Ian Michael James

Experience

• 

  S.E. Gross Middle School

  Jun 2012 - Aug 2012

  Summer Custodian

  General Maintenance, Cleaning & Organization, Landscaping

• 

  Chili's

  Jun 2013 - Feb 2016

  Host/To Go Specialist/Server

  Greeting and seating guests, delivering premium customer service, answering phones, providing guests/co-workers with a clean, efficient work/dining space

• 

  No Stakes Theater Project

  Aug 2015 - Jul 2017

  Associate Artistic Director & Resident Dramaturg

  As Associate Artistic Director: works directly with the Artistic Director to oversee and support all aspects of artistic programming and production of No Stakes, foster creative relationships and plan, develop, and host all No Stakes fundraisers, live lit events, and staged readings. As Resident Dramaturg: works in support of the director, cast, and crew in a number of capacities, including researching into the themes, language, history, and criticism of a play and the period in which it takes place, gathering pertinent information on specifics such as the political climate or dramatic influences, and supplying said information and references to the cast and crew. Show less

• 

  NowPow

  Oct 2015 - Jan 2022

  • Planned and executed projects supporting the integration of NowPow and Unite Us resource directory data, focusing on optimizing user workflows (i.e., mapping similar search terms, keywords, regional variations of services, and national programs across platforms). • Formalized database guidelines and best practices to identify and fill gaps in directory data.• Conducted user experience research to better understand user needs when searching Unite Us and NowPow platforms for social services and/or organizations. Show less • Managed direct reports with tact and compassion through a transition to a fully remote workflow and a 300% influx of customer requests in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.• Served as a subject matter expert on NowPow’s social service taxonomy on various cross-functional and customer-facing teams (i.e., providing context on region-specific services, data on program availability in a given area, etc.)• Successfully enabled direct reports to autonomously create and implement project and communication plans to automate ticket responses and closures. Show less • Managed all operational and staffing functions required to maintain rapidly growing region-specific resource directories through an extended period of significant company growth.• Managed ongoing partnership with the Greater New York Hospital Association (GNYHA) to support the ingestion, enhancement, and return of external resource directory data. • Led a team of managers through establishing and implementing department objectives, key performance indicators, and metrics.• Conducted performance evaluations, compensation reviews, hiring, disciplinary actions, and termination of team members while maintaining appropriate staffing requirements. Show less

  • Intervention Architect – Taxonomy & Personalization

    Aug 2021 - Jan 2022

  • Customer Support & Taxonomy Manager

    Jan 2021 - Aug 2021

  • Customer Support Manager

    Nov 2019 - Jan 2021

  • Quality & Training Manager

    Oct 2015 - Nov 2019

  • Community Resources Team Lead

    Mar 2016 - Jun 2019

  • Service Level Surveyor

    Oct 2015 - Mar 2016
• 

  Mercy Street Theatre Company

  Mar 2016 - Jul 2017

  Ensemble Member & Resident Playwright
• 

  Unite Us

  Jan 2022 - May 2022

  • Led a team of direct reports (including managers and associates) through strategic and tactical quality assurance initiatives and projects to maintain robust, accurate, and up-to-date database records.• Created foundational processes for building a nationwide social service resource directory, containing over 50,000 unique healthcare and social service providers from two large datasets.• Leveraged broad social service subject matter expertise to advise numerous cross-collaborative teams regarding platform enhancements for Unite Us and legacy NowPow products. Show less • Planned and executed projects supporting the integration of NowPow and Unite Us resource directory data, focusing on optimizing user workflows (i.e., mapping similar search terms, keywords, regional variations of services, and national programs across platforms). • Formalized database guidelines and best practices to identify and fill gaps in directory data.• Conducted user experience research to better understand user needs when searching Unite Us and NowPow platforms for social services and/or organizations. Show less

  • Senior Manager - Quality Assurance

    Feb 2022 - May 2022

  • Taxonomy Analyst

    Jan 2022 - Feb 2022
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  United Way of Metro Chicago

  Oct 2022 - now

  Oversee all core 211 operations, including contact center, resource database, and people management.

  • Interim Director of Operations, 2-1-1

    Sept 2024 - now

  • Director, Data and Technology, 211

    Oct 2022 - now