 2010
• Set up and managed my own business which provided catering services for a wide range of Corporate / Council events nationwide (including
marquee and silver service catering)
• Handled all aspects including new business acquisition through sales and tendering as well as developing and maintaining business relationships
• Operational management responsibilities spanned resource planning, supplier selection and ordering in addition to handling associated
administration
• Recruited and trained event teams as well as coordinating operations during events
• Additionally, ensured ongoing compliance of the business with food hygiene and safety regulations, including completing risk assessments and
managing all relevant documentation
• Managed finances and budget for the business, including budget management, cost control and financial forecasting; also monitored and managed
stock levels
Qualifications
CISI Level 3 Award for Introduction to Investment, January 2013
ILM Level 3 Professional Management Certificate, April 2012
Training
Various in-house training including: Lean Basics (Accreditation); Train the Trainer; Leading Through Change; Risk Awareness & Control;
Coaching & Development; Front Line Manager Role Awareness; Managing Poor Performance; Attendance Management; Forecasting &
Planning; Technically Competent Interviewer; Understanding Effective Objectives, Recruitment
Further Information
Membership of Professional Bodies: Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI), Association of Project Management (APM)
Driving Licence: Full UK Driving Licence, with own transport
IT Skills: Proficient user of all MS Office applications, CRM, Navision, Adviser Office, Fiscal, Figaro, IBM Open Housing, Internet, Email, MS
Project, Visio, Lync and Qlikview
Travel: Happy to consider travel throughout the North East region
References available on request
Alison Steel CV  07970 910 1563