Ceri Parkes, Project Manager in London, United Kingdom

Ceri Parkes

Project Manager

Location
London, United Kingdom
Toptal Member Since
August 23, 2019

Ceri is a delivery-focused and versatile project and operations expert, fueling transformative change through delivering business-critical initiatives and recovering complicated failing projects and programs. Ceri is recognized for successfully delivering optimum business solutions, including overhauling underperforming teams and instilling optimum changes by understanding impacts, mitigating risks, and overcoming challenging barriers.

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Project Highlights

Recovered Failing Project
Succeeded in stabilizing the project within three months by enhancing efficiencies and performance.
Agile Transformation
Succeeded in implementing agile practices and resolving existing problems.
Business Transformation
Succeeded in executing a redundancy program, significantly improved SLAs, and instilled positive motivation in the workforce.

Expertise

Business TransformationChange ManagementIT OperationsProcess ImprovementProject DeliveryProject ManagementProject RescueStakeholder Management

Education

Bachelor's Degree of Science
Birkbeck (University of London)

Select Certifications

Managing Successful Programs - Practitioner
QA
Certified Scrum Master
Scrum Alliance
Prince2 - Practitioner
QA

Work Experience

2020 - PRESENT

Chief Operating Officer

Applicita
  • Designed and implemented business operations, establishing policies that promoted company culture and vision and managing the company's operations.
  • Managed operational functions, including product and project delivery, finance, human resources, IT, legal, health and safety, customer services, and facilities management.
  • Forged strategic partnerships and relationships with clients, vendors, banks, investors, and other professional business relationships.
2020 - 2020

Digital Transformation Consultant

My Method
  • Provided full assessment of a current (manual) business process and the creation of a digital roadmap.
  • Identified process changes and suggested specific tools for CRM and online booking.
  • Engaged in the growth marketing strategy, using technology to support the growth plan.
2019 - 2020

Transformation Program Manager

Drivvn
  • Engaged as the transformation program manager to lead the end-to-end implementation and execution of a complex business change.
  • Managed the delivery of a brand-new, strategic, web-based platform for the business. Worked alongside our nearshore development partners to deliver under-challenging circumstances and deadlines.
  • Coached the team on agile ways of working to drive collaboration and efficiency.
2019 - 2019

Digital Transformation Program Manager

Paperchase via Palladium Digital
  • Engaged as digital transformation consultant to lead a due diligence program for a major stationery store, with ownership for engaging with business stakeholders to identify and gather requirements, identify priorities, and understand resource gaps.
  • Headed up due diligence, defined priorities, and implemented best practices.
  • Collaborated with the client to assess and understand the benefits and costs of initiatives to determine priorities while ensuring that requirements were met.
2018 - 2019

Business Change Project Manager

Wowcher
  • Engaged as the business change project manager to lead and coordinate the delivery of a program to improve customer satisfaction ratings (NPS score) and increase revenue.
  • Spearheaded the implementation of a revised refund process following extensive review to improve the overall process and timelines for customers seeking refunds.
  • Implemented streamlined and efficient processes to eliminate complex manual processes and enhance the user experience.
  • Managed the timely resolution of data issues to ensure accuracy and reliability of information.
2017 - 2018

Agile Transformation Program Manager

M-Kopa Solar (Kenya)
  • Engaged as the agile transformation program manager to lead the redundancy process for 80% of the company’s IT workforce and engage with the remaining teams to motivate, inspire, empower and drive productivity as part of a major organizational change program in Kenya.
  • Conducted change impact assessments and delivered continuous improvement sessions to gain insight and drive understanding of new ways of working, including Agile.
  • Provided coaching and mentoring to business leaders. Led a scrum of scrums and instilled best practices by encouraging and driving understanding of the benefits of change.
  • Worked closely with C-level business stakeholders to implement changes from the top down by identifying people and process issues and instilling agile methodologies.
  • Managed the outsourcing of IT operations, built and maintained collaborative relationships with suppliers, and managed processes and ways of working with suppliers.
  • Improved performance and productivity of onsite IT support teams by utilizing ITIL standards. This resulted in a significant increase in incident resolutions, first-time fixes, and SLAs.
2013 - 2016

Technical Project Manager

Risk Management Solutions
  • Oversaw and coordinated the setup and implementation of a professional services PMO with ownership for defining program and project management standards to improve delivery outcomes.
  • Managed large-scale, complex programs of work (over £1 million budgets) related to a next-generation cloud platform for insurance companies with ownership for leading integration to PaaS, driving business process change, and managing third-party vendor relations.
  • Provided leadership and resource management for projects with a focus on driving performance, enhancing efficiency, and managing under-performing staff.
  • Spearheaded the introduction of a repeatable approach to improve ISO 27001 complaint infrastructure buildouts for the transition from client ownership to SaaS.
  • Delivered a range of projects and programs, including infrastructure change, software implementation, CAT model development, data migrations, data warehousing, and API integration.
2015 - 2015

Business Change Consultant

St. Pauls' Catholic Bookstore
  • Engaged as the change management consultant to review, assess, and transform the organization's existing IT processes and systems. This included implementing a POS system along with a cost-saving program across warehouse and office operations.
  • Developed a business case for a POS supplier change, managed the RFP process, and negotiated discounts.
  • Managed and coordinated system implementation of post-supplier selection encompassing tender, contract, implementation, and go-live phases of project delivery.
  • Worked in close collaboration with key stakeholders up to C-level to define and translate the business vision into a target operating model and three-year action plan for change.
  • Liaised with internal teams to resolve conflict by delivering workshops to drive improvements and address employee concerns.
2012 - 2013

Agile Delivery Manager

IMX Software
  • Oversaw and coordinated as the key decision-maker the end-to-end delivery of business-critical projects. This included banknote and FX trading systems for Tier 1 banks (with a budget of over £1 million), web client application implementations, data migrations, and business change initiatives.
  • Conducted an intensive review of the existing 12-month plan, identified that team structures were not working as they should, and recommended changes to existing resource structure in Vietnam and the UK.
  • Was instrumental in stabilizing two failing projects within three months by analyzing and defining project needs and executing robust change to resolve and enhance operations.
  • Reduced the Vietnam team to six resources and increased the UK team to six. I also introduced a buddy system to enhance the performance and productivity of the Vietnamese resources.
  • Engaged with the client regularly to understand priorities for each sprint, restructured project plans to ensure conflicting priorities were achieved, and changed sprints from four weeks to two.
  • Managed scrum ceremonies, removed blockers, coordinated global teams, maintained project PM status, and velocity reports in line with project specifications.
  • Defined and implemented robust processes and role changes to enhance the efficiency and performance of the offshore team and developers.

Project History

Recovered Failing Project

Succeeded in stabilizing the project within three months by enhancing efficiencies and performance.

IMX Software needed to recover two struggling projects due to conflicting priorities and a lack of engagement between local and offshore resources. I was engaged as the Agile delivery manager to turn around the performance of two projects for Tier 1 European banks. I analyzed and defined project issues, implemented Agile methodologies, reviewed the 12-month plan, scaled back the Vietnam team to increase UK-based resources, engaged with the client to define sprint priorities, and changed sprints from four to two weeks.

Agile Transformation

Succeeded in implementing agile practices and resolving existing problems.

Summit Media required significant changes to remediate problems with staff attrition rates: 95% of the staff left within the last six months. I was engaged as the agile transformation program manager to lead a business-critical agile transformation program. I identified the underlying business problems, devised an improvement strategy, managed complex supplier relationships with two external development agencies, resolved complicated stakeholder relationships, and ensured a full understanding of business problems for the C-level through clear communication.

Business Transformation

Succeeded in executing a redundancy program, significantly improved SLAs, and instilled positive motivation in the workforce.

M-Kopa Solar Kenya needed to reduce their outgoing costs by conducting a major redundancy program. I was engaged as the agile transformation program manager to lead the redundancy process for 80% of the IT workforce. I managed complex risks, liaised with legal and PR teams to manage the impact, implemented structural changes, led the outsourcing of IT operations, managed supplier interactions, and mitigated potential riots and security breaches.

Education

2007 - 2011

Bachelor's Degree of Science in IT and Management

Birkbeck (University of London) - London, UK

Certifications

DECEMBER 2020 - PRESENT

Inbound Marketing Certified

HubSpot

MARCH 2014 - PRESENT

Managing Successful Programs - Practitioner

QA

JANUARY 2014 - PRESENT

Certified Scrum Master

Scrum Alliance

JUNE 2007 - PRESENT

Prince2 - Practitioner

QA

JANUARY 2007 - PRESENT

ISEB Business Analyst Essentials

ISEB

JANUARY 2004 - PRESENT

CIMA Foundation

CIMA