To become a true ‘business partner’ to an Executive, it is imperative that Executive Assistants have a deep understanding of the business and their Executives’ role & responsibilities. Organisations are looking for Assistants that possess ‘Executive Level’ business acumen and skills now more than ever.
You can choose to attend either the online ACEA or attend one of the classroom sessions. Both options are very interactive and as we know, the ‘shared experience’ is also very important, and we have worked hard to ensure that this is maintained whether you attend online or in a classroom. Uniquely delivered from an “Executive Led” perspective, the ACEA® course focuses on elevating the role of the Executive Assistant by delivering a fundamental understanding of business and organisations, as well as practical skills, including:
This highly practical and interactive course has been specifically designed for:
Introduction
The Modern-Day Executive Assistant
Understanding Ourselves and Others
Presentation Skills
Organisations and Strategies
Performance Measurement
Personal and Corporate Ethics
Motivating Performance
Project Management
Risk Management
Stakeholder Management
Quality Management
Time Management
Leadership Skills
Communication Skills
Financial Awareness
Critical Thinking & Problem Solving
Change Management
Conflict and Negotiation Skills
ACEA® Examination *
*Only those who successfully complete the examination and participate effectively in the course case studies will receive the Advanced Certificate for the Executive Assistant ACEA®.
Richard is the Director of BMTG (UK) Ltd and is the author and lead presenter of the ACEA® course.
In his career Richard was an accomplished Managing Director, International Programme Director and Big 4 Management Consultant specialising in project/programme management, strategic business transformation and change management within the Financial Services, Utilities, Logistics and Infrastructure sectors.
Richard has lived and worked in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and the USA.
Richard sits on the Editorial Board of Executive Secretary Magazine and speaks at Executive Secretary Live. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Administrative Management (IAM) and a Fellow of the Institute of Training and Occupational Learning (ITOL)
Ian is a highly accomplished, passionate, visionary, and results driven Executive who has spent more than 20 years at a senior level within the service sectors in UK FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 companies.
The common factor throughout Ian’s career has been a passion around service excellence and delivering results through highly motivated teams.
Ian has been responsible for delivering major turn-around and business transformation through creating a culture where people feel comfortable to make decisions, take ownership and make it happen.
Jeff is an international training consultant, specialising in Finance, Business Administration and Management Development.
Jeff studied at Sheffield Business School in the United Kingdom obtaining a Post Graduate Certificate in Management (PgC) in 1992, a Diploma in Management Studies (DMS) in 1995 and a Masters Degree in Business Administration (MBA) in 1996.
Jeff is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (FRSA), the Chartered Institute of Credit Management (FCICM), the Chartered Management Institute (FCMI), and the Institute of Occupational Learning (FITOL). Mr Lockhart is also a PRINCE2 certified Project Manager.
He is a highly experienced Financial Manager and Management Consultant, with extensive knowledge of finance and business management within a multi-disciplined and multi-cultural environment. He has held several senior level positions for industry-leading international businesses and, since 2001, has operated as a consultant to businesses in the UK, Azerbaijan, Russia, Bulgaria, Kuwait, Oman, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Malaysia, China, USA, and New Zealand.
John is a driven, enthusiastic and dynamic individual that started his successful career within both the Leisure and Retail sectors. After 12 years in an operational role John became an international business consultant and for the last eleven years has worked with a diverse mix of organisations ranging from large blue chip companies through to the public sector, dealing with large programmes through to 1:1 Executive Coaching.
He specialises in award winning pragmatic leadership, business improvement and change programmes. This draws upon his senior operational / commercial expertise within industry. John works at a senior level across all sectors and has a proven record in enabling organisations to move forward in a results focused way, engaging their employees to deliver the return on investment and culture required.
Sven is a visionary, results driven and hands-on strategic manager with 25 year’s experience of driving profitable growth, turnarounds, change initiatives, crisis management and start-ups. He is a strategic and entrepreneurial leader with experience as CEO, Vice President, Director and MD positions in international assignments in Europe, Central Asia, Southeast Asia and Middle East.
Sven is also a passionate master coach (ACC certified by ICF (International Coach Federation) and is specialized in high performance teams and addressing underlying success factors for companies to be successful. Sven enjoys working with corporate teams to take them to the next level.
Throughout her extensive international career, Christianna has held a variety of leadership roles that include the management of international projects, as well as the development of people and teams, across multicultural markets – primarily across the Middle East, Europe, and Southeast Asia.
Concurrent to her leadership role at Bâton Global, Christianna is also an active entrepreneur and frequent moderator at human capital, leadership, finance, and corporate responsibility events globally.
Christianna grew up in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. After being a UAE resident for 16 years, she recently relocated back to KSA and is currently based in Riyadh.
Christianna currently serves as Regional Director EMEA for Bâton Global, a research driven strategy and innovation advisory firm. This includes serving as an advisor and consultant to private and public sector organizations, supporting them with the development and execution of their global strategies. Her subject-matter expertise includes the areas of Strategy, Transformation, Leadership and Customer Experience (CX), with a focus on financial services (both conventional and Shari’ah compliant).
Jay is a commercially focused Fellow Chartered Accountant, business consultant, advisor, executive trainer and author with extensive executive-level experience.
Jay recently retired from being a Partner with Barker Henley in Sydney, Australia where he led an experienced team in risk advisory, internal audit, business consultancy and executive training practice.
Understanding the complexities of today’s domestic and global businesses, Jay’s career involved providing a range of truly seamless strategic risk and business advisory services.
Earlier in his career Jay was a specialist Risk Partner with ‘Big 4’ firm, Deloitte, and held executive positions with major national and international companies. Jay has extensive experience in risk management, business improvement, finance management, audit, governance, investigations and project management for organisations in Australia, the UK, USA, Asia and North Africa.
Jay is an accredited trainer and has provided training for Chartered Accountants in Australia and New Zealand, the Institute of Internal Auditors and the Australian Institute of Management.
Qualifying as a Chartered Accountant with Ernst & Young in the UK, Jay is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland, Fellow with Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Institute of Internal Auditors – Australia. He holds a Bachelor of Accounting and Business Law from the University of Stirling, Scotland.
Sarah is a double-global award winner and one of the world’s top human development thought leaders. Her passion for developing grass root talent and unleashing hidden potential in others is the driving force in her life. She is a prolific speaker and trainer who advocates for empowering lives of local communities with inspirational mentorship programs.
Sarah started off her career as an administrative assistant before moving on to become an international consultant, executive coach and organisation development expert. Her career is multi-dimensional and includes years as a leadership professional trainer and HR Consultant working on European, Asian and African projects.
Sarah is happily married and says her proudest achievement is being a mother!
Patrick Woods, BS, CPSM, CPSD, C.P.M., CPIMPatrick is an international training consultant and adjunct professor, specializing in Business Administration, Project Management, Management Development, Supply Chain, Logistics, Procurement and Contracts.
He brings 36 years of experience working in Senior Management positions for Fortune 100 corporations and based on his leadership of a multi-national team for Emerson Worldwide, a global technology and manufacturing company, was recognized by the CEO as the: “team of the year”. For the past 20 years, as the Founder of Supply Chain Education, Patrick has worked with over 300 firms based in 30 countries located primarily in the USA, the Middle East, Africa and Central America.
In collaboration with Missouri State University, USA, Patrick has delivered training which includes: leadership fundamentals, how to move from a tactical cost function to a strategic profit function and risk/cost management. His delivery style is: “Edutainment” where he blends best practices with a gentle dab of humor and as a result, he has won outstanding evaluations from major manufacturing to service to government organizations, including to NGOs in warn-torn countries. He divides his time between the USA (Texas) and Central America (Costa Rica).
ACEA® combines theory and practice. We use individual and team exercises to illustrate how the techniques presented can be applied in a working environment. The purpose is to use a mix of proven learning techniques to ensure maximum understanding, comprehension and retention of the information presented.
Classroom: Delivered over 5 intensive and interactive days, as both scheduled open public courses for you to join, or on-site/local venue for your team/group
Remotely: Online delivery will be facilitated and presented through a combination of live online workshops and tutorials, interactive exercises/groupwork/case studies/discussions, video case presentations and assessments.
Online detail: Delegates will need access to a PC or laptop with either headphones/speakers and microphone, and have access to remote meeting tools in order that they can work together. Delegates are assumed to be either working from home or, if within the office environment, located in a quiet and separate training room (having multiple delegates in the same room is acceptable as long as it complies with their own corporate social distancing rules).
The course will be delivered over a period of 3 weeks. There are 3 sessions per week for 2 weeks (around 4-hours per session with breaks). A final session of approximately 2 hours will be scheduled in week 3.
There will be some assignments for you to work on outside of this
Please plan at least 2-3 hours between sessions for groupwork, team exercises and case studies. Total training time, including the additional assignments, will be around 30-35 hours.
Prework: There is a small amount of pre-work required by delegates, details of which will be provided in ample time prior to the course commencing. This pre-work should take no longer than 1 hour.
Additional tutor support will be provided through a combination of email mentoring and facilitated class online discussions. Confirmation of attendance for all sessions is a requirement of the awarding body to provide the certification. Modules will not be recorded due to GDPR data protection issues.
The Advanced Certificate for the Executive Assistant (ACEA®) is:
Visit www.bmtg.org to learn more about BMTG.
About Qualifi
Qualifi is a recognised U.K. awarding body offering academic and vocational qualifications and assessment to schools, colleges, employers and other places of learning in the UK and internationally. For more information, please go to www.qualifi.net.
Accredited by the prestigious CPD Standards Office.
Any delegate who attends this Accredited course may be issued with a CPD Certificate of Attendance* upon request, which they can use within their formal CPD record for a professional body, institute, or employer. The CPD Standards Office accreditation services works in partnership with the Training Journal and the CPD Institute supporting all forms of professional development and CPD schemes globally and has an increasingly international reputation as the strongest currency in professional development. CPD extends across the globe and is undertaken in most countries. The CPD Certificate of Attendance is issued in soft copy only and contains the applicable CPD credits for each course.
The British Council creates international opportunities for the people of the UK and other countries and builds trust between them worldwide and has offices in more than 100 countries and territories and are active in many more. The British Council provides access to the UK’s assets (language, arts, education and society), especially in big and emerging markets, as well as opportunities for millions of people to engage in global dialogue.
For information on The British Council in your country please refer to: www.britishcouncil.org
The British Council in your country can validate the authenticity of your certificate to confirm that the issuing institution is an accredited one in the UK. This gives you, as a successful BMTG delegate, the added security that your qualification is accredited not only by Qualifi, under the UK Regulatory Framework, but also validated by a prestigious representative body like The British Council.
If you would like to have your certificate validated by the British Council, please let us know by emailing training@innoverto.com and include details of your course (eg dates, location, qualification and certificate number) and we will advise you of the process.
Q. What differentiates ACEA® from other administrative professional courses?
ACEA® is an Executive Led Business focussed programme and is only ever delivered by Executives or ex-Executives
Q. Why was ACEA® developed?
The Executive Support profession is on a journey. From the traditional “Secretary” the role is evolving into that of Executive Business Partner. In order to survive in the profession Executive Assistants need to learn more business focused skills. The BMTG leadership team recognised this evolving pattern and realised that those in the profession required something that would give them the knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to undertake these new and challenging roles.
Q. What are the entry requirements?
As ACEA® is an advanced level course we look for a combination of skills and experience. Entry to ACEA® can be granted if you fulfil one of the following criteria.
Q. Does ACEA® qualify for CPD credits?
Yes ACEA® is independently accredited by the CPD Standards office and offers 30 CPD Credits.
Q. Is the ACEA® certificate valid for life?
YES. Unlike most, if not all, other Certified/Chartered courses the ACEPA certificate and post nominal is yours for life.
Q. Do I need to maintain “Membership” of pay Annual Fees to use ACEA®?
NO. Again unlike most, if not all, similar Certified or Chartered courses ACEPA does not require you to maintain “membership” or pay annual fees for the privilege of using you well earned post nominal for interviews or on business cards etc.
Q. Do I need to maintain a level of CPD credits to keep ACEA® post nominal?
NO.
Q. Is ACEA® recognised?
ACEA® has been attended by delegates from hundreds of companies across the globe who selected ACEA® due to its uniqueness, reputation and course content. As well as being independently Certified by Qualifi, a recognised UK awarding body, ACEA® is also accredited by the CPD Standards Office and fully endorsed by Executive Secretary Magazine, the Association of Office Professionals of South Africa (OPSA) and the prestigious Institute of Administrative Managers (IAM)
Q. Does ACEA® have any testimonials?
YES. ACEA® uses www.findcourses.co.uk to collect testimonials and is the highest scoring course amongst all Administrative Professional Courses in terms of Volume of Courses and Delegate Score. Click here to see the reviews.
Q. Can ACEA® be Run In-House for my Company?
YES. Please contact us for further details
Q. Can I sit the BMTG examination and get the accreditation without attending an official BMTG course?
NO.
Q. What is the format of the BMTG examination?
The “Open Book” examination consists of 50 questions which are a combination of written answers, multiple choice and true/false answers Most delegates take up to 2 hours to complete the examination as it is a strong test of delegates’ knowledge. The pass mark with effect from 1st July 2016 is 70%. Is additional research required to successfully complete ACEPA course or is everything I need to know contained in the course materials? Any additional research is always useful for a delegate, however the examination is based on the course materials alone, and no additional research is required to sit the examination.
Q. Can I do the ACEA® course and not sit the examination?
Yes of course. After participating in the course, it is your choice whether to take the examination or not, but without passing the examination, you would not be eligible to use the ACEPA designation on your business card or resume and would not be Certified.
Q. How long after the examination will I know my results?
The examination results are generally published within one week of sitting the examination. Certificates can take up to 30 days. What is the percentage of delegates who fail the BMTG examination? Generally, delegates are failed for the following reasons as:
Examination failures are between 5%-10% of all delegates who attend.
Q. If I fail the examination, what happens next?
In the event of an Assessment fail, there is an appeals process which can involve resitting the examination under classroom conditions or writing an essay on learning outcomes and application thereof. Delegates who fail the Assessment may also re-attend the course at a discount of 50% of the price originally paid. There is no appeal process for delegates who failed due to non attendance, persistent lateness or non-participation unless due to certified sickness or illness
Q. What should I look for in Certification?
There are a multitude of bodies offering credentials for the Administrative profession. Our view is that any credentials must be totally independent of the training body and/or association offering the training otherwise there is conflict of interest. Check who is actually “certifying” and are they regulated in any way. In addition our suggestion is to:
Our advice is “Be Careful Out There”
Q. Is ACEA® Available On-Line?
No.
Q. Are there any bursaries available for ACEA®?
No.
The Rise of the Strategic Executive Assistant: A Modern Business PowerhouseFrom Executive Assistant to Business PartnerGoing Green : The EA’s Role in Sustainability - Executive Support MagazineDo you speak Finance By Jeff Lockhart (PDF)Do you speak Finance Audio (powered by Reedz AI - MP3)
For more information or to make your booking on the other courses currently not on our website please contact us at marie-louise@innoverto.com or call +971 4 338 5690. * Bookings close 1 week prior to the course start date
Hello, my name is Darawees Benjamin, and I recently completed the Advanced Certificate for the Executive Assistant program, and I must say it was a fantastic experience. The program’s comprehensive curriculum and engaging delivery made it a truly enlightening and enjoyable learning journey.
The program’s content was not only relevant but also incredibly engaging. Each module was thoughtfully designed to capture our interest and foster active participation.
Moreover, the insights gained from the program have been truly enlightening. I found the deep dive into Leadership and Emotional Intelligence and Disc Profiling particularly valuable, providing me with a fresh perspective that has already proven beneficial in my role.
What truly set this program apart, however, was the fun learning environment it offered. John Bullock was not only knowledgeable but also adept at creating a supportive and enjoyable atmosphere. The group activities and collaborative projects fostered a sense of camaraderie among participants, making the entire experience not only educational but also immensely fun.
Overall, I highly recommend the Advanced Certificate for the Executive Assistant program to anyone seeking to further their expertise in this field. It has undoubtedly elevated my skills and approach as an Executive Assistant, and I’m confident it can do the same for others. I’m truly grateful for the opportunity to participate in such a valuable and enjoyable program.”