Shakeel B.

Chief Information Digital Office (CIDO) for Electricity Distribution (ED) at National Grid.

Interim CTO/CIO • Fractional CTO • Technology Consulting & Due Diligence • Non Executive Director

Auden is a scale-up FinTech that operates in the short-term credit sector with a unique focus on responsible finance and using technology, big data and machine learning to help people that are underserved by traditional high street lenders. A member of the executive leadership of Auden, reporting into the CEO, led the technology transformation (as part of a business turnaround activity) to modernise the technology platform, optimise the agile operating model and improve the people culture across the workforce. My Key Achievements and Responsibilities include: • Defined and delivered a technology strategy to support a business turnaround as part of an investment cycle. • Led the operating model transformation to a formal scaled agile framework (Scaled Agile for Enterprise - SAFe) which included the restructuring of scrum teams, recruitment of key roles (eg. scrum masters), training and coaching of agile best practices as well as deployment and configuration of associated tooling and reporting. This resulted in the teams consistently achieving committed quarterly delivery, 10% increased velocity each quarter, significantly reduced staff attrition and improved staff engagement scores. • Successfully led a technology improvement work stream (in parallel with ongoing feature delivery) to reduce IT costs by £375k. • Introduced a robust cyber security framework to optimise the security posture, provide standards compliance and empower agile scrum teams to deliver securely at pace. • Defined a people framework spanning culture, performance, succession, engagement and learning & development to improve staff attrition, reduce dependence on contractor staff, improve staff performance, embed learning and development to support succession planning and drive positive culture.

Green Flag is a £1 billion, 50-year old established FinTech and is one of the largest motorist brand / roadside assistance businesses in the UK. It is part of Direct Line Group (largest general insurer in the UK and a FTSE150 business). Green Flag has over 4.5m customers and on average provides a roadside recovery every 60 seconds - 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. In this role I am leading the technology transformation (as part of a business transformation) to rebuild all of the core systems of one of the UK’s largest roadside assistance businesses. I am accountable for the design, build, ongoing digital performance and operating model (Scaled Agile) with oversight of c. 135 people (product owners, scrum masters and engineers) as well as driving strategy for digital including strategic partner relationships and budgetary control. My Key Responsibilities and Achievements include: * Managing and accountable for upwards of 135 FTE with a team of 12 direct reports including Product Owners, Scrum Masters, UI Engineers, Software Engineers and Systems Engineers. * Holding responsibility for architecture, delivery, cyber security and risk agenda of all the systems and platforms. * I successfully introduced Scaled Agile (SAFe) to the organisation which is now being rolled out across the entire Green Flag business (approximately 500 FTE) to make Green Flag an established FinTech. * I also delivered the first phase of my 5-year technology roadmap which involved rebuilding the core systems in the Cloud as an API-connected, micro-service architecture, and we are now running hard and fast to completing the second phase this year which will include launching a AI/ML capability and a cloud telephony solution (on time and on budget). * By leading the architectural design, development and successful deployment of the company’s first full technology stack in the Cloud, I have delivered a system that will yield significant cost savings and additional revenue streams.

In this role I was accountable for the design, build and ongoing digital performance across personal and commercial lines (web direct, aggregators and mobile apps) as well as managing the delivery teams and driving the strategy for digital including strategic partner relationships and budgetary control. My key responsibilities and achievements included: • Matrix managed 120 FTE (direct/indirect reporting lines) • Held responsibility for all technology, systems and tools across digital (including infrastructure, Mac network, wifi etc). • I successfully introduced Agile across the digital department as an alternative within the programme delivery framework process, establishing an operating, project management and design model into agile teams to build products faster. This resulted in significant cost savings, faster speed to market, improved internal agility and reduced risk. • I also delivered the eCommerce platform for Home & Rescue products as a 9-month project in 2014 on time whilst saving £2.7m in delivery cost, establishing agile delivery capability in Digital and necessary processes, tooling, systems and platforms (Cloud, DevOps and Continuous Delivery etc). • By leading the architectural design, development and successful deployment of the company’s first ever application in the Cloud, I facilitated an overall 70% reduction in hosting costs and increased agility. • Proposed and delivered cutting-edge micro-service & API architecture for DLG Partner (major consumer retail bank). I achieved this through defining the strategic architecture and leading the Digital workstream engagement with the Partner which resulted in the first eCommerce journey in the Cloud for Direct Line Group. Launched in Jan 2017, this initiative resulted in moving the digital customer experience from a top 20 position to number 1 for e-benchmarking in the sector within the first 6 months.

As key member of the company’s executive leadership team, in this role I was responsible for all digital strategy, focusing on programme leadership, best practice development, digital team management, strategic counsel and improved performance (user journeys and eCommerce revenues) across all digital and eCommerce client projects. My Key Responsibilities included: • Managed the day to day operation of all digital programmes and projects ranging in value up to £2M. • Accountable for the office launches in Dubai and Bangkok and managed digital project teams (35 staff) spanning three offices (London, Dubai and Bangkok). Achievements from key projects managed: • I programme managed the strategy, production, delivery and ongoing support of a major funded portal for enterprise in Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT) & DfES (London, UK). The project has been accessed by more than 5,000 educational organisations across the UK with eCommerce and social media integration enabling teaching staff to purchase resources online via their account. • I also successfully spearheaded the complete relaunch of the graduate recruitment website for Standard Chartered Bank (EMEA and CEMEA) which led to being further retained to relaunch all of the bank’s recruitment websites and their CSR portals, improving staff recruitment by 22%. • Working on a project to completely re-launch the British Virgin Islands Government brand, raising their profile and aspirations whilst maintaining heritage of the overseas UK territory. I personally managed the development of the corporate identity project including stakeholder engagement, brand & design team, project budget, timescales and deliverables. The project ultimately improved tourism engagement which saw an overall increase of 32% in the year following the re-launch.

In this role I held the responsibility for defining and delivering strategy (business goals, growth initiatives, financial targets & planning) by working closely with executive management to ensure stakeholder involvement and commitment. My Key Achievements included: • Turning the digital agency around to an operating profit and leading the complete development of a new corporate extranet for the healthcare practice of Cohn & Wolfe, a global PR firm, allowing them to manage all client projects and communications through the digital portal.

As the executive lead and senior project manager on all cross-media projects and acting client lead for key accounts (GSK, Roche, Cohn & Wolfe and Pfizer) my role also included managing all internal business operations and procedures to improve operational performance.

In this role I led all project management processes and administration including reporting, billing, client liaising, contract negotiations, technical specifications and internal/external communications.