Geoff Ranson

Experience

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  Government Actuary's Department

  Jun 1999 - May 2007

  Personnel Officer/Manager

  Recruitment and selection of administrative and actuarial staff including the organisation of assessment centres for graduate recruitment, management of pensions contract, advising staff on terms and conditions, management of the civil service/private sector Interchange scheme, diversity and equal opportunities policy implementation including work/life balance and childcare, review and procurement of new payroll and personnel systems, policy development and reviewAchievementsManaged recruitment campaigns for selection of administrative and actuarial staffStreamlined and managed the end to end organisation of assessment centres for graduate recruitment including attending actuarial recruitment fairs at Oxford university saving the Government Actuary’s Department approx £30,000 in contractor costsUndertook and drafted an analysis and review of the Pensions Administration service with recommendations to outsource the service allowing the Personnel Section to concentrate on other key workAdvised staff on complex issues and terms and conditions including applying for work permits Managed the civil service/private sector Interchange schemeImproved the Department for Transport’s Civil Service Fast Stream management and development processes including introduction of a talent management processDrafted diversity and equal opportunities policies including work/life balance, flexible working arrangements and childcareManaged the review and procurement of new payroll and personnel systems Show less

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  The Home Office

  May 2007 - Sept 2011

  Senior Funding Manager

  Management of the European Solidarity Programme Funds - Refugee Fund, Return Fund and Integration FundManagement and Control Systems, Project Selection processes, Monitoring and Project ManagementRedesigned the external project selection process and provided extensive training which was commended by the EC auditors at the last monitoring visitResearched, designed and implemented robust processes and management and control systems including introduction of self assessment of processes and making recommendations for improvement to prepare for audit visitsSuccessfully project managed and provided technical advice and guidance to 15 projects including budget analysis, performance analysis comparing achievements against set targets using quantitative and qualitative information and undertaking monitoring visitsDrafted a SOLID fund specific fraud strategyPresented UK best practice in stakeholder/project communications at EC SOLID fund audit conference in June 2008 attended by other Member States and migration and refugee/asylum stakeholders including Caritas and International Red CrossActive participation in and management of UK hosting of EC audit and monitoring visits including confidently championing UK’s practices and organisation and management of European Court of Auditors audit visits, scheduling visits to projects and key internal and external stakeholders in the processConducted joint presentation at European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA) seminar on identification of output indicators attended by funding managers from other Member StatesActive participation and negotiations at EU Asylum Working Party on new EC proposals on joint Member State refugee resettlement activitiesDelivered presentations at pre-application and pre-start workshops for both prospective bidders and successful projectsProvided advice and guidance to Italian SOLID fund delegation and represented UK at Italian European Refugee Fund pre-application workshop Show less

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  Geoffrey Ranson

  Nov 2011 - Jun 2014

  Self-employed

  The main aim I am pursuing is to help raise awareness of the range of European funding opportunities to SMEs, not for profit organisations and, in particular, the hospitality, leisure, travel and tourism sector. I can help with- Business Process Mapping- Document Services- Policy Document Drafting- Formatting and Proofreading- Monitoring reports - Independent review of funding applications - Funding stream searches, both standard and tailored to specific needs - European funding policy and horizon scanning services- Project partner searches- Funding strategy development- Management and Control Systems development and review- Monitoring visits- Training/coaching Show less

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  CollAge Network

  Jan 2012 - Jan 2013

  Co-collaborator
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  StartUp Croydon - A Croydon Business Venture

  Jun 2014 - now

  • Design and management of BOXPARK Croydon / StartUp Croydon Pop-Up Kitchen Competition including recruitment of mentors, participants and assisting them to develop proposals - Design, delivery and project management of Building Business Horizons intensive business support incubator https://startupcroydon.co.uk/building-business-horizons/- Project management and co-delivery of social enterprise training programme SEEK in collaboration with The Platform, University of Chichester, UnLtd and Croydon Councilo Recruitment of social entrepreneurso Design and delivery of courses, workshops, Action Learning Setso Responsible for mentoring and guiding social entrepreneurs to achieve their goalso Publicising and sharing achievements• Promotion of StartUp Croydon’s services through various media• Representing organisation at local, regional and national networking and information sharing events including EU funding and Meet The Buyer style events• Liaising with local supporters including enterprise development managers of NatWest/RBS, Barclays, National Enterprise Network, Coast To Capital and London Local Enterprise Partnerships• Management of organisation’s social media including daily tweets, LinkedIn group management• Client follow-up to gauge satisfaction and identify further development needs• Project design, implementation and management including sourcing and applying for funding to deliver projects including ESF/Big Lottery Fund and NatWest Skills and Opportunities Fund • Identification and liaison with potential enterprise project partners Show less • Proactively and reactively engaging with businesses to raise awareness of business support• Determining the requirements by questioning and listening to business requirements from outbound and inbound calls:o Signposting local companies to appropriate help and advice;o Identifying the most appropriate support to a business.• Signposting to the most appropriate business support solution(s) by clarifying needs, researching, locating, and providing information and forwarding requests:o Direct businesses to local support provided through the Brighton City Region Business Growth Hub support programmes and other local provision.o Direct local business to national schemes including GrowthAccelerator, UKTI, TSB & MAS when appropriate;• Undertaking follow up activity with clients to determine take up of signposting and level of client satisfaction• Maintaining the Business Navigator Growth Hub database by entering information accurately and in a timely manner:o Recording all communication with businesses on a CRM system;o Updating Business records from follow up engagement activity.• Helping the Business Liaison Manager to identify local business support services and changes to existing services Show less

  • Projects Manager

    Aug 2022 - now

  • Special Projects and Fundraising Executive

    Jun 2015 - now

  • Business Support Navigator

    Jun 2014 - Jun 2015