Ivor Cohen

Ivor Cohen Mobile:- - Email:- Professional Profile Skilled Operational Manager with experience of working within both the financial services and commercial fields. Proven record of increasing work process efficiency and profitability through effective people and systems management. Optimistic and pragmatic, with a record of delivering projects on time and within budget. Consistently demonstrates insight and shrewd judgement, devising innovative solutions to problems. L ooking for a new and challenging role that will make the best use of my existing skills and experience whilst offering the opportunity for career progression. Key Skills             Operations and project management HR Generalist Process implementation (administration, finance, human resources, IT and facilities) Audit and quality assurance Financial control, Accounting and Budgeting Business performance improvement Communication and customer relations Complaints handling and investigation Staff leadership and development Proficient in CRM’s Customer focused Technically competent with extensive experience in a variety of software systems (SAP, HR, Accounting) Career History May 19: Relocation to living abroad Apr 19 – May 19: Course – Foundation in Property Maintenance (City & Guilds/CSCS) May 18 – Dec 18: Practice Manager (Maternity Cover) Andrew & Andrew Solicitors Limited (Personal Injury, Family, Probate and Conveyancing) Management of the day-to-day functions of a busy Solicitor’s practice, including Accounting, IT, HR and Operational Procedures, with responsibility for 47 staff across two offices.             Maintenance of practice complaints files and procedures Ensuring compliance with SRA, Lexcel and CQS across all client documentation by ensuring that staff continued to work to the appropriate standards Undertook internal audits to begin the preparation of the next Lexcel audit for continuing accreditation including preparation for the GDPR inclusion by changing IT requirements and securities Undertook the new SRA website requirements regarding “Transparency” by designing the web layout and requirement for the company website Liaison with suppliers and contractors to deliver Practice requirements at best price Recruitment & selection of new staff members, Inductions, monitoring new starters during their probation period, conducting appraisals, providing constructive feedback and setting objectives/targets. Supervision of training on systems, software and new technology Marketing and advertising campaigns to promote business growth Monthly auditing to ensure efficiency in all accounting systems Oversight and control of accounting and payroll Point of contact for Money Laundering Administration and management of the Case Management Systems (DPS) together with the system upgrade, issues and requirements Responsible for overseeing the purchase and refurbishment of new office premises, negotiating with suppliers and with facility management across the practice together with a floor move in existing premises and all associated facilities and lease agreements CV - Ivor Cohen Page 2 of 3   Wrote GDPR and Privacy Policies and implemented those across the practice to ensure all colleagues were aware of the changes affecting their work. This was further enhanced by undertaking a test to ensure staff understood the purpose and requirements Undertook the management and implementation of the new telephone systems by upgrading the software then carried out training of the system Mar 18 – Apr 18: Agency Credit collections Jan 18 – Mar 18: Office Manager (Redundancy) Five Rivers Environmental Limited Directed Administration, Human Resources, Facilities, Procurement, IT and Accounting services.  Managed the daily financial accounting, budgets, cost control and cash flow ensuring expenditure against budgets and projects was kept within tolerance and exceeded where possible  Developed effective operational practices and procedures, following ISO14001 and ISO9001 requirements which included: Company Privacy Policy, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) May 2018 policy, Subsistence policy and Motor Mileage policy  Managed and maintained the IT infrastructure ensuring that GDPR was complied with and adhered to  Assisted in the setup and controls of “BuilderStorm” CMS software being implemented for project management and controlling the life span of a project, together with project cost control  Setup and managed 3rd party supplier accounts ensuring the business controlled  expenditure  Maintained all aspects of insurances (office and contractually for projects) together with health and safety requirements  Provided generalist HR support and point of contact with responsibility for absence, sickness, disciplinary and “work away – subsistence calculations” action Key Achievements: installed new processes and systems that improved the quality, efficiency and performance of team output whilst making some cost savings. Nov 17 – Dec 2017 - Agency Credit control – Collecting overdue invoices by phone and email May 17 – Sep 17: Office Manager (Contract) Roslyn’s Accounting Company Limited Management of an accounting company specialising in the licensed trade, with responsibility for 73 staff (including 20 new staff recruited)            Managed the day-to day transactional accounting and payroll of 798 accounts, ensuring that all targets were met, and management accounts were produced and sent out to clients on a monthly basis using Sage 50. Responsibility for the integration of 248 new client accounts Managed and operated the credit control function Dealt with all AML searches confirming acceptance or refusal and provided training as appropriate Managed all insurances, building maintenance and contracts Carried out all procurement functions ensuring best cost/resource used Introduced new systems and procedures to improve efficiency in workflow Increased production from 56% to 74% as evidenced in management reports Managed a diverse workforce from apprentice level through to ACCA qualified Increased return on profit and reduction in overheads Dealt with all functions of HR (including: discipline, cars, absence, reporting, HSE, vetting, inductions, probationary sign-off’s and headcount) using Sage HR Managed office moves and upgrades including CRM CV - Ivor Cohen Page 3 of 3 Jan 17 – May 17: Pensions Administrator (Contract) SIPP Pensions Vetting pension applications and ensuring the quality control within the SIPP Pensions team.    Processed SIPP pension applications in accordance with company procedures ensuring compliance with company standards Carried out reviews and quality checking of team caseloads to ensure that company standards and regulatory compliance were met together with quality assurance feedback to management Provided constructive feedback and guidance to team members where required May 11 – Nov 16: Ivor Cohen Consulting Limited Bespoke project work, including internal audit, past business reviews and quality control, for top-tier banking corporations (e.g. Lloyds, GE Money Bank, Nationwide). Working within a wide range of financial services including, but not limited to, Complaints, Buy to Let, Let to Buy Portfolio Accounts and Domestic Mortgages, Insurance Products, PPI, Loans and Credit Cards:  Conducted sample reviews of company financial services, reporting trends in sales failings, miss-selling and business as usual  Investigated, reviewed and responded to complaints, providing resolution in accordance with company directives and timescales and operating within the regulations laid down by the FCA and FOS  Subject-matter specialist, organising and delivering training for complaints-handling staff to ensure that issues are handled in accordance with Regulatory Compliance  Designed processes and reporting tools to ensure that SLA’s and KPI’s were adhered to and reported correctly  Reviewed large volumes of complex, written documentation and other evidence, employing an analytical approach to derive conclusions and make informed decisions under FCA guidelines  Managed arrears recovery for outstanding mortgage accounts  Undertaking KYC and AML functions using Alacra, Companies House, Lexis Nexis, World Check and Dun & Bradstreet  Regularly reviewed policies, procedures and other internal systems to ensure compliance with relevant legislation and FCA principles  Undertook case-checking and quality assurance tasks in accordance with Company procedures and timescales, working collaboratively with resourcing teams to ensure integrity, efficiency and accuracy in reporting of KPI’s and SLA  Supervised the daily activities of the teams, managing and prioritising workloads, and problem-solving to enable each team to reach expected targets  Key liaison with Project Management for communication cascades and queries, and raising issues to ensure continuous process improvements  Provided adjudication at the Financial Ombudsman Service  User of many CRM systems Key Achievement: delivered a first-class customer centric case assessment and quality assurance that resolved customer complaints first time every time, resulting in a high level of customer satisfaction. Professional Development and Education Inst AM MISM Institute of Administrative Management Institute of Supervisory Management Prince 2 Project Management Education 6 O-Levels and 3 A-Levels (Grades A-C)