Neil Robertson, CEng, MEng Dipl Man, MIET
Address: 2 Northbury Farm Cottages, Castle End Road, Ruscombe, Berkshire, RG10 9XJ / Mobile: 0776622 0127Email: / Date of Birth: 7th September 1977
Education & Qualifications
University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. 1995 - 2000
· Masters Degree in Manufacturing Sciences and Engineering (Distinction), with a Diploma in Business Management for Engineers.
· IEE Lord Austin prize for the Best Final Year Project in Manufacturing, for my dissertation – ‘Design of a Palletisation System for UDV Leven’.
Professional Qualifications
· CEng MIET. Chartered Engineer and Member of the Institution of Engineering & Technology (IET, formerly the Institute of Electrical Engineers).
Career
April 2010 – April 2012 / KPMG, LondonExecutive Advisor, Business Effectiveness
Role
· Manager within KPMG’s Corporates Procurement Team and lead on Marketing Procurement within the Business Effectiveness team.
· Advising clients on all aspects of the Procurement lifecycle, with a special interest in procurement transformation.
Achievements
· Led the Employee Services workstream for a 6-month procurement transformation assignment with a large UK Financial Services company. Delivered sourcing strategies for HR, Travel, Legal Services, Recruitment and IT contracting. The sourcing strategies identified significant, multi-million pounds savings for the client.
· Advised a large UK retailer on Marketing Services cost reduction. Key areas of focus included Print, Creative Agencies and Media. Savings targeted at 15-20%. Worked within a challenging stakeholder environment within a company that had significant PE backing.
· Led the organisational design workstream for an international IT services company as part of a full procurement transformation exercise. Responsible for developing the structure from conducting a full needs analysis with the business, through designing delivery models and on to final headcount model.
· Strategy creation for an international travel company. Led a cross functional team from product, marketing and online functions to develop a strategy for digital content in a multi-channel environment.
May 2009 – April 2010 / Merck, Sharp & Dohme, LondonGlobal Procurement EMEA - Sourcing Manager – Marketing
Role
· Part of the Global Procurement Team managing regional marketing spend in Europe. Focused on Creative Agencies, Media, PR and Print.
· Global Lead on Print. Lead a global virtual team coordinating activity and best practices
· Regional Lead on Marketing Operating Framework - the way in which Marketing Procurement activity is coordinated across Europe
Achievements
· Creative, Media & PR Agency Fees and performance management tackled.
· Designing & Leading the Marketing Procurement operating framework for Europe – improving communication, coordination of activity and sharing of best practices across the region
· Managed key workstreams for MSD's $42Bn merger with Schering-Plough. Led 3 of the 6 cross-functional teams tasked with delivering the strategy and execution of the Creative Agencies, Print & Media categories for the marketing sector across both companies. Responsible for delivery of half of the 3-year $80M savings target.
· Focus was on the Merck Creative Agency network, managing the integration of two European rosters, at varying stages of maturity. Consistent contracting, ratecards and menu pricing was introduced to the agencies.
· A European studio was set up to handle non-strategic creative work, decoupling non-core activities from lead creative agencies and producing this through a more efficient and cost-effective central 3rd party studio.
November 2006 – April 2009 / Diageo, LondonGlobal Category Manager – Marketing Production.
Role
· Covered all areas of marketing production spend, including TV Production, Print and Photography.
· Grew the category from an undefined, unmanaged area of spend to having clear sub-categories and mapped spend, underpinned by clearly defined strategy and a global roll out plan to deliver significant savings.
· Strategic management of the category globally and tactical support to the Global Brand Teams and the UK and Irish Markets. Team of two consultants and one Supplier Performance Manager.
Achievements
· Increased savings in the category in year 1 from £150K to £1M+
· Implementation of a centralised print and television adaption and distribution system on one major global brand. Extended across multiple brands.
· The sourcing and appointment of a print management partner to oversee £4m worth of marketing print.
· Negotiation of a number of high profile photography projects, working with world-leading photographers & agents.
· Decoupling of Annual report print production from the incumbent design agency. Reduced costs of production by 25%.
· Helped create and deliver the stakeholder engagement module of the Diageo category management process to my global colleagues
· Numerous ad-hoc production projects – ranging from DVD production, to the latest Guinness TV commercial.
October 2005 – December 2006 / Diageo, LondonGlobal Category Manager – CPR & RM, Rest Of World.
Role
· This role involved 2 key areas of marketing spend covering the Asia, Africa and Latin America regions. The first of these was Consumer Planning and Research (CPR), the second being Relationship Marketing (RM).
· Finally, I was also responsible for project managing the introduction of procurement activity into the area of some £15M of Global Duty Free Spend.
Achievements
· Asia Agency Rationalisation – I led an event to consolidate the Brand Tracking spend across the Region with one supplier. The financial savings totalled approximately £500K, although the indirect benefits to the business were far greater.
· Africa Agency Management – Due to long running problems with CPR agencies in the region, I was tasked with assessing whether we could continue with our current structure or re-pitch the business. The outcome was the re-pitching of the business and consolidating the African work with one Regional supplier. The savings were about £350K.
· Asia RM Rationalisation – I was involved with implementing and embedding a new RM structure across the region. The project involved a number of complex stakeholder and agency relationships set against the culturally diverse backdrop of the Asia Pacific region.
September 2004 – October 2005 / Diageo, LondonGlobal Category Manager – Innovation
Role
· Brought in to the Global Demand Procurement Team to lead the Procurement contribution to Diageo’s largest Innovation project to date
· Management of several design agencies to complete the design of a new dispense device for Guinness.
· The sourcing of a new low-cost economy supplier to produce the device.
· The management of the supplier through initial production to delivery of the first devices.
· Delivery of a number of other dispense innovation projects. I was also drafted in to cover the Advertising creative agency fee negotiation process.
· Stakeholders here were Diageo Innovation teams, both Marketing and Technical.
Achievements
· The sourcing event led to estimated savings of £4M on the project and opened the doorway to a further £5M opportunity by moving Guinness font production to China.
· The execution of a global strategic sourcing event, involving some 25 companies across 3 continents, to identify a suitable manufacturer for the device. The sourcing event was preceded by a period of market analysis, which led to a number of e-RFP and e-RFQ events.
· These events were followed up with a number audits and factory visits, evaluating a number of areas, including corporate governance and vendor quality assurance. This was Diageo’s first piece of innovation sourcing from China.
· With the manufacturer selected in China, supplier relationship management was embedded to develop the device from design through to high volume.
September 2002 – September 2004 / Diageo, EdinburghBuyer – CapEx, MRO and Operations Services
Role
· Managing purchasing activity for Diageo’s Spirits Supply business, which totalled some £35M.
· Managing large scale (£100K+) Capital Expenditure Projects and MRO Contracts for 35 Operations Sites. As I progressed within the role, it was expanded to cover more general Indirects procurement, such as HR, Travel and Facilities Management.
July 2001 – September 2002 / Diageo, Shieldhall, GlasgowProduction Team Leader
Role
· Full Responsibility for 3 production lines, producing some 8M cases of Scotch Whisky per annum, including Resource planning and Management of a crew of 26
Other Interests
· With the RNLI, I am a volunteer Crew member at Chiswick Lifeboat Station, carrying out Search & Rescue operations on the River Thames.
· I am a first responder with my local ambulance trust, responding to 999 calls and acting as the first step in the chain of survival for patients in my local community.
· Other passions include Travel & Music. During my time at University, I held various positions of responsibility with Strathclyde University Football Club, including that of Captain of the 2nd XI. I am currently working my way around the Munros of Scotland and completed the London Marathon in 2008.