Richard Edwards

London, UK & Gloucestershire, UK 07807 129888, REdwards.career@gmail.com, www.LinkedIn.com/in/RichardEdwards

CIO, Digital Business Director, Transformation Agent

A results-driven Transformation Leader and Chief Information Officer who successfully manages large programs of change and reshapes digital services to better meet the needs of the business and its customers. Richard has a passion to deliver the very best for organisations worked for, with a mission to improve the delivery of all types of digital services in business and the public sector. Richard has led Information Technology teams for 18 years, on divisional and group boards of several household names in the private sector, and a shared services company wholly owned by government. Previously, Richard consulted into the public sector, working for a Big 4 consultancy. Richard was involved in managing technology change during the privatisation of several government bodies in the 1990s, as well as work with the World Bank for an African government. Richard has considerable project, team and risk management experience, successfully running transformation & shared services programmes for up to 18,000 users and more than 50m. Richard has had Board-level responsibility for company audit, information risk as Senior Information Risk Owner, and health & safety, reporting to the Audit Committee. Richard has also been a member of the Commercial Committee of the board, responsible for commercial strategy on Information Technology and Digital services. Leader of change programmes 1m to >50m Saved 8m on successful 50m programme of change Creator of leading agile solution for US HMO market Reduced insurance IT cost per transaction by 44% Innovative use of ideas across industry boundaries Delivered 40% sales growth & 89% win rate 7m/50% saved over 5 years on Oracle ERP costs Business leadership experience in Europe & Africa Created shared services & retail chains from scratch Builds great specialist IT Customer Services teams

Richard is a Trustee and currently Treasurer of Sodbury Vale Musicals, a registered charity and membership organisation, promoting and performing musical theatre in the north Bristol area.

Barra Kay Ltd: Digital Director and Interim Manager

December 2008 to present
Richard formed his own company to provide interim digital services management and consulting services, and to undertake several interim posts for various clients. This included: an OGC gateway review for Westminster City Council; created Agile method (LEAP Lean Enterprise, Agile Process) for Business Process Management services implementation for Axispoint, underpinning 40% sales growth & 89% win rate; IT Audit of teams in Athens, Greece for VC partner of YouTravel.com, a major provider of consolidated hotel rooms to the travel trade.

UK Shared Business Services Limited: Chief Information Officer & SIRO

April 2009 to December 2013
UKSBS (formerly RCUK SSC Ltd) is a shared services company serving BIS and its partner organisations. It provides finance, HR, procurement, IT, facilities and grants shared services to over 18,000 customers. Reporting to the CEO, Richard successfully delivered projects for growth of Oracle ERP R12 (Fin, HR, Payroll, Procurement), Siebel (Grants) and IT desktop/hosting services from no customers in 2009 to over 18,000 customers in 18 client organisations in 2013. Through rigorous negotiation, he saved 8m on the 50m technology project to create the organisation, and saved an additional 7m over 5 years vs. previous licence/maintenance agreement. Through his IT growth strategy, bid management and negotiation, Richard was directly responsible for growing IT revenues by 200%. Richards responsibilities included audit, security, and information risk as Senior Information Risk Owner (SIRO) reporting to the Audit Committee. Richard also has been a member of the Boards Commercial Committee.

Helphire Group plc: MD of IT (CIO) & Programme Director of Expedite

January 2005 to November 2008
Helphire is a leading provider of motor insurance services, personal injury claim support, and credit rental vehicles to accident victims in the UK, with a turnover of 405m (2008 figures). Reporting to the CEO, Richard reduced technology costs per transaction by 44%, and managed projects to grow the business by 75% over 4 years, through market penetration and major acquisitions (Swift Hire, Albany, CS2), making Richard well versed in M&A projects and risk management. Richard created the IT services for the new Spanish business using outsourced local SME services and extension of UK systems for Spanish market. Spanish MD said he "added a very important value". Programme Director for 20m Expedite programme, using Pegasys PRPC Business Process Management with agile & lean methods. He led a team of 160, for IT services to over 3000 staff, and six call centres of between 150 and 880 seats in the UK and Spain. Managed support for legal services firms Spencers, Temple Street Solicitors, CS2 and Fishers, with 600 solicitors and para-legals. Annual budget in excess of 23m.

Richard Edwards

Richard.CM.Edwards@gmail.com, 07807 129888

Hanson plc: Director, Business Systems, Hanson Aggregates UK

April 2002 to November 2004
Hanson was the largest producer of aggregates in the world, and is a major process manufacturer of concrete and asphalt. Hanson is now part of Heidelberg Cement. Richard reported to the UK divisional MD as a member of the UK aggregates divisional board, the largest division of the FTSE 100 listed Hanson plc, with joint board responsibility for Health & Safety. Richard turned around the performance of the IT department of 76 staff and up to 25 contractors, while reducing IT operational budget of 7.2m by 18% over 2 years, with a target of a further 4% in 2004, and an additional 620,000 of costs taken out of ICT related spend in business budgets (e.g. voice telephony). All of this while considerably improving measured KPIs, benchmarks and customer satisfaction, and the department being shortlisted in the top 3 Best Places to Work in IT in the construction sector . Richard also introduced revised quarry operating procedures to improve dump truck operation safety.

Moss Bros Group plc: Group Director of Information Technology

March 2000 to January 2002
Moss Bros Group PLC is a major UK high street retailer, with 180 shops, 9 facia and 70,000 SKUs, and the leading formal wear hire business in the UK (2001 data). Richard reported to the CFO, and sat on the group operating board, with responsibility for weekly sales information and stock control, as well as joint responsibility for risk management. Richard managed the IT Department, with 21 permanent staff and a budget of 2.9m (2000/01). He developed a 3 year strategy to replace aging legacy systems and processes, with a core ERP system for Retail Merchandise Planning, Supply Chain management and Warehouse Management. Also introduced new systems for Price Management, virtual stock rooms for stores who cannot hold stock locally, and a VPN for Buyers and Regional Controllers to access store performance information wherever they are.

First Choice Holidays plc

Programme Manager & Head of IT, First Choice Retail September 1998 to February 2000
Now part of TUI, First Choice Holidays is one of the largest tour operators in Europe. Richard reported to the divisional MD for this new start-up division, and sat on the divisional operating board. He created the new retail IT department, and designed and programme managed the implementation of the technology and networks for the First Choice Travel Shop national chain of travel agencies from scratch, to time and on budget: 170 green field high street sites, conversion of 95 existing shops, and 400 seat call centre in 182 days. Budget of 140m for all aspects of roll-out.

Head of IT, Air 2000 & First Choice Holidays Group December 1995 to September 1998
Richard reported jointly to the CEO of the airline and the Group CIO. Head of IT for all systems supporting all group th functions, and Air 2000, the in-house airline of First Choice Holidays and at the time the 4 largest passenger airline in the UK. Implemented a new 1.5m on-board retail system for duty free and beverages, and new flight watch and crew rostering software, to time and budget.

Coopers & Lybrand, Public Sector Consulting Practice: Senior Associate

January 1991 to November 1995
Richard worked as a Project Manager, Bid Manager and Account Manager to the public sector. He was IT Project Manager for the privatisation of management of a major MOD facility, creation of the GP Fundholder initiative, and several government cost management projects. Richard also worked for the World Bank in Ghana on payroll management improvement, among many other major assignments in UK, Europe and Africa.

Other Experience
Richard has presented at many conferences, and been quoted by Gartner for best practice in IT metrics and strategy. In his spare time, Richard has been the editor of an Amateur Press Association, a partner in a fine arts printing & export business, does extreme hikes for charity such as the 56 mile White Horse Challenge, and acts on stage in amateur musical productions

Education
Degree: University of Manchester, Honours School of Physics, BSc Physics (Hons) 2/2 School: Cheltenham College, Bath Rd, Cheltenham: 10 O Levels, 1 A/O, 3 A Levels, 1 S Level

Security Clearance
Richard currently holds UK Government SC level security clearance

Richard Edwards Key Skills please contact me for more examples

Leadership

Richard.CM.Edwards@gmail.com, 07807 129888

Lead IT departments in FTSE100, other major corporates, and public sector for eighteen years Both a leader and a manager, using a combination of communication, buy-in and energy to enthuse teams to deliver, as well as objective setting, monitoring, and driving performance. As a result of this style, retains a large network of colleagues from previous roles. Research, presentation and selling of new ideas, approaches and strategy at Board level, such as Lean Management of processes at Helphire. Cross-fertilisation of concepts between sectors: e.g. automated variable stock pricing for yield management from travel sector to manage aggregate stock volumes at Hanson.

Commercial and financial

At UKSBS, saved 8m on 50m project SI costs, and 7m over 5 years on Oracle licence/maintenance costs, by tough negotiation Reduced IT cost per insurance claim at Helphire from 17 to below 9.50. Saved 18% of budget in 2 years at Hanson, and 75% of international data communications costs at First Choice. Operational budgets of over 18m, and departments of over 160 staff and contractors, at Helphire & UKSBS Met project budgets & timescales, including 140m during roll out of First Choice retail, and internationally in Europe for Helphire, and Europe & Africa for Coopers & Lybrand clients.

Outsourcing and Multi-sourcing

Outsourcing of infrastructure management and application support for Helphire, Hanson, and First Choice, including off-shore. Privatising management of government IT facilities in 90s. Significant use of outsourcing for the creation of First Choice Retail IT, including Facilities Management, Comms, Shop Engineering, and Development. Extensive supplier management and contract negotiation, at UKSBS to facilitate growth, Helphire and Hanson to reduce costs, Moss Bros and First Choice for new services. Total value of outsourced services managed over 18 years in excess of 128m.

Change management
Technical aspects of new client transition and on-boarding at UKSBS using PRINCE2 & MSP. Programme managed roll-out of First Choice national chain of over 250 travel agencies and 400 seat call centre in 186 working days, using PRINCE2 & GDPM. Delivered on time, and to budget. Dealing with TUPE issues for staff transferred during shared services roll-out at UKSBS. Introduced agile methods at Axispoint (LEAP), Helphire (Lean, XP, Scrum) and Moss Bros (RUP, UML). Establishment and improvement of PRINCE2 Project Management Offices at C&L, First Choice and Hanson Successful projects include: transition of 17 organisations to Oracle ERP R12 shared services at UKSBS; case management (Pega PRPC) and daily rental systems at Helphire; Sarbanes Oxley compliance for Hanson; ERP selection (SAP R3) at Moss Bros and Hanson; on-board sales systems for Air 2000. Risk management at UKSBS, Helphire, Hanson and First Choice operationally and on multi-million projects, at UKSBS and Coopers & Lybrand in a sales environment as Bid Director.

Organisational
Board level positions at a registered charity, UKSBS, Helphire, Hanson Aggregates, Moss Bros, and Air 2000. Communication of IT strategy, sales wins, operational issues, and business opportunities, which included identifying and suggesting generation of new commercial opportunities such as IT services into BIS. Delivery of shared services organisation from scratch to 18,000 customers at UKSBS. Creation of an IT Department from scratch at First Choice retail division, and shared services IT department from client TUPEd staff at UKSBS. Introduction of, and benchmarking against standards for Service and Project Management at Air 2000, Moss Bros, Hanson, YouTravel.com, and UKSBS. Responsible for control & security audit at UKSBS, reporting to Audit Committee. Chair of H&S committee at Helphire; Board-level responsibility for H&S audit at Hanson.

Sales
Won IT services to new clients at UKSBS Intelligent Client function for 4000 users in BIS, plus MRC, TSB and others. Also won IT services business for new startup, Green Investment Bank Retained exiting direct services business for 7 Research Councils through tough reviews Further expansion currently being bid for to increase to 23,000 ERP customers