Description

With a mixed industry/consulting background, Nicole is the Global Strategy Director of Digital Business Growth at 11:FS. Working with established financial institutions to find growth opportunities and digitally transform, operating at C-Suite/MD level, becoming a trusted advisor. Nicole advises clients on designing, building and executing strategies for both new and existing ventures.

Thought leader in fintech, digital and the changing landscape of the financial services ecosystem and co-host of Fintech Insider podcast. Women in Fintech Powerlist and Rider of all 21 Stages of the Tour de France, 2022, raising £34,000 for Cure Leukaemia

Prior to 11:FS, Nicole held roles as Head of Propositions - Unsecured Lending, CCO Strategy Partner and Group Strategic Insights Lead for Virgin Money UK.

Included modelling the role of an internal consultant and delivering thought-provoking, challenging strategic insight to executive team, up to & including CEO & Board across peer competitors, bigtech, fintech, payments, VC & M&A landscape and consumer behaviours, considering the whole of the retail banking/business banking product suite. Providing direct Strategy Partner support to CCO and respective commercial strategy and leading on development of differentiated propositions, including the Digital Wallet.

Past experience as a management consultant in Tier 1 global bank/investment banks in structural reform, Brexit and securities lending renovation using a combination of waterfall, agile and design thinking methodologies. Prior to this, experience in international strategy across multiple markets in retail banking and property investment.

Nicole has a natural ability for leadership and excellent stakeholder management skills at all levels, utilising an enthusiastic, personable yet professional style to build relationships quickly and effectively.

Languages

English
Native or bilingual

Workplace preferences

Can work on-site

London (up to 50km)

11:FS
Global Strategy Director
CONSULTING AND AUDITS
November 2021 - Today (4 years and 7 months)
London, United Kingdom
Working with established financial institutions to find growth opportunities and digitally transform, operating at C-Suite/MD level, becoming a trusted advisor. Driver of business development; scoping solutions, leading sales closures, contributor to £2.2m of successful deals in 2022. Thought leader in fintech, digital and the changing landscape of financial services. Accountability for delivery of high-profile projects;

New ten-year vision, two-year target state plan for UK’s 4th largest UK’s pensions and savings provider
Project ongoing, pitching for internal investment Mar’23. Creation of a differentiated D2C market offering and greenfield advice business. Identifying key strategic activities within 2-year time horizon and related capability roadmap. Includes design thinking, customer journey mapping, proposition creation, capability analysis and business model reinvention.

90 Day Front-to-Back Mortgage transformation for Gulf market-leader
Investment case accepted and moving forward to implementation in ‘23; drove lead-to-acceptance time from weeks to 5 days, projected £43m Net P&L benefit (5yr horizon). Fulfilled Programme Manager role, leading 6 workstreams and 3 vendors to deliver a working proof-of-concept (PoC). Led creation of new customer proposition and front-end design, integration of new back-end loan origination platform, new data model, operating model design, growth strategy and investment case

Jordanian social payments MVP optimisation, product roadmap and formulation of medium-term strategy Established product-market fit and redefined go-to-market strategy, recommendations accepted.
Leading 11:FS team to review feature set and product USP. Delivery of expert advisory on expansion strategy into 2 new geographies, distribution strategy which maximised acquisition at minimal cost and recommendations on internal capability (tech and WoW) to enable scale

Discovery and advisory on diversification into crypto and capability definition for global payments player; Established final Board decision on go/no go decision. Increased education level of C-suite team through advising on crypto opportunities, product suite and anticipated market direction(s). Identified key ‘Big Bets’ relevant to the firm, assessing risks, benefits and level of alignment. Creation of proposed roadmap capability requirements, op model and talent required
Strategic planning Corporate strategy Commercial strategy Project Management Product design Growth hacking Digital Transformation
Virgin Money
Head of Propositions - Unsecured Lending | Strategy Partner for Chief Commercial Officer
BANKING AND INSURANCE
December 2019 - November 2021 (1 year and 11 months)
London, United Kingdom
Drove Virgin Money Digital Wallet from concept to inception, part of deal team structuring and closing £75m payments provider partner investment, driving mutually valuable outcomes
Established vision for the Wallet, designed for product-market fit and key differentiators, creation of partner-profit-share business case with strong focus on open banking capability
Led cross-functional product, commercial and pricing teams to design and test new subprime and Gen Z unsecured lending propositions. Supported delivery of Virgin Money BNPL ‘Slyce’
Responsible for formulation of refreshed growth strategy (Transactional Banking and Wealth & Investment offering via VM/Abrdn JV) as Strategy Partner for Chief Commercial Officer. Led annual business case submission and review process, integrating into strategy and annual plan
Established and led Group Strategic Insights function (team of 4), acting as internal consultant to C-Suite. Creation of proactive and reactive insight on peer competitors, fintech, bigtech, sustainability, payments and consumer behaviours; catalysing strategic initiatives
commercial str proposition development Market analysis Business model Partnerships Project Management Product design
Capco
Management Consultant
CONSULTING AND AUDITS
March 2018 - December 2019 (1 year and 9 months)
London, United Kingdom
Led development of a sub-set of Securities Lending Renovation programme (clients up to and incl. Managing Director), introducing design thinking to develop a strategic solution that addressed internal users pain points and needs
Directed end-to-end qualitative research including in-depth interviews, co-creation workshops and prototyping
Collaborated with designers and agile squad to realise vision as proxy PO providing insight, quantitative analysis and understanding of business value to drive delivery and commercial outcomes
Managed sub-set of Structural Reform Programme, providing tactical consultation on delivery, followed with post-implementation optimisation, introducing human-centred thinking
Workstream lead for Brexit Response Programme, analysing and articulating the impact of changes to the bank’s organisational structure, engaging and impacting 500+ stakeholders directly
Consulting Design Thinking Corporate strategy Project Management product owner Agile method