Mel Pretorius

Experience

• 

  Fitzrovia International

  Jan 2001 - Jan 2004

  Office Manager

  Reporting to the Managing Director, I ensured the smooth running of the Office (approx 20 staff) and covered general administration, HR, Accounts and PA duties.

• 

  Thomson Reuters

  Nov 2008 - Nov 2011

  Reporting to the Head of Product Management and supporting a team of around 50. Responsibilities• Meeting Management/Preparation: Meeting room booking, minutes, conference call set up• Travel Management: Consolidation of team’s travel requests, feedback of approval/rejections & occasional travel booking• Sales support - Authorisation of product trials & contracts, production of sales reports and storage & retrieval of sales orders/contracts• New Employees/Leavers: Inductions, IT, desk & security set ups • HR: Monitoring attendance (including holiday and sickness records), production of monthly staff reports (leavers/new hires/headcount/staff training) and assisting with recruitment where required.• Hospitality: Meeting/greeting clients, ensuring room set up and suitable refreshments provided • Diary Management: Access to senior managers’ diaries & arranged meetings on their behalf Show less Reporting to the Head of Fees & Expenses ex US and responsible for overseeing the production and despatch of products to clients. Responsibilities• Advertising: Liaising with clients on creation & updates of listings in Indesign • Material procurement: Estimating materials needed for production period, liaising with suppliers, being cost-effective • Client lists: Updating sales database with product information (cancellations, new orders, changes), using information for printing estimates• Production: Burning, printing and checking all product cds, proof-reading all text before sending to the print house, uploading and liaising with print house on products, quality-checking of all products before despatch• Despatch: Arranging all products to be sent to clients accurately and timely, informing the account manager/client of any delays Show less

  • Executive Assistant

    Aug 2009 - Nov 2011

  • Production Executive

    Nov 2008 - Nov 2011
• 

  Red Desk Virtual

  Apr 2012 - now

  Director and Virtual Assistant

  Red Desk Virtual are a Virtual Assistance company based in North London. We are 5 Virtual Assistants all with different skillsets so are able to offer a wide range of business support ranging from social media management to fullscale project support. We generally work remotely but can be onsite if necessary.Current examples of projects include:Content writing (blogs/social media posts)SEO for newly set up websiteCredit Control and report checkingProperty managementResearch Show less

• 

  Hillman Legal Partnerships

  Apr 2012 - Oct 2013

  Probate Assistant

  Hillman Legal Partnerships specialise in wills and probate.Whether you require executor help or would like us to deal with the estate in its entirety our professionalism and experience will be invaluable to you at this difficult time.We can:Arrange the FuneralLocate the Beneficiaries and notify them of their inheritanceGather information on all of the assets and acquire date of death balancesLodge tax returns and pay any Inheritance TaxObtain ProbateApply to the High Court for a grant of probate which gives the executor authority to manage the deceased’s estateTo do this you need to meet with them face to face and produce:A death certificateA newspaper advert publicising the death (to give anyone with a later will time to produce itDetails of the assets and liabilitiesThe willClaim any Insurance PoliciesLiquidate (sell) assetsDistribute the estate, as required by the willMaintain a set of accounts for all financial dealings Show less

• 

  Simply Office Solutions Limited

  Feb 2013 - now

  Bookkeeper

  At Simply Office Solutions, we provide bookkeeping solutions for a variety of clients based in London and Europe.Our largest client is an Italian advertising agency and I look after the French and Belgian payments and invoicing.My other clients are a garage (sales and purchase ledger plus bank reconciliations) and a jeweller (VAT margin schemes, bank reconciliations).If you need a bookkeeping company that speaks French and Italian, please contact us.

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  John Colet School

  Jan 2024 - now

  Exam Invigilator

  Ensuring that school policy and procedure is followed closely throughout theexamination process. Distributing and collecting exam papers. Checking student attendance, guiding them to seats, supervising their exit from examhall