Ben Couzens -
Senior Leadership/Board Roles
Download
CV in Microsoft Word.doc format
See Ben Couzens'
"Peer Reviewed" CV on LinkedIn.com
Ben Couzens' CV in
iProfile Format
A Business Leader
with outstanding success in Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia, USA and Middle East in turnaround,
start-up, international business creation, professional services, technical
and IT innovation, offshoring, and building world-class teams. Industries
include Oil and Gas, Civil and Structural Engineering, Manufacturing, ERP,
IT, Software, Financial Services, Consultancy.
Combining
innovative Business Acumen with Technical Flair has driven my outstanding
success in Management, Professional Services, Project Management, Consultancy,
IT, ERP, SAP, Financial Services, Banking, Engineering, Manufacturing, Oil and
Energy working in Europe, Eastern Europe, Russia, Kazakhstan, USA, India,
Philippines and UAE. I particularly enjoy building and leading international
teams ranging from a few to a few hundred but am equally comfortable working
alone.
- Board Director Bowater CTO/CIO -
European Development Director
MiTek Inc.
Manufacturing & Engineering & IT (also directing teams in Birmingham,
Paris, Zurich, Frankfurt, Munich and Orebro)
- Board Director Misys -
Global Products Services Director
Misys Banking Software
(also directing teams of 300 staff in London, Manila and Bangalore plus
outsourced contractors )
- Partner Deloitte - Partner
Deloitte,
built new $70m
SAP ERP IT service line.
Recruited trained directed 100 consultants. In charge ERP Consulting
service line in 17 countries.
- Deloitte EMEA Leadership - Partner Deloitte.
Promoted to EMEA
Deloitte Leadership ERP Consulting Service Line
- Coopers & Lybrand Consulting
- Senior Manager
Coopers
& Lybrand, built new
SAP ERP IT service line
- Non-Executive Director
Cranfield University
(Residential
Training)
- Interim Management
- available for
Interim Management positions
- IT - Information Technology
- 25
years experience ranging from "hands-on" IT, to IT team management, to directing an
IT/IS staff of 300+
- IS - Business Information
Systems - business systems developer, bespoke software, packaged software, ERP, SAP
- Team Management -
multiple successes in recruiting, building, training, mentoring, project
managing IT teams ranging from a few to a few hundred
- Engagement
Management - Communication - expert in communicating and
keeping all parties fully informed and engaged while managing excess
expectation
- Budget Resource Management
- expert in the use of appropriate processes and tools to ensure on-time
on-budget project delivery
- Client Management - 25
years experience of client management with proven success in growing
relationships of trust, generating follow-on business
- Contract Negotiation -
extensive experience in negotiating contracts in all circumstances
ranging from friendly to adversarial
- Implemented
acquisitions in Europe and the USA, including integrating operations of
$150m pa global competitor
- Negotiated merger
and subsequent forced divestment with
Monopolies Commission
- Presentation -
exceptional written, public speaking and presentation skills
- ERP - Enterprise Resource
Planning -
SAP - implement, support, sell $70m in 7 years, directing
team of 100 SAP implementers
- IS - Engineering Information
Systems - finite element software developer, leading-edge 3D graphics
developer, automated design engineering systems
- Engineering Design Software -
design, develop, implement, support, sell - won and directed outsourced
software maintenance for Ministry of Transport
- Retail Banking Software -
design, develop, implement, support, sell in 400 banks worldwide
- Financial Consultant - certified
as Financial Consultant by
SAP Berlin, Senior Manager Coopers & Lybrand,
Partner Deloitte
- Structural Engineer - military,
transport, bridges, finite element analysis, theatres,48 storey
building, prisons, hospitals, housing, roof structures
- Civil Engineer - Project
Engineer managing Petrochemical
plants, power generation, bridges, railway, motorways, aviation,
military. Chartered Civil Engineer
- Oil and Gas Facilities -
Project Engineer managing Petrochemical plants, oil fired power stations
- Oil and Gas Upstream -
Project Manager subsurface integrated studies, project management, consultancy sales, resourcing
- Nuclear Power - IT strategy
- Manufacturing - management,
machine design, software automated manufacturing
- Professional Services & Consulting - Partner
Deloitte,
Coopers
& Lybrand, Project Director
PE, Global Director Professional
Services
Misys, freelance consultant
-
PRINCE2 Certified Advanced Project Manager
- Project Management - major Civil
projects, major IT projects, oil and gas consultancy, financial services.
- Program Management - complex
international systems implementations
Work experience includes UK, USA, France,
Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Latvia, Lithuanian, Estonia, Poland,
Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, Slovakia, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia, Romania,
Russia, Kazakhstan, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, India, Philippines
2008 March to 2010
July
Knowledge Reservoir
Oil and Gas Consultancy
Services Project Management,
Professional Services and Business Development Europe, Africa, Middle East
-
Successfully rescued Project
Management of £multi-million field development project which was in
trouble with unhappy client and uncontrolled expenditure
-
Project Managed large integrated
field development studies including Geology, Geophysics, Reservoir
Engineering, Simulation, Modelling
-
Took over accounts and territories
from several departing colleagues
-
Sold and contracted €multi-million
global consultancy agreement with OMV
-
Built relationships with global oil
companies including Afren,
Anadarko, Apache, BG, BHP, Centrica, Chariot, CNR, ENI, Enquest,
Fairfield, Falkland, Firstoil,
GDF, Hess, JKX, Maersk, Marathon, MND, Nippon, OMV, Petro-Canada, Petrom,
Pioneer, Premier, Serica, Shell, Silverstone, Sterling, Talisman,
Venture,
Xcite, Crescent Petroleum, Dubai Petroleum, ADNOC, ADCO, ADMA, ZADCO, ADOC, Total, Oxy, Qatar
Petroleum, RAK, KOC, Kuwait Energy
-
Achieved pre-qualification
registration with ADNOC Group
-
Established UAE market presence
including Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Qatar
-
Formal
reference available on
request
2004 to
now
Independent Consultant
-
Consultancy in Prague, Paris and London included interim strategic
consultancy to global leadership of
BAT Tobacco Company
and interim strategic consultancy to world-leading Nuclear Energy
company
Areva, working directly with board members of Areva in English and French.
-
Benchmarking IT functions to global
financial best practice standards
- Strategic consultancy including
designing and implementing an exit strategy for a Prague company
- Strategic consultancy including
designing and implementing a successful Prague company start-up
2003 to 2004
Misys International Banking Financial Services Software T/o £1bn
Board Director -
Global Product Services Director
Selected
to direct 300 staff worldwide developing and supporting financial software
and to
introduce and implement wide ranging change
- Reversed collapsing
global blue-chip Customer Satisfaction rating from “very dissatisfied”
to “very satisfied” within first six months
- Introduced
ITIL IT Service Management
- Initiated, championed
and directed rationalisation of offshore development in Philippines and
India increasing capacity, improving quality and reducing cost
- Instigated and directed
convergence of leading financial software packages building continued
market leadership into the next generation of products
1996 to 2003
Deloitte & Touche Global
Auditing and Consulting T/o $12bn
Partner in charge SAP ERP in 17 countries
Selected
to develop Enterprise Resource Planning Consultancy in Czech Republic
- Reviewed staff and
business unit, transforming strategic direction and driving revenue from
$100,000 p.a. to $3m p.a. within 12 months
- Achieved recognition of
global quality, enabling the business unit to join European consultant
sharing policy, generating additional $6m pa fees
- Established Board Level
relationships, personally selling projects up to $23m
- As
Engagement Partner directed Project Management of complex international
systems implementations with lead responsibility for all client interactions
- Devised and implemented
international recruitment policy, recruiting, training and deploying 100
consultants from 14 nationalities throughout the region
- Commissioned publicity
video in which clients generously praise the quality of the team and
project delivery
- Clients included Telecom, Mobile Telecom,
Automotive, Beverage
- Oil company clients included
MOL
Budapest and
INA Industrija Nafte Zagreb
- Appointed to devise and
lead strategy to develop and consolidate internal and vendor relationships
throughout Europe, Middle East and Africa
- Championed SAP global
business development strategy during holding company separation, whilst
integrating Andersen Business Consulting teams
- Successfully
implemented these combined strategies, achieving revenue of $11m pa within
15 months, totalling $70m in 7 years at 30% profitability
1995-1996
Coopers & Lybrand
Global Auditing and Consulting T/o $8bn
SAP Consultancy Service Leader
Invited
to establish SAP Consultancy in Czech Republic
- Performed strategic
review, developed and won approval for business plan, achieving $1m
revenue sold, managed and delivered within 12 months
- Initiated Central
European cooperation enabling unified market approach
- Clients included Telecom, Electricity, Gas,
Retail, Automotive, Financial Services
-
In
addition to SAP ERP IT projects also managed numerous Management Consultancy
projects
1995
SAP R/3 Academy,
SAP Berlin Germany
Residential training in the SAP R/3 Academy in SAP Berlin Germany. SAP
certified by examinations as SAP Financial Consultant.
1993-1995
PE International
Consulting T/o $300m
Project Director
- Developed
and presented bid, winning and delivering $2m+ project to create National
Market Information System in Romania
- Recruited and directed team of 20 consultants, and
created local office and company presence in Bucharest
- Selected and contracted local software companies
and established post-project system longevity
- Collaborated with
telecom and data services to connect 200 markets
1992
– 1993 Warwick
University. MBA Master of Business
Administration
1986 – 1992 Bowater
Global Manufacturing T/o $3bn
European Board Director
MiTek Inc T/o $150m
Approached to turnaround the company
- Reviewed strategic
position, proposed business transformation, piloting new technology and
winning board approval for fast track implementation
- Successfully returned
the company to premier international competitive position, initiating and
implementing fundamental changes in 300 customers
- Combined disparate software development teams in
Birmingham, Paris, Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich and Orebro into single European
team
- Designed and commissioned hardware accelerators
used by 300 customers, providing them with a tenfold increase in
productivity
- Designed and commissioned innovative time license
hardware to lock proprietary software
- Designed and implemented automated machine tool
control systems
- Designed and implemented radical software
innovation providing significant competitive advantages
- Directed pan-European
teams of software and manufacturing technology developers, achieving sales
of $45m pa sales within 2 years
- Implemented
acquisitions in Europe and the USA, including integrating operations of
$150m pa global competitor
- Negotiated merger
and subsequent forced divestment with
Monopolies Commission
- Seconded to provide Strategic
Consultancy to parent company Bowater
1985 – 1986 Skanska
Engineering Company T/o $17bn
Technology Director DATECH
Approached to create new IT software
company
- Built new business
achieving profit with £1m sales within first 12 months, building
foundations for £10m sales in subsequent years
- Delivered training and consultancy in highly technical software such as
Electronics, Chemical Engineering, Petrochemicals, Finite Element Analysis, CAD
- As professional witness, succeeded in proving
serious design defect, winning case for my client
1982 – 1985 M H Anderson Consultants
$500m Technical Consultancy
Head of IT & Software
Development
- Promoted to lead a team
of 20+ analyst programmers developing engineering and financial software.
- Sold and managed outsourcing contracts for the Department of
Transport, including a helpdesk and nationwide support.
- Designed, coded, implemented and supported
advanced finite element analysis software and 3D graphics
- Designed, coded, implemented and supported
innovative new engineering design software
- Managed the design, development, implementation
and management of business systems, timesheet systems, billing systems
1981 – 1982 Harris & Sutherland Consultants
$70m Engineering Consultancy
Senior Engineer
(also seconded ‘78–‘79)
- Led design teams for
military and civil projects,
bridges, finite element analysis, theatres,48 storey building, prisons,
hospitals, housing, roof structures
- Designed programmed and implemented
software for seismic building design
- Reviewed 48-storey hotel designed by competitor,
identified serious longstanding errors, and successfully defended findings
halting construction and forcing redesign
- Led teams designing 30 military structures
1975 – 1981 John Laing
($1bn Engineering
Company)
Project Engineer (UK and
Poland)
- Managed projects in petrochemical
plants, power generation and transportation, including engineer in charge
motorway bridges M63 and M25.
- Project Engineer oil fired power stations -
LittleBrook D Dartford England and Zakłady Azotowe
Włocławek Poland
- 1979-1981 In charge of upgrading a US nuclear air
base in UK, construction of seven M63 bridges and new technologies for the
construction of twelve M25 bridges
- 1976-1978 Managed construction of sections of
Petro-Chemical plant in Poland
- 1975-1976 Managed the construction of power
station turbine generator blocks.
1975 British
Antarctic Survey
-
Selected and employed as geophysical
surveyor by British Antarctic Survey.
Polar expedition 18 months at South Pole cancelled by Government funding
cuts
1974 Geoscience
Consulting
-
Gravimetric field survey for
hydrocarbon exploration
1973
Taylor Woodrow - Brighton Marina
-
Taylor Woodrow - Project Engineer managing construction of road cliff tunnel and harbour
breakwaters - work reviewed and certified by Cambridge University
1972
Metal Box Portslade
-
Machine Tool Apprentice -
Metal Box Portslade - factory training reviewed and certified by
Cambridge University
1968-1971
Marks & Spencer
Qualifications
1971-1975 MA Engineering
Cambridge University
Mechanics, Structures, Materials, Fluids, Thermodynamics, Aerothermal,
Alternative Energy, Manufacturing, Electronics, Electrical Power,
Electromagnetics, Mathematics, Dimensional Analysis, Information Engineering,
Computing, Technical Drawing, Environmental Engineering, Civil Engineering,
Surveying, Geodesy
1992-1993 MBA Master of
Business Administration
Warwick University Warwick
Business School
1980 Chartered
European Engineer. Chartered Civil Engineer
Special Commendation for
Excellence from Institution of Civil Engineers
1990 Chartered
IT Professional
1996 Certified
Financial Consultant
SAP Academy Berlin
2006 PRINCE2
Certified Advanced Project Manager
2007 Non-Executive
Director
Cranfield University
(Residential Training)
Languages
English-
native. French
- business, Polish, Romanian, Czech - useful
Personal
British. Married,
3 adult children. Willing to relocate. Enjoy
travel.
Currently location provides
easy travel to Heathrow, London, Bracknell and Reading by train and motorway.
Also own home in Prague.
“Ben is the best boss I ever had.”
Attila Feher, Senior ABAP developer, reported to Ben at
Deloitte & Touche
“Ben
is a bright, energetic, client focused, "can do" professional. He recruited
then mentored and grew a body of professionals into a seasoned team of
professionals, who shared his vision and unwavering passion to quality and
client service. I had the pleasure of having him as my colleague and seeing,
"up close", his single-minded focus on client service and quality.”
Azam Sher. managed Ben indirectly at Deloitte & Touche
“Ben
was responsible for our implementation of SAP - the most comprehensive in
CEE - including a total BPR. He is a great guy to work with and very
professional. Due to his skills we managed to succeed. My best
recommendations!” Dennis
Thaagaard was Ben's client
“Ben
stood out as an exceptionally visionary and energetic leader, rapidly
growing his SAP consulting practice into the largest and most profitable
service line in our region. At the same time Ben demonstrated tremendous
"people skills", generating enthusiasm wherever he went and gaining the
support and respect of clients, colleagues and staff alike.” Steve Knabe worked directly with Ben at Deloitte & Touche
"I was impressed by Ben's
capability to build successful consulting business from zero to multi million
business. He had vision and made it into a reality.”
Egils Simanovskis, SAP Senior Consultant
reported to Ben at Deloitte & Touche
“Some
people understand technology, fewer understand technology and have the
skills to deliver, rare are the individuals who combine the two with a deep
understanding of business issues. Ben utilises this valuable combination of
skills to great effect. Together we developed a business plan for SAP
services, Ben made sure he delivered...” Mats Beem managed Ben at Coopers & Lybrand
"Ben Couzens is a brilliant man. He has
the ability to grasp incredibly complex systems-related
issues, and to connect powerfully with human beings in
meaningful ways -- a person who is a rare combination of
technically gifted and interpersonally skilled.”
Lenann McGookey Gardner, President, Lenann McGookey
Gardner Management Consulting, Inc.
“Ben was my boss for almost 6 years at
Deloitte&Touche. Ben was a exceptionally great manager and
excellent leader. He inspired us all to do our best and earned
our respect almost immediately with his depth of knowledge,
experience and patience. Always able to motivate people and
lead them to success.”
Frantisek Honsa, Manager for SAP, Deloitte & Touche
reported to Ben at Deloitte & Touche
“I worked under Ben at Deloitte in
Prague and found him an excellent manager with an enviable
understanding of the Central and Eastern European business
environment.”
Dan Taylor, Senior Management Consultant, Deloitte Central
Europe, Prague, Deloitte & Touche reported to Ben at Deloitte
& Touche
“I was impressed by Ben's capability to
build successful consulting business from zero to multi
million business. He had vision and made it into a reality.”
Egils Simanovskis, SAP Senior Consultant, Deloitte
reported to Ben at Deloitte & Touche
“I fully subscribe to my Deloitte former
colleagues comments on the Internet, with Mr. Couzens I had
the best and happiest time in my entire professional life. We
regretted very much his departure from DTCE because without
him good projects became scarce.”
Cristina Chiriac, SAP Senior Consultant, Deloitte reported
to Ben at Deloitte & Touche
Click
here for 
I enjoy
my family, socialising, sailing,
cycling, rambling, opera, travelling and experiencing new national cultures.
I am a violinist in Reading Symphony
Orchestra, I am the
Cambridge
University and Daily Telegraph expat
mentor for Prague
