Michael Freeman
Sandy Lane Farm, Sandy Lane, Aughton, Lancashire, L39 6SL
Telephone: (01695) 422099 Home (07989) 48 12 03 Mobile
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A successful, motivational General Manager
& Trouble-shooter with a breadth of experience gained within Credit
Management, Financial Services, Insurance, Utilities, Construction,
Transport, Contact Centre and IT roles.
He has operated to board level leading teams in
excess of 500 people, assuming full P&L responsibility and has managed
significant change programmes.
An experienced Consultant with an impressive
portfolio of successful change management, and stategic development
assignments with blue chip clients to his credit.
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Career Profile
MICHAEL FREEMAN MANAGEMENT SERVICES Ltd. 2002 - Present
Established his own business to provide interim management and consultancy services.
ASSIGNMENTS:
Credit Manager – Rentokil Initial (Citylink) Mar 08 - Present
National parcel delivery service part of the Rentokil Initial group
Credit Consultant – Banque National de Paris Dec 07 – Jun 08
Providing Consultancy and Credit Policy.
Credit Manager/Project Manager – Hewden Hire Jan 06 – Mar 08
Largest provider of Plant and Tool Hire in Europe.
Customer Services Manager – FRA UK – United Utilities Jul 06 – Sep 06
New start up Debt Collection Agency.
Credit Management/Consultancy – RWE-npower, Jan 02 – Jan 06
Leading UK provider of power to domestic and commercial customers.
Director Special Services – Legal and Trade Financial Services Ltd Jan 04 – Mar 04
Largest UK provider of counselling, debt management, and field services to businesses.
Group Manager – Operations- CAPITAL ONE BANK (EUROPE) plc Mar 05
Provider of Credit Cards and Lending 48 million Customers and 20,000 Employees. UK Ops launched in 1996.
Dimensions
Ø Managed teams of up to 1600 people in both centralised and field operations.
Ø Practised at reporting to Customer Service Directors, FDs, MDs and Boards.
Ø Extensive and current experience of Start ups, Close downs, Mergers/Acquisitions and New System Implementations.
Achievements
Ø Complete recovery of the Citylink debt position, taking it from a crisis situation and FTSE100 issue, to a group success story.
Ø Within six months halved the aged debt and debtor days at a reduced cost, hitting tough monthly targets.
Ø Turned the Hewden operation around from missing, to hitting cash targets. Reduction of debtor days. Got the serious unallocated cash issue under control.
Ø Establishing a new Department/Division within npower b2b to improve commercial collection capabilities. Over achieved collection target of £464m by 5%
Ø Nominated by npower as “Interim Manager of the Year” in a national competition.
Ø Analysis of the Legal and Trade operation, assessing risk and opportunity against current issues and then subsequently developing a plan to close down loss the making elements and return the division to profit.
Ø Delivered a blueprint and the related plans for operational cost savings of £3.5m per annum at Capital One, while also improving the employee satisfaction survey results.
Ø Managed the Independent Energy commercial portfolio, contact centre, customer service and collections operations, collecting an outstanding debt of £190m on behalf of the receivers. Results described as unprecedented by the Auditors, KPMG.
Ø Re-launching the npower operation and contact centre, contributing to the, design and implementing relevant structures and controls and seeing the design through to a successful implementation.
Ø Led a cross functional team responsible for addressing a large regulatory and complaints issue. Speedily resolved the situation
ABBEY NATIONAL plc 1997 –2002
Major UK High Street bank providing personal financial services. More recently has expanded to include telephone and internet banking, launching direct home and motor insurance in 1998.
Operations Director – Abbey National Direct Insurance 1998 –2002
Directed all facets of a direct motor and household insurance company. Managing 550 people in sales, customer service, marketing, claims, finance, IT, HR and reporting to the board.
Dimensions
ØOperation of 550 people.
ØSales of 100,000 policies per annum.
ØProfit of £4,000,000 in 2001.
ØManaged annual cost budget £20,000,000.
Achievements
ØAppointed to turnaround a failing venture. Established the major causes of failure. Developed co-ordinated and implemented a plan for improvements. Grew the operation by 400 people, moved an operating loss of £18m into a profit of £4m and the business was described as the “Jewel in the Crown” by the Group Chief Executive.
ØReduced staff turnover from the highest in the group at 70% per annum to 8%. Significantly improved motivation through the implementation of proactive people management skills and techniques across the business. Used as a role model within the Abbey National group for excellence in people management.
ØStrengthened team management, improved internal communications and implemented a self-funding incentive scheme. This resulted in bringing sales performance back on target in 1999 and exceeding the plan in 2000. The business became the fastest growing UK insurer in 2000 and 2001.
ØManaged a volatile telephone service issue. Introduced controls, tracking and measures, resulting in a reduction in complaints, and an increase in compliments. Agreed standards being achieved quickly and maintained since.
ØRaised the profile of the operation by establishing good relationships with the media and local government. Broadcasted interviews and published articles were received positively. Grant status was achieved and later improved.
Customer Service Manager – Insurance Service Centre 1997- 1998
Managed the banks General Insurance post sales distributed Customer Service Centres.
Dimensions
· Operation of 250 people, budget of £6,000,000, servicing 500,000 policies and 800 branches
· Responsible for claims, policy administration and retention.
Achievements
ØLed the team from a production only focus to a balance of customer service and productivity. Developed new measures and objectives with the team and delivered a customer service programme to all team members. The success of this transformation led to the centre being chosen to represent the bank in the European Customer Service Awards.
ØRaised morale and motivation throughout the operation through the success of a series of objectives aimed at teamwork, empowerment and by engendering an open culture with a high level of integrity.
NATIONAL AND PROVINCIAL BUILDING SOCIETY 1978 - 1997
A “top ten” Building Society providing a whole range of personal financial products and services. Merged with the Abbey National.
Manager of Mortgage Operations 1995 - 1997
Led the management of all post sales operations. Providing a range of customer services from sale to redemption of the mortgage.
Dimensions
· Operation of 120 people, supporting 300 branches.
· Servicing 300,000 mortgages and secured loans.
Achievements
ØLed project teams in the integration of mortgage operations and systems with Abbey National, resulting in a seamless day one transition.
ØRedesigned the collections process and improved the applications process resulting in 20% cost savings and a quicker simpler customer service.
ØManaged a problem affecting 47,000 customers through meetings and action plans, problems resolved in a short timeframe with no adverse media feedback.
Systems and Process Roles 1978 -1995
Performed a wide range of systems management and technical roles including operations, systems development and process design.
Dimensions
· Responsible for all mainframe, network, servers and desktop IT
Achievements
ØChanged the focus of the development areas from technical to business requirements by coaching key team members, setting an agreed mission and ensuring the resulting behaviours were adopted.
Continuous Professional Development
Member of the British Computer Society
Part Qualified, Chartered Insurance Institute
· Living the Brand (Attended and Delivered to the “top 60” Abbey National executives)