Dr. Sarah Morris
Abingdon
Summary
I am an accomplished, analytical and tenacious senior leader with over 15 years experience managing projects and programmes in a variety of sectors. With a proven ability to navigate complex challenges I am passionate about driving sustainable change and delivering exceptional outcomes which are aligned to an organisations strategic growth. I thrive in a dynamic environment and am committed to leveraging my capacity to adapt to new challenges to drive success and exceed organisational goals.
Overview
15
15
years of professional experience
7
7
years of post-secondary education
Work history
Head of Programmes
Defaqto
Haddenham, Buckinghamshire
03.2021 - Current
- Accountable for delivery of company wide strategic programmes.
- Consults with C-level executives, influencing high level decision-making through accurate reporting.
- Member of the Defaqto Senior Management Team supporting strategic leadership across the organisation.
- Responsible for the growth of the project management function, and through the establishment of a PMO, achieves alignment of project management best practices across companies recently acquired by Defaqto.
- Introduced a new governance process which supports data driven decision aligned to strategic goals and emerging commercial opportunities.
- Promotes the importance of Continuous Improvement and Change Management by working with project teams to identify and improve efficiency without compromising quality.
- Responsible for creating and maintaining roadmap of strategic IT projects ensuring projects are prioritised to maximise commercial benefits while remaining in budget(s).
- Implemented new processes which ensure all initiatives are set up for success.
- Responsible for establishing ways of working on large and complex strategic initiatives involving two external suppliers whilst working seamlessly with internal teams across technical and business focused work streams.
- Manages teams, resources and timelines, accomplishing delivery of business outcomes.
- Establishes project goals and KPIs to ensure successful tracking of progress against business case at all stages of the SDLC including conducting business benefit reviews.
- Coaches and mentors IT delivery teams in Agile ways of working.
- Manages programmes using a hybrid of Waterfall and Agile methodologies, tailored to suit the specific needs of the programme.
Project Manager
Oxford University
Oxford, Oxfordshire
04.2020 - 08.2021
- Provided project management support to multiple international research projects.
- Prepared and submitted financial reports for UN and UKRI.
- Ensured entire team, including international collaborators, operated within the terms and conditions of the awarded grant.
- Created and maintained project tracking tools which facilitated close monitoring of budgets.
- Reconciled financial accounts spanning five years with a budget of £1.3M including the identification of incorrect and missing payments subject to the terms and conditions of the European Research Council.
- Formed strong working relationships with academic, financial and bid teams.
Career Break / Maternity Leave
Various Community Projects
05.2016 - 04.2020
- Parish Councillor: Authored, edited and distributed a 16 page community newsletter to promote positive mental health during the first national lock down in 2020. This was delivered to 1,200 homes every 3 weeks. Successfully pitched for a national grant to cover cost of the newsletter. Gained support from the Council to prioritise local road safety improvements
- Treasure of local preschool: Responsible for preparing annual budget and monitoring cashflow during COVID-19 closures including making recommendations for furlough.
- 'Jibber Jabber': Established and promote new parent group which allowed parents to attend an informative seminar on a non-parenting topic with their child.
- Baby Lists: Created, edited and produced a practical guide to parenting designed to help manage some of the stresses experienced during this stage of life. Received commendations from many local midwives.
- Befriending: Worked for a local charity befriending local neighbours who were isolated from the community.
- Events Manager: Organised author events for local independent bookshop.
Portfolio Manager
Pearson Education
Oxford, Oxfordshire
09.2012 - 05.2016
- Technical portfolio manager for suite of online educational services.
- Oversaw all aspects of the SDLC.
- Used Agile methodologies to manage an international, multi disciplined team to deliver business value on time and to budget
- Influenced business stakeholders to ensure portfolio roadmap was proportionality aligned to all strategic goals and was achievable.
- Standardised governance reporting across department and introduced the use of dashboards for consistent project tracking.
- Team capacity planning.
- Oversaw transition from co-located testing teams to offshore resources.
- Provided communication bridge between technology and business teams resulting in high quality products.
- Coached in Agile best practice and worked with the team to drive continuous improvement.
Product Owner & Delivery Manager
Defaqto
Haddenham, Buckingham
08.2010 - 09.2012
- Worked with c-suite directors to define the vision of new flagship product
- Managed importation of new complex data set into existing data structures and created new tool to allow collected data to be viewed and edited by internal teams.
- Created roadmap of product releases and defined milestone deliverables which enabled commercial benefits to be gained at the earliest opportunity.
- Business analysis of requirements and creation of specification documents.
- Oversaw delivery of requirements including governance tailored to technical and non-technical audiences.
- Successfully transitioned development teams from Waterfall to Agile methodologies after influencing support from c-suite directors
Project Manager
RM Education
Abingdon, Oxforshire
01.2009 - 08.2010
- Project managed the delivery of complete ICT solutions into new build schools as part of the governments 'Building Schools for the Future' initiative.
- Facilitated communication between school SLT, local authority and building contractor to ensure final solution was fit for purpose and within budget.
- Responsible for product budgets of c.£1M and managing change control process with local authority.
- Identified innovative solutions to guarantee scheduled completion after building works were delayed.
- Devised project approach to complement bid submissions for new work and streamlined processes which improved efficiency in preparing costs for new tenders.
Education
Doctor of Philosophy - Mathematics
University of Bath
Bath 09.2005 - 12.2008
MMath(hons) - Mathematics
University of Bath
Bath 09.2001 - 08.2005
Prince2 Practioner
06.2010 - 06.2010
Certified Scrum Professional
05.2014 - 05.2014
Certified Scrum Master
05.2013 - 05.2013
Scaled Agile Certification
03.2015
Skills
- Strategic Leadership
- Tenacious
- Continuous improvement (CI)
- Governance and reporting
- Digital and interpersonal communication skills
- Collaborative working
- Risk, issue and dependency management
- Analytical problem solver
- Waterfall project management
- Agile project delivery
- Scaled Agile framework
Timeline
Head of Programmes
Defaqto
03.2021 - Current
Project Manager
Oxford University
04.2020 - 08.2021
Career Break / Maternity Leave
Various Community Projects
05.2016 - 04.2020
Certified Scrum Professional
05.2014 - 05.2014
Certified Scrum Master
05.2013 - 05.2013
Portfolio Manager
Pearson Education
09.2012 - 05.2016
Product Owner & Delivery Manager
Defaqto
08.2010 - 09.2012
Prince2 Practioner
06.2010 - 06.2010
Project Manager
RM Education
01.2009 - 08.2010
Doctor of Philosophy - Mathematics
University of Bath
09.2005 - 12.2008
MMath(hons) - Mathematics
University of Bath
09.2001 - 08.2005
Scaled Agile Certification
Similar Profiles
Mary Bagwell-JohnsonMary Bagwell-Johnson
Senior Theater Manager at Legacy TheatersSenior Theater Manager at Legacy Theaters
ILGIN DENSONILGIN DENSON
Sales Associate at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth Navy ExchangeSales Associate at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth Navy Exchange
Amy WinnAmy Winn
Office Assistant at Chesapeake Care ResourcesOffice Assistant at Chesapeake Care Resources
April ZakesApril Zakes
Assistant Patient Care Manager at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical CenterAssistant Patient Care Manager at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center
AYOMIDE OGUNTOYEAYOMIDE OGUNTOYE
Head of Programmes at Proshare/WebTVHead of Programmes at Proshare/WebTV