Suzanne Symonds

Company overview: The Gates Foundation, founded by Bill and Melinda Gates, works with partners to remove barriers and expand opportunities, so everyone has a fair chance to live a healthy and productive life.

The Foundation focuses on developing long-term strategies to overcome critical domestic US and global issues, bringing together governments, researchers and local leaders in order to bring about change.

• Liaising with other departments to maintain smooth flow of information across the organisation.
• Assisting in decision-making processes by conducting comprehensive research.
• Managaging complex travel arrangements to ensure seamless business trips for executives.
• Coordinating all logistical aspects of corporate events leading to organised and successful functions.
• Taking minutes during meetings accurately preserving crucial details for future reference.
• Facilitating efficient office operations by managing correspondence, filing systems and organisational procedures.
• Scheduling meetings, conferences and appointments.
• Booking flights and hotels for domestic and international meetings.
• Drafting documents and reports for management review.
• Creating expense reports with matching receipts.

• Extensive diary management on behalf of a variety of CEOs and other senior business leaders across a variety of time zones
• Managing a fast pace and rapidly changing ur environment
• Research and project management
• Managing complex and ever changing travel arrangements
• Seeking investment opportunities
• Prioritising and editing all incoming communication, composing responses or redirecting as appropriate, alerting where further action is required and prompting when due
• Creating/amending PowerPoint presentation decks for customer presentations and internal meetings

• Company Overview: TLScontact is a global leader in visa management and consular services for government clients around the world
• Acting as the first point of contact to the CEO and Executive Leadership Team, dealing with a high level of enquiries and requests on a daily basis
• Complex diary management on behalf of the CEO, CFO and COO simultaneously across a variety of time zones (GMT, CET and CST)
• Efficiently managing an extremely fast paced and ever-changing working environment
• Organising travel, accommodation and ground transportation
• Compiling expenses on behalf of the CEO and COO
• Dealing with a high volume of signature requests on behalf of the CEO; using initiative in order to find the fastest solution

• Company Overview: Bain & Company is recognised as one of the top international management consultancy firms worldwide, assisting major corporations with strategy formulation, acquisitions, organizational design and performance improvement
• Providing comprehensive administrative, secretarial and organisational support to two senior partners
• Managing a hectic and ever evolving diary, proactively predicting when schedules are likely to change and making adjustments where necessary
• Coordinating sophisticated travel itineraries and administering the timely procurement of visas and other travel documentation
• Providing detailed travel itineraries and ensuring the relevant business material pertaining to each trip is collated and presented well ahead of time
• Handling extremely confidential and highly sensitive information on a regular basis and acting as a discreet 'sounding board' for the partners and other colleagues
• Proactively assisting partners in relationship building by knowing who their priority contacts and companies are and setting up regular check-ins to create and maintain a relationship management plan
• Managing expenses and timesheets on a regular basis

• Company Overview: Givaudan is the global leader in the flavour and fragrance industry, serving global, regional and local customers
• Acting as the first point of contact for the Head of Oral Care, fielding and responding to queries, dealing with confidential and sensitive information
• Ensuring the smooth and efficient running of the Head of Oral Care's complex diary, dealing with competing demands and an extremely demanding national travel arrangements, including submitting visa applications, booking flights, hotels and preparing detailed itineraries
• Attendance and minute taking at weekly priority meetings with the management team
• Dealing with corporate expenses in a timely fashion
• Liaising with other offices and colleagues in multiple time zones and scheduling meetings accordingly
• Organising team events, ensuring logistics are planned seamlessly and the event is within budget
• Having a sound understanding of the company's vision, business strategy and priorities

• Company Overview: Wilkins Kennedy LLP is a Top 20 firm of Chartered Accountants & Business Advisers, with 16 regional offices and over 500 staff, providing a full range of accounting and business advisory services to a diverse range of businesses and individuals across the UK and abroad
• Enhancing the partners' effectiveness by providing exceptional administrative support and representation
• Preparing and editing correspondence, presentations, tenders and other documents
• Holding an extensive knowledge of the organisation and an understanding of its aims and objectives
• Scheduling complex travel and accommodation arrangements
• Coordinating partners' and directors' diaries and arranging internal and external meetings, often with limited availability and competing demands
• Training junior staff members, boosting overall team productivity in administration tasks
• Conducting research and report writing
• Travelling to the firm's other offices to take minutes at committee meetings on a monthly basis and issuing in a timely manner
• Event management - managing all aspects of the offices' events including conferences, seminars, drinks receptions, exhibitions and networking events, from the planning stage, through to hosting the actual event and evaluation of the same