Chris Rees

Experience

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  Britannia Software Plc (http://www.realassetmgt.com/)

  Jul 1998 - Jun 2001

  Senior Consultant

  • Multi-project management of software implementations for clients.• The supervision and training of new members of staff.• Write functional specifications & conduct configuration meetings for clients.• Extensive travel in the UK, Europe and Middle East.• Technical consultancy.• Joined as Graduate Trainee, progressed to Systems Trainer and then Consultant.Example Major Accounts Selfridges & Co., Solectron, Heinz (Italy), D.E.T.I., Burberry, British Council, OFTEL, ING Barings, MCI WorldCom, Levis Strauss & Co. Nominet.UK. Show less

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  Real Asset Management Plc (http://www.realassetmgt.com/)

  Jul 2001 - Mar 2005

  Project Implementation Manager

  • Managing client projects through the entire life cycle in accordance with PRINCE II principles such as Project Initiation, Planning, Controlling Stages, Supervising Product Delivery and Project Closure. Scheduling resources and project deliverables using, Critical Path Analysis and Milestone Schedules.• Organising Project Initiation, Check Point, Milestone, Project Board and Closure meetings with Clients. Liaising with Clients and other Stakeholders regarding issues such as quality requirements, general specification requirements, project slippage, deliverable scheduling and evaluation of contractual obligations to ensure that Clients expectations are achieved. Advising Clients on the phasing of hardware and software deployments, User Acceptance Testing and System Testing, which includes the use of prototyping Project Cycle implementations. Consulting with Clients on technical and specification issues, which often requires the justifying and up-selling of additional services. • The co-ordination of User Group Sessions. Involvement with the Sales Team in pre-sales negotiations, sales presentations and the preparation of Tender Bid responses. Contributing to the creation of the Product Development Plan for the In-House product suite. Show less

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  SpecTec Ltd (prev. Xantic Ltd) (http://www.spectec.net/)

  Apr 2005 - Jun 2006

  Projects Manager (Northern Europe)

  • Managing client projects through the entire life cycle in accordance with PRINCE II• Responsible for ensuring project profitability by diligent monitoring and control of project tasks and resources.• Responsible for day-to-day project resource management including remote working consultants and off shore development team.• Responsible for providing input into commercial proposals and aiding the up selling of project management services to clients.

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  Auto Trader UK

  Jul 2006 - Oct 2014

  • Full Project Management Life Cycle: Business Case collation – Scoping – Implementation – close out • Structured Supplier Evaluation and Selection, contract negotiation, securing SLA’s &KPI’s• Chair SharePoint steering committee and responsible for managing SharePoint deployment programme• Technology Business Partner for HR & Sales – develop the Technology Roadmap for both Business areas. Provide advice on all relevant Technology issues. Look for opportunities where Technology can add value to HR & SalesExample Managed Projects - (typically I manage an average of 2 /3 projects concurrently)Contact Centre Technology reviewManaged a project to review and replace Contact Centre technology. Objectives were; replace end of life systems, increase agent efficiency, reduce call handling times, improve customer experience and reduce operating costs. This was achieved by a full business process review and the delivery of Avaya, NICE and MS Lync technologies.Autotrader rebrandManaged the project to change the company name from Trader Media Group to Autotrader.co.uk. Drove change in every area of the company. Work streams included marketing and branding, legal and financial, infrastructure and the digital marketplace.Microsoft SharepointManaged the deployment of MS Sharepoint to Autotrader.co.uk. Delivered improved employee communication and increased efficiency by providing a new intranet site and a document management system.Data Centre reviewRan a project to reducing data centre hosting costs by £150,000 PA.HR Technology refreshDelivered a self-service web hosted HR system thereby substantially reducing HR operating costs. Show less Scoping, Planning and Delivery of Technology based projectsExample Managed Projects - (typically I manage an average of 2 / 3 projects concurrently)Disaster Recovery Data CentreI managed a project to build a Disaster Recovery Data Centre for Autotrader’s primary data centre. In conjunction with business sponsors I produced a strategy document. This documented acceptable levels of downtime before fail over is invoked and defined restart priorities for business services. As part of the scoping process, meetings and workshops were held with technical teams and suppliers to design DR architecture and map out the fail-over and fail back processes. DR hardware and fail over processes were provided for core network services, business critical trade and private booking systems, MS Exchange, Blackberry Services, back end SQL database clusters. Escalation procedures and testing scripts were produced, DR processes were all fully tested before the project was signed off. Project Duration: 10 months. Project Budget: £900,000Centralised Data StorageI managed a project to introduce new technology to enable the relocation of remote data from selected Autotrader sites and centrally host it in the secure data centre. I developed the business case to demonstrate the cost savings in order to secure funding. The project included a Proof of Concept phase where the team evaluated and tested new technologies Cisco and Kazeon. During implementation a phased approach was taken, concentrating on parts of the business where the greatest savings were to be realised. Show less

  • Programme Manager, Infrastructure

    Jun 2012 - Oct 2014

  • Senior Project Manager

    Jul 2009 - May 2012

  • IT Project Manager

    Jul 2006 - Jun 2009
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  Stockton Heath Arts and Culture Festival

  Jan 2015 - Jan 2020

  Project Manager (Voluntary Role)

  Currently taking a short career break from Technology and spending the time working within my local community to Project Manage the annual Arts and Culture festival. Responsibilities include:• Ensuring the festival achieves its aims as directed by the board of trustees• Management of event selection and planning• Management of fundraising• Management of volunteer recruitment• Setting of marketing strategy and managing its implementation• Budget setting and controlhttp://stocktonheathfestival.co.uk/about-the-festival/ Show less

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  Creative Support

  Jun 2016 - Nov 2016

  Activity and Engagement Worker

  • Developed a programme of beneficial activities that met the needs of the people the service supported.• Volunteer and Peer Mentor Recruitment - I wrote role descriptions, interviewed, recruited, inducted and managed several Volunteers and Peer Mentors.• Partner organisations – I developed mutually beneficial relationships with partner agencies such as Halton BC, drug and alcohol treatment services, National Careers Service and the Citizens Advice Bureau

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  Age UK Cheshire

  Mar 2017 - Mar 2018

  Day Services Development Officer

  • Responsible for the day to day operations of Age UK Cheshire’s Day Activity Centre’s• Responsible for the development plan for Age UK Cheshire’s Day Activity Centre’s• Responsible for line management of all Day Services staff• Responsible for all Day Services Volunteer recruitment and ongoing management

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  British Red Cross

  Mar 2018 - now

  • Responsible for day-to-day management and monitoring of the Independent Living Services to ensure they meet service standards, British Red Cross policies and procedures and legal requirements• Responsible for the achievement of local and team targets as part of the area and national plans.• Establish good working relationships with appropriate partners at NHS trusts, CCG’s & local councils• Negotiation and management of Service contracts, including agreement of SLA’s & KPI’s• Support, monitor and evaluate new and existing contracts to ensure success and sustainability and that outcome targets agreed with commissioners are achieved• Contribute to the development of plans and budgets. Monitor and control budgets and ensure compliance with financial policies and procedures• Provide line management to the Service Co-ordinators and the Service Support workers and recruit and induct new staff as appropriate Show less • Responsible for line managing BRC Event First Aid Volunteers in the North West• Responsible for resourcing customer events with volunteers for Event First Aid• Ensure Event First Aid service delivery volunteers have an agreed 'development pathway'• Ensure service delivery for EFA events is consistent, high quality and fully competent• Monitor volunteer statistics, in line with agreed targets, and implement actions if required• Make commercial decisions and purchasing based on value for money from preferred suppliers Show less

  • Service Manager

    Jan 2020 - now

  • Event Planning Co-ordinator

    Jan 2019 - Dec 2019

  • Service Delivery Co-ordinator

    Mar 2018 - Dec 2018