You can find more recommendations on LinkedIn. Here is a sample of what people have said about me.
Business Colleagues
I worked closely with Mark during my time at Aldermore bank. Great strategic thinker who really understands the role of IT in a modern Financial Services organisation, both at the strategic level, as well as how collaboration can work on the ground. Great at building strong teams, asking tough, sensible questions and leading from the front. A real change catalyst.
Director – Aldermore
He is an excellent IT professional who translates the organisation’s vision and strategy into IT strategy and operations and then taking it further to connect IT to the customer experience. He has received a number of very well deserved awards and is a pleasure to work with!
Business Leader – BritanniaMark has been a breath of fresh air in his role as Head of Service Management at the Co-op Banking Group. He has taken a disillusioned team and given them a new sense of purpose and pride in their work. The team is now focused on the things that need changing and achieving what they need to do to support the IT department. His energy and desire to do the right thing for both IT and the Business shines through in all that he does. He will be a sad loss when he leaves the role.
Senior Business Colleague – Co-operative Banking Group
If you are looking for someone to really make a positive difference to your IT team I would strongly recommend Mark.
Treasury Leader – Co-operative Banking Group
Mark is an inspirational leader who constantly strives to deliver outstanding service to the people he supports. His clear passion for doing the right thing is infectious and generates a real sense of being able to achieve anything that’s required. A great person to be around
Business Colleague – Co-operative Banking Group
Mark understands the critically important link between systems and customers – he is clear that investment in IT is above all a means to enhance the customer experience. His skill as a leader is reflected in his team winning successive awards as a great place to work in IT. Never afraid to stretch himself, Mark always considers wider customer and colleague issues alongside the more technical aspects of his role. I worked with Mark over several years at the Co-operative Bank and Britannia Building Society and we worked directly together to create a new £12m remote data centre, coming up with pragmatic solutions to some big technical challenges to deliver the programme on time and under budget
Business Leader – Britannia
Mark is very highly respected as an IT professional , whether that’s managing existing systems or in a change management capacity. It’s clear he has a great deal of technical expertise……but that’s not what makes him stand out among his peers. Mark is primarily a people person, he’s emotionally intelligent with an ability to understand others and adjust his own behaviour to motivate them. He understands organisational culture and is passionate about creating high performing teams (and systems) – for the benefit of customers. I would strongly recommend Mark to any organisation focused on improving employee and customer experiences.
HR Leader – Britannia
External Organisations
Mark is one of those rare breed of leaders who combines genuine intellect, an ability to build great teams and someone who not only has a deep appreciation for cultural nuances but someone who actually thrives in a multi-cultural setting, getting the best out of teams. His work in the transformation programme along with his work with the Infosys offshore teams was instrumental in cutting through the multi-supplier and multi-cultural barriers and creating a high performing team which had a good measure of success. He comes highly recommended for leadership roles in large-scale and complex transformation programmes
Senior Leader – Infosys UK/India
Mark is a high performing executive, highly competent and immensely dedicated. For me though Mark’s real stand-out qualities are his high integrity, people-focus and strong leadership skills. A clear-headed and ambitious professional, who shows a genuine level of consideration that ensures his colleagues get behind him
External Leadership Development Consultant
IT Colleagues
I worked with Mark at Aldermore where he is a force to be reckoned with, in the best way possible. Always involved and engaged Mark leads from the front. His breadth and depth of knowledge is incredible and a testament to the amount of work he puts in, going far beyond the ‘day job’. Another outstanding quality is that Mark is fiercely loyal to his staff and he takes their recognition and development very seriously. He was always available if I needed to talk through a problem, always looked out for my team, and helped us enormously with getting significant changes over the line. All around a fantastic person to work with an a huge asset to the Bank
Head of PMO – Aldermore
Mark has a real gift of thinking strategically and encouraging thinking ‘out of the box’ from his senior business stakeholders. Mark has an infectious energy and is able to quickly integrate himself into the senior leadership teams of the business, an attribute not to be underestimated! An absolute pleasure to work with
IT Business Partner – The Co-operative Banking Group
Mark was Head of IT when Britannia carried out its award-winning core systems replacement programme. His willingness and ability to work in partnership with the programme management team and encourage and support his managers in doing the same was a key reason for the success of the programme
Programme Manager for Award winning Britannia core systems replacement.
Mark is an excellent Head of IT services and understands organisational strategic objectives and the impacts on business as usual services and drives and leads the changes required from the front to realise the benefits required. Mark is a very good transformational leader and delegates, manages and directs in an effective and positive communicative way. Mark is always willing to help and support his direct reports,operational support and project/programme teams in all aspects of IT change that is required to help achieve the delivery of the IT capability for the business functions. I would recommend Mark for any Head of IS / IT position
Senior Project Manager – Britannia
Team Members
Working with Mark as a Sponsor, senior stakeholder and Project Leader he has always impressed me with his ability to understand a position, articulate this back, and then provide boundless energy and drive to achieve a positive business outcome. Mark always builds teams with clear leadership, direction and an enthusiasm that is infectious. He is also supportive and a great guy to have in your corner
Mark is an inspirational leader who is able to communicate his vision with clarity and bring people with him. He is a creative thinker who welcomes feedback, ideas and different points of view. His strength is in aligning IT strategy with business goals and objectives
Mark is an enthusiastic and energetic leader to work with. His passion for self-development is infectious and encourages others to strive for continuous improvement along with him. As a coach he is both supportive and challenging, not afraid to give others a chance to stretch themselves although there to help out when needed. It was always a great pleasure for me to work with Mark and our department was a brilliant place to be under his leadership
The best thing about Mark is that he listens, he considers and if he is wrong he will admit it…..rare qualities, but he was very rarely wrong! Mark will be a great asset to any organisation and greatly missed by mine
I worked for Mark on a number of projects over several years and have great respect for his leadership skills and management style. Mark has a strong business awareness/focus and leverages his technical skill-set and his knowledge of change to engineer great outcomes that truly deliver business benefit. He really knows how to get the best from individuals and teams – balancing clear direction with the confidence to let people lead where they can. He leads by example in encouraging people to stretch themselves and is supportive where necessary Overall, Mark is a strong leader with clear vision, the skills to translate that vision into reality and an ability to adapt to get the most out of different situations and teams
Mark Jacot 