STEPHEN BRUCE
Date of Birth: 18th December 1955
Marital Status: Married, with 3 children
Profile
I am a committed, focused and professional individual with over 30 years’ experience in translation and proofreading, international procurement, contract management, risk and programme management.
I have strong analytical, problem solving and communications skills and consider I have made significant contributions to the companies I have represented.
I am currently focusing my efforts on the provision of German > English translation services as a freelance translator, being able to call upon my language skills and experience gained working in a bi-lingual environment.
Employment
Freelance translator Dec 2013 to date
My freelance translation and proofreading activities span a broad range, but tend to be focused on technical texts from the fields of marketing, engineering, construction, architecture, IT, telecommunications, insurance, general business correspondence and legal agreements.
BT May 2006 to Dec 2013
Employed by BT Group plc. as Senior Programme Manager for the deployment of WBC (Wholesale Broadband Connect - BT’s 24Mb ADSL2+ broadband offering).
To date WBC has been enabled at nearly 3000 BT exchanges (ca. 92% of the addressable UK broadband market) and ca. 2000 sites have been enabled for Ethernet services.
Responsibilities included scheduling WBC New Footprint and Ethernet deployments, introducing process improvements, benefits, stakeholder and delivery management and jeopardy management of WBC migrations commitments.
COLT Telecom Group plc October 2000 to May 2006
Having impressed COLT’s Director of European Network Services I was invited to take up the position as Senior Contracts Manager within ENS. My responsibilities were for management of construction contracts for COLT’s entire European long distance network with a value of some £ 675 M. This included successful conclusion of existing civil works contracts in all COLT countries. I also established new contracts for the installation of fibre optic cables in COLT’s Scandinavian and Spanish networks and for the maintenance of COLT’s duct and fibre networks in various countries.
After European Network Services was disbanded, I transferred to Network Engineering and ultimately to Corporate Purchasing as International Lead Buyer for the Technical Infrastructure, Service Delivery and Data Centre Solutions departments. Here I was responsible for relations with COLT’s suppliers and the introduction of best purchasing practice into each department. I specifically developed a procurement strategy for award of maintenance and repair contracts for TI equipment. This dramatically reduced the number of supplier companies and resulted in improvements in efficiency.
Consultant to COLT Telecom GmbH September 1999 to September 2000
Based initially in Berlin, I was engaged to manage the installation of duct and optical fibre cables in the section of COLT’s long distance network between Berlin and Leipzig. After 6 months I was asked to transfer to Frankfurt to assist in management of COLT’s contractual relationship with the main contractor building COLT’s German long distance ring. In this role I provided contractual advice to the senior management team, including CEO, and negotiated reductions amounting to some £ 10 M in the value of claims submitted by the contractor.
Arge Rohbau Bundeskanzleramt May 1998 to September 1999
This joint venture was established to carry out the shell construction of the new chancellery complex in Berlin. The contract value was in excess of £ 40 M. Reporting directly to the project director, my responsibilities included the formal recording of instances of delay to the contract works, setting out the argument for the contractual correctness of such delay and establishing the extent of delays, including their effect upon the critical path for completion. A claim amounting to £ 4 M was successfully upheld.
HMB Hallesche Mitteldeutsche Bau A.G. January 1997 to April 1998
As Senior Contracts Manager of this construction company my responsibilities included the management of contract administration at two major projects. The first was for the civil works and satellite control centre buildings at the Leuna 2000 new build oil refinery project in Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany, with a contract value of £ 80 M. The second was for the construction of a section of the combined road/rail relief tunnels constructed at Spreebogen beneath the river Spree in Berlin, Germany, with a contract value of £ 100 M.
The Leuna 2000 project responsibilities included also included management of the preparation of claim headings amounting to £ 30 M submitted to the Client, which required arbitration. The arbitration case was successfully settled for £ 25 M, before the final arbitration hearing.
Bruce Moore & Partners GmbH March 1995 to December 1996
As Contracts Manager of this professional services company I employed a staff of 6 project managers providing project management and costs consultancy services throughout Germany.
Bruce Shaw Partnership September 1980 to March 1995
The early years in this construction costs consultancy were spent learning the quantity Surveying business and assisting with general business administration and development.
In 1984 I was elected as Partner with general management responsibilities including client acquisition and the preparation of quarterly management accounts for three offices to trial balance stage. I became a member of the management board of Bruce Shaw Partnership, with responsibility for business strategy and development.
In 1992 I established a Bruce Shaw Partnership office in Berlin as Managing Partner and developed the business to have a staff of 5 and a fee turnover of 1 Million DM in 1994 with a projected fee turnover of 2.5 Million DM in 1995. However, due to differences with my partners over short-term strategy and funding I withdrew as a partner.
Education
Graduated from Queen’s University, Belfast in 1980 with a B.A. Honours Degree
Major: German, Minor: Business Administration
Languages: German – Fluent, French – Reasonable Swedish – Basic
Schooling: 8 “O” Levels and 3 “A” Levels
References
References will be provided on request.