Areas Of Expertise:

• Change Management
• Stakeholder Management
• Waterfall & Agile Methodologies
• Strategic Planning

Education:

• Graduate Degree in Mass Communication and Videography, St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata
• Post Graduate Diploma in Media Arts Production and Events Management, University of Technology, Sydney
• Prosci Change Management Certification

About

Nerissa is a capable, resilient and outcome-oriented leader, with a proven track record of leading diverse, high-performing teams to deliver strategic and transformational programs. This includes large-scale, high-profile projects across both Agile and Waterfall programs.  

They have extensive experience spanning project and change management, inclusion and diversity, strategy, compliance, business partnering, and human resources. They demonstrated success in designing and implementing innovative programs and influencing senior leaders. They are committed to coaching and building capability and bring a proven ability in condensing complex information into simple and easy-to-deliver messages. They have strong stakeholder management and problem-solving skills when required to think outside the box and deliver sustainable outcomes.

What brings

• Proven success in implementing major programs of work end-to-end, from initiation to design, development and execution.
• Driven and authentic leader with ability to quickly build trust and rapport with teams, colleagues and stakeholders.
• Excellent communication, collaboration and influencing skills with a history of partnering, advising and coaching internal and external, local, national and international stakeholders.

Key Clients:

• Motivating the Masses
• Westpac
• Suncorp
• AMP

Key Achievements:

As Speaker Advocate Coach contracted at Motivating the Masses for the Lisa Nichols companies, Nerissa coached and trained leaders and change-makers in 42 countries worldwide. They guided numerous individuals through personal breakthroughs and delivered techniques beneficial for both personal and professional development. They conducted corporate training and workshops for international clients and delivered keynotes and training workshops for global organisations such as Media Federation of Australia, Allen and Overy, the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), BNY Mellon, Domain, and others. Additionally, Nerissa authored two international best-selling books – “Growing Through” and “A Different Reality.”

As Senior Change Manager at Westpac, Nerissa managed The Better Risk and Control Program. This program forms 3 of 19 streams of the CORE programs and aims to provide the infrastructure for a robust risk, obligation and control environment that is embedded in the business, they collaborated with the team to develop communications and emails for senior business leaders. They worked with the team to establish value chains in accordance with the Group Value Chain Management Framework, including mapping of obligations, risks, and controls, to the value chains and subsequent risk assessments.

As Senior Change Manager at Westpac, Nerissa managed the Joint Account Program. As lead in this stream, they were responsible for developing and implementing a series of change releases working with Change Managers, Instructional Designers, and the Learning and Development team across Retail Banking, and ensuring the business bank could leverage the change. They designed and implemented a program-level Change Management Strategy and Plan including a learning plan to ensure the changes were cascaded as part of the overarching strategy and bankers understood the series in which they were being deployed. They also coordinated training design and delivery across multiple front-line and back-office teams to ensure the onboarding and maintenance of joint accounts met the banking code of practice. In addition, Nerissa mentored and coached team members in project and change management skills to enhance overall team performance and delivery.

As an Inclusion and Diversity Consultant at Westpac, Nerissa worked with HR Strategy and Services. They were responsible for developing, delivering, and embedding inclusion, diversity, and wellbeing initiatives across the Westpac Group for over 39,000 employees through effective engagement. They were also accountable for the end-to-end management of the Cultural Diversity pillar including metrics, programs, interventions, inclusive leadership training, and driving cultural change. They designed and developed a Cultural Leadership Program aimed at enhancing career development for 40 individuals from Culturally Diverse backgrounds, established and maintained crucial stakeholder relationships and partnerships internally, from executives to frontline employees, and externally with organisations such as Dawn Network, NEEOPA, Australian Network on Disability, Multicultural NSW, and the Race Discrimination Commissioner at the Australian Human Rights Commission. Nerissa influenced General Managers of business units and HR functions and established key relationships with HR business partners and shared services to embed the Inclusion and Diversity (I&D) strategy.

As a Senior Manager at Westpac, Nerissa worked with COO and was responsible for delivering sustainable solutions for the wider specialist finance business including auto finance, equipment finance, and specialist services. They managed the team in establishing a framework of tools and templates and developed a robust operating rhythm for consistent and sustainable project delivery across multiple business initiatives. They enhanced team members’ project and change management skills through capability building. Additionally, Nerissa designed, developed, and executed solutions to complex business problems, ensuring ‘on time, on budget’ implementation of strategic initiatives with clear benefits realisation. They influenced and guided business partners to develop and deliver a robust AML and Financial Crime program, ensuring compliance for the wholesale business, involving liaison with senior stakeholders and providing relevant and timely reporting to track project outcomes.

As a Change Lead at Westpac’s Online and Mobile Banking Program, Nerissa was responsible for leading the change stream to deliver new features and enhancements to the Westpac and St. George Group Online, Mobile and Tablet banking for both customers and staff across a wide range of devices. They developed a comprehensive Strategy and led the team in designing and implementing change for over 40 app releases, impacting more than 2.5 million customers with over 100 features/enhancements delivered to mobile and tablet banking apps across various Apple and Android devices. This effort resulted in a significant increase in customer NPS, moving to positive figures across all platforms. They facilitated release planning and communication approaches to align customer and banker messages, focusing on packaging messaging to reduce the volume of communication impacting frontline bankers while maintaining significance to the overarching organisation and digital strategy. Additionally, Nerissa mentored and developed a high-performing team, strategically planned resources to support both Westpac and St. George streams of work across the Consumer Transformation portfolio, with people leader responsibilities covering up to 8 FTE.

As a Change Lead at Suncorp, Nerissa was responsible for leading Change Managers and Analysts across five project streams to design and deliver change to a wide range of internal teams and external suppliers and partners. They designed and implemented a comprehensive Program-level Change Management Strategy and Plan, utilising a blended learning approach to ensure sustainable outcomes throughout the year, particularly focusing on remote and flexible work arrangements to drive embedment and adoption. They also facilitated the integration of Communications and Learning with Senior Business Leaders and Learning and Development Leads, developing Communication Plans and key messaging for Executive Sponsors and Senior Business Leaders to engage their teams and empower change champions. Additionally, they mentored and developed a high-performing team, strategically allocating resources to lead change activities across streams, supporting future releases, changes in requirements, and program prioritisation.

As a Senior Change Manager/Lead at AMP, Nerissa worked on a high-profile, $300M program known as the Separation and Simplification Program. They were responsible for leading a team of Change Managers, Analysts, and Learning and Development Specialists to design, implement, and embed the changes required for the separation of the workforce, products, systems, and processes to enable the two businesses to be ready, willing and able to operate successfully from day one. They developed a comprehensive Change Engagement, Approach, and Delivery Plan for the changes within the Separation and Simplification Program and tracked and reported on Change Readiness, implementing a sustainable approach to support an accelerated delivery pace. They led the team in designing change interventions and targeted communication activities for system releases, customer communications, and significant product and process changes.