Clarissa Barlow
Melbourne,VIC
Summary
A results-oriented professional with over 20 years of experience in strategic product leadership. Proven track record of delivering against sales and EBIT targets by building and implementing innovative products and experiences within financial services. A creative strategic planner who prioritizes product value and customer needs. Demonstrated success in end-to-end product leadership, ensuring alignment with commercial objectives and customer satisfaction
Overview
27
27
years of professional experience
Work History
Head of Financial Services
David Jones
09.2022 - 12.2023
- Managed a portfolio of high-value personal lending products, driving a 60% increase in EBIT over 5 years through strategic account management, contract negotiations and customer engagement.
- Successfully directed and managed the strategic closure of a multi-million dollar partnership with American Express. This initiative mitigated portfolio performance decline and EBIT, while aligning David Jones with a new strategic partner to drive business growth and enhance future customer experiences.
- Led the comprehensive review of all RFP responses to select a new strategic partner, including proposal evaluation, stakeholder alignment, and executive updates. This resulted in a partnership projected to grow EBIT by 60% over the next five years.
- Successfully led complex negotiations and secured a high-value contract with new strategic partner (Latitude Financial Services). This achievement mitigated portfolio performance decline and EBIT.
- Led a team of product and marketing professionals, along with cross-functional teams, to define the requirements for a new digital-first credit card program. This initiative focused on developing solutions aligned with customer needs and addressing key pain points.
- Advocated for investment and resource allocation to support customer research, enabling a deeper understanding of the market, customer problems, and preferences. This initiative was crucial in aligning our strategies with customer needs and driving successful sales outcomes
- Led a large cross-functional discovery initiative for a new credit card product, synthesizing quantitative and qualitative research findings and competitive market scans. This effort resulted in a strategic product roadmap designed to address customer needs and drive EBIT growth
- Implemented a user-centred design approach for the new product development partnership, ensuring the product was designed in alignment with customer needs. This strategy is forecasted to drive new account growth by 20%
- Led and mentored a team of marketing managers, campaign managers, and product managers, achieving 100% retention. Effectively managed high-risk employees, ensuring team stability and performance, which contributed to successful achievement of revenue targets
- Developed a customer-centric strategy by leveraging portfolio and customer data insights, customer research, and Voice of Customer (VOC) insights. This approach led to the closure of unprofitable accounts, significant cost savings, and a 300 basis point increase in customer retention, driving successful revenue outcomes.
- Championed a continuous improvement and test-and-learn culture within the marketing team, leading to significant enhancements in key performance indicators such as open rates, conversion rates, and retail sales volumes. These improvements were aligned with retail business sales objectives, driving successful customer engagements and sales outcomes.
- Coordinated with David Jones trade and retail teams, as well as brand marketing managers, to develop cohesive sales strategies. These efforts were aligned with overall organizational goals and successfully met sales targets for both retail and financial services EBIT.
- Presented detailed weekly retail sales reports and spend on personal lending products to upper management by analyzing retail sales data and identifying areas for improvement or growth opportunities for financial services.
Head of Product, Direct Cards
Latitude Financial Services
04.2020 - 09.2022
- Collaborated with a large cross-functional project team to strategically analyze and execute the Design and Distribution Obligations (DDO) for the direct cards portfolio. Successfully implemented new distribution models and requirements, ensuring alignment with regulatory guidelines and driving sales growth.
- Led a Human-Centered Design project in partnership with MasterCard to define the future customer value proposition for the 28D Global MasterCard.
- Developed a design concept for an innovative travel credit card product that addressed customer pain points.
- Forecasted to deliver portfolio growth, increased customer uptake, and higher retention rates.
- Validated the design concept through comprehensive research and user testing.
- Spearheaded a review of the existing technology platform with a cross-functional team, aligning on the strategic vision and challenging the team to develop an innovative technology strategy. This initiative solved long development timelines and decreased pre-product development costs by $10 million, significantly improving speed to market
- Developed a clear product vision and a three-year strategy for the direct card portfolio, ensuring alignment between business growth objectives and customer needs.
- Developed a three-year roadmap to guide product development and ensure innovation, leveraging a new technology platform strategy. This approach was designed to meet market and customer demands, driving successful sales and revenue outcomes and client satisfaction.
- De-risked the portfolio and maintained retention and sales targets during COVID by partnering with MasterCard advisers. Delivered creative customer sales campaigns and additional product benefits and promotions to meet financial objectives and address customer needs during this challenging period.
- Led two major initiatives: (a) transformed the payment digital experience, significantly improving customer satisfaction and retention, and (b) implemented a cost-saving strategy related to a supplier fee, resulting in savings of over $1 million. These efforts drove successful sales outcomes and enhanced customer relationships.
Senior Product Manager
Latitude Financial Services
09.2015 - 04.2020
- Product Owner for the Direct to Consumer Cards (D2C) Squad, responsible for managing and delivering improvements across the credit card portfolio, ensuring financial targets were met and customer experience was optimized.
- Enhanced customer satisfaction and retention through strategic product enhancements.
- Collaborated with cross-functional teams to drive product improvements and align with business objectives.
- Prioritized initiatives within the agile squad by evaluating financial and commercial drivers, ensuring alignment with business objectives and maximizing value delivery.
- Developed the strategic roadmap for the Cards product portfolio
- Developed the loyalty strategy for the cards portfolio, leading an extensive RFP process to select a new loyalty platform provider. This initiative mitigated vendor risk and ensured alignment with business objectives.
- Successfully secured seed funding to run an RFP and implement an experimental Human-Centered Design approach. Partnered with an external innovation agency to conduct a rapid agile sprint, delivering a creative, customer-led digital product solution with low-fidelity rapid prototyping. This initiative demonstrated strategic thinking and the ability to drive innovative solutions aligned with client needs.
- Led the development of the Cards Mobile Payments Strategy and Instant Provisioning Strategy for the Commercial Cards division at Latitude Financial Services (LFS). Successfully secured funding to build and implement these functionalities in-house and in partnership with Apple, Samsung and Google.
- Led a cross functional team to build and launch Instant Provisioning linking to IOS and Android platforms across all credit cards resulting in improved time to first spend and an uplift in usage by 30%
- Led the delivery and launch of Mobile Payments for MasterCard in 2017 and Visa in 2018 across all major mobile wallets (Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Google Pay, Fitbit and Garmin) for Australia and New Zealand
- Appointed as Digital Leader in 2017, I managed the Digital UX tender process for the Digital team, successfully selecting an external digital agency to support a large-scale transformation of the digital originations project with external vendor(ORION).
- Enhanced pricing strategy by conducting comprehensive market research and data analysis, leading to maximized profit margins for credit card portfolio
- Collaborated with sales teams on generating targeted marketing materials that effectively communicated unique selling points of each product offering.
- Enhanced customer satisfaction rates through proactive communication of feature updates, bug fixes, and other relevant information related to the products managed.
- Mentored junior Product Managers in effective project management techniques and industry best practices.
Senior Manager
American Express Pty Ltd
01.2005 - 01.2010
- Managed successful shift in product and portfolio strategy to support the changing distribution strategy away from a single channel, two-product marketing strategy to set the business up for organic growth
- Led a high performing product development and portfolio management team, accountable for managing a suite of five major product portfolios with over 150 individual products across five external strategic partners
- Managed four Assistant Product Managers
- Coached individuals through development plans and actively sought project opportunities to meet their development and Amex business needs
- Managed tender process of Travel Insurance provider
- Led all contractual and merchant negotiations for the launch of the winning Mondial Assistance product, which enabled superior technical capabilities to deliver stronger travel policies
- Set up a complex tri-party agreement to support the launch of the Back on Track product
- Managed the relationships of all five key strategic partners, including Ace Insurance, MetLife, Aegon, Mondial Assistance and AXA
- Improved total portfolio attrition rate against forecast in 2009 by 30% or 594 BP on major Personal Accident portfolio via various save/anti attrition and customer experience initiatives
- Increased penetration of market base from 7% in 2009 to 10% in 2010
- Led customer insight project to identify New Product Development opportunities and develop a three-year plan
- Secured funding to conduct customer needs research and developed unique products in line with gap analysis and customer research
- Identified profit pool opportunity of $3m revenue in 2010 via untapped segments
- Sized additional opportunities within the portfolio, set to double revenue growth in three years
- Forecast an increase in market penetration from 7% to 20% within three years.
Marketing Manager
American Express Pty Ltd
01.2005 - 01.2009
- Transformed the portfolio's product mix to a more customer-centric model
- This increased card relevant value propositions in the portfolio from 50% to 100% of total ‘Policies in Force'
- Launched new product via new channels to include the first ever dedicated ring-fenced insurance team, responsible for selling insurance products on inbound calls
- Policies acquired via this channel increased by 800 BP following product launch.
Senior Product Manager
ING Australia
01.2004 - 01.2005
- Developed new Life Insurance product and was first to market in Jan 2005
- Project managed new Life Insurance product on ING new business platform for Direct Response team.
Senior Product Manager
ING Australia
01.2002 - 01.2003
- Exceeded forecast profit targets for all Consumer Credit Insurance products (Mortgage Protection Insurance, Personal Loan Insurance and CCI)
- Conducted Loan Insurance review and re-launched with improved product features and simplified sales process for ANZ staff
- Re-launched Credit Card Insurance with improved features and pricing, resulting in 30% revenue increase per sale.
Senior Product Manager
ANZ Funds Management
01.2001 - 01.2002
- Developed online quoting and application functionality for Insurance Services
- Conducted major product review of ANZ Deposit Guarantee
- Re-launched with new underwriter via various ANZ channels
- Increased penetration rate of this product against home loans from 0% to 25%.
Product Manager
ANZ Funds Management
01.1999 - 01.2001
- Reviewed Landlords product and re-launched with revised pricing and more competitive marketing materials.
Direct Marketing Campaign Manager
ANZ Funds Management
01.1998 - 01.1999
- Contributed to generating strong Life Insurance results of $4.5m revenue in 1998 and $4m in 1999.
Senior Campaign Coordinator
ANZ Funds Management
01.1997 - 01.1998
Education
Professional Certificate in Coaching Psychology -
Institute of Coaching & Consulting Psychology ICCP
2024
Professional Certificate in Design Thinking - Design Thinking For Innovation
Melbourne Business School, Melbourne University
2018
SAFe Agile - SAFe Certification
Scaled Agile
2017
Diploma of Financial Services (FNS50104) - Financial Services
Kaplan
2006
Certificate of Direct Marketing -
ADMA
1998
Bachelor of Business - Business Management & Marketing
University of Technology (UTS)
1996
Skills
Teamwork and Collaboration
Problem-Solving
Excellent Communication
Relationship Building
Goal Setting and Achievement
Product performance metrics
Strategic Thinking
Data-driven decision-making
Cross Functional Leadership
Product Lifecycle Management
Timeline
Head of Financial Services
David Jones
09.2022 - 12.2023
Head of Product, Direct Cards
Latitude Financial Services
04.2020 - 09.2022
Senior Product Manager
Latitude Financial Services
09.2015 - 04.2020
Senior Manager
American Express Pty Ltd
01.2005 - 01.2010
Marketing Manager
American Express Pty Ltd
01.2005 - 01.2009
Senior Product Manager
ING Australia
01.2004 - 01.2005
Senior Product Manager
ING Australia
01.2002 - 01.2003
Senior Product Manager
ANZ Funds Management
01.2001 - 01.2002
Product Manager
ANZ Funds Management
01.1999 - 01.2001
Direct Marketing Campaign Manager
ANZ Funds Management
01.1998 - 01.1999
Senior Campaign Coordinator
ANZ Funds Management
01.1997 - 01.1998
Professional Certificate in Coaching Psychology -
Institute of Coaching & Consulting Psychology ICCP
Professional Certificate in Design Thinking - Design Thinking For Innovation
Melbourne Business School, Melbourne University
SAFe Agile - SAFe Certification
Scaled Agile
Diploma of Financial Services (FNS50104) - Financial Services
Kaplan
Certificate of Direct Marketing -
ADMA
Bachelor of Business - Business Management & Marketing
University of Technology (UTS)
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