During two critical periods of my tenure as Vice President of the Global Shared Services Europe organisation, Elaine proved invaluable not only to the team, but to me personally as an advisor on some of the most difficult issues I have faced. I would certainly recommend Elaine for a variety of roles and responsibilities and I would certainly employ her again if faced with similar situations.
Kirk Wilkenson
Vice President
Global Shared Services Europe
Elaine brought perspective into areas that direct management were too closely involved in to resolve by themselves and encouraged the right attitude and spirit towards the change of all Finance related procedures.
She has a unique ability to quickly grasp the strengths and weaknesses of any business function and will probe and question those involved to ensure she can assess a problem from every angle. This approach brings swift consensus to project planning and execution.
Elaine matches her intelligence and highly developed business skills with a charming nature that builds teams and unifies managerial thinking.
Unquestionably a great asset for any assignment, I would welcome the opportunity to work with her on future projects.
Ron Fogelman
Senior Vice President – International Sales & Development
Universal Pictures International (London)
Thank you so much for your help and support in respect of our current project in bringing together 3 accounting firms to operate as one, with the same values and goals, understood and 'lived' by all. ……… In helping us to understand the individual profiles of each of our senior team members you have given us the tools, resources and 'know-how' to adapt each of our roles to best suit both our personal needs and those of the business to the maximum…. Well done and I hope you continue to make as huge a difference to other companies, as you have done for over 10 years.
Andrew Botham FCCA Chief Executive
Mayes Business Partnership Limited
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Elaine was the key person in turning a group of accounts clerks into a credit management team for an $800m pa operation, improving collections, reporting and control and enabling the team to expand by 20% in a very short time without loss of control or service
Universal Studios International (USIBV) is the Shared Service Centre for Universal Studios and is based in Amsterdam. It includes an accounts receivable (AR) team of 10 people who cater for the international (worldwide excluding USA & Canada) billings and collections for television (feature films and television episodes) of approximately $800 million pa
At the start of the assignment, the AR people were divided into two teams – Pay TV and Free TV and were primarily ‘accounting’ focused. Collection activity was poor, as represented by a high ‘days sales outstanding’ (DSO), levels of problem debts and inadequate reporting to head office in Los Angeles
Elaine identified the roles and responsibilities required for such an operation. She interviewed the incumbents, developed a competency framework, mapped experience to skills required and guided HR in the training needs analysis and resultant training program, as well as coaching individuals in their approach to credit management (including telephone techniques, letter writing and collection tactics)
Elaine also obtained external industry benchmarks, devised control reports and developed the reports that tracked achievement of the team against objectives and against the benchmarks
She took the lead in developing the policies and procedures required by the department, not least by providing the key design document for the web site and the bulk of the major headings of the policies, enabling the AR team members to slot their detailed operating and desk procedure notes into a coherent whole.
Last but not least she assumed membership of the team and coached the two team managers in their management skills, enabling the department to merge into one team and significantly increase its capacity whilst maintaining improvements in controls and collections
I would unfailingly recommend Elaine; she would be my first choice should any other assignments arise within Vivendi Universal
Simon Cramond
Director
Seagram Global Shared Services – Europe
