Mark Abbott

Experience

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  ICI, CSS, Manor Bakeries, HTEC

  Sept 1998 - Nov 2002

  IT Support and Training roles

  Range of IT Support and Training roles for both internal and external (outsourced) providers.

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  Aviva

  Dec 2002 - Aug 2004

  Management Information Co-ordinator

  Design, delivery, training on a wide range of MI products in the Customer Services division of Norwich Union Healthcare.

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  Citizens Advice

  Jan 2007 - Jan 2008

  National Youth Volunteering Co-ordinator (Secondment)

  Managing national youth volunteering project across the CAB network. Developing new youth volunteering projects and partnerships with a range of organisations across all sectors.

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  Solent Youth Action

  May 2007 - Mar 2011

  Chair of Trustees (voluntary position)

  Initally as a Trustee, then as Deputy Chair and finally Chair, led the operation and development of Solent Youth Action, a charity dedicated to empowering young people through volunteering.

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  Citizens Advice

  Jan 2009 - Jan 2014

  Leading the continual development of a multi-location and multi-functional Business Support team. Providing a range of services across England and Wales, including; provision of Data and Management Information services, Events Management, Office Management and Health & Safety, Business Process improvement, Budget and Financial management, CRM Database management.Key Achievements:Designing, recruiting and developing a nation-wide Business Support team of 16 staff based across 5 office locations. Delivering a wide range of services and products, including; local to national scale events programmes, H&S and office management, varied management information reporting including key national funding statistics, management responsibility for ensuring key CRM member data is accurate and up to date.Selecting, implementing and supporting a cloud-based collaboration tool (Huddle) for 200 users working across England and Wales. Enabling staff to share and edit content securely online, and with third party contacts.Managing the delivery of a range of events for 100's of members each year, from local training sessions to national best practice conferences and forums.Reviewing a range of historic business processes and systems and designing new ways of working and new services. Engaging staff and customers to ensure workable solutions were developed to meet clear requirements. Show less

  • Business Support Manager

    Feb 2012 - Jan 2014

  • Business Support Co-ordinator

    Sept 2004 - Feb 2012

  • Partnership Development Manager (Secondment)

    Jan 2009 - Jan 2010
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  London 2012

  Jan 2012 - Aug 2012

  London Olympics - Event Services Volunteer Team Leader (voluntary position)

  Lead a team of both volunteer and paid staff to deliver a range of customer service and safety tasks in the extremely busy and high profile environment of the London 2012 Olympic Park.

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  Parents And Children Together (PACT)

  Jan 2014 - Feb 2015

  Business Operations Manager

  Responsible for the development and delivery of business critical ICT, Facilities and H&S services across the organisation whilst delivering a range of key Business Improvement projects. Leading the Operations Team and managing relationships with third party suppliers and contractors.Key Achievements:Creating, developing and supporting a brand new Operations Team for PACT, consisting of a mix of Permanent, Fixed Term, Temporary and Voluntary staff to meet our objectives efficiently and cost-effectivelyDelivering a step-change improvement to ICT infrastructure across the organisation: upgrading equipment, improving connectivity, security and support for mobile workingReviewing entire IT provision and delivering a change project to move all staff to a new private cloud remote desktop environment, providing a more flexible and secure IT solutionDelivering a project to replace the legacy phone system, moving to a hosted solution linking all sites. Resulting in a more flexible and adaptable phone service, improved client experience and improved staff collaboration and communicationMeeting a range of key H&S obligations across the property portfolio, including Asbestos, Legionella, Wiring Safety and Fire Risk Assessments and remedial worksDeveloping and rolling out a H&S compliance monitoring and recording system, including online DSE assessments, Fire Awareness and Manual Handling training for all staffPlanning and opening new office locations in London and the South of England, expanding organisational reach and providing professional, safe and secure space for staff and public eventsDelivering a range of repairs across properties, increasing the capacity and quality of buildings, improving building services and setting a strategy for further development as part of the organisations 3 year planReviewing all contracts and leases for cost effectiveness and value for money. Packaging up contracts and tendering for new suppliers for a range of services Show less

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  Hart Square

  Feb 2015 - Aug 2015

  Practice Manager

  Managing and developing Hart Square's Consultancy and Support teams. Developing process and workflow across the organisation. Working with clients to ensure continued excellent service.Hart Square is an independent specialist in providing CRM and Digital consultancy services for charities, not-for-profit (NFP) and membership organisations. We have worked exclusively in these sectors for over 20 years, so we really understand them. In fact, each of our dedicated team of experts comes from an NFP or membership organisation background. Show less

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  Christian Aid

  Aug 2015 - Oct 2019

  Business Operations Manager

  Leading, facilitating and enabling operational processes within the Supporter and Community Partnerships Department, ensuring full alignment with the wider thinking and approach of Christian Aid corporately. Leading an organisation-wide workstream to review and plan change for all core IT systems and processes, aligned with the Vision 2020 organisational change strategy.Leading a major project to replace the legacy CRM system with a new platform solution, enabling transformed relationships and communications with supporters and stakeholders. Supporting the Director and Senior Management Team to plan work and decision-making aligned to organisational strategy and corporate objectives/planning cycles.Establishing a new PMO function for the Supporter and Community Partnerships Department, supporting and enabling a multi-million pound programme of fundraising, campaigning and communications/media projects.Leading the Business, Operations and Support function for the department, working with peer managers to establish and develop the new Performance, Development and Insight professional team. Developing and leading on departmental planning, alongside performance measurement, monitoring, reporting and organisational learning as part of an overarching performance framework. Show less

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  Adapta Consulting

  Nov 2019 - Jun 2022

  Senior Consultant

  Leading a wide-range of Projects and Programmes, helping not-for-profit organisations deliver strategic change, meet their objectives and improve processes and ways of working. Delivered successful change projects in a number of organisations, including ActionAid UK, The Prince's Trust, Evangelical Alliance, Diocese of Salisbury.Adapta specialise in providing charities, membership organisations and other not-for-profit organisations with tailored advice and practical guidance to develop the three areas key to achieving strategic and operational effectiveness:- Processes; through developing business processes and effective ways of working. - People; by offering the support people need to manage change. - Technology; to help select and implement new systems or technology. Show less

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  The Law Society

  Jun 2022 - now

  Collaborating with Executive Leadership, Directors and Senior Management to ensure the successful delivery of both “rhythm of business” and strategic change activities across the organisation. Establishing and developing a multi-disciplinary team providing a range of project management and business management services and business support. Focussing on and facilitating programmes, projects and processes that involve multiple teams across the Law Society. Ensuring efficient, collaborative and effective ways of working. Also managing the Law Society's Grants scheme, funding Not For Profit organisations to help progess our strategic objectives around Access To Justice and developing a Diverse & Inclusive Profession. Show less

  • Head of Business Support

    Feb 2023 - now

  • Business & Planning Manager

    Jun 2022 - Feb 2023