Experienced Editor and Virtual Assistant. Currently working as Editor of an award-winning online business magazine. Previous Board-level Executive Assistant experience at Microsoft.

WORK EXPERIENCE:

February 2011-current The NextWomen

January 2012-current Editor
February 2011-January 2012 Assistant Editor

The NextWomen (www.thenextwomen.com) is an award-winning women's internet business magazine with a focus on early stage and growing businesses led, founded or invested in by women. Reporting to the Founder & CEO, the role is solely responsible for the magazine’s content and includes writing, sourcing and publishing articles, maintaining strict editorial standards; conducting interviews with high profile entrepreneurs and investors; managing a community of contributors; writing and publishing a weekly global newsletter; promoting content via social media channels.

July 2010-December 2010 Microsoft UK

Maternity cover contract as Executive Assistant to the General Manager of Public Sector. Including additional holiday cover assignments as Executive Assistant to the General Manager of Microsoft UK and the UK HR Director.

March 2010-July 2010 Travel in South America

November 2009 - February 2010 Microsoft UK

Providing temporary cover as Executive Assistant to General Manager of Services (November-December) and General Manager of Enterprise Partner Group (January-February).

February 2009 - November 2009 Travel in South America & Asia

September 2005 – February 2009 Microsoft

August 2006 – February 2009 PA to Senior Director, Incubation Sales EMEA

With 130 members spanning 17 countries, the EMEA Incubation Sales team accelerates emerging businesses to reach their full potential through excellence in strategy, business management and sales operations.

Responsibilities:

• Acting as a trusted member of the Senior Director’s management team.
• Providing PA support to the Senior Director including diary management; scheduling meetings and calls across multiple time zones; complex travel arrangements and itineraries for the Director and visiting VIPs; drafting communications on behalf of the Director.
• Solely responsible for organizing all the team’s events, including a bi-annual three-day event
• Managing headcount operations.
• Managing an annual $500K budget of ‘Business Investment Funds’ (BIF) and a $100K marketing budget.

September 2005 – August 2006 PA to Director, Strategic Business Services, Microsoft UK

Strategic Business Services is a diverse cross-subsidiary department responsible for business planning; business process design and change management; data mining and the provision of competitive and market intelligence.

Responsibilities:

• Diary management for the Director of Strategic Business Services.
• Administrative support to the managers of the UK Planning & Operations Team.
• Primary administrator for the business planning process for the UK subsidiary including the UK Mid-Year Review, an annual cross-company event which monitors the execution of the UK Business Plan.
• Co-ordination of the business planning meetings, which culminate in a monthly meeting with the Board of Directors and General Manager of the UK subsidiary. Role involved producing agendas; taking minutes; distributing and tracking actions; liaising with attendees and their assistants.
• Design, creation and maintenance of a complex intranet site housing output of the business planning cycle.

August 2004 – July 2005 PA to Managing Director, Ideal Solutions Limited

Ideal Solutions was a fully integrated marketing agency. This role ended in redundancy when the company closed.

Responsibilities:

• Traditional PA duties including diary management; travel and accommodation arrangements; prioritising post, emails and telephone calls; producing reports; maintaining filing system; audio typing.
• Assisted in organising prestigious events and parties. These included the Kensington Palace launch of the British Luxury Club, attended by Prince Michael of Kent; a Christmas charity ball, which raised £1m for Unicef and included a performance by Sting.
• Assisted in the organisation of pan-European conferences and events.

March 2004 – July 2004 PA to Senior Marketing Manager, Yell (temporary role following travel)

Working with a Senior Marketing Manager responsible for creating point-of-sale literature, the role involved assisting him with every aspect of his day. Included attending meetings, minute taking and proof reading.

July 2003 - February 2004 Independent Travel

Travel to countries including Ecuador, Fiji, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Laos, including voluntary work with the Orangutan Foundation in Borneo.

April 2001 - July 2003 PA/Team Secretary, Michael Page Finance

Michael Page Finance is a recruitment agency. Providing PA support to the Regional Manager, the objective of the role was to create a calm environment for him whilst enabling him to manage the hectic life of the Reading sales team. Resigned from this role to visit the Orangutan Foundation in Borneo.

In addition to typical PA/secretarial duties, role also included the following:

• Monthly revenue calculations for the team.
• Involved in the process of recruiting a secretary, including interviewing candidates, selecting and training the successful applicant.


Ad hoc projects undertaken for the directors included:

• Financial analysis of geographical revenue streams to determine how much revenue was generated by each area in the region. The resulting statistics informed the decision to open a new office.

Event organisation:

• Solely responsible for all aspects of client events including a scuba diving day; a World Cup football event for 100 clients; a film screening.
• Co-ordinated quarterly Directors’ and Managers’ Away Days and organised incentive weekends for the Reading team.

April 2000 - April 2001 PA to Managing Director, Walker Hamill (Executive Selection Agency)

Made redundant due to closure of Reading office. Responsibilities were similar to those at Michael Page.

October 1999 - April 2000 Secretary to Head of Mental Health Services and Head of Learning Disability Services, Reading Social Services

In addition to typical secretarial duties, the role also included the following:

• Daily handling of very sensitive, confidential information.
• Projects included:
o Setting up and maintaining two key financial databases, which formed the basis of the annual budget.
o Compilation of the Social Services Millennium Directory for the whole of Reading Social Services, which detailed contingency plans for each service over the Christmas and New Year period.
o Designed a secretarial manual, the contents of which were later adopted as office policy.

April 1999 - October 2000 Administrator, Elderly & Disability Team, Slough Social Services

March 1998 - March 1999 Temporary Positions

Included work in a travel photograph library, bartending, filing at a local hospital and data entry.

September 1997 - March 1998 Full Time Voluntary Assistant to Warden, Warburg Nature Reserve

PERSONAL DETAILS:

Date of Birth: 8th February 1979 Email: beth@thenextwomen.com

Address: 79 Kennylands Road
Sonning Common
Reading, RG4 9JR

EDUCATION:

1990- 1995 Chiltern Edge Secondary School, Sonning Common, Oxfordshire
10 GCSEs: 4 A*s; 5 As; 1 B

1995 - 1997 The Henley College, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire 3 ‘A’ Levels: French, grade B; Psychology, grade B; Geography, grade C