Hannah Stakes

The Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology (CFIT) was created as a key recommendation of the Kalifa Review of UK Fintech in 2021. The organisations mission is to expand and scale the UK's position as a global leader in financial innovation.

My position as EA & Company Secretary is central to both day-to-day operations and strategic engagements. I report to and support the CEO, Ezechi Britton MBE, the Chair, Charlotte Crosswell OBE, and the Board of Directors.

Key Responsibilities:

• Providing confidential administrative support to the Chair & CEO including diary management, inbox management and, travel arrangements.
• As Company Secretary I am responsible for the creation and circulation of Board pack, minute taking and action resolution for all Board Meetings.
• Corporate events management.
• Build and maintain relationships and act as first point of contact for key stakeholders, including the City of London Corporation, HM Treasury (HMT) and senior contacts at the UK's leading financial organizations.

Shelter is dedicated to defending the right to a safe home and addressing the profound impact of the housing crisis on individuals and society.

In my role, I provided comprehensive support to the Director of Shelter Scotland, ensuring the efficient operation of the head office and offering secretariat support to the Chair and Committee.

Key Responsibilities:

• Managed the Director's office, delivering administrative and project management support.
• Acted as the first point of contact for senior inquiries, ensuring effective communication with the Scottish Government.
• Liaised with the media to coordinate interviews, maintaining a responsive and flexible approach.
• Worked closely with the Policy Advocacy team to schedule speaking engagements for the Director and produce timely briefings.
• Oversaw gatekeeping duties, ensuring efficient time management for the Director.
• Managed complex diary scheduling, coordinating meetings and travel arrangements.
• Handled high-level inbox management, prioritizing correspondence and responding to urgent matters.
• Provided extensive meeting support, including drafting agendas, minute-taking, and tracking action items.
• Maintained important records, including DOIs, contracts, and legal documentation.
• Ensured timely preparation and submission of Executive, Board, and Committee papers.
• Prepared high-quality documents, presentations, and other materials for internal and external use.
• Managed events, including coordinating external engagements with government officials and overseeing logistics.
• Assisted in the recruitment and selection process for key staff members.
• Provided secretariat support for the Shelter Scotland Committee, including planning and communicating the annual meeting cycle and developing agendas.
• Coordinated events and conferences, ensuring smooth execution with appropriate resources and setup.
• Collaborated with administrative, human resources, and finance teams on special projects.

Guidelines International Network is a worldwide charitable organization with board members located globally. My position with GIN is fast-paced and varied supporting the Trustees, CEO, and Member Organisations. My activities are broken up as follows:

Supporting the CEO

• Diary management
• Assisting with the development and maintenance of project plans
• Collating data and drafting reports and presentations
• Travel research, when required

Office management for the virtual office
- Responsible for administration of the Office 365 account; setting up emails, shared inboxes, support for staff, setting up template documents

- Responsible for management and continuous improvement of shared filing system and internal processes

- Ensuring GDPR/data protection compliance

- Recording and processing invoices received, ensuring that the official approval process is followed

Board and Committee Meetings
- Arranging international committee and board meetings via various online platforms

- Co-ordination of all committee work; allocating work to the Admin & Communication Assistant as required
- Working with committee chairs to support with preparation of agendas, minutes and drafting other papers required for meetings
- Supporting the CEO and Chair in preparation for in-person meetings, normally twice each year
- Researching travel options and associated costs for Trustees for meeting attendance

Membership
- First point of contact for member accounts
- Managing the member application journey including communication of new members to the membership committee
- Ongoing member administration
- Supporting the membership committee meetings
- Supporting member engagement including through Connect, the membership management platform
- Managing the annual invoicing process, including report generation through Xero
- Managing the annual member award process

Conference
- Managing the GIN membership booth at international conferences, interacting with members and potential members
- Organising and supporting the Annual General Meeting and the board meetings

Temporary position providing, proactive, proficient, and effective support to Professor Dame Anna Dominiczak across two roles; Regius Professor of Medicine at The University of Glasgow & Director of Laboratories, UKHSA.

Primary Duties & Responsibilities:

• Reviewing incoming correspondence and determining importance.
• Progressing with any emails that can be actioned or responded to by myself directly.
• Tracking status of correspondence to be actioned by the professor.
• Complex and extensive diary management, identifying and resolving any clashes.
• Forward planning the diary to ensure all arrangements have been made, papers are ready and the professor is briefed.
• Frequent national and international travel management.
• Drafting, letters, papers, and reports
• Ensuring all papers for meetings are collated and ready for meetings.
• Preparing agendas and ensuring all action points are followed up.
• Clerk meetings and record concise minutes.
• Ensure non-attendees are aware of any action points that concern them.
• Coordination and close monitoring of follow-up actions.
• Manage deadlines for the Regius Professor; track and provide frequent reminders.
• Maintaining a flawless filing system.
• Confidential cross-organization and external liaison.
• Assist with background research and preparation of presentations.

Temporary Position providing senior administrative support to twenty Executive Directors across three teams. Duties include but are not limited to:

• Extensive Diary management, managing multiple priorities at once.
• Travel Management in line with current covid restrictions. This includes transport, visas, quarantine, and preparation of supporting itineraries.
• Processing of all the team expenses.
• Maintaining and coordinating executive and senior management meetings.

Denholm Energy Services (formerly Denholm Oilfield Services) started as a division of J. & J. Denholm, a family owned business with close to 150 years of experience operating in the marine and service industries. With over 40 years of operational experience in oil and gas, Denholm Energy Services now operates as a stand alone Group and has an annual turnover in excess of £190m.

This role was as a C-suite Executive Assistant and Office Manager within an international organization consisting of thirteen companies. I reported directly to the CEO, CFO, and Board of Directors.

My time at Denholm offered a considerable level of autonomy.

Duties and Achievements Included:

• Project Management: Oversaw and prioritized multiple projects and events while managing the day-to-day operations of the head office and maintaining staff morale.
• Managed the company's primary sponsorship of Glasgow Warriors Rugby Club, which included coordinating regular events and PR activities within the city and community.
• As a member of the CSR committee, collaborated with Glasgow Children's Hospital to raise over £40k annually through various events.
• Solely responsible for organizing the annual Group Forum, a 3-4 day event where Managing Directors from the group meet with the Board for presentations, events, and activities. This included managing the event and overseeing extensive overseas travel arrangements.
• Organized international Board meetings, monthly Glasgow meetings and dinners, the annual charity ball, management meetings, and staff events and parties.
• Prepared documents for signing and notarization, including bank mandates, board resolutions, dividends, and other legal documents.
• Served as the first point of contact for shareholder queries.
• Prepared documents in Blue Print One World to ensure compliance with statutory requirements.
• Collated, edited, and distributed Board Papers.
• Assisted with the administration of corporate entities using Blueprint One World.
• Compiled and edited the quarterly dossier.
• Assisted the CEO & COO with the group's annual report.
• Coordinated the head office communications strategy within the group, managing the group's websites, news pages, newsletters, and intranet. The PR agency and web design company reported directly to me.
• Covered for the Company Secretary during two maternity leaves, taking responsibility for all Companies House filings.
• Served as the first point of contact and managed reception duties for key visitors and stakeholders.
• Maintained databases and filing systems, improving team efficiency.

Swipii is an award-winning start-up offering advanced technical loyalty solutions to small businesses. I was originally employed as part of the HR and management team, joining the company after their first round of funding. After growth slowed, I moved into office management and Executive Assistant role to reflect how my position had developed within the organization. Duties and achievements include:

• Extensive travel management within tight schedules and budgets.
• Facilitating and planning meetings with potential clients and investors.
• Research for investor pitches.
• I took on the responsibility of event management, office management, staff training & staff wellbeing.
• Acting as 'the face' of the organization, I was essentially responsible for all of the little extras that make a workplace an experience.
• Communication with shareholders on behalf of the CEO and COO and hosted their visits.
• My day-to-day activities also included business blogging, internal communications, research and preparation of investor pitches, staff training & on-boarding, senior administration, marketing assistance, and complex diary management for the CEO and COO.
• Creating blog content that now ranks on the first page on the Google search network.
• Supporting the founders of the organization as it snowballed from 4 - 40+ staff within the space of 9 months.
• Increasing the company profile by nominating the company for numerous awards, including having the founders listed on the Forbes 30 under 30 list.
• Collaborated effectively with admin teams, human resources, and the finance department on projects and events.
• Produced documents, updated spreadsheets, and crafted presentations with outstanding attention to detail.
• Maintained databases and filing systems that boosted team efficiency.