Consulente - project manager - program manager

Experienced Management Consultant and Business Manager combining Marketing (review of market customer propositions, identify new customer needs / opportunities, deliver go-to-market plans) as well as Finance competencies (business analysis, pricing)

Life & Business Coach, helping people enhance and realise their unexpressed potential, by leveraging business experience and accredited training

General & Business English classes at all levels to university students (LUMSA and LUISS University) as well as professionals

Part of a European Team advising MasterCard member banks on payment card related projects. Advised clients in multiple geographies (Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, UK, Belgium, Hungary, New Zealand).
 
Main duties:
- Project management, coordination of marketing intelligence, research and analytical activities, structure documents and Steering Committee presentations.
- Support Business Development efforts.
- Contribution to MasterCard Advisors Knowledge Management content.
Projects:
- Merchant Acquiring, E-Commerce & Digital Payments strategy.
- Loyalty strategy design and execution (CRM analysis, business planning and reporting services).
- Customer Life-Cycle Management (design of segmentation and marketing initiatives to drive customer engagement, increase spend and minimize churn).
- Project management of b2b payment card initiatives.

Achievements:
- Superb Thought Leadership powered by strong analytic capabilities enabled client organizations to spot opportunities for improvement in current product propositions and operating models and accurately predict financial implications of project initiatives.
- Recognized as SME in the Acquiring space.
- Effective Client Engagement through focus, professionalism and superior command of the English language.

- Drove new product testing in Italy by coordinating pilot activities at local and regional HQ level in a complex matrix environment with high levels of ambiguity and internal resistance. Major work-streams included selling concept to secure merchant participation, developing robust marketing plan (Direct Mailing, Direct E-Mailing, Microsite) to effectively communicate with cardholders as well as creating new process for correctly handling pilot transactions in Operations centres in multiple locations.
- Responsible for Geo-Marketing project focused on acquisition as well as spend stimulation/reengagement of existing cardholders and merchants in delimited geographic areas. Project included cardholder behaviour analysis, 360º communication with cardholders, engagement of merchants and results tracking to increase efficiency of BTL marketing expenditure.

Secondment for maternity cover.
- Managed international stakeholders to propose reduction of merchant fees across specific segments, resulting in improved merchant coverage across the region.
- Commissioning of Competitive Intelligence enabled tracking of competitive pricing movements and helped inform AmEx response.
- Represented Pricing during Business Review presentations and contributed to regional business plans.
- Managed 4 direct reports through regular coaching, guidance and career development support.
Won two AmEx awards for Impactful Leadership.

Global Pricing & Value’s strategic mission is to manage fees earned from merchants on every AmEx transaction to optimise merchant coverage and maximise profitability.
- Through internal consultations as well as external research, introduced various segmentation strategies to target merchant base with appropriate pricing structures.
- Drove the execution of pricing tests on small merchant populations by selecting control and test groups and project managed execution through cross-functional teams. Applied Test and Control methodology to Merchant Acquisition environment to determine most efficient Acquisition channel, sales approach and introductory pricing structures. Metrics collected informed pricing policies on bulk merchant base.
- Analysed marginal profitability of merchant base by industry and by size to understand break-even points; findings were critical to influence decision-making on outsourcing options.

Project managed the implementation of large complex Merchant Acquisition signings from when the contract is signed through activation, by working closely with client, sales teams and Operations to increase effectiveness & efficiency of process.
- Introduced Risk Management checks on new signings, resulting in high levels of compliance to new policy and reduction in fraud losses.
- Drove implementation of cross-border/multi-currency merchants and sold fraud prevention tools to online merchants.
- Researched prospects in new industries and modelled revenue potential; this resulted in acquisition of new merchants enabling Cardholders to spend in new industries.

- Process re-engineering of call centres receiving calls from merchants willing to accept AmEx to eliminate signature requirement in contracts. This resulted in earlier submissions and higher merchant satisfaction.
- Responsible for analysis of Customer Service Centres to increase First Contact Resolution, i.e. the customer enquiry is resolved during the call with no handoffs to any other departments and no further action required from the customer. This resulted in a number of functions being migrated from Back Office to Front Office to improve cycle-times.
- Responsible for analysis of key business drivers and preparation of business proposals and CBAs to re-engineer E2E merchant set-up process, from when the Merchant agrees to accept the card to when they are capable of submitting. The project achieved a reduction in end-to-end process cycle-times, improvement in customer satisfaction and increased process profitability.