Mikhailla Van Buuren
Florida Park, Roodepoort,Johannesburg, South Africa
Summary
I am a dynamic professional with a unique blend of skills that drive success in any work environment. With a focus on effective planning and time management, I ensure tasks are not only completed efficiently but also with precision.
I bring clarity and positivity to communication, fostering a collaborative and supportive team environment. As an innovative and flexible team player, I thrive in challenging scenarios, positively influencing those around me. My functional knowledge application is complemented by strong decision-making abilities, ensuring strategic objectives are met.
Equipped with emotional intelligence and strong interpersonal skills, I excel in working with multi-cultural teams. Time management, organizational skills, project and event management, training and development, and problem-solving are second nature to me. My stakeholder engagement and vendor management skills further enhance my ability to deliver outstanding results.
In summary, I am a dedicated professional with a proven track record of success across diverse skill sets, ready to contribute to the success of any project or team.
Overview
11
11
years of professional experience
Work History
Enterprise Travel & Meetings Regional Program Manager
Pfizer
06.2022 - Current
- Shaping internal and external communications strategy for the.
- Owning, developing, and managing communication content.
- Designing and shaping experience journey for health care professionals, meeting planners, business unit colleagues and third-party meeting planning agencies.
- Developing overall training strategy for internal and external teams.
- Developing knowledge management tools and strategies.
- Launch & member of the project team for global Pfizer FUSE knowledge management application.
- Maintaining and managing the existing knowledge management tools.
- Providing subject matter expertise for engagement activities and planning.
- Identifying areas of improvement and innovation for experience and engagement.
- Managing performance objectives and KPIs.
- Developing work instructions and SOPs.
- Implementing new communication templates to improve and standardize communication methods.
- Developing and designing content for quarterly business reviews.
- Monitoring and assessing objectives of quarterly business reviews.
- Internal compliance and finance audits and remediation plans.
- Maintaining compliance with relevant Corporate Policies, SOPs and other internal processes & procedures.
Enterprise Travel & Meetings Regional Project Manager Africa Middle East
Pfizer
01.2021 - 06.2022
- Work cross functionally with stakeholders such as digital, compliance, finance, procurement and legal to review relevant local processes, collect feedback, develop project action plans, monitor progress, follow up on timelines and enable successful delivery of projects.
- Apply disciplined project management and best practice throughout the project’s delivery
- Support execution excellence, to stakeholders
- Apply subject matter expertise to overcome challenges, propose solutions, and achieve positive outcomes.
- Active member in the Africa Middle East Enterprise Travel & Meetings Leadership Team forum.
- Maintain compliance with relevant Corporate Policies, SOPs and other internal processes & procedures.
- Set high performance standards and hold others accountable.
- Support effective vendor management in partnership with relevant colleagues, as needed.
- Gather projects information: schedules, data requests, assignments, tasks, and project meetings’ outcome
- Support development of solutions and performance metrics.
Africa Middle East Meetings and Events Projects Lead
Pfizer
03.2018 - 12.2020
- Lead successful execution of projects across Africa Middle East region.
- Work with stakeholders to review local processes, collect feedback, develop project action plans, monitor progress, follow up on timelines and enable successful delivery of projects.
- Leverage Quality & Continuous Improvement support to apply disciplined project management and best practice.
- Support execution excellence, in terms of quality, time and resources.
- Apply subject matter expertise to overcome challenges, propose solutions, and achieve positive outcome for the business.
- Be an active member in the Africa Middle East Leads forum
- Maintain compliance with relevant Corporate Policies, SOPs and other internal processes & procedures.
- Set high performance standards and hold others accountable.
- Support effective vendor management in partnership.
- Set regular meetings, prepare meeting agendas, minutes, presentations, reports and charts
- Support development of solutions and performance metrics for in-scope projects.
Conference & Events Coordinator
Pfizer
04.2015 - 02.2018
- End-to-end management (including compliance, logistics, payments, reporting, etc.)
- Use data sources to inform stakeholders and manage suppliers: activity levels, spend, issue logs.
- Responsible for ensuring the accuracy and management of reports.
- Support creative solutions to meetings which may include virtual and other cost-effective options.
- Ensures compliance processes and global policies are followed.
- Interface with other enabling departments, providing subject matter expertise for initiatives.
- Issue management and resolution in local market.
- Responsible for managing local suppliers.
- Follow up on local metrics and cost savings.
- Shares and implements best practices.
- Bring creative and innovative event solutions.
- On site end to end event support.
Conference & Events Reservations Manager
Holiday Inn Sandton
03.2014 - 03.2015
- Manages conferences efficiently, effectively with quality control.
- Daily monitoring on the status of all conferences, meetings and client relationships.
- Managed a small team of up to four conference coordinators.
- Reviews incoming requests and delegates and resolves issues.
- Plans, monitors, and reports to LT on current and forecasted events.
- Manage client relationships.
- Up-sells conference services and related products.
- Assist conference coordinators with problem solving and conflict resolution.
- Assist in standardizing forms and procedures.
- Writes proposals and responds to requests for proposals.
- Prepares timelines, critical path and monitors these activities throughout the duration of the project.
- Prepares and maintains the budget and all financial procedures.
- Negotiates contracts on behalf of clients with hotels, suppliers, etc.
- Ensures quality control.
- Has full knowledge of complete duties pertaining to conference management as set out below: Audio-Visual and Multimedia Management, Financial and Budget Management, Full Logistical & Meeting Management, Housing and Accommodation, Interpretation and Simultaneous Translation Services, Marketing, Promotion and Media Relations, Speaker Management, Special Events, Opening/Closing/Awards Ceremonies.
Conference & Events Coordinator
Hilton Sandton
08.2012 - 03.2014
- Calendar management to provide expected experience and engagement with clients.
- Coordinating and overseeing in-house hotel functions and ensuring open inter-departmental communication.
- Creatively up-sell services, food & beverage.
- Generates Banquet Event Orders.
- Generates Group Resumes when needed.
- Generates function room diagrams.
- Utilize operating systems for accurate blocking of events, groups, traces, and generation of BEO’s.
- Obtain necessary approvals/permits/insurance certificates for events that are required.
- Check pre-conference and post-conference meetings.
- Management of all events and meetings from start to finish.
- Deliver superior customer service ensuring successful planning and execution of meetings and events.
- Ensure client satisfaction through understanding of client expectations, proactive problem identification/resolution, and maximizing opportunities to build relationships.
- Work with vendors to source services such as catering, entertainment, décor, AV equipment, etc. as applicable.
- Knowledge of audio-visual equipment to support client requests.
- Invoice management and processing of accounting deposits/fees.
- Monthly reporting and analytics to measure ROI expected revenue.
- Managing and developing strong rapport with clients, building relationships and fostering client trust.
- Effective collaboration and communication.
- Conducts site visits to venues.
Education
BBA - Business Administration
Regenesys Business School
Johannesburg, South Africa06.2025
Short Course - Project Management Foundations Short Course
University of Cape Town
Cape Town, South Africa07.2017
Diploma - Hospitality Management
International Hotel School
Johannesburg, South Africa07.2012
Matric - Secondary Education-Matric
St Barnabas College
Johannesburg, South Africa12.2009
Skills
- Change agility
- Effective planning and time management
- Team player
- Innovative and flexible
- Positive influence
- Functional knowledge application
- Decision making
- Setting and reporting objectives
- Strong interpersonal skills
- Working with multi-cultural teams
- Organizational Skills
- Project Management
- Event Management
- Training and Development
- Problem Solving
- Stakeholder Engagement
- Vendor Management
- Written and Verbal Communication
- Customer Engagement
references
- Muge Ozdemir, Meetings, External Engagements & Travel EMEA Regional Director, +90 2123 107422
- Amer Al Momany, Meetings, External Engagements & Travel EMEA Regional Director, +971 561775380
- Atetia Visagie, BOP Sub Saharan Africa-Pfizer, +27 825674491
- Sharon Govender, Revenue Manager- Holiday Inn Sandton, 083 642 9426
- Craig Donaldson, Director of Business Development-Hilton Sandton, 011 322 1888
personal information
- Surname: Van Buuren
- First Name: Mikhailla
- Ethnicity: Coloured
- Title: Mrs
- Date of Birth: 09/15/91
- Gender: Female
- Nationality: South African
- Marital Status: Married
- Residential Area: Florida Park, Roodepoort, JHB, South Africa
- Contact number: +27 79 504 5709
computer literacy - skills
- Microsoft Office: Outlook, Word, Excel, Teams and PowerPoint
- Microsoft Project (Project management software)
- Cvent (Meeting planning software)
- Meetings Express (Meeting planning software)
- DocuSign (Electronic signature application)
- Ariba SAP (Procurement, spend and buy system)
- Opera (Reservations operating system)
- Opera Sales and Catering (Event operating system)
- OnQ Property Management (Hilton International operating Sytem)
- OnQ R&I (Hilton International Rates and Inventory operating system)
Timeline
Enterprise Travel & Meetings Regional Program Manager
Pfizer
06.2022 - Current
Enterprise Travel & Meetings Regional Project Manager Africa Middle East
Pfizer
01.2021 - 06.2022
Africa Middle East Meetings and Events Projects Lead
Pfizer
03.2018 - 12.2020
Conference & Events Coordinator
Pfizer
04.2015 - 02.2018
Conference & Events Reservations Manager
Holiday Inn Sandton
03.2014 - 03.2015
Conference & Events Coordinator
Hilton Sandton
08.2012 - 03.2014
BBA - Business Administration
Regenesys Business School
Short Course - Project Management Foundations Short Course
University of Cape Town
Diploma - Hospitality Management
International Hotel School
Matric - Secondary Education-Matric
St Barnabas College
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