Ben Lockspeiser

Experience

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  New York State Emergency Management Office

  Feb 2009 - Jul 2009

  Training & Exercise Intern

  Training and Exercise SectionManaged logistical needs for the Empire '09 Full Scale Exercise which included, generating, finalizing and distributing a master communications list for 80+ participants, arranging and developing meeting locations and agendas as well as recording minutes, preparing documentation for 300 incoming participants, determining and assembling the community reception center for the 3 participating counties, and receiving and distributing supplies and equipment for all 6 exercise locations.Collaborated with federal, state, local and private consultant agencies to develop emergency continuity plans, create and implement a list of 350 expected actions of participants which structured the master scenario exercise list, constructed information manuals for all participants, and coordinated planning activities for each agency's individual playOperated as a controller and evaluator in the simulation cell which entailed facilitating, reviewing and assessing participants' ability to maintain exercise play. Show less

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  UNDP

  Nov 2009 - May 2010

  Emergency Manager

  Security and Crisis Management DepartmentCoordinated all logistical needs for UNDP country offices in Haiti in the days following the 7.0 magnitude earthquake, managing compiling and transporting of all goods from New York to Haiti.Member of UNDP Crisis Management Planning and Preparedness Steering Committee from inception dealing with all security and disaster preparedness issues facing UN Head Quarters in New York.Created pandemic flu annex for distribution and use at United Nations Head Quarters for H1N1 pandemic.Created and developed UNDP Crisis Management Plan for all-hazards facing UNDP Head Quarters staff and facilities in New York Built emergency ready kits to be dispersed to all 10,000+ UNDP staff worldwide. Show less

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  American Red Cross of Greater

  Sept 2010 - Sept 2011

  Emergency Communications Specialist Disaster Preparedness & Response

  Respond to request for disaster assistance by Fire and Police Departments Serve as the communications contact, and technical support for ARC personnel responding to or at disaster sitesComplete reports of disaster incidents Provide emergency message service and disaster welfare inquiries to members of international community/assistance to military Armed Forces Emergency ServicesDevelop expertise in the Emergency Service SOPs, operational manuals and the operation of all department communications equipmentProvide information and referral assistance to general public callers Show less

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  CDW-G

  Sept 2011 - Apr 2013

  Account Manager

  -Development and growth of client relationships with senior technical leadership, developers, and engineers by gaining a deep understand of client need based on their current technical landscape, pain points, and future goals-Managed implementation of projects by coordinating internal resources, partner SMEs and client team. Coordinating all groups helped manage expectations, and decrease latency of work throughout projects.-Leveraged data from clients and market insights to understand client strategies and identify ROI based on CDW products. Show less

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  IEM - FEMA Region II

  Apr 2013 - Dec 2013

  Planner

  Contracting with FEMA Region II in creating a Medical Countermeasures (MCM) Annex to bolster and support the City of New York's MCM plan in response to an Anthrax scenario-based biological attack• Research Specialist: Created factsheets that explain critical information related to MCM and federal essential support functions. Author of Federal Response core capability backgrounders such as Fatalities Management and Public Heath/Medical core capabilities. Provided research for other response core capabilities to be included in the Regional Administrators Hand Book.• Conducted an analysis of federal resources and capabilities to support the New York City MCM Plan• Plan construction with team: Writing, research and presentation support for Information Analysis and Course of Action Briefing to FEMA Headquarters• Liaison to federal response partners in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) and NSS• Collaborate with NYC DOHMH as well as local hospitals for plan development • Current DHS Security Clearance: Public Trust Show less

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  Metropolitan College of New York

  Jan 2014 - now

  Adjunct Professor

  Taught/teaching: Introduction to Emergency ManagementNatural Hazard MitigationIntroduction to International Disaster ResponseOn-line Course Development: Introduction to Emergency ManagementNatural Hazard MitigationSocial & Economic Trends in Emergency Management

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  New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

  Feb 2014 - Nov 2016

  Program Manager

  -Emergency Staffing Product Launch: Successfully launched an Emergency Staffing Product within a 5-month timeline, modernizing operational procedures to increase efficiency and control costs such as labor, preventing waste.-Intra-Agency Coordination: Focused intra-agency teams on developing innovative approaches at all levels, ensuring effective resource allocation and strategic planning for City-wide emergency preparedness.-Corrective Action Implementation: Coordinated corrective actions identified during retrospectives to enhance overall agency preparedness and response capabilities.-Cross-Functional Leadership: Led planning and coordination of cross-functional divisions during the preparedness and response phases of the Ebola activation with NYC hospitals.-Post-Emergency Canvassing Operation: Developed logistics cache and deployment strategies for disaster mobilizations, supporting deployed staff. Established and led an Inter-agency Task Force of senior leadership from multiple NYC agencies to develop policies and make command and control decisions for deployed staff.-Director, Intra-Agency Coordination & Continuity Planning: Managed the development of the Agency’s continuity planning, auditing, and upgrading the plan with 13 COOP Coordinators across divisions. Led training for all new Dept. of Health Leadership on ICS and integration into the Citywide Incident Management System.-Emergency Response Coordination: Managed the relationship with the NYC healthcare system to expand the reach of NYC DOHMH's Office of Emergency Preparedness and Response, enhancing NYC’s disaster response capabilities to support these systems. Show less

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  IBM

  Nov 2016 - Jun 2018

  Program Manager

  -Created a new application cycle for cities to apply for the SCC grant program, increasing the number of applicants by 80% YOY by making the process more intuitive based on prior applicant feedback and a/b testing-Led the development and scoping of projects for each city based on their applications and direct work with city stakeholders and leadership. -Led the recruiting, onboarding, and training of executive teams by aligning project scope and applicant skills and abilities from over 600 senior IBM executives-Ran daily scrum meetings, and held weekly retrospectives to gather data, generate insights, and understand the team dynamics Show less

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  Truveris

  Jun 2018 - Dec 2019

  Product Manager

  Truveris is a First Round Capital backed data company that provides actionable insights to reduce pharmacy cost and improve engagement enabling people to live healthier lives Product & Technical Leadership-Led end-to-end product strategy for Life Sciences portfolio, managing SaaS solutions across B2B, B2C, and analytics platforms with team of 15 engineers-Architected migration from ODS to Redshift/Looker BI platform, reducing data import latency by 75% and expanding analytical capabilities for enterprise clientsImplemented structured Agile methodology across engineering organization, resulting in 40% reduction in feature backlog through data-driven prioritizationBusiness Impact & Process Innovation-Redesigned drug launch workflow platform, driving 75% YoY increase in patient re-enrollment rates through optimized registration and reimbursement processes-Streamlined product roadmap to align with company OKRs, resulting in focused delivery of high-ROI features and improved resource utilization-Built and deepened enterprise client partnerships through hands-on product consultations and sales enablement, resulting in expanded platform utilization across client organizations and accelerated feature adoption ratesStakeholder & Customer Success-Created and maintained comprehensive Life Sciences product roadmap, translating business requirements into technical specifications and user stories-Managed stakeholder relationships across engineering, sales, and customer success teams, ensuring alignment on product strategy and delivery timelines Show less

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  IBM

  Jan 2020 - now

  Senior Product Manager, Digital Workplace AI, Automation, & Data Platforms

  Core Product Leadership & Technical Innovation-Led the end-to-end development of IBM’s Digital Workplace platform, driving a 250% daily active user growth over 10 months through data-driven persona development and strategic roadmap creation.Established OKR framework across the product portfolio, and worked with PMs to develop individual product KPIs, resulting in standardized success metrics and improved stakeholder alignment across 7 product lines.-Architected and launched 0-1 ML-powered sentiment analysis product, reducing executive reporting time from 72+ hours to <1 hour while improving accuracy by 92%. Later enhancing the product capabilities by integrating WatsonX AI that resulted in an increased accuracy of 98%, further reducing manual review time and proving the utility of WatsonX AI.-Led a cross-functional team of ML engineers, data scientists, and UX researchers to develop and scale the automated sentiment analysis platform.Implemented technical integration strategy across Figma, Monday.com, Jira, and Github leading to streamlined development workflow and more effective communication to internal and external stakeholders.Product Optimization & Team Development-Created and scaled a standardized product requirements documentation framework adopted across the product organization.-Built and scaled an enterprise-wide, comprehensive stakeholder alignment framework across 7 product lines, unifying product strategy communication between 100+ team members (5 PMs, 80+ developers, 20+ stakeholders), accelerating feature delivery through standardized governance, transparent decision-making processes, and cross-team planning.-Led technical product presentations alongside Sales teams for enterprise prospects, resulting in increased deal closure rates while gathering critical market feedback that shaped feature prioritization and product strategy. Show less