Andrew Paul Robbins

ProfileAn accomplished, versatile and results driven professional manager with a proven track record in driving sales and increasing revenue in the heritage industry whilst reducing costs and maintaining high levels of customer care, ultimately benefitting the organisation's bottom line. Well organised, ambitious and enthusiastic enjoying both working as an individual or as a part of a team. Flexible and willing to travel.

Key Competencies ● Leadership● General Management● Business Development● Commercial Acumen

● Change Delivery● Communication● Customer Service

Career SummaryJune 2012 – November 2015. Information Services Commercial Manager. Lake District National Park Authority. Managed the three Tourist Information Centres run by the National Park in Bowness-on-Windermere, Keswick and Ullswater as well as the Lake District Visitor Centre in Brockhole and the National Park Contact Centre at the HQ in Kendal. Responsible for an annual budget of £750,000 and directly managed a team of 25 employees and several volunteers. Key achievements:

● Reducing an operating deficit of Information Services from £170,000 per annum to zero in three years.

● Key member of the project team which carried out a full restructure of the Authority due to reductions in grant in aid from Government. This involved managing the redundancy process for 15 staff and supporting them through the transition.

● Developing online accommodation and attraction sales service with key external partners bringing in over £500,000 in additional income to the local economy.

● Restructuring of Information Services to become more commercial including developing new retail, customer service and advertising strategies including introducing screen advertising to the National Park.

● Responsible for the Winter Fell Top Assessors who climbed Helvellyn daily to report on meteorological data which informed the national weather line service which I managed.

February 2007 – June 2012. Cumbria and Lancashire Visitor Operations Manager (VOM). English Heritage. Managed five manned and nineteen unmanned English Heritage properties. In the final six months also responsible for the management of the properties along Hadrian’s Wall World Heritage Site. Responsible for a budget of over £1Million and managed a team of up to 35 employees Key achievements:

● Part of the Northern Team returning the first surplus to English Heritage for the Northern Region.

● Lead VOM in business development task force for Northern Area.

● Key member of projects to design a new museum and shop at Housesteads Roman Fort, new exhibition at Carlisle Castle and large-scale repairs and shoring up of Furness Abbey.

● Ran the finance office at Festival of History – Europe’s largest re-enactment event

● Led Cumbria, Lancashire and Hadrian’s Wall teams through a major restructuring improving the team’s performance whilst going through redundancy.

November 2003 – February 2007. Old Sarum Castle Visitor Operations Site Supervisor. English Heritage. Day to day management and running of a popular visitor attraction on the outskirts of Salisbury along with winter management of Farleigh Hungerford Castle. Supervised a team of six employees.Key Achievements:

● Organised and ran large scale special events.● Developed guided tours and educational discovery visits for Old Sarum

Professional Development● IOSH Managing Health and

Safety● In house finance and

marketing courses● Cumbria County Council

Equality and Diversity online training

● Salvage Training with West Midlands Fire Brigade

● Manual Handling

● Visit England Welcome Host and Welcome All Train the Trainer

● Walt Disney Customer Service Standards

● Maximising Potential● Just Ask Coaching● Personal Licence Holder for

the sale of alcohol● First Aid at work trained but

certificate lapsed March 2015

Education● September 2002 – September 2003 MSc Biological Sciences Research Merit

– Royal Holloway University of London. “Gene silencing using small interfering RNA”

● September 1998 – May 2001. BSc(Hons) Biomedical Sciences 2ii – University of Northumbria. “Mesothelioma, asbestosis and occupational lung diseases”

● (1991-1998) Educated at a number of British Forces Education Service schools in Germany and then returned to the UK to obtain 10 GCSE (A-C) and 4 A levels (Biology, Chemistry, Physics and General Studies) at Dallam School, Milnthorpe, Cumbria.

Additional Skills● I.T Skills. Proficient in common Microsoft Office packages including Word,

Excel, Power Point and Outlook along with professional experience in social media including Twitter and Facebook.

● Full clean driving licence obtained December 2000.

Interests● Being outdoors enjoying the

British countryside, especially fell walking.

● Member of the Wine Society

● Very keen sports fan following both rugby codes, football and cricket.

● Member of gym.

● Always looking to increase personal development and skills

References are available on request.