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Liz Pullos

Senior Leader, Technology - Program Management, Go-to-Market Strategy & Execution, Change & Communications

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Liz Pullos
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Professional Status
Consultant
Available
About Me
Accomplished, results-driven Senior Leader in B2B and B2C Digital Business & Technology with 20+ years delivery experience, including five years in Banking & Finance and 10 years in Telecommunication. Proven ability to work in complex and challenging environments to determine business and customer needs then deploy the best solution. Polished professional in executing digital programs of work, including website development and back of house service/fulfillment, for blue chip and other high-profile enterprises. Assertive and collaborative leadership style, applying a disciplined approach combined with an agile mindset. Thrives in a fast-paced, multi-project environment.
Certified ScrumMaster® (CSM®)

*Permanent Resident of Canada
Resume created on DoYouBuzz
Experiences
  • Relocated from Melbourne to Toronto in Aug 2017 and founded Stella Digital Consulting shortly thereafter, providing digital consulting services for a variety of enterprises, both paid and professional service including below.....
  • Advisor for #movethedial, an organisation founded in Toronto with the mission to: support the participation and leadership of all women in technology. Participation in annual Summit (as well as pre-summit think tanks), ‘Stories’ and other corporate forums. This involvement has helped build a professional network in Canada
  • Bishop Strachan School (BSS). Project managing online fundraising events including website design, preparing copy and creative, data management & analytics.
  • https://stellardigitalconsulting.com/
  • Directed the Go to Market (GTM) function from initial inception to full market launch for new B2B technology. The majority of which was very cutting edge and involved high end partnerships with vendors like Microsoft, Amazon and Google.
  • Led high performance, cross-organisational and multi-disciplinary teams to successfully introduce new technology to the Asia-Pacific market.
  • Managed the Go to Market launch including, for internal, managing the functions of new offer packaging, change management, training and intranet support materials, executive announcements etc. External functions included - managing vendors and digital ad agencies for marketing campaigns (SEO/SEM). PR programs & analyst briefings, website development and upgrades including reporting & analytics,
  • Executive Manager for the Director of Infrastructure, Office of Innovation.
  • The Office of Innovation was a new business unit, with the charter to lead the transformation of Telstra from a Telco, to a Technology Enterprise. My role as EM for the Director of Infrastructure was to lead the development of a strategic enterprise-wide plan for the Infrastructure needed to drive and support this change. This required detailed consultation and ongoing negotiation with infrastructure SMEs both within and across business units.
  • Established then managed the Release Management/Change function for “Leave it is Us” launched for consumer customers, an online customer service channel to compliment the existing IVR and Live Chat channels. Supported by a team of approx. 100 offshore agents.
  • Directed the development of all customer facing copy and images for digital assets , an ongoing process with iterative development cycles in response to customer feedback and business product owner priorities. It includes obtaining Legal review and internal copy and creative sign off
  • Directed and lead team resources responsible for business process definition and work instruction updates.
  • Prepared and managed contact centre agent comms, briefing packs and training requirements to support changes introduced.
  • Worked closely with the GCC GM based in Manila (the Business product owner) to understand agent priorities and interpret these in the webform and Siebel fields.
  • Adobe Omniture analytics implementation and analysis to understand the customer journey and preferences and take action based on sound quantitative principles.
  • Diligent stakeholder management across all facets of the business, critical for each deployment.
  • Led weekly and ad hoc status reporting, highlighting dependencies, constraints, issues and risks.
  • Managed the Go to Market (GTM) and Communications activities to support the launch of new Consumer and Business online sales assets developed using an Agile methodology. This included post-paid and Pre-Paid mobiles shops, Bundles (Connected Home), Telstra Business shops and new/upgraded Pre-Paid online activations. This was for both the initial launch of new webpages, then ongoing BAU enhancement releases after that. Diligent stakeholder management across all facets of the business was crucial to each deployment.
  • ACHIEVEMENTS/RESPONSIBILITIES
    ● Led the preparation and submission of a Scope doc for GTM feasibility assessment
    ● Engaged assigned resources and mediating status reports across all deliverables
    ● Created sharp, relevant and meaningful updates to all customer facing collateral (both print and online). This included FAQs, Telstra.com, social media posts and Crowd Support
    ● Prepared corporate communications and internal comms to cover new business procedures (including LiveChat)
    ● Engaged Call & Resource for impact assessment and up skill activities, forecast and projections.
    ● Scheduling and roll out of training; monitoring of completion rates (FoH - including LiveChat and BoH as required).
    ● Engaged and directed photographers for images on the site to support and drive products on brand.
    ● Prepared on-screen copy including errors messages
  • Project 4: Device Returns Optimisation August 2011 – Sept 2011
    POSITION OVERVIEW
    Tactical review and implementation
    Review the current volumes of device returns (principally T-Box and T-Hubs). Identify reasons for high returns and develop tactical options to reduce the volumes. A number of key contributors were identified and ‘wins’ achieved.

    Project 3: Amazon Project – electronic billing and payments
    March 2011 – August 2011
    POSITION OVERVIEW
    The project was part of the rollout and adoption of customer e-bills. Designed to introduce customers to pay bills online to transform behaviour leading to other online transactions. Refreshed all collateral which included working with the Go-to-Market teams and BAU resources to update items such as the customer facing website. Seibel T&Cs, Welcome Letters/packs,
    Led the post launch SMS/email reminder campaign to increase adoption of paperless bills and electronic payments: prepared message scripts, liaised with Marketing/Legal/Public Affairs for approval and sign off; reported metrics on daily dispatch; measured results; captured and reported to stakeholders on effectiveness of the campaign and applied corrective action to enhance campaign effectiveness as required.

    Project 2: CCE - Keep Me Informed (KMI) Programme
    Nov 2010 – March 2011
    POSITION OVERVIEW
    KMI delivered proactive messaging to customers via SMS or voice calls to keep them up to date with orders eg. BigPond/foxtel connections, scheduling appointments for technical installs, Bundles order status. The objective was to reduce inbound calls to contact centers (the need for customers to chase up status is reduced). External vendors Adeptra were engaged to build and manage the automated messaging application.
    Led the initiation phase, secured funding which included business case development, prepared the project schedule for four concurrent streams of work, managed issues/risk register; established project accounting, project resourcing: prepared job descriptions, interviewed and recommended preferred candidates, vendor management.
    Prepared scripts for message recording: liaison with Legal & Marketing team for approval; liaison with studio for voice talent recording.

    Project 1: Pre-Paid mobiles – recharge optimisation
    Aug 2010 – Nov 2010
    POSITION OVERVIEW
    Led an initiative to steer customers away from the use of retail purchased vouchers to online recharge options. Identified strategies to increase customer use of online recharge. This included a refresh of all Pre-Paid mobile recharge collateral both customer facing and internal. The result was a 5% increase of online recharge and a corresponding reduction in the sale of retail vouchers leading to increased consumer revenue.
  • Project managed the development and implementation of intranet materials for use by FoH resources. The principle objective being to decrease average handling times.
  • ● Project governance and status reporting.
    ● Engaging stakeholders across Telstra to maximise performance outcomes.
    ● Site content development in consultation with SMEs and Telstra Managers.
    ● Liaison with Telstra in-house counsel for legal accuracy of content.
    ● Web pages site tested and bug fixed.
    ● Official launch to target groups by Telstra executives.
  • All work experience/assignments described below between 1998 - 2007 were while engaged by Ajilon Consulting (Professional Services Firm) in the Asia-Pacific region.
  • Programs of Work included website development (both customer facing and internal), CRM, Mergers & Acquisitions, Vendor RFI and RFQ, SAP technology build & deploy, business process improvement
  • Routinely led project start up, then directed and managed programs of work completed by teams of external consultants and organisational based employees. Regularly engaged and managed Statements of Work with top tier professional services firms including Deloitte, Accenture & KPMG.
  • Worked through complex technology issues then implemented both tactical and strategic solutions to rectify
  • Drove continuous improvement of Ajilon products and services based on learnings from client implementations, previous experiences and innovative ideas
  • Identified opportunities to build the client account, improve account management and build the Ajilon brand
  • Mentored less experienced project team members in all disciplines of project management
  • Used both Agile and Waterfall methodologies as required.
  • Attract, identify and place suitable candidates with appropriate qualifications and experience to Ajilon projects in line with agreed Statements of Work issued by clients. This required a deep understanding of the project requirements, scope and customer driven performance objectives.
  • ● Forged a close working relationship with Consulting Managers to understand and then interpret their project and client resource requirements for specific business and technology roles.
    ● Developed job descriptions for online advertising.
    ● Conducted initial candidate appraisals based on paper submissions, interviewed candidates and worked closely with consulting Managers to identify suitably skilled and qualified resources for client assignments.
    ● Consolidation of monthly statistics and reporting on interview/placement numbers for Adecco Group
  • Following the acquisition of the National Bank of New Zealand by ANZ Bank in 2004, the Program objective was to effectively bring together the ANZ and NBNZ Institutional Banking systems onto one system (or retained on different systems as defined by the business). The position involved regular and frequent trips to Wellington NZ, as this was crucial for delivery. The program was delivered on time and within budget. This result was extremely significant for ANZ daily operations, for annual reporting to shareholders and the overall profit result of ANZ Bank.
  • ● Devised project organisation and controls in line with PRINCE2 framework.
    ● Consultation with senior stakeholders to confirm mandate and secure funding.
    ● Assembled the team and identified key resource gaps and interviewed and recruited accordingly. This included senior team members to be based in Wellington.
    ● Established and maintained a rigorous weekly reporting procedure automated from individual project managers’ schedules. This was required to obtain whole of programme status position.
    ● Employed appropriate governance, risk management and quality assurance techniques.
    ● Advised senior executives on project issues, work progress and risk mitigation via the Project Steering Committee and executive briefings.
    ● Composition and presentation of high profile executive reports and internal project communications to reflect Programme status, achievements to date, overall health and probability of hitting key dates based on risk appraisal and mitigation.
  • Initiated a project team of key resources to complete the Plan and Define phase of a CRM (Siebel) system deployment. This covered two parallel streams of work 1. Collaborate with GM in Detroit to progress globally agreed business requirements to functional and technical specifications 2. Local (Australia-wide) project scope definition and the preparation of a Request for Quotation (RFQ) package with highly detailed supporting documentation.
  • ● Recruitment and selection of appropriate team members to work on the Plan and Define phases. This included Siebel specialists.
    ● Day-to-day management of a diverse range of team members, including BAs & technical resources.
    ● Research, development, composition and presentation of a highly detailed and specified RFQ in accordance with GM procurement and CMMi – level 2 standards; distribution to a select group of qualified vendors.
    ● Review of RFQ responses, managed Vendor interview and presentation process and transparent selection of the most suitable Vendor based on price and performance capabilities.
  • Project Manager as part of the Integration Programme responsible for merging the AGC commercial operations into GE’s established business processes. Integration was achieved under the ‘Six Sigma’ business management strategy embraced by GE Globally.
  • ● Worked concurrently with three GE business managers with BAU responsibilities as their primary focus, to ensure integration was effectively achieved for their operational accountabilities consistent with established timeframes and agreed deliverables as defined by the Strategic Integration Steering Committee.
    ● Schedule preparation and automated report generation.
    ● Preparation of dashboard reports to capture project status/health, risk and issues, resource supply, and ultimately, value capture/benefit tracking to comply with the Six Sigma standards.
    ● Represented Business Managers across the three streams at Programme meetings and Steering Committee review sessions.
  • Part of the Program Management team to establish a new financial planning business operation for Asia based in Singapore. This included defining the project scope, developing a project methodology, master schedule, roles and responsibilities for team members, establishing a status reporting process to monitor milestone deliverables and governance standards to track risks, issues, scope change and document control. Once program controls were established, was appointed Implementation Manager.
  • ● Directed project initiation work such as scoping, requirements definition, and business case development. Presented to senior stakeholders for project funding.
    ● Fostered effective relationships with Project Sponsors, Stakeholders and the broader organisation to safeguard project delivery and ROI.
    ● Established effective working relationships with Senior Management and Sponsors to obtain agreement of project scope, timelines and resource requirements.
    ● Assembled the team and identified key resource gaps and recruited accordingly.
    ● Employed appropriate governance, risk management, and quality assurance techniques.
    ● As Implementation Manager, I was responsible for managing all aspects of deployment including training, marketing, infrastructure, communications and monitoring go-live activities.
  • Financial Services
  • Led day-to-day operation of the Group PMO function to ensure all Group Projects met governance standards, reporting and execution requirements. Ensure all projects were successfully monitored, documented, tracked, reported, integrated and implemented. This included the development of a software system for online tracking of approval and governance.
  • ● Project portfolio management and status reporting across the Group.
    ● Support GPO Program Director in the planning and execution of project operations across the organisation to ensure effective delivery of multiple, simultaneous project outcomes and realization of their benefits.
    ● Development of Project Management resources, tools, techniques and training roll out to line managers and direct reports involved in project execution. Ongoing mentoring of these resources.
    ● Ensured all projects had appropriate risk management plans.
    ● Maintain the Group benefit realization tracking mechanisms for monitoring all projects in conjunction with the Project Controller.
  • Initiated project start-up including the selection and appointment of a Project Manager to define, build, test and implement the SAP HR/Payroll R/3 software using a phased rollout approach. The software was successfully deployed for Telstra globally within an aggressive timeframe and budget restrictions. Once the PM function was in effectively in place, was appointed Deployment Manager.
  • ● Initial project start up activities including development and composition of the Project Scope and Charter, methodology for project management activities (incorporating Accelerated SAP) and definition of project partner/individual team member roles.
    ● Supervision of project office support team.
    ● Formulation and ongoing management of project schedules, teamwork plans, progress reports and statistics, traffic light reports.
    ● Managed specific deployment strategies/activities including: training strategy development and delivery, access and security, migration planning and internal communications.
    ● Prepared project communications strategies distributed internally and externally.
    ● Formulation and ongoing management of helpdesk procedures and production support procedures for the live system.
  • Worked with small to medium sized IT&T companies across Queensland providing business development advice and assistance to become ‘export ready’. I also lead projects to produce collateral for national consumption (design, content, editing etc), prepared Ministerial speeches and detailed reports for tabling in parliament.
Education

Masters of Business Administration

Queensland University of Technology

Received a Dean’s Award of Excellence for academic achievement

Post Graduate Diploma of Education

Queensland University of Technology

Bachelor of Human Movement Studies

University of Queensland

Double major in Psychology
Received a Head of Department Award of Commendation for academic achievement
Skills

Digital - Strategic

  • Understand the strategic business context and align digital positioning with business objectives, business processes and technology constraints
  • Appreciation for customer journey and digital preferences, considering demographic variables
  • Appreciation and respect for good Sales & Services UX and design features to maximise the customer experience
  • Understand the digital development lifecycle and the complexity associated with integration to legacy systems
  • Generation and deployment of tactical and strategic deliverables to maximise digital channel optimisation
  • Ability to critically analyse and extract data and draw objective conclusions with insight to action empirical decision making (well practiced in Omniture reporting tools)
  • Creation (write and edit) of customer facing copy, 'on brand' and tone. Closeout stakeholder/compliance approvals
  • Social media positioning as part of digital optimisation strategy
  • Ability to interpret then map business processes to front and back end digital capability
  • Photo shoot briefing and direction for the creation of on-brand images

Sales & service, customer facing and front end user, new product, application development and website launches.

  • Go to Market, implementation and deployment
  • Social media positioning
  • Business unit readiness including skills assessment, training & work instructions updates
  • FoH/BoH customer support & fulfilment
  • Campaign management & analytics reporting
  • Communications: internal & customer facing

Project/Programme Delivery

  • Certified ScrumMaster® (CSM®)
  • Prince 2 certified
  • Leadership & motivating teams
  • Communications - both internal and customer facing
  • Stakeholder management
  • Establishing a govenance model to ensure adherence to strategy and ongoing adherence to overall business strategy
  • Business case & ROI formulation
  • Change & scope Mgmt
  • Cross program and business unit dependency mgmt
  • Risk & Issue Management
  • Project scheduling, resource management, dependency and critical path mapping
  • Complex executive management reporting
  • Vendor Management - RFI and RFQ models
Interests

General

  • Business startups/incubator models
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Technological innovation
  • Advances in Health/Medical industry
  • Leadership & mentoring
  • Sociological trending & demographic implications
  • Diversity & inclusivity initiatives
  • Competitive ocean swimming, strength training, yoga/pilates
  • Travel -anywhere, preferrably needing a passport, business or leisure
  • Foreign film/Liternature/Art
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