Elize Hermans

With 28 years of progressive experience across the IT, Banking, and Insurance sectors, I am a seasoned professional specializing in Strategic Business Engagement and Strategic Operational Excellence Management. My value proposition lies in being vertically integrated, possessing a versatile skillset that enables me to drive multi-level strategic alignment across diverse corporate structures within local and international global corporates. My career is defined by my ability to exercise functional and indirect leadership, without the need for direct line authority, by navigating intricate organizational structures to act as the essential bridge that ensures operational outputs are meticulously aligned with strategic business objectives.

Functioning as a dedicated Corporate Relationship and Internal Service Delivery Manager, my core focus is value retention and ensuring strategic and operational readiness. When addressing performance gaps and optimization opportunities; or facilitating complex, executive-level contract renewals for leading multinational financial groups such as Standard Bank and AIG; or managing large-scale operational transitions for global entities like Dimension Data, I partner directly with affected functions to ensure solutions are realistic and inclusive. By leveraging automation to eradicate mundane tasks, I relieve operational burdens, giving teams the time and capacity to execute their core functions with greater ease.

Regarding my capacity for this level of execution, a consistent theme throughout my career is that my former leaders recognize me as a "smart strategic leader" with an "incisive mind" who consistently succeeds in "maximizing efficiencies". Whether directing Supplier Relationship Management or providing Strategic Fraud Support, I focus on enabling client experience excellence and long-term business sustainability.

This commitment to sustainable operations is anchored by a high-integrity approach to stakeholder management. I do not just facilitate process improvement and automation; I actively work to "foster better internal and external relationships", eliminating siloed ways of work to create collaborative cultures and environments where people can thrive. My references substantiate this "uncompromising integrity", highlighting that I act in the best interest of the "organization as a whole" and consistently achieve results that are "beyond expectations".

I believe that a measured, professional approach to business optimization adds tangible value to an organization's objectives. I appreciate your time in reviewing my application and remain at your disposal should you require any further information regarding my background in operational and strategic alignment.

Company: ABSA Group Limited - Absa Vehicle Management Solutions (2022–2024)

Position: Supplier Relationship Manager

As a Supplier Relationship Manager my key responsibilities included

Commercial Delivery Management

• Strategically managed supplier relationship requirements, delivering quantifiable benefits in cost reduction, cost avoidance, revenue and value retention through rigorous contract compliance and supplier strategy execution.

Stakeholder Relationship and Business Engagement Management:

• Cultivated and managed collaborative internal and external relationships across all organizational levels, facilitating process improvement opportunities within the supply base.

Compliance Management

• Ensured adherence to stringent internal policies and external regulatory requirements, effectively managing risk via collaboration with group procurement, internal audit, and group risk and compliance functions.

My achievements were

• Designed solutions for complex operational challenges to ensure conformity to stringent organizational and regulatory standards, mitigating potential compliance risk exposure.

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Company: ABSA Group Limited - Fraud Risk and Compliance Management (2014–2022)

Position: Fraud Strategy Support Manager

As a Fraud Strategy Support Manager my key responsibilities included

Stakeholder Relationship and Business Engagement Management:

• Built critical fraud relationships across business units, serving as the subject matter expert and key partner to ensure shared understanding of threat vectors and best practices.
• Presented, communicated and monitored strategic fraud prevention results and value propositions to key decision makers.

Business Optimization and Enablement, Strategy Support Management and Development:

• Developed and assessed fraud risk prevention and detection strategies and policies to manage fraud losses within appetite while balancing client experience excellence.

Risk and Control Management

• Assessed, evaluated, and documented the fraud risk and control framework requirements to support strategic decision-making and ensure regulatory adherence.
• Drove timely closure of audit findings, managed risk events, and ensured compliance with SOX (Sarbanes-Oxley Act) attestations and all regulatory requirements.

My achievements were

• Strategically optimized internal fraud monitoring mechanisms to reduce false-positive rates; this enhanced adaptive detection accuracy and significantly decreased operational workloads.
• Facilitated the design and delivery of a high-impact E-Learning module by bridging historically siloed operational and technical stakeholders. Leveraged a high-integrity approach to one-on-one relationship-building to secure critical buy-in, ensuring the successful execution of a high-impact strategic initiative that was recognized as an enormously successful stand-out performance by the institutional benefit tracking system.

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Company: Barclays Shared Services Africa - Fraud Operations and Personal Lending (2013–2014)

Position: Commercial or Business Engagement Manager

As a Commercial or Business Engagement Manager my key responsibilities included

Stakeholder Relationship and Business Engagement Management:

• Developed and maintained professional relationships with operational and business unit stakeholders, ensuring business requirements were consistently met.

Business Optimization and Enablement, Service Delivery, Operational, Account and Service Level Agreement (SLA) Management:

• Managed SLAs, identified performance gaps, and implemented innovative solutions to improve value retention, service delivery, and overall client experience excellence.

My major project was

• Successfully transitioned a major operational division from ABSA into Barclays Shared Services Africa (BSSA), ensuring strategic alignment with global BSSA methodologies and operational standards.

My achievements were

• Facilitated the re-design and implementation of automated performance reporting through a formal strategic change project. These automated mechanisms eradicated mundane tasks, alleviating heavy operational workloads and empowering teams to seamlessly execute high-value core responsibilities.

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Company: Western Union Business Solutions - Business Banking Foreign Exchange (2012–2013)

Position: Client Relationship Manager

As a Client Relationship Manager my key responsibilities included:

• Built and maintained strategic business client and banking partner relationships, ensuring high levels of service delivery and timely resolution of urgent queries.
• Ensured compliance with the FICA (Financial Intelligence Centre Act) regulatory requirements.

My achievements were

• Consistently facilitated the achievement of monthly and quarterly value retention targets by ensuring strategic operational readiness and cross-functional stakeholder alignment.

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Company: Standard Bank Insurance Brokers - Personal or Short-Term Insurance (2010–2011)

Position: Corporate Account Executive or Account Manager

As a Corporate Account Executive or Account Manager my key responsibilities included

Stakeholder Relationship and Business Engagement Management:

• Cultivated robust professional relationships with senior management, underwriters, and service providers, ensuring alignment of business requirements.

Business Optimization and Enablement, Service Delivery and Operational Management:

• Developed, implemented, and managed service delivery and operational strategies for travel insurance programs, ensuring continuous business improvement.
• Analyzed income trends, managed the invoicing process, and reported business performance.

Service Level Agreement (SLA) Management, Training and Compliance Adherence:

• Managed high-level complaint escalations, and ensured program compliance with Policy Holder Protection Rules and the FAIS (Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act) fulfillment processes.

My major projects were

• Successfully managed the annual contract renewals for the Standard Bank and Diners Club Card Travel Insurance Programmes, ensuring strategic alignment and operational readiness across all high-value corporate partnerships.

My achievements were

• Identified critical marketing material inaccuracies, mitigating significant compliance risk exposure and ensuring adherence to institutional regulatory standards.
• Re-engineered the internal complaint escalation processes, which reduced turnaround times and enhanced the service delivery journey for corporate clients.
• Safeguarded value retention by orchestrating the implementation of an automated leads generation process during a critical IT freeze period. This strategic intervention mitigated a projected three-month premium (revenue) loss and high-risk exposure to invalid claims, reducing the actual business impact to just one week of lost premium.

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Company: AIG South Africa Ltd; Dimension Data (Pty) Ltd; Standard Bank; EDS (Pty) Ltd (1996 – 2010)

Position: Various Service Delivery and Relationship Management Roles

During this phase of my career, I built my foundational expertise in Service Delivery Operations and Analysis, Client Relationship Management, Communications Coaching and Process Optimization across the Insurance, Information Technology (IT) and Banking sectors.

Key Responsibilities: Service Delivery Operations and Analysis; Client Relationship Management; Communications Coaching, Quality Assurance Implementation and Management, and Process Optimization.

Achievements

2008 – 2010:

• Recognized for service delivery excellence and process optimization by significantly improving service levels and reducing turnaround times through the facilitation of automation, eradicating mundane tasks.
• Facilitated significant internal strategic and operational changes which resulted in notable service delivery improvements and fostered better internal working relationships.

2002 – 2008:

• Established the Quality Assurance department, which successfully drove an increased rating in overall client satisfaction surveys and enhanced service delivery excellence.
• Formally recognized as a Dimension Data top performer (2007) for consistently exceeding operational performance benchmarks.
• Promoted to Quality Assurance Specialist (2007) following a proven track record in process optimization and quality management.
• Promoted to Service Delivery Analyst (2005) to lead data analytics and reporting for core business units.
• Promoted to Call Tracker (2003) due to exceptional stakeholder engagement and operational readiness.

• Bachelor of Commerce Honours in Business Management – University of South Africa (2025)
• Bachelor of Commerce in Business Management – University of South Africa (2022)
• Grade 12 in Matric with Exemption – Klipspruit West Senior Secondary School (1995)