+44 7881 300 962
russell@onlyforward.org
Programme Director, PMO Director and Chartered Engineer

PROFILE
High-achieving Programme Director, PMO Director and Portfolio Director with over 30 years senior experience delivering significant benefits to employer companies and business clients.
Effectively works as part of executive team or on own initiative delivering solutions to drive corporate growth and profitability.

Interested in challenging senior management positions and the opportunity to use specialist skills and knowledge to the maximum benefit of a progressive employer.

KEY SKILLS & EXPERTISE
  • Successful Director with dynamic entrepreneurial skills
  • Demonstrable Project, Change and Development Management abilities
  • Chartered Engineer with experience managing engineering and production staff
  • Skilled at identifying and understanding business imperatives, aligning these to personal and team improvements, enabling quick and decisive actions to the benefit of both company and individuals
  • Insightful ability to view business from clients perspective, drawing on business skills and capabilities to adapt and develop strategies to meet client needs
  • Exceptional strategic vision and abilities, promoting well-practiced tactical application
  • Highly-developed team building, team development and leadership expertise
  • Confident, articulate and persuasive communicator and presenter with strong negotiation skills
  • Innovative and lateral thinker with excellent problem solving abilities
  • Solid research, analytical and business diagnostic skills
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Cambridge Consultants 2013 to 2021
Programme Director
Wireless division senior team member in this technology innovation and product development consultancy and founder member of the Cambridge Science Park.
  • Managed development of the world’s most dense Industrial IoT communications system – 5GHz LTE Base Station and Robot Terminal – and SIL3 Wireless Black Channel Safety System for control of a large fleet of robots for a FTSE100 online grocery retailer
  • Delivered many complex bids and programmes to clients ranging from start-ups to blue chip multinationals, all to time and budget and client satisfaction
  • Won and ran a programme to transform project results in a £300m Automotive consultancy business
  • Programme Manager to set-up a Cambridge Consultants spin-out company
  • Coached and mentored nearly 30 staff, including hiring junior PMs for the first time at CC
Roke Manor Research
Chemring Group
2000 to 2013
Projects Director (Portfolio and PMO Director)
Director for a team of 22 professional Project Managers and five Quality Engineers. Executive Board member responsible for Roke’s £79m project portfolio and engineering processes and tools definition.
  • Senior Manager in this world renowned contract R&D establishment, undertaking complex, high technical risk product developments as well as developing products in house
  • Created, developed and rolled-out the 'Roke Engineering Process' (REP), through which best practice using the CMMI framework was implemented and championed
  • Developed a Project Manager learning and development competency framework and coached a team of Project Managers, seven achieving APM RPP
  • Chaired quarterly project management forums which shared best practice and built a supportive community
  • Introduced 'project categorisation' matching value, risk and complexity to project manager competence
  • Created initiatives that transformed project management and led to a turn-around and annual improvement in project results across a typical portfolio of 400 projects a year
  • Developed 'Project Management Excellence Programme' and achieved APM corporate accreditation
  • Inherited a portfolio that lost £5.3m and delivered an above budget performance in five consecutive years with company profit totalling £20.2m – above budget by £7.9m
Project Manager
Managed the company’s most technically demanding and high risk product developments, all delivered on time and with record profit margins.
  • Bid Manager for 33 fixed price bids, winning business to the value of £6.9m
  • Overachieved combined profit target by 294% delivering an additional £1.94m profit
  • Managed project teams with up to 45 Engineers on single and multi-site projects
  • Named 'Roke’s Top Project Manager' in 2005
  • Managed many complex, high risk projects including:
    XSCard, a £5.5m project which delivered the world's first HSDPA mobile broadband PC Data Card
    MC55 & MC56, the world’s smallest GSM-GPRS modules
    Sarbe G2R, a military Search & Rescue Beacon that trebled the client's book value
    CF45, the only compact flash format GSM-GPRS product in the world
  • All projects were delivered on time and on budget
Siemens
Industry Division
1990 to 2000
Project, Business & Engineering Group Manager
Led a team of nine Engineers responsible for product development and implementation from specification to finished stock for worldwide sales of CombiMaster, a combined induction motor and variable speed drive.
  • Built CombiMaster into the market leader, creating a new market at launch and winning European trade journal New Product award
  • Project Manager for three product family projects with a total value £19.5m, delivered to time and budget
  • Indirect management of up to 50 production staff
  • Championed and managed CAD tool budgeting, selection and maintenance, bringing FPGA, simulation and PCB layout tools in house
  • Led cost reduction and process re-engineering programmes using the EFQM model
  • Undertook FPGA, ASIC and control and processor system design
  • Started on degree placement, later employed as Graduate Engineer; following several results-prompted promotions, achieved Project Manager position
Safe-T-Guard 1982 to 1990
Founder Operator
Started company at 18 to design, manufacture and install electronic security systems installing over 100 security systems based around own designs.

PROFESSIONAL TRAINING & QUALIFICATIONS
BEng Honours Degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering CPD Activities
Chartered Engineer

Attended over 120 training courses and seminars, covering technical development, soft skills and senior management topics, including:
    Strategic Plan Development, Advanced Management – the Siemens Leadership Programme
    All aspects of Bid and Project Management including APM Project Management Qualification
    Process development and benchmarking including CMMI, EFQM and Process Re-engineering

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS & SUPPORT INFORMATION
Fellow of the Association for Project Management
Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology
Engineering Council Registrant  

Authored project management articles in Project Manager Today and the APM's Project, and technical articles in Drives & Controls and Antriebstechnik plus numerous internal company publications.

Inventor on four EU patents and two US patents.