Founded and grew this award winning organic food retailer and recently sold the business as a going concern. Gained hands on experience in all aspects of running a small enterprise; from general management, logistics, dealing with suppliers, customer relations, recruitment and staff management through to marketing, PR and accounts. Designed and implemented a bespoke database to manage orders and deliveries.

Held a wide variety of contact roles over a four year period, as part of the AstraZeneca Global Client Services Team. Worked on the global rollout of their Topaz client where responsibilities included:
• Project management
• Technical author – including standardising build procedures, writing/modifying technical cookbooks and creating end user documentation.
• Writing impact assessment reports for management teams on client security updates.
• Windows client development and localisation
• Packaging and testing software products for the standard build, including Microsoft Office, IE5, WinZip and anti-virus software.
• Providing advice and assistance to test teams during client installation and testing.
• Gather and collate feedback from test teams in order to assist development teams.
• Escalation of technical issues through correct channels.
• Development of test plans and test scripts.

Selected for transfer by HSBC, to form part of a new team specialising in Midrange Technical Services based on the RS/6000 server platform. This was based at the HSBC National Data Centre in South Yorkshire. Gained experience in AIX Unix and Internet technologies in a small team responsible for the following project implementations: TV Banking, Internet Banking, WAP Banking, Small and Medium Sized Enterprise Internet Banking, Retail Workstation, HSBC & Merrill Lynch joint venture. Worked to very tight time schedules to design and manage projects through the whole implementation lifecycle. This covered the writing of business cases for presentation to senior management and the navigation of projects through the change control board, through to final server installation and configuration. Also involved in the analysis and monitoring of service performance, code releases, technical support and training for operations staff that support the services on a day-to–day basis.

My initial role with HSBC was on the graduate training program in the Global Markets sector of the HSBC group, based in The City. Principally worked on a profit improvement project for the group, by using a database of the telephone system utilised by the 400+ dealers on the trading floor. Using software supplied by BT, made significant reductions in costs for the group and implemented procedures to ensure this information is kept up to date. Further projects included updating contingency requirements for the trader lines and a re-design of the billing process for those used on the dealerboards.

Worked in the Technical Systems department of this large international market research company. Experienced a good foundation in quantitative, qualitative and desk research. The role involved conducting analysis for other departments in the group and also the analysis and management of large projects for clients of my own. Covered pricing studies for a major soft drinks manufacturer in many countries and visited the company’s offices in Brazil to present a brief for the study.

Recruited on the Shell Technology Enterprise Program (STEP) during university vacation. My project brief was to re-design a small family run gift-packaging factory in Sheffield, with an emphasis on cost reduction and efficiency. Completed the project in six weeks and stayed on to implement the changes recommended.