Umesh Kothari

Corporate Experience

Senior Vice President, Head of Strategy Support, Union National Bank, UAE (October 2018 - October 2019)
Vice President, Strategy Support, Union National Bank, UAE (June 2014 - September 2018)

• Facilitated the formulation, development, and effective implementation of UNB Group's Vision, Mission, Strategy, Digitalization transformation and Balanced Scorecard.
• Developed periodic strategic-progress reporting comprehensive packs analyzing Group-level and individual Unit's performance against plans for CEO/Leadership Team's review.
• Ran the Strategic Programs Office (SPO) to mandate and monitor the implementation of technology, digitalization projects, and related strategic initiatives across the Group. Conduct post implementation review of critical projects.
• Managed business planning, capital expenditure and performance management for CEO/Senior Leadership’s review.
• Managed customer experience and business research functions to provide recommendations to key business decisions and strategies by using customer, benchmarking, industry, economy, and market intelligence insights.

Vice President, Customer Feedback, Union National Bank, UAE (July 2007-May 2014)
Assistant Vice President, Research, Union National Bank, UAE (April 2005 – June 2007)

• Conceptualized and executed research insights for the Bank covering Assets, Liabilities, Credit Cards, and Corporates.
• Ensured strategic alignment of voice of customer initiatives to the Group’s objectives for quantitative and qualitative projects conducted – customer satisfaction, benchmarking survey, mystery shopping, customer loss analysis, business opportunities, product development, brand health survey.
• Managed the customer complaints for all Business Units and Business Partner Units to ensure accurate recording and resolution of complaints. Introduced monthly dashboards for review of Unit Heads/Senior Management.
• Nominated as Communication Ambassador ensuring effective communication of Bank-wide achievement within the Management Services Group comprising of 45 individuals.

RESEARCH MANAGER, Nielsen, UAE (January 2003 – March 2005) SENIOR RESEARCH EXECUTIVE, Nielsen, UAE (May 2000 – December 2002)

• Accomplished team target of over US$1.5 million with a combination of new business and maintenance of strategic accounts. Recognized with an ART Award for achievements of business target of over US$ 550,000.
• Managed quantitative projects in various industries such as FMCG, Services, Banking, and Durables. Key clients managed: Air Arabia, Etihad Airways, Gulf Air, HSBC, NCB, MasterFoods, Mashreq, EMAAR Properties, Nestle, J&J
• Championed a proprietary product – Winning Brands (Equity Evaluation) for use by prospective clients.
• Actively involved in mentoring and training research programs for key clients.

CONSULTANT, Pepsi Cola International, UAE (February 1998 – April 2000)

• Coordinated and managed strategic research projects - continuous and ad hoc with 3 key research strategic partners.
• Provided ongoing research support to various Unit Heads within Pepsi-Cola for the Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan region, 18 countries. Revamped monthly insights reports to reduce timings by 2 days through automation.

SENIOR RESEARCH EXECUTIVE, Pathfinders {Mullen Lowe Group, IPG}, India (February 1996 - January 1998)

• Responsible for continuous advertising tracking research for Cadburys and Uni-Lever
• Coordinated field & analysis for timely completion of P: SNAP’97 {Pathfinders Study of Nations Attitudes & Psychographics} conducted among 40,000 respondents across 38 centers in India in five modules -Male, Female, Youth, and Child & Baby. Made effective presentations to sell SNAP to prospective clients

INDUSTRY ANALYST, Frost & Sullivan {Management Consulting Co}, USA (January 1994 - January 1996)

• Strategic and market analysis of hi-tech products in the industrial automation environment. Strategic analysis included industry forecasts, financial analysis, competitive analysis, market strategies, technology trends, and distribution channels.

INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH SPECIALIST, Willamette University, USA (November 1993-June 1994)

• Responsible for the collection, statistical analysis and presentation of institutional data to Senior Management. Increased faculty and student satisfaction by improving on-time delivery performance by 98% with stakeholders.