Frances Beck

Frances Beck is currently working as an independent learning and business consultant with Thoughtcrew. She has over 10 years experience in the field of e-learning design and implementation and has worked with firms such as GlaxoSmithKline, Astrazeneca, Landrover, Visa, the Environment Agency and the NHS and also has European project management experience with firms such as Nissan Europe.

She is currently enjoying long term contracts with both Thoughtcrew and a local e-learning firm who were a Deloitte Technology Fast 50 winner in 2005. Her other aspirations include becoming a tutor on the Open University MBA, which she completed in April of 2006, and also delivering some courses she designed in conjunction with Business Link to give some knowledge and guidance back to those that have helped her advance her competence.

Her customers enjoy her user friendly and experience driven approach to both technical product training as well as project management, and her energy and determination mean that others can relax in the knowledge that she will coordinate and motivate resources and people to get the job done in a timely manner.

She herself will smile at her non-conventional route into this market that started with a degree in Zoology from Bristol University and a job as warden of an uninhabited island in the Indian Ocean ! However, key decisions taken along this route has enabled her to build a varied and challenging career that has developed a wide scope of skills and knowledge. She now brings these, and a few hair raising but amusing stories to her current work and hopes to have more innovative and synergistic relationships with future clients.

November 2005 – Present              Learning Consultant

                                                            E2train

e2train is an award-winning supplier of learning and performance technologies.  Their products and services facilitate organisational learning using the latest technology and incorporating recent standards such as SCORM 2004. They have an enviable portfolio of clients and experience from diverse business sectors such as standard product roll-outs to county councils, building societies and the NHS to blue chip companies requiring pan-European launches. I have had the opportunity to work with and manage projects for clients such as NHS Southwest, Nissan Europe, Visa, South Wales Police, T and F Informa, building societies including Yorkshire, Portman, Chelsea and Leeds and finally councils including Kirklees, Brighton and Hove, Salisbury and Perth Kinross.      

March 2004 – November 2005       Freelance Consultancy

In a desire to apply the strategies and experience I had gleaned from the pharmaceutical market, I sought independent employment and worked with companies such as the Environment Agency (EA), Business Link and Torfaen County Council. This gave me a broad scope of opportunity to apply and develop what I was learning in the MBA to a variety of situations and employers. I assisted in the strategic implementation of a blended learning strategy and purchase of a Learning Management System in the EA, the facilitation of communication between developers, council members and the local community in the regeneration of Pontypool and also the integration of academic institutions with business to formally accredit learning (also EA).   

January 2003 – March 2004            Business Development Manager

                                                            Good Training Practice Ltd (GTP)

Good Training Practice provide a variety of knowledge management software options to the pharmaceutical market. I managed the development office scheduling resources and capabilities to match client needs. I was also responsible for the development of the technical products and to supplement the business by the addition of professional services which included; project management, product architecture, implementation consultancy and training. Our clients included many of the major pharmaceutical players and suppliers such as GSK, AstraZeneca, Novartis, Eli Lilly, Amersham and Camfil Farr.

October 1997 – December 2002   Technican à Technical Office à Training Manager

                                                            Amersham PLC (now part of G. Electric) Starting as a technician in Quality Control I was promoted to Technical Officer with the manufacturing team searching for process improvements and managing their implementation. From this position I applied for Training Manager of the site (150 staff) and undertook responsibility for a small department and the site training budget. I was tasked to manage several large technology projects including the implementation of a Document Management System, the design and implementation of a competency framework and also the purchase and roll out of a Learning Management System.   

August 1996 – August 1997            Island Warden

                                                            Mauritian Wildlife Foundation

Managing the endangered Pink Pigeon and Kestrel population on Ile aux Aigrettes, an uninhabited island off the mainland where I was based for the duration of the contract which was funded by the World Bank. This involved the taking of blood samples, ringing, collating data, post mortems and basic veterinary care, as well as being responsible for visiting scientists and camera crews