Delivery & Execution
- Turn strategic priorities into clear, deliverable plans
- Maintain visibility of progress, risks and dependencies
- Strengthen accountability across teams
SENIOR OPERATIONS · EXECUTIVE SUPPORT
I give leaders room to focus.
It's less about fixing things, more about the small, well-placed change that frees up real time.
I know how a business works from the inside, at senior leadership level. I bring calm, order and good judgement to the day-to-day, so the leaders I support can focus on what matters most.
- 20 years supporting senior leaders
- Scaled operations as the team grew from 23 to nearly 70
- Built a newly created role from scratch
I listen first to understand how the organisation operates in practice.
About
How I work.
I'm known for being reliable, calm, and for having good judgement. I'm at my best bringing order to complexity: simplifying processes, spotting where time can be saved, and clearing the bottlenecks and duplication that quietly slow everyone down. I put in processes that are light touch rather than bureaucratic, because often it's the tiny additions that free up the most time.
Working closely alongside leaders and their teams over the years, I've found a few things stay constant in how I work.
- Transparency and honesty.
- I'll always tell you what I think. You deserve a clear picture, not a comfortable one.
- Dependability.
- When I take something on, I see it through. You won't need to chase me for updates or wonder where things stand.
- Co-creation.
- Changes that are built together are more likely to work and to last, so I work alongside teams to shape solutions rather than imposing them without consultation.
- Discretion.
- Working closely with founders and senior leaders means being trusted with information that affects others, and I take that seriously.
Value
Where I add value.
Operational Clarity
- Clarify roles and ownership for faster decision-making
- Improve the flow of work and reduce duplication
- Introduce simple systems and consistent ways of working as the organisation grows
Stability & Sustainability
- Maintain consistency during periods of change or transition
- Embed practical ways of working that last beyond the engagement
- Ensure improvements are owned by the team, not dependent on me
Work
Selected work.
Much of this was built during a period of rapid growth and most of it happened behind the scenes.
Project management tool
Events clashed and no one had a clear view of when projects were ending. The team wanted a PM app but there was no budget, so I co-designed one with the Senior Staff Forum and IT. It was built inside Microsoft Dynamics to avoid new costs. After launch I ran sessions with project leads and kept refining it.
Outcome: Leaders and teams gained visibility of timelines and projects, no clashes, and no new software spend.
Recruitment, redesigned
Hiring was inconsistent, with managers each doing things their own way using CVs and cover letters. I moved us to the Applied platform: blind recruitment, scored applications, and cover letters not reviewed until the sift stage — and I trained line managers, running sessions on how it worked and the benefits.
Outcome: Fairer, more consistent hiring that held up as we recruited more staff.
Change management
Rapid growth meant processes kept changing, and staff worried it would all become bureaucratic. I brought teams along through each change, making the case that new ways of working would be proportionate and light-touch, but necessary as we scaled.
Outcome: Changes landed with buy-in and were adopted, rather than stalling against resistance.
Leading on DEI
I led the DEI project end to end: identifying and selecting the right consultant, managing the scoping exercise, and working through colleagues' differing experiences along the way. After the report, I set up an oversight board to drive the recommendations forward.
Outcome: Team engaged with the process and recommendations were implemented and monitored.
Skills audit
Following a new organisational strategy, I designed and ran a skills audit to check that current and future staff were aligned to what we were delivering.
Outcome: The audit surfaced where the team needed upskilling and aligned people to the strategy.
Practical AI adoption
I led early, practical AI adoption, using the fundraising team as a test case, and wrote and shared an “AI 101” with prompting guidance for the wider team.
Outcome: Fundraising saved real time, especially when researching prospective funders, and colleagues had a practical guide to start using AI well.
Personal
What makes me different.
I like a challenge. I don't shy away from ambiguity, and I'm just as happy in the mundane detail as the big picture - that's usually where the real improvements hide.
With no formal operations background, I stepped into a newly created role in a growing organisation and built it as I went, largely on my own and without a map. I'm proud of that quieter, behind-the-scenes work. It's rarely visible, but it's what lets everything else run.
Contact
Let's talk.
If you're a leader or hiring manager looking for an experienced, capable senior operations and executive support specialist to free up your time, I'd love to hear from you. Send me an email and I'll get back to you.
Available for permanent, fractional and project-based work.