Neeral Morzaria , Pinner, United Kingdom

I am is a strategy and marketing professional with 18+ years of combined consulting and industry experience. I have worked with and for blue-chip branded FMCG & hospitality companies including Coca Cola, PepsiCo, Cadbury, L'Oreal, and InterContinental Hotels Group, as well as for top tier consulting firms (EY & A.T. Kearney).

I have specifically led large cross-functional teams to develop and deliver the strategy for large consumer organisations across multiple geographies.

Examples of projects I have led, in the consumer space, include:

1) IHG – Strategic Capability Review: Evaluated existing language capability on digital platforms (web, mobile, voice channels) and developed plan to provide consumers with a consistent experience across all consumer touch points. Convinced CCO to fully fund plan ($15m) for implementation, despite a 10% reduction in available budget.

2) EY – Marketing Effectiveness Improvement for FMCG/CPG client: Developed and implemented marketing effectiveness assessment tool to measure efficacy of existing multi-billion-pound global marketing spend, and to identify opportunities to allocate future spend. Full responsibility for hypothesis formulation, ‘case for change’ development, measurement methodology selection, and data model creation. Recommendation led to 20% reduction in ‘inefficient’ spend.

3) Pepsico UK – Pricing Strategy Lead: Led cross functional team to design “pack-pricing” strategy – agreed commercial & operational changes, analysis of pricing & deal investments, and recommended plan to improve profitability for retail partners and for company – with implemented recommendation improving profitability by £4m.

In addition, I possess deep financial acumen, having worked in an investor relations role. This involved analysing financial results and communicating key messages to both internal and external audiences including city analysts and existing/potential investors. A key part of that role involved senior stakeholder management and I regularly partnered with the Chairman, CEO, and CFO to deliver investor relations results & strategy presentations to the market.

Motivated by making an impact, I have a proven track record of building and delivering plans that drive commercial performance. I can provide a strategic view, but will also happily "roll up my sleeves" to help my teams structure and implement plans in a pragmatic way.

I believe that teams that work well together deliver the best plans. My leadership style is best described as collaborative and empathetic, and I have significant experience leading cross-functional (and cross-geographical) teams, in large corporate environments, to focus on the right outcomes.