Blair Larsen

Experience

• 

  Equifax

  Feb 2002 - Jun 2004

  Effectively handled escalated calls ranging from customers requesting refunds to very irate customers not happy with their service or current credit situation. Conducted Fraud investigations for credit card fraud and identity theft using merchant information. Included merchant conversations encompassing Charge Backs, Disputes and Retrievals.Key Accomplishments:1. Developed Sales and Credit Score Training for contact center staff2. Key contributor to building contact center Quality program Show less

  • Inside Sales Supervisor (Contact Center)

    Jun 2003 - Jun 2004

  • Inside Sales Representative (Contact Center)

    Feb 2002 - Jun 2003
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  Tangerine

  Sept 2004 - Oct 2023

  Developed and executed the operational and client experience strategy for Tangerine Small Business onboarding digitalization. This included creating the operational vision, steering the ideation and prioritization through scrum project methodology as well as establishing the adjudication and fulfillment process of business account onboarding, remediation process of existing business account AML information, and the client contact approach for delivering a superior client experience. Key Accomplishments1. Transitioned Small Business onboarding from a manual operational process to digital which yielded a 300% increase in operational capacity gains2. Improved business account approval to funding from 11% to 50%+ in 9 months3. Reduced Small Business client complaints and negative feedback by 75%4. Improved the average days-to-fund a business account from 60 days to 12 days Show less Employed a client-centric approach while guiding the performance of 65+ professionals of diverse financial breadth, including leadership of investment funds operations, business account operations, registered product operations, tax reporting operations, estates operations, payments, credit card operations, secured & unsecured lending,, AML operations, and projects/testing. Crafted several operational excellence strategies to generate resource capacity with scalability instilling a culture of continuous improvement.Key Accomplishments:1. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, promptly digitized an assortment of physical tasks reducing over 270,000 annual work items and enabling 85% of the department workforce to work from home2. Effectively built and launched an AML Operations team that analyzes potential triggers and coordinates client contact for financial investigations and enhanced due diligence 3. Assembled a team of 8 specialists to remediate AML KYC information for 32,000 business accounts over 3 years retaining 80% of balances4. Successfully merged operational back-office and contact center front-office functions into a national Estate Account Management team that improved estate processing productivity by 30% and reduced client complaints by 35% 5. Identified non-value-added tasks and introduced a volume forecasting methodology to reduce overtime by 1,100+ hours Year-Over-Year while processing volumes increased 15% and staffing levels remained flat.6. Instilled a process improvement culture that resulted in reducing Not in Good Order items by 40% since January 20157. Strengthened culture resulting in an improvement of employee engagement from 69% to 90% since January 20158. Steered Initiative to digitize 70% of registered product in/out transfers for investment funds during implementation of A$M Fundserv at Tangerine. Show less Strategically led 80+ professionals in a diverse set of Contact Center functions overseeing training, communications, incentives, quality assurance, projects/testing, outbound (Sales & Service), e-services (email, chat, social media), and customer complaint/escalation teams. Created several strategies to improve the client phone experience, vital to advancing Tangerine's Sales & Service department into a world class Contact Center. Key Accomplishments:1. Built and executed a training and quality program that increased national sales by 20% and improved First Contact Resolution from 67% to 85%2. Successfully implemented a powerful sales tool and incentive program geared to support Sales Associate cross-sell and up-sell conversations resulting in increased sales conversion of 20%3. Developed and executed the Sales Associate development path and training plan, fundamental to winning Contact Center Employee of Choice Gold and Platinum Awards4. Achieved number one ranking in Customer Service for Net Promoter Score5. Successfully procured and implemented a knowledge base search tool to assist front-line associates in real-time resulting in reduced average handle time (AHT) from 8 minutes to 5.5 minutes Show less Purposefully led a project team of 6 professionals dedicated to the intelligent improvement and evaluation of all processes, system applications, and procedures within the national multi-site contact center.Key Accomplishments:1. Successfully implemented 30+ process improvement enhancements totaling $435 K in operational expense savings over 1.5 years2. Developed the approach for implementing a Live Answer Contact Center Call Routing Strategy with Client Call-Back functionality3. Recognized as a vital contributor for developing and delivering the ING Direct Chequing Account product. Show less Effectively managed the performance, quality, and production of 20+ professionals in an inbound and outbound sales team to maximize client satisfaction and meet/exceed the goals of the Sales & Service Department. Key Accomplishments:1. Top performing sales team at 136% to Plan2. Improved new account conversion by 20%3. Built and Piloted an Outbound Registered Product Conversion and Retention program that lifted registered product inflows by 13% and retained funds at a 18% success rate Show less Effectively supported both Sales Associates and Clients with queries and escalations. Purposefully accepted ownership of client issues and ensured all matters were effectively resolved to the client’s satisfaction.Key Accomplishments:1. Developed and piloted the initiative for a New Hire “Incubation” program where new Sales Associates fresh out of training are mentored by aspiring leaders who are subject matter experts. Improved new hire call quality by 50% and reduced call transfers by 60%. Still in use to this day. Show less

  • Sr. Manager of Operational Excellence, Small Business Solutions

    Jul 2022 - Oct 2023

  • Sr. Manager of Client Business Support (Deposit, Investment & Lending Operations)

    Jan 2015 - Mar 2023

  • Head of Client Experience (National Contact Center & Support)

    Jul 2011 - Jan 2015

  • Leader of Sales Initiatives (New Process Development & Improvement)

    Nov 2009 - Jul 2011

  • Sales Leader (Contact Center)

    Jun 2007 - Nov 2009

  • Support & Resolution Associate (Contact Center)

    Jun 2006 - Jun 2007

  • Sales Associate (Contact Center)

    Sept 2004 - Jun 2006