D. Thad Whitaker, PhD, PMP

Experience

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  The National Institutes of Health

  Aug 2013 - Sept 2021

  National Human Genome Research InstituteNational Academy of Sciences Laboratory1. Identified genetic variants causing 90 percent of compulsive, OCD-like behaviors in service dogs to establish genetic test to eliminate aberrant behaviors 2. Co-developed a method and set of best practices to increase genetic markers approximately 40x at same price to customer to improve disease mutation detection3. Awarded $130K grants to initiate project to identify mutations underlying behavioral diseases, project ongoing4. Initiated 10 critical, public/private clinical partnerships to expand scope to establish novel research avenues Show less

  • Program Manager

    Oct 2020 - Sept 2021

  • Project Manager

    Apr 2018 - Oct 2020

  • Graduate Student

    Aug 2013 - Apr 2018
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  Fellows Consulting Club of DC

  Jan 2019 - Jun 2020

  President

  1. Surveyed scientists to identify largest pain point in career transition was lack of professional experience2. Established organization providing strategy consulting opportunities: removed N.I.H. roadblocks, established communication channels, and acquired first 4 clients, e.g. Hungry Harvest, ClearMask3. One hundred (100) percent of active members leveraged experiences to gain interviews at top firms4. Delivered 4 strategy recommendations to clients after market research; maintained client relationships Show less

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  Integrated DNA Technologies

  Sept 2021 - Oct 2022

  Product Manager

  Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) Business UnitInnovation Product Manager1. Reduced workflow hands-on time >95% for clinical research customers by partnering with best-in-class automation instrument company to create over $30M est. revenue in next 3 years 2. Established genomics strategy by creating product roadmap supported by key opinion leaders (KOLs) and subject matter experts (SMEs) via creation and execution of 1:1 guided, qualitative interviews and quantitative surveys- Automation of NGS workflows- RNA-sequencing- Methylation/epigentic-sequencing3. Identified product concept to reduce customer's overall workflow costs approximately 30% that eliminates need to sequence, analyze, and store invariable data and/or customer-defined, non-useful data- Gained leadership support to move towards development through creation of a business case, financial model, and MVP4. Advancing product development (multi-company distribution agreement; library preparation enrichment) by leading 2 remote, multi-functional (e.g., Sales, Marketing, Ops, R&D) teams in a matrix environment5. Reduced bi-weekly inventory management time >90 percent, 120 to 10 minutes, by standardizing workflow Show less

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  Ford Motor Company

  Mar 2023 - now

  FordLabs’ teams partner with departments across Ford to de-risk software development using human-centered design, rapid experimentation, and Lean/Agile/Scrum best practices to validate ideas and create digital solutions or to invalidate ideas and avoid wasted development costs1. Released two major versions of dealer task management tool, centralizing EV certification requirements, with team of 8 designers and developers; saved $2.5M in total development costs2. Launched a scheduling application for customers to search and schedule maintenance appointments and for dealerships to manage appointments, leading team of 15 in conjunction with 2 product owners3. Identified a lack of desirability for novel vehicle retail financing by researched market fit user-centered design experimentation with 2 UX researchers, re-prioritized department to higher-value opportunities4. Led engineers to integrate Slack and Ford’s GenAI/LLM platform to facilitate easier prompt engineering5. Won “People’s Choice” and “Ready to Ship” awards for 2 separate applications, each created in 2 days during separate hackathons against 15 competing teams by leading teams of 5 and 8, respectively 6. Facilitated and planned weekly Product workshops, e.g., GenAI prompt engineering, for 18 PMs Show less

  • Senior Product Manager, Z1 Labs, Integrated Services

    Jul 2024 - now

  • Product Manager, FordLabs

    Mar 2023 - Jun 2024