Personal details
Name: Mark Sedgley
Date of Birth: 8 October 1965 Address: 31 Hookstone Chase, Harrogate, N Yorks HG2 7HH
e-mail: Tel: 01423 819388 Mobile: 07828997403
Qualifications:
Associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute (10 exams, 4 years)
Financial Planning Certificate
Securities Institute OEIC Administration
3 ‘A’ Levels, 11 ‘O’ Levels
Synopsis
I have over 25 years experience in the Financial Services industry, working for Friendly Societies and two of the largest financial services organisations in Europe. I was Chief Executive of Druids Sheffield Friendly Society (DSFS) and am an Approved Person under FCA/PRA regulations. I am a committed believer in mutuality and ‘self-help’ organisations and I am an active participant in the trade body (the Association of Financial Mutuals).
I have proven success and experience in many aspects of the industry:
· Strategic development, reviews and planning
· Investment oversight and strategy
· Development of KPIs and MI to measure business performance and identify trends / improvements
· Corporate Governance reviews regarding changing regulations and implementation
· Managing multiple teams of up to 60 people across complex operational areas including Customer Service front and back office, technical teams and Contact Centres
· Third Party and Client Relationship Management, for example Asda, RBS, The Bank of New York and 4 building societies(mortgage fund providers)
· Product and process design and launch including ISA, CTF, With Profits and Pensions
· Technical roles including Fund Valuation, Pricing and Life Underwriting
· Accomplished public speaker: presentations to groups of 10 – 150, including AGM speeches, internal training, external sales and education
· Strategic leadership and day to day management of all back-office functions including projects to ‘insource’ and ‘outsource’ administration
· Audit and ‘due diligence’ of other organisations during transfers of engagement
Career
November 2013 - to date
Financial Services Consultant
April 2010 – Oct 2013 Druids Sheffield Friendly Society
DSFS is a traditional friendly society formed in 1858. It has around 50 thousand members and assets approaching £45 million. It offers a diverse range of products including with profit endowments, a stocks and shares ISA, Child Trust Fund, Sickness, Life Cover and Healthcare plans. It has one office and about 50 ‘lodges’ or branches, each run by volunteers who promote the Society locally and collect some of the premium income. It also sells successfully via a website.
Chief Executive
I had responsibility for every function: finance, compliance, money laundering, marketing and sales, corporate governance, risk and audit. Some of the work was outsourced (there is an external Accountant and Actuary, property management (they own 160 houses) is carried out by 2 agency firms and equity / gilt investment is managed by Quilter), although I retained regulatory responsibility. The society had a successful period under my stewardship against a backdrop of economic recession and very significant changes in the regulatory climate.
Achievements:
· Strategic reviews of routes to market/sales channels and investment strategy produced excellent results
· Strategic planning of investments resulted in positive returns against a back drop of difficult conditions, particularly for the property market
· Comprehensive review of the Society’s future strategic options (continue as an independent, split into 2 smaller societies, close to new business, look for a merger)
· Significant and difficult changes implemented to modernise the corporate governance structure
· The Society grew significantly whilst I was chief Executive with membership and assets more than doubling whilst expenses reduced
· Re-branding and modernising of products and literature
· Introduction and development of comprehensive management information / KPIs
· Cashflow forecasting, reporting and management were significantly improved
Feb – April 10 Capita Financial
Head of Relationship Management.
This was a brief contract to establish a new team which liaised between the business departments and clients (Fund Managers and IFAs) following a major business restructure.
Feb 08 – June 09 Norwich Union
Unit Pricing Operations Manager
Responsible for the calculation of over 2,300 Fund prices every day, worth about £35bn. Team of 60, with c30 directly in Operations, the remainder in support roles (IT, Governance, Report and Accounting). Achievements:
· Improved KPIs, MI and planning resulted in SLAs being met during most turbulent stock markets for a generation to the satisfaction of clients, Oversight Committee and Auditors
· Improved working relationships with external customers, service providers and amongst peers through mentoring, team meetings etc
· Efficiency improvements saw an increase of 30% in workload (Funds launched) without increase in headcount and 10% under budget
· Led team of 30 through a restructure, including interviews and redundancy decisions.
June 2002 – October 2007 Engage Mutual Assurance
2006 - 2007 Head of Customer Services
Responsible for all back office administration across whole product range. I was also the Client Relationship Manager of a TPA arrangement. Achievements:
· Managed and monitored third party relationships with Bank of New York and Northern Trust and managed customer service side of relationship with Asda
· Improved use of contact centre to carry out ‘one touch’ customer query resolution through training and call hand-over to experts when required
· Rationalised processes between all back office teams and improved service to customers
· Oversight of integration of UK Civil Service Benefit Society products into existing processes
2002 - 2005 OEIC Administration and Contact Centre Manager
Achievements:
· Strategic development of the Contact Centre involved transforming it into a new business distribution channel as well as a respected, efficient customer service team. This involved developing detailed MI, reviewing recruitment strategy, team structure and the Training and Competence regime. Call volumes doubled to over 250k and the sales contribution increased to £1.5m in 2004 (£600k in 2003)
· I played a major role in securing the contract with Asda for the Child Trust Fund. My ethos regarding customer service, efficiency and the culture within my team were crucial in securing the deal according to feedback received from Asda. Once launched, Asda stated that we were their best contact centre (of the dozen they used for their products) for customer satisfaction and sales
· Successfully developed relationships with the Trustees , the TPA, HMRC and external auditors
· Senior member of project to bring OEIC admin in-house. Successful launch ahead of plan
· Responsible for over 50 staff, split into 4 teams. Improved team meetings, ‘one to ones’ were introduced and there was a greater focus on staff development, improving morale and retention
· Responsible for resolving customer complaints - good feedback from customers and colleagues
· Business volume increased from 700 investors to over 140,000 in 18 months (including 45 thousand monthly direct debits) without compliance issues or customer complaint
· Took part in several ‘due diligence’ exercises regarding merger / acquisition of other friendly societies
1986 – June 2002 Police Mutual Assurance Society Ltd
Director of Police Mutual Investment Services Ltd and Manager of Pensions and Personal Investment
I became a Director of PMIS Ltd in 2000 and ran the company’s Open Ended Investment Company (similar to a Unit Trust), including management of external service providers, monitoring SLAs and regular audit. I also had responsibility for the administration and customer service relating to the With Profit Bond and pension products (FSAVC and Stakeholder). My span of control / involvement included project management, compliance, investment management, marketing, sales (regular presenter), staff management and training.
2001 Promoted to position of Manager of Pensions and Personal Investments
I was responsible for the preparation of administration systems, process design and controls for the successful launch of 2 new product types – an FSAVC and a with profits bond
2000 Promoted to Director of Police Mutual Investment Services
1998 PMIS Operations Manager
A newly established subsidiary offering the company’s first OEIC. I was involved in all areas of the product design and launch, which took place in 1998. Achievements:
· Strong leadership resulted in successful launch and management of the new external relationships with the Third Party Administrator and Trustee
· Implemented new procedures to follow FSA compliance regulations with a clean bill of health
· Ensured customer service across all ‘touch points’ was of the highest standard
· I was the focal point for the project and product externally and internally and was seen as very passionate about the product.
1991 - 1998 Head of New Business
Achievements:
· Management of the company’s Contact Centre, new business enquiry operation and mortgages
· roup presentations regarding general financial planning and products available from Police Mutual. These were all over the UK at an average of 2 per week.
· Member of several committees/ projects including marketing, new product design and due diligence
1990 Appointed as Society’s Chief Underwriter
1986 Clerk in House Purchase Section at Police Mutual Assurance Society
1985 – 86 Currys Electrical - Trainee Branch Manager
References Available on request