MARTIN UNDERWOOD

• Provided subject matter expertise to develop innovative banking products and services tailored to business clients.
• Created and presented strategic recommendations to senior management, guiding decision-making processes.
• Collaborated with IT and Operations teams to implement processes that enhance service delivery in business banking.
• Gained approval to recommended plans and objectives receiving strong feedback from leadership.
• Devised strategies to overcome challenges during project life cycle stages.

• Developed business proposition supported by large numbers of professional global sporting athletes to help them prepare for life after sport, creating positive transition plan and aim to reduce mental health issues seen in sporting athletes post career.
• Hosted and led seminars globally via Zoom throughout Covid-19 lockdown to support athletes prepare for life after sport.
• Organised and hosted Women in Sport webinar to discuss transition and equality – Gained 3 Olympic Ambassadors
• Transitioned several athletes who have since left sport to start life outside of sport.
• Raised over £50,000 for grass roots sport and charities by organising events with sporting celebrities.
• Supported development of women’s rugby at various clubs including Market Harborough
• Developed excellent relationships with rugby contacts throughout men’s/women’s game to support future opportunities.

• Led end-to-end programme to deliver Banks’ first branded Credit Card to market.
• Built business and benefits cases for credit card to support financial planning.
• Developed end to end plan including operational, technical and supplier activities.
• Led team of six direct colleagues and twenty-five virtual colleagues across twelve business areas to successful delivery of project, saving over £100k of budget.
• Streamlined operations by implementing best practices in project management.

• Proactively approached and asked to lead IT new transformation strategy to replace existing client/colleague engagement technology.
• Incepting and driving inception of activity to identify benefits of changing technical and operational activities, identifying areas to improve technology and operational efficiency.
• Identified, met, and rationalised several potential vendors (over 15) to provide objective opinion on options.
• Prepared and presented recommendation papers to Bank Executive Committee and Board on how Weatherbys could transform technology and operations in coming years, providing clear action plans, costs and approach options that will meet governance and regulatory needs.
• Investigated, initiated, and developed detailed business case summaries to present to ExCo and Board offering delivery approaches, priorities, benefits, and cost models.

• Providing leadership, project and fundraising support and guidance to support ongoing challenges raising £5m to enable them to deliver Project Phoenix 2020 target of additional two cinema screens and larger restaurant area. Main responsibilities include:
• Lead work activities with local support groups (e.g., De-Montfort and Leicester Universities) to identify partnership opportunities.
• Identify and implement and fundraising opportunities.
• Attend all board meetings to support leadership colleagues with plans, financials, and objective setting.
• Represent charity at social occasions to help promote projects and build supporter base.

• Providing leadership and guidance to support Business Change Management team help shape their team and develop team best practices whilst leading key data programme with DPO. Successfully:
• Developed and planned out project charter to define goals, objectives, and approach for strengthening data management in both paper and electronic formats.
• Reviewed, refreshed, and recommend significant changes to data retention, privacy policies whilst created new user access controls producing/delivering GDPR training to over three hundred colleagues.
• Designed and implemented new controls for Subject Access Requests, Data Protection Impact Assessments, whilst creating new data processing committees to make decisions and engage operations.
• Identified and presented changes to ways of working that will refresh manage projects techniques.
• Led and created new procedures for producing regulatory reports, using new “Power tools” to improve efficiency of finance colleagues by over 40%.

• Targeted directly to lead important phases of Coutts Debit Card programme to mobilise, plan, and prepare Q4 migration, previously led by maternity-break colleague. Primary objective to migrate bank debit cards from Visa to Mastercard. In 6 months:
• Mobilised, motivated, and drove product and product teams to produce detailed project plans that had previously failed to be produce in previous 6 months.
• Planned, and prepared and gained approval to overall project spend and migration strategy.
• Challenged, encouraged, and supported sign-off of debit card design that had been in progress for 18 months.
• Strengthened client relationships by maintaining open and consistent communication lines throughout projects' duration.

As a side-line to my main employment I Planned, developed, and led my newly formed digital media firm building web and responsive applications for major corporates and large commercial business, as well as supporting start-ups with simple web creation.

• Led, Managed, and drove seven employees including sales, marketing, development, security, and associate partners to lead 5-year plans to grow.
• Reviewed, challenged, and grew Base 8 from nothing to £500k turnover in less than 2 years, sold to allow new opportunities to be created during Covid-19

Directly approached to lead the inception and delivery of £35m programme of work with primary objectives to deliver

1) New card management platform into HSBC architecture;

2) Migration of customers to the new platform and from Visa to Mastercard debit card (1.6m cards);

3) Several new digital enhancements

4) New rewards programme

5) Secondary card product.

Sadly, IR35 rule changes has led to early finish as HSBC removing all contract staff. Key deliverables included:

• Built and delivered cost & resource plans and structure, getting approval from Senior Parties
• Drafted, reviewed, and finalised inception plans that got us through programmes initial two phases.
• Led, communicated to, and challenged senior leadership teams across first direct, HSBC and Mastercard to provide progress, and maximum investment opportunities to HSBC group.
• Communicated, Supported and Led Operational Change within First Direct telephony functions including training, demand management and recruitment.
• Planned, led, and managed ongoing activities throughout initiation and definition phases, monitoring spends, RAIDs and plans in preparation for execution that started in Nov 19.
• Managed, supported, and coached colleagues to enhance their skills.

• Short, key role to set up priority actions to create new MVP (Minimum Viable Products) process and speed up how Experian get to market with their core products. Offering leadership support to set up team structures, engage and onboard and preparing to deliver agile methodology.
• Facilitated change management processes, enhancing operational efficiency.

• Providing consultancy, leadership, and Programme Management skills to support their GDPR programme.
• Built two strong capable teams to successfully deliver new Data Protection programmes in both Santander Global Corporate and Santander London Branch.
• Led, Supported, and coached fifteen colleagues direct across both businesses in Madrid and UK whilst supporting Global Programme Director with re-organising overall team of fifty-five to build capability to deliver GDPR by May 2018
• Planned, reviewed, and successfully delivered GDPR compliance to Santander Corporate and Europe.

• Managing two teams within Barclaycard to ensure Internal Sort Code Management and Corporate Payment Systems were planned, designed, and Implemented within required timelines.
• Identified, Led and challenged production and delivery of requirements.
• Incepted, Built and Maintained IT delivery teams across all impacted platforms, ensuring delivery in incredibly challenging circumstances.
• Planned, Reviewed and Owned Project delivery for all workstreams to date.
• Successfully completed delivery within time, cost and quality expectations provided.

• Managed £25m budget and team of IT and Business PM’s, BA’s as well as BA platform leads for seven platforms across LBG IT Group.
• Controlled major IT system change across LBG Group as well as third parties including iPSL and DIA.
• Led Accounting, Settlement and Reconciliation Projects into build before handing over.
• Re-planned, Re-organised and Re-focused team to delivered full Accounting Model for LBG in 3 months gaining stakeholder sign off.
• Managed, Collated and Presented Fraud Change Requests of £10m and presented 18 months implementation plan to Steering Committee

• Provided project leadership and management to global teams located in Singapore, India, Malta, Dallas, and, visiting most locations, driving forward three major projects, transforming Barclaycard IT platforms. Key actions including:
• Mobilised, planned, resourced three major projects within overall programme, impacting 33% of overall programme.
• Supported, Directed and Monitored performance of global team including face to face visits to several countries.
• 1st Project Manager in programme to fully lock-in dates across all workstreams gaining recognition from programme director.
• Managed, reviewed, and updated all project plans, RAIDs, Progress reports for three projects on weekly basis.

• Responsible for project leadership and management, delivering market leading digital portal prototype for card acceptance customers (SME/Large Corporate) to supporting on-boarding and servicing of their needs. Gained approval from EXCO to deliver strategic programme with actions including:
• Mobilised, planned, resourced overall programme with seventy-five resources globally and £10m budget.
• Supported, Directed and Delivered user stories for initial sprints / EPICs.
• Delivered pre-project expectations, changes to governance processes to incorporate Agile methodology.
• Closed, re-resourced and provided future handover documentation following business re-prioritisation of projects.

Responsible for incepting two projects to support Digital Consumer Products, planning for future technology department removing old products no longer required and leading development project to create new Market Leading credit card/phone technology. Achievements include:

• Incepted, Planned and Led closure of EE/Barclaycard Mobile Phone products.
• Designed, Produced and Delivered customer communications to advise of upcoming changes.
• Incepted and Engaged all IT business partners supporting the launch of new mobile technology project.
• Produced, Presented and Gained Exco approval to formalise and progress.
• Successfully completed project saving over £100,000 per year in un-necessary costs.

• Managed three key projects to support three-year strategy of change with UK’s leading insurance company, whilst providing guidance, advice, and consultancy expertise to newly formed and immature change team on ways to set up and run successful projects.
• Procurement Transformation – Led, Drove, and Created Procurement department with new policy, procedures, systems, and practices, working with third parties identifying new opportunities, including £6.5m cost savings across Group.
• Capacity Utilisation – Planned, designed, and implemented activities between branch and contact staff to maximise efficiencies for both staff and customers.
• Cross Sales – Planned, developed, and designed process to support and identify and implement more sales across branch network.

• Responsible for leading Coutts Product, IT, and project teams from inception to successful delivery of which including rebranding, distributing, and re-launching Coutts credit/charge cards portfolio.
• Products won card of the year at UK Cards awards evening.

• Responsible for establishing and leading team of 10 IT & Business Senior Project Managers / Business designers within Lloyds Banking Group Corporate division. Leading project with budgets of £60m to migrate approx. 10,000 customers, 120,000 accounts with value of over £250bn in deposits, with considerable influence across the country.

• Responsible for leading team of 8 Project Managers, both internally within LTSB Corporate division and across Corporate and Business banking sector within Halifax/Bank of Scotland.
• Drove changes, which were not yet in public domain, minimising impact on Corporate Banking customers and providing clear and supportive communications.

• Worked in exclusive team of 25 FTE to help shape, model, and design products and operations for First new UK retail bank in London for 100 years.
• Drove forward product modelling for both retail and business products, before leading identifying and creating business operational processes across whole bank.

• From Office Junior to Senior Project Manager between 1995 and 2009 – More details of roles and achievements available