Zahra Sheraz
Nottingham
Summary
Accomplished professional with expertise in stakeholder management, strategic planning, and operational leadership. Demonstrates strong communication and governance skills, effectively managing ambiguity and a broad range of activities simultaneously. Proven ability to make informed decisions with limited information, while maintaining excellent attention to detail. Adept at program management, transformation, and financial reporting, with a 'can do' attitude that drives business development and performance analysis. Skilled in influencing stakeholders and fostering relationships at all levels within multi-disciplinary teams. Career goals include leveraging strategic planning proficiency to drive organisational success.
Driven professional with knack for strategic planning and leadership. Possesses exceptional communication and project management skills, combining analytical thinking with innovative problem-solving. Poised to drive organisational growth and foster collaborative team environments.
Driven professional with knack for strategic planning and team leadership, combined with exceptional communication and problem-solving skills. Proven ability to manage complex projects and foster strong stakeholder relationships. Poised to make significant impact in [Desired Position] role.
Overview
18
18
years of professional experience
Work history
Associate Director of HR Data and MI
University of Nottingham
Nottingham, Nottinghamshire
04.2024 - 01.2026
- The Associate Director HR Data and MI plays a pivotal role in leading our approach to utilising HR data and management information (MI), ensuring that our approach supports the university's broader goals. Working closely with the Director of HR Operations help to shape our provision of HR data to key stakeholders, enabling strategic use of HR data to make better decisions, streamline processes, and drive improvements. The role will work collaboratively across departments, fostering relationships and advancing the university's mission. This role is integral to HR's effectiveness and the overall student and staff experience, making a significant contribution to the university's success.
- Streamlined operational processes to improve efficiency.
- Promoted a positive work environment through proactive conflict resolution steps.
- Facilitated staff training programmes, fostering professional growth and skill enhancement.
- Coordinated cross-functional teams, facilitating seamless project execution.
- Led departmental strategies by collaborating with team members and effectively communicating goals.
- Fostered strong relationships with key stakeholders for improved collaboration.
- Managed complex projects, ensuring successful delivery on time.
- Contributed insights and recommendations to senior leadership for strategic decision-making.
- Assessed project progress, leading department meetings to increase project transparency and communication.
- Fostered employee satisfaction and positive work culture with and empowering and receptive leadership strategy.
Senior Business Analyst (Partnering & Innovation)
University of Nottingham
Nottingham, Nottinghamshire
07.2022 - 04.2024
- To realise the benefits from the CRM platform the University an organisational wide product owner to consider the platform architecture and development in the round to prevent future needless rework working with an external supplier.
- National Rehabilitation Centre
- The NRC Clinical and Academic Partnership (NCAP), led by the University of Nottingham and Loughborough University. Bringing together a ‘hub and spoke' network of more than 20 universities across the country, allowing educators and researchers to work with and learn from each other, in a coordinated approach to rehabilitation research.
- Timetabling and Teaching Infrastructure Improvement Project
- To define what many within the university have called a ‘Smart Campus.' which aims to improve the welfare and experience of students by embracing new technologies that manage space and time more efficiently. Our goal for time management and timetabling to date has been to ‘get the right people to the right place at the right time.'
- Enhance COVID Testing LIMS service
- A Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) is software that allows you to effectively manage samples and associated data. By using a LIMS, the lab can automate workflows, integrate instruments, and manage samples and associated information.
- Following on from phase 1 the University is now in a position to develop and enhance from the rapid response symptomatic testing to providing a service utilising the information captured. LIMS will assist in the tracking of all samples through all processes where they are stored, automating this end to end.
Research Strategy Manager (Analytics)
University of Nottingham
Nottingham
06.2017 - 07.2022
- I have significant experience in the Higher Education sector and of successfully delivering projects both short term and long term. Business change activity within large, complex and highly regulated sectors. Enabling and supporting new ways of working to achieve and maximise business benefit.
- Strategy Manager for the Development and Implementation of the University Research Strategy
- I manage all aspects of the change including setting the change vision, developing and managing the change management approach, strategy, plan, and lead on change activities including change impact assessment, communications and engagement, change agents networks, training, and implementation planning. Developing, embedding the risk management, change control, benefits management, monitoring approaches, and actively managing with the project leads. Developing PIDs and project scoping documents, producing papers and MI for program and governance boards and working with project leads to capture and share lessons learned.
- Research Strategy Project Manager
- Providing project management advice and/or assurance to a range of University wide projects at start-up, key points in the project. Providing specialist project management for strategic projects for from initiation through to closure. Contribute to joined-up working, sharing and acquisition of information, and good communication. Challenge current practice and offer guidance on alternatives
- Worked with the five faculties across the university in the creation of the five-year strategic plan consulting across faculty for input. Established and maintained thoroughly positive working relationships with stakeholders ranging from sponsors, pro-vice chancellors, directors of professional services and delivery teams.
- Business intelligence
- Use of internal and sector-level data to provide business intelligence and support the strategy, this has enabled me to work on a range of projects where the need for both operational and strategic reports has resulted in the review of existing, and the development of a new suite of, reporting tools. I used Tableau and Microsoft SQL Server to provide the information required in a timely and professional manner.
- DORA
- My focus was building relationships and delivering library services to support research. I led UoN Libraries' Research Support team's work on bibliometric, successfully advocating for signing the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), and coordinating the institutional working group focused on associated cultural change
- RKEE Cross campus reporting
- Cross campus project reporting RKEE to monitor and track publication-reporting metrics for our Campuses in China and Malaysia. Working collectively as one central unit. Established and ran various projects to ensure alignment across the programme, support decision making and to escalate risks and/or issues. Implement working practices to enhance collaboration and partnership working across teams, with the other areas of Research and Innovation.
- RPWG
- A key contributor to the Research Performance Working Group and Research performance Board for reporting to the Vice Chancellor. Using internal and external data to benchmark the university's performance across the sector and highlight areas of strategic importance. Developing new and maintaining existing relationships with key stakeholders through building a rapport to understand their current and future reporting requirements.
- I have worked in a number of capacities, Project Manager, Business Improvement, Programme / Portfolio Planning - enabling focus on time, cost and quality to be a key skill. With professional experience in the following areas:
- Improving PMO Maturity (from scratch)
- Resource Management
- Governance & PMO Standards / Toolkit
- Project Management
- Planning
- Issue & Risks Analysis
- Business Analysis & Improvement
- Testing & Release Management
- Specialties:
- Award (PRINCE 2 Foundation and Practitioner)
- Planning & Organising (Strong Project Planning and Organising skills enabling navigation to the best business priorities.
- Interpersonal, Influencing & Persuasion (Excellent interpersonal and influencing skills at all levels in order to sell the benefits).
- Facilitation & Presentation (Highly effective Facilitation & Presentation skills have been demonstrated at all spheres of the business).
- Analysed competitive landscape, enabling creation of robust counter-strategies.
- Managed stakeholder expectations to maintain strategic alignment across departments.
- Monitored industry trends to stay ahead of competition.
- Coordinated with sales and marketing teams to align their efforts with overall business strategy.
- Improved operational efficiency with comprehensive strategy development.
- Aligned departmental goals, processes and resource allocation with organisational strategy.
- Facilitated staff training, resulting in improved performance and productivity.
- Oversaw progress of multiple key strategic projects.
Business project manager
Boots Wallgreen Alliance
Nottingham
06.2013 - 06.2017
- Responsible for project managing from inception to completion evaluating and presenting evidence to support the national commissioning of locally enhanced services. The defense of an existing service and the launch of a new service. I have assisted in the value case for existing services. Building case studies for the value offered by community pharmacy and on-going contract negotiations working with both internal and external stakeholders.
- Community Pharmacy Futures project
- Supporting the outcomes project to support the business case and contract negotiations.
- Assisting in scoping new projects in line with the Business strategy, compiling value cases and consultation documents to support our position.
- National Flu vaccination service (staff flu vaccination project Boots)
- Identifying and managing collection of evidence for commissioning national flu vaccination project (estimated value of £30m), and other public health services as required. Managing the oversight of the Flu project from roll out through to end evaluation. Engaging with a variety of stakeholders internal and external. Facilitating workshops and delivering training where required.
- Engagement with health development manager's communication with the stores team and pharmacy staff.
- NHS Health checks
- Support of the Public Health England project of Pharmacy accessing all communities taking ownership and responsibility for assisting in designing, landing and evaluating the data.
- Bench marking the service to show the breadth of data, creation of customer journeys and user testing forums.
- Healthcare Innovation Platform
- Boots Test and Treat Service – Assistant project manager of the team, managing the analysis of customer record forms, store visits gathering insights working across functional teams with other teams in the business.
- Project management of the fast track project, circulation of reports to the HIP team across functional working with other business areas.
- Marketing, L&D, Pharmacy services etc. Supporting the project and outcomes evaluation.
- Academic relationships
- Building on University and academic relationships to build network and help to increase the exposure and remit of the team. Collaboration with academics such as Dr Claire Anderson Nottingham University (Boots National Flu Scheme) and the Diabetes Project analysis for University of East Anglia.
- Successfully delivered on tasks within tight deadlines.
- Supported team by demonstrating respect and willingness to help.
- Used critical thinking to break down problems, evaluate solutions and make decisions.
- Applied critical thinking to analyse problems, evaluate solutions and select best decisions.
- Delivered exceptional customer service by proactively listening to concerns and answering questions.
- Improved efficiency and productivity by acquiring new skills.
- Displayed energy and enthusiasm in fast-paced environment.
- Increased customer satisfaction by resolving issues.
Senior Informatics Analyst
University of Nottingham
Nottingham
10.2011 - 03.2013
- Providing Health Informatics advice, using data in the current IT systems for data captured and coded.
- An extended contract managing a pilot project for QOF looking at Diabetic patients in the UK over the age of 40 and to ascertain what prescribing methods GP's are adopting as the markers used to check.
- Writing code in HQL (Health Query Language) similar to SQL management studio but called MIQUEST. Extracting data from the GP systems throughout the UK and interpret this into meaningful information.
- Pilots and feasibility projects commissioned by the Department of Health, NHS Information Centre and Nice conducting QOF pilots and Payment by Results. This manipulation of data has allowed me to look at those practices in the UK, which require additional training, and those who have conformed to the NICE guidelines.
- Participated actively in professional trainings to maintain updated knowledge of analytics tools,.
- Achieved more effective forecasting with advanced statistical techniques.
- Enhanced decision-making by analysing complex data sets.
- Developed predictive models, increasing future business insights.
- Assisted with continuous improvement initiatives, applying data findings to address underperforming areas.
- Analysed complex data sets and studied impacts on business growth and operational efficiency.
- Monitored KPIs and tracked continuous progress to evaluate efficacy of business solutions.
- Contributed to team projects by providing key analytic insights.
- Streamlined workflow with efficient analytical strategies.
- Maintained utmost accuracy whilst handling sensitive data,.
- Utilised data visualisation tools to generate and deliver compelling presentations fo internal an external stakeholders.
Senior Information Analyst
NHS East Midlands procurement Hub
11.2007 - 03.2011
- I supported the strategic direction of the hub by producing robust ‘repeatable' commercial information. Management of Accounts Payable and Supply Chain databases using SQL, Qlikview, Access and Excel, covering NHS Trust spend of approximately £4 billion yearly.
- Developing a periodic suite of KPI reports for senior management and NHS Trusts. Benefits tracking reports for them to track volumes and purchases made over the period of the contract.
- Analysis of line by line level data and NHS Spend Data for the East Midlands region. I managed the uploading of information, tracking and categorising spend by Category for each procurement area.
- Reporting with NHS Supply Chain in order to track and monitor level of expenditure and whether contractual thresholds have been met. Reporting and accounting for new and obsolete NPC codes to be updated in the contracts. An in house Access database was devised to hold all contractual information and a list of product codes to allow ease of updating.
- Working closely with the Financial Accountant in checking payments have been received for the producing activities of the organization along with checking volumes have been met as per the terms of the contract. Reports by line level and an overview would be reported back to both internal and external stakeholders in the form of reports, dashboards and presentations.
- Working alongside category managers in recording and monitoring the responses for tenders. The designing of scorecards and summaries using Microsoft Excel.
- Bespoke Reporting
- KPI's
- Data Analysis
- Compiling Score cards and Summary sheets
- Project work was also a feature of this role and necessary at times for me to work simultaneously on different projects varying in nature. This required me to multi task, think on my feet and be receptive to change at all times. Having recently obtained my Prince 2 accreditation in both foundation and practitioner this has developed my awareness and allowed me to use further skills in order to enhance my position.
- Skills
- Able to work with ambiguity, managing a broad range of activities simultaneously with a proven ability in decision making, often with limited information.
- Have a ‘can do' will deliver attitude, comfortable working at pace with agility whilst maintaining excellent attention to detail.
- Possess string influencing and communication skills particularly with stakeholders.
- I have been successfully able to develop and maintain relationships at all levels. Demonstrating I am able to operate effectively as a member of a multi-disciplinary team.
Education
Improvement practitioner - An introduction to Lean Six Sigma
University of Nottingham
Nottingham 01.2020 - 01.2021
Operational Leadership Programme -
University of Nottingham
01.2020 - 01.2021
PRINCE 2 Foundation & Practitioner -
ILX
01.2010 -
MBA -
Nottingham Trent University
01.2008 - 01.2010
MSC IT & Management -
University of Nottingham
01.2005 - 01.2006
Bsc (Hons) I.T Engineering & Business -
Sheffield Hallam University
01.2000 - 01.2004
Skills
- Stakeholder management Strategic planning Training & Mentoring
- Operational Leadership Communication Governance
- Program Management Transformation Financial Reporting
- Able to work with ambiguity, managing a broad range of activities simultaneously with a proven ability in decision making, often with limited information
- Have a ‘can do' will deliver attitude, comfortable working at pace with agility whilst maintaining excellent attention to detail
- Possess string influencing and communication skills particularly with stakeholders
- I have been successfully able to develop and maintain relationships at all levels Demonstrating I am able to operate effectively as a member of a multi-disciplinary team
- Decision-Making proficiency
- Business development
- Strategic planning
- Performance analysis
References
References available on request
References
References available upon request.
Timeline
Associate Director of HR Data and MI
University of Nottingham
04.2024 - 01.2026
Senior Business Analyst (Partnering & Innovation)
University of Nottingham
07.2022 - 04.2024
Improvement practitioner - An introduction to Lean Six Sigma
University of Nottingham
01.2020 - 01.2021
Operational Leadership Programme -
University of Nottingham
01.2020 - 01.2021
Research Strategy Manager (Analytics)
University of Nottingham
06.2017 - 07.2022
Business project manager
Boots Wallgreen Alliance
06.2013 - 06.2017
Senior Informatics Analyst
University of Nottingham
10.2011 - 03.2013
PRINCE 2 Foundation & Practitioner -
ILX
01.2010 -
MBA -
Nottingham Trent University
01.2008 - 01.2010
Senior Information Analyst
NHS East Midlands procurement Hub
11.2007 - 03.2011
MSC IT & Management -
University of Nottingham
01.2005 - 01.2006
Bsc (Hons) I.T Engineering & Business -
Sheffield Hallam University
01.2000 - 01.2004