CINDIA CHRISTINA LUEST

Email: cindia.luest@gmail.com

Accomplished e-Business professional with over fifteen years of international management and consulting experience delivering enterprise-wide solutions for the private and public sectors.  Focus on driving business transformation through an entrepreneurial approach, building teams and strategic partnerships, and delivering innovative e-Solutions.  Industry experience includes management consulting, finance and banking, information technology, telecommunications, and international development. 

Areas of expertise include:

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Since 2006     DRAGON’S EDGE, Bratislava, Slovakia

Founder and Director

• Established a company to explore business opportunities within Central Europe and with China.

2001-2005      United NATIONS Development Programme (UNDP), Bratislava, Slovakia

The UN’s development agency with over 7,000 employees, operating in over 160 countries.

Business Support Centre Manager, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA)

Regional Knowledge Management Advisor for Europe and CIS

Senior Regional Information Officer for Europe and CIS

Key management resource and change agent in the implementation of a US$56M IT strategy delivering business-critical processes, technologies, and an enterprise-wide ERP and KM portal.

• Established and managed multiple regional centres, including the EMEA Support Centre which provided global rollout and operations support for an enterprise-wide ERP.

• Managed programmes/projects and globally-dispersed teams of over 25 members, including personnel issues, outsourced solutions, vendors, contracts and budget over US$ 600K.

• Championed professional management practices including a PM methodology now becoming the standard within the UN system, and a BPR standard that drove organisational restructuring.

• Drove business transformation by developing strategic plans, leading senior management strategy workshops, and providing strategic advice on policies, processes and technologies.

• Developed public-private partnership strategies, built internal and external partnerships, harmonised interagency solutions, and leveraged corporate and regional solutions.

• Pioneered KM solutions, including global communications platform with governance strategy, interdisciplinary KM Board and KM Toolkit and led senior management communities of practice.

• Directed blended learning approaches including distance learning and enterprise online learning solutions (e.g. LMS/LCMS), and developed learning standards and content.

• Defined initial service lines for and recruited as member of the UNDP “Management Consulting Team” which provided targeted support to the global network of offices.

• ERP functional expert for project management, finance, HR and procurement modules.

• Piloted portal technologies and collaborative solutions, and introduced CRM best practices.

1996-2001      DEUTSCHE PEROT SYSTEMS, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

A global management consulting company providing IT services and business solutions.

Consultant as Senior Business Specialist

Major clients and projects included:

1997-2001      UBS, Switzerland, London, New York and Stamford

Global bank including retail and investment banking, asset management and wealth management.

Programme Manager and Business Systems Analyst for e-Services Project

Programme manager building UBS’ online brokerage service worth CHF360M. Responsible for the Online Investment Tools Team delivering key market differentiators, including a financial planning tool, financial tracker, and asset management solution.

• Built and managed an international, multidisciplinary team of over 20 members from the bank and various consultancies, including directing human resource planning.

• Worked directly with senior management on defining the business proposition.

• Defined business requirements, target market, functional specifications, products and services. 

• Collaborated with multiple channels and stakeholders (e.g. sales, marketing, legal and technical) to ensure the coordination of key interfaces and streamlining of requirements.

• Managed outsourced solution, including leading the vendor selection and subsequent onsite due diligence of vendor in Russia with six senior team members.

Global Education Information Systems Manager; e-Learning Portal Team Lead

Responsible for integrating education solutions and core member of global e-Learning project.

• Delivered first global education intranet which integrated bank-wide educational content.

• Coordinated the definition of diverse requirements across international divisions and managed expectations of key stakeholders and senior management.

• Led Standards Team that defined web standards, learning objects, taxonomy and meta-data tagging, and key member of Change Management Team.

• Business lead for the Technology Group responsible for the integration of the e-Learning platform with diverse HR/ERP systems.

• Portal representative on global vendor selection team charged with identifying an enterprise-wide LMS and LCMS.

BPR Lead for User Service Centre (USC)

Responsible for managing the initial definition and subsequent optimisation of all processes for the new USC supporting all operations in Switzerland.

• Following the SBC/UBS merger, redefined organisational structures, processes and responsibilities for the USC.

• Defined and managed SLAs, negotiated with internal and external service providers, and represented management on senior management committees.

• Developed the Management and Process Handbook (ITIL) covering all operational processes.

1998-2000      CLEARSTREAM (formerly Cedel), Luxembourg and London

Advisor to Chief Information Officer (CIO) & Knowledge Management Officer

• Delivered first comprehensive intranet which connected all IT divisions and projects, and defined and implemented communications strategy for the CIO.

• Streamlined projects between the office of the CIO and the KM Officer.

• Deployed and adapted the programme management tool used by all projects.

BPR Specialist to Testing Project

• Reengineered testing processes targeting settlement and custody systems.

• Created the first business process standard for Cedel’s Quality Assurance division.

• Directed the testing gap analysis, authored testing procedures, and designed testing project intranet website.

1996-1997      DEUTSCHE TELEKOM, Germany

Consultant for Management Restructuring; Consultant for Training/Coaching

• As one of five senior consultants, designed core change management strategy targeted at senior management restructuring.

• Responsible for coaching employees on the new CRM, business processes, and intranet in seven locations throughout Germany.

• Managed the change request process, and integrated key stakeholders into rollout plan.

1996              KPMG MANAGEMENT CONSULTING, Berlin, Germany

Consultant in Information Technology

• Projects included European Union project proposals, Berlin City Government BPR reform, and market research for PPT Japan and Public Utility Friedrichshafen.

1985-1989      VARIOUS ENGAGEMENTS during studies                                               

• AT&T (market research); American University - Law Center (legal assistant); Levelor (accounting).

EDUCATION

1992-1993      LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS, London, UK           

Master of Science

1990-1992      TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF BERLIN, Berlin, Germany   

Scholarship: Friedrich-Naumann-Foundation in support of post-graduate studies

1989-1990      AMERICAN UNIVERSITY, Washington, DC, USA 

Post-graduate studies

1984-1988      AMERICAN UNIVERSITY, Washington, DC, USA             

Bachelor of Science / Bachelor of Administration

PROFESSIONAL TRAINING

Oxford University Executive Education, Templeton College, Oxford, UK

The Oxford Introduction to Strategy / Scenario Planning Programme

Virtual Development Academy, UNDP and HEC Paris

Comprehensive course on advisory services (12 subjects and thesis over 1.5 years, average grade 96%)

Other Courses

Service and Project Management Methodologies including Prince II, PMBOK, ITIL, BPR, SOA.

LANGUAGE SKILLS