Alexandra Palmer-Bench

• Managed complex travel arrangements to ensure seamless business trips for executives.
• Coordinated all logistical aspects of corporate events leading to organised and successful functions.
• Liaised with other departments to maintain smooth flow of information across the organisation.
• Handled queries from clients professionally enhancing company's reputation.
• Delivered high-quality marketing presentations for successful client pitches.
• Handled confidential documents securely maintaining privacy and trustworthiness within the firm.
• Facilitated efficient office operations by managing correspondence, filing systems and organisational procedures.
• Implemented new document management systems, improving data accessibility and security within the firm.
• Provided exceptional customer service, resulting in increased client satisfaction.
• Improved executive workflow through management of schedules and itineraries.
• Maintained an up-to-date database ensuring easy retrieval of information when required.
• Enhanced communication between departments by arranging and coordinating meetings and conferences.
• Filed reports timely to keep executives informed about departmental progress.
• Streamlined administrative processes to increase efficiency at work.
• Scheduled meetings, conferences and appointments.
• Kept files organised and up-to-date for accurate record-keeping purposes.
• Booked flights and hotels for domestic and international meetings.
• Coordinated events by managing budget, logistics and event support.
• Organised master calendar of appointments, operational targets and projects.
• Drafted documents and reports for management review.
• Screened incoming phone calls and relayed detailed messages.
• Photocopied and printed presentations and reports for meetings.
• Sourced and ordered office supplies within allocated budget.
• Created expense reports with matching receipts.
• Arranged supplies, documents and spaces for meetings.
• Prioritised incoming communications to filter out basic requests and minimise disruptions.
• Wrote business correspondence and technical letters.
• Prepared professional business correspondence on behalf of senior staff and organisation.

• A fast-paced position supporting the Director of ConsumerOne Division and 3 General Managers.
• Main focus on supporting the Director with diary management, sorting out a 3-month backlog of meetings, bringing documents up to date and implementing new ways of working for better future planning.
• Daily liaison with the Executive Assistant team and building a good working relationship within the department, especially the General and Senior Managers.

A busy and diverse role supporting the CEO, Chairman and Board. Full EA support to the CEO and working on highly confidential projects with the Chairman and CEO. ABE is a SME so the role required a quick thinking and "muck in" attitude to include ad hoc duties as required.

• Extensive national and international multi-stop travel & accommodation arrangements including complex Visa applications and itinerary compilation. Ordering of currency and reconciliation of all expenses.
• Diary, telephone and Inbox management including replying on behalf of CEO and prioritising all correspondence.
• First point of contact for customers at all levels and from all nationalities including VIPs.
• Preparation and collation of Board and Committee Meeting papers packs using Microsoft Office Suite (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Adobe PDF Editor).
• Arrangement of meetings and events both in the UK and internationally managing all logistics and communication.
• Excellent listening and communication skills in order to respond confidently to all enquiries both orally and in writing.
• Open and collaborative working style working as part of a team or independently as required.
• Team player able to quickly establish credibility amongst people at all levels and across numerous cultures.
• Assisted with confidential HR matters including managing the on-boarding of new staff and Board members, preparing necessary documents and producing a schedule of introductory meetings with key stakeholders.
• Ability to define problems, collect data, establish facts and draw valid conclusions.
• Worked confidentially with the CEO and Chairman on a merger project in 2018/2019 liaising closely with key stakeholders to manage the workflow process and ensure documentation was prepared and presented to all parties on time, in full and to the highest quality.
• Responsible for preparing the timeline and final Merger Document along with making arrangements for the planned announcement and celebration of the merger.
• Worked closely with internal ABE and external contacts at The Entrepreneurs Network to assist with the Parliamentary launch of the Management Matters Report which resulted from the ABE Business Stay-Up Project.
• Project Management of ABE’s attendance at CHOGM (Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting) 2020 in Rwanda and all the relevant arrangements that had to be made around the meeting including sponsorship, travel, document preparation and general administration (due to Covid-19, the event was postponed).
• Responsible for a confidential project resulting in the redundancy of 35% of the staff. Liaising with HR advisors to ensure due process was followed, employees were fully informed of the process, their options and obligations, as well as providing all relevant correspondence for each individual.
• Supervision of the Office Manager and general office management duties.
• Passionate about staff development and engagement. Identified this was lacking so created and implemented a Staff Satisfaction Survey, analysed the results and reported back to the CEO. Various changes were made including the introduction of regular PDRs and company sign-up to Perkbox.
• Elected member of Staff Council and Champion for Wellness and Wellbeing of all employees.

· Director of Global Corporate Development Chief Compliance Officer

· Chairman & CEO of Rolls Royce Fuel Cell Systems Ltd Deputy Chief Compliance Officer

· Director – Strategy Chief Compliance Counsel

· Business Development Director (Marine & Energy)

• Varied, busy and challenging roles supporting Directors and Senior Executives of different character providing full secretarial and administrative support, making sure that the individual got to the right place at the right time with everything needed so their time was optimised.
• Understanding of the different Divisions of Rolls-Royce and key clients required as well as cross functional working with the flexibility to quickly assimilate knowledge.
• Forward thinking and planning required at all times.
• Daily duties included, but not exclusive to:
• Extensive national and international travel & accommodation arrangements and itineraries including Visa applications (personal holidays as well as business travel).
• Maintained busy diaries and arranged appointments through to coordinating logistics and meeting requirements.
• Updated presentations, pulled together briefing packs for meetings using Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
• Arranged meetings and events both in the UK and internationally - liaising with regional offices across the globe and managing all logistics and communication.
• Built and maintained close relationships with PA’s and management team in the UK and globally within the organisation and external to the company.
• Processed invoices, company expenses and personal expenses. General administration, filing and archiving.
• First point of contact for internal and external customers at all levels.
• Use of Microsoft Office FrontPage to update the Anti-Bribery and Corruption Compliance Intranet site.
• Identified a weakness in holiday and absence recording so devised and implemented a method to register, track and monitor team holiday and absence.

• A demanding role working for the President of the Eastern Region.
• Extensive European and International travel arrangements including visa applications (business & personal).
• Managed and co-ordinated busy diaries, dealt with and responded to all correspondence.
• Controlled budgets and payment of invoices as well as personal expenses.
• An International Oil and Gas company.

• A busy and varied role acting as EA to the MD of a medium sized, privately owned company working on specific projects to help grow and expand the business.
• Also worked for the Director of all 3 Companies owned by the MD.
• Investigated, developed a questionnaire, evaluated and implemented a “Green Travel Plan”.
• Liaised with local Government to obtain the necessary materials and information.
• Project managed a search for commercial premises to enable the expansion of the business.
• Devised and implemented a method of tracking and evaluating the progress of each training course, and the feedback on each course and trainer.
• Effectively managed my own time to complete all tasks within the time suggested, and implemented a new system for clearly feeding back important information to the necessary people.

• A busy and demanding role acting as the PA/right hand woman to the Customer Development/ Sales Director and the Trading Director for a leading FMCG company.
• Management and co-ordination of 2 busy and substantial diaries.
• International and domestic travel arrangements (business and personal holiday).
• Ensured both directors were kept fully up to date on all matters when away from the office.
• Organised regular meetings and co-ordinated all necessary material for the meetings.
• Managed conference room bookings and co-ordinated refreshments and IT equipment.
• Dealt with and responded to all correspondence on behalf of Customer Development and Trading Directors.
• Managed budgets and payment of invoices as well as personal expenses.
• Prepared and produced reports and presentations (Word, PowerPoint and Excel).
• Arranged social events – including locating and booking venues and cost negotiating.
• Annual arrangement of 3 corporate hospitality days at Wimbledon Tennis Championships including invitations, travel and accommodation of guests through to greeting the guests and VIPs on the day and ensuring the smooth running of the complete event.
• Assisted the Trading Director with annual, personal, charity Golf Day.
• First point of contact for internal and external customers at all levels, building close working relationships.

• Responsible for launch of Cif Oxy-Gel in the UK.
• Accountable for the production of the Gantt chart and management of workflow to ensure timely delivery of the project and get the product to market.
• Liaised with advertising agencies and briefed them with concept ideas, seeing them through to production.
• Managed budgets to make sure all events/promotions came within budget.
• Presented ideas and advertising plans to internal management.
• Analysed sales data and presented at various meetings to show results of promotions/advertising campaigns.

• Secretarial support to a team of 10 plus PA to Home Care Marketing Director.
• Managed diary of Home Care Marketing Director, responsible for all incoming and outgoing correspondence.
• DITC (Department Information Technology Co-ordinator) made sure all team members had sufficient IT support to carry out their jobs suitably.
• Revised inherited ways of working in order to make the department run more smoothly and efficiently.
• Created a “video library” documenting all the Home Care marketing advertising – over 600 videos, and printed a brochure with all information to make it clear what advert was on which video tape.

• PA role to National Accounts Director and National Accounts Service Manager.
• General secretarial duties including departmental correspondence, diary management, meeting and travel arrangements, general office management.
• Central point of contact in Pinkerton National Accounts Department for internal and external customers, first point of contact for key clients and potential customers involving dealing with enquiries and/or complaints, and ensuring customer satisfaction in order to meet company regulations and guidelines.
• Managed, co-ordinated and administered National Account Sales Activity (contract values totalling £3-4m p.a.), pre-qualification and tender processing and monitoring including liaising with all parties throughout the process.
• Monitored monthly financial accounts against budgets for department.

• PA to Sales Manager, general secretarial duties for 9 people including managing office stationery and documents.

• Provision of telephone and written information service.
• Worked on own initiative, prioritising and delegating.