Rob Whelan
Melbourne,VIC
Summary
A versatile, considered and perceptive Senior leader with over 30 years in Collections, Credit and Business Operations. Proven track record of building high performance teams through collaborative, strengths based leadership and an understanding that a happy team is a successful one. Composed and clear headed under pressure with an outstanding history of exceeding targets.
Professional leader with comprehensive experience in driving operational excellence and strategic growth. Proven track record of fostering team collaboration and achieving impactful results in dynamic environments. Skilled in navigating complex challenges, optimizing processes, and cultivating positive workplace cultures. Known for adaptability, effective communication, and strong decision-making abilities.
Overview
23
23
years of professional experience
Work History
General Manager
ARL Collect P/L
12.2020 - Current
- Company Overview: ARL are one of Australia’s premier Debt Collection Agencies, acting on behalf of a diverse range of Clients including Big 4 banks, Government Agencies and Major Utilities.
- Complete Oversight and authority over all aspects of the Company’s operations
- ARL P&L, Budgeting, Strategic Planning
- Development of Growth Strategies
- Evaluating Performance and productivity
- Hiring of Senior Management positions
- Revenue Improvement
- Analysis of Financial and Accounting data
- Board reporting
Operations Manager
ARL Collect P/L
08.2019 - 12.2020
- Company Overview: ARL are one of Australia’s premier Debt Collection Agencies, acting on behalf of a diverse range of Clients including Big 4 banks, Government Agencies and Major Utilities.
- Team and talent development
- Collections Strategic Planning
- Liaising with external Clients and Vendor Management
- Evaluating Performance and productivity
- Revenue Improvement
- Workforce optimization strategies
Recoveries Manager
Landmark Operations
03.2018 - 09.2018
- Company Overview: Landmark are Australia’s Leading Agribusiness and have been servicing Primary producers for over 150 years, supplying everything from Crop Inputs to Finance, Real Estate and Insurance
- Management of Landmark’s complete protracted debt book
- Recoveries
- Financial reporting including Aged Trial Balance and full portfolio performance
- Insolvency
- Court Mediation and Hearings
- Bad and Doubtful debt provisioning
- Collections strategy
- Effective liaison and management of Third party mercantile Agents, Solicitors and other stakeholders
Collections Manager
WEX INC (FORMERLY RETAIL DECISIONS)
01.2010 - 01.2017
- Company Overview: World leading Payments Company, listed on NYSE. WEX are a NYSE listed, world leader in Fleet, Prepaid and Corporate Payment Solutions. Within Australia, they operate major Fleet Brands Motorpass and Motorcharge as well as managing card programs for a number of high profile Australian businesses. WEX in Melbourne also manage the Asia Pacific Fleet card operations of Exxon Mobil.
- Management of 3 separate Collections teams, one Supervisor and 16 staff in total.
- Recoveries and Credit Insurance
- Management of Debtors portfolio of more than $100M per month
- Management of Collections for Exxon Mobil Fleet Card operations across Saipan, Guam, Hong Kong and Singapore
- Bad and Doubtful debt provisioning
- Collections strategy
- Recruitment, training and mentorship of staff
- Review and development of system reporting as well as design and implementation of Collections systems
- Fraud prevention
- Effective liaison and management of Third party mercantile Agents, Solicitors and other stakeholders
Senior Team Leader Client Services
RETAIL DECISIONS
11.2002 - 09.2010
- Company Overview: International Payments Company
- Management of the Credit Assessment Team
- New applications
- Management of the Inbound Client Service team and Contact Centre with 30 direct reports
- Management of the Disputes team
- Management of the Gift Card Customer Service team
- End to end servicing of the Motorpass/Motorcharge customer base
- Information and reporting
- Prior to WEX buying out Retail Decisions, I acted in a variety of roles under the same title, across the full scope of the Operations Department.
Skills
- Operational oversight and decision making : Manage resources, risk assessment, strong leadership and team development
- Problem Solving: Creative thinker who cuts to the core of the problem quickly and efficiently to identify solutions
- Prioritising: Balances demands to achieve optimum business results through strong commercial acumen
- Key stakeholder engagement: Active listener, approachable and dedicated to fostering win-win relationships
- Leadership and team building
- Problem resolution
- Operations management
- Time management
- Customer relations
- Relationship building
- Process improvements
- Strategic planning
- Vendor relationships
Timeline
General Manager
ARL Collect P/L
12.2020 - Current
Operations Manager
ARL Collect P/L
08.2019 - 12.2020
Recoveries Manager
Landmark Operations
03.2018 - 09.2018
Collections Manager
WEX INC (FORMERLY RETAIL DECISIONS)
01.2010 - 01.2017
Senior Team Leader Client Services
RETAIL DECISIONS
11.2002 - 09.2010
Career Highlights
- Successfully guided ARL through various challenges including Covid, Hybrid work from home whilst maintaining profitability
- Designed and implemented a Risk based Collections Management system that led to a 50% reduction in Bad Debt
- Maintained the lowest rate of staff turnover across the whole Operations team
- Successfully managed the transition of ReD’s Gift Card operation from Sydney to Melbourne
- Successfully managed the Collections onboarding of Exxon Mobil’s Asia Pacific card operations