Experience

• 

  Skyway publications

  Nov 1993 - Apr 1995

  Graphic designer
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  Ion media group

  Apr 1994 - Sept 1997

  Creative director / owner

  Founded a small creative firm focused on delivering pragmatic marketing and branding services for small to medium-sized business. Built the business to three full-time employees, successfully sold the business and provided ongoing creative and operations leadership for the acquiring company (Imagewërks Marketing).– Built a solid book of business starting from the ground up; established long-term client relationships– Provided strategic marketing and communications planning services– Services included creative direction, design, web, display, and print/digital production management– Hired, mentored and directed the daily activities of three full-time employees– Managed all aspects of business operations including business development, solution design and proposal development, and all aspects of accounting– Developed and managed strategic vendor relationships– Provided ongoing operations support and oversight Show less

• 

  Imagewerks marketing, inc.

  Sept 1997 - Oct 2010

  Vp, creative services

  Provided oversight, direction and growth for a 15 member creative services team composed of project managers, creative director, designers, web developers and copywriters. Consistently delivered branding, marketing, advertising, display/trade show and digital services while maintaining high levels of customer satisfaction, service and achieving financial targets.Relevant Skills and Experience– Created and proactively managed annual operating budget; conducted monthly P&L analysis; made adjustments as needed to meet established goals– Initiated process improvements; changes resulted in improved services delivery, improved margins, and workplace communication– Led account, creative and development teams in the delivery of traditional marketing and interactive projects that consistently met or exceeded customer expectations– Assisted clients and account teams with strategic planning– Developed project budgets and project plans; proactively measured project progress againstestablished delivery and financial milestones– Presented strategy and deliverables to clients and project stakeholders at key project stages– Hired, managed and mentored creative team staff members– Established an environment which allowed team members to successfully deliver on desired outcomes; ensured focus and alignment with client goals Show less

• 

  The nerdery

  Oct 2010 - Oct 2017

  As a Senior Account Executive/Program Director, I consulted with Clients to understand business opportunities (B2C, B2B, and internal innovation), identify potential solutions, and designed delivery strategies that met specific client and engagement needs. As initiatives moved forward, I continued by partnering closely with clients, user experience designers, and software engineering teams to deliver custom solutions for marketing initiatives, SaaS applications, mobile applications, B2B platforms, and critical operational applications/internal tools.Relevant Skills and Experience– Worked closely with clients to translate project requirements into tactical project plans; identified the necessary resource and material costs; outlined engagement strategies and prepared solution delivery proposals to meet client business needs and objectives– Served as Program Manager for a 30+ member team composed of scrum masters, user experience designers, developers and quality assurance analysts to build a greenfield retail product information management solution for a major national grocer– Worked closely with client and delivery teams to assess and recommend solution delivery strategies; assisted teams with planning, roadmap development, communication plans, governance and prioritization activities– Created business cases and briefing presentations; presented findings and recommendations to executive sponsors; secured funding and approvals for projects– Successfully delivered solutions for a variety of project types, including: operational applications/internal tools, SaaS products, mobile applications, websites, and sales and marketing initiatives– Led executive briefings and served as a relationship escalation point Show less Participated in a pilot program to test, iterate, improve and share new business development and service delivery strategies. The pilot enabled discovery for a number of business development and service delivery improvements, enhanced the depth of client relationships and customer experience, and successfully landed and launched a large multi-year engagement that is the company’s largest to date.Relevant Skills and Experience– Partnered with pilot program team members to design, pitch and win a large multi-year software development engagement– Assisted pilot program Account Executives with new opportunity intake analysis, engagement approachrecommendations, proposal strategy and presentation support– Worked closely with client and delivery team leads to assess and determine program delivery strategy; assisted teams with planning, roadmap development, communication plans, governance and priorities– Created business cases and briefing presentations; presented findings and recommendations to project sponsors; secured necessary funding and approvals– Conducted retail industry research to understand clients’ business climate and challenges; leveraged findings to build marketing messaging and touch points relevant to each stage of the customer’s buying journey– Provided escalation support for client and account teams Show less Managed and mentored a team of five Account Executives during a transitional period in the company’s history (shifted business and account development behaviors from transactional to strategic, consultative, and relationship driven engagements).Relevant Skills and Experience– Led team through a challenging sales model transition period; ensured continued engagement and adoption of new sales structure and methodology– Worked closely with cross-departmental leaders to evaluate and adjust business processes to align service offerings with evolving client and project needs– Employee development, mentorship, and performance management activities– Assisted team members with business needs analysis, engagement approach definition, proposal strategy and presentation support– Served as a strategy, design and development consultant for clients and account teams– Provided escalation support for client and account teams Show less Provided mentorship and oversight to a team of up to five Project Managers and a portfolio of clients with up to seventy active projects at various stages of the software development life cycle. Developed strong customer relationships by delivering software design and development services in a strategic and consultative manner.Relevant Skills and Experience– Partnered with PMO peers to develop and establish delivery standards and best practices– Worked across departments to improve software design and development processes– Managed a team of project managers and a portfolio of projects with annual valuations of between $7.5-10M– Personally managed multiple complex and ongoing product development engagements– Managed a team of Project Managers; acted as a resource and provided guidance for project planning, risk identification and mitigation activities– Ensured adherence to established goals and standard operating procedures– Employee development, mentorship, and performance management activities– Provided escalation support for client and account teams Show less Partnered closely with clients and internal project teams to design and deliver websites, marketing tools, mobile and custom web applications.Relevant Skills and Experience– Managed client relationships and projects while maintaining a 100% client retention rate– Proven record of working through challenging and/or high-risk projects using a combination of relationship management skills and/or bringing in additional resources to achieve desired outcomes– Managed a project load of up to 16 simultaneous projects with teams of one to ten team members– Proactively identified, communicated and mitigated or resolved project risks– Successfully leveraged a variety of delivery methodologies (waterfall, agile, iterative or hybrid) to successfully deliver custom software design and development services– Provided motivation and maintained team morale throughout the service delivery process in an extremely fast-paced, deadline driven environment– Demonstrated ability to quickly learn/adapt to new technology and delivery challenges– Developed new processes for handling inherited code projects, mitigating company exposure to the inherent risks of taking on projects developed by third parties Show less

  • Senior Account Executive / Program Director

    Sept 2015 - Oct 2017

  • Retail Pilot: Senior Program / Account Manager

    Jan 2015 - Sept 2015

  • Director of Sales

    Feb 2014 - Jan 2015

  • Team Lead / Senior Software Project Manager

    Aug 2012 - Feb 2014

  • Interactive / Software Project Manager

    Oct 2010 - Aug 2012
• 

  Avtex solutions, llc

  Feb 2018 - Feb 2021

  Senior program manager

  As part of the Digital CX practice area at Avtex Solutions, I worked closely with solution teams to understand Client goals and deliver solutions that fuel exception customer experiences.Relevant Skills and Experience– Serving as the primary point of contact for several key customer relationships, I ensured overall relationship health while managing on-budget and on-time delivery of projects– Providing delivery oversight for multiple technology projects, I facilitated planning and management of: discovery sessions, requirements capture, resource and project planning, risk mitigation and escalation, budget development and management, communications and reporting, and ongoing development and support activities– Working closely with client leadership, I sought to identify and drive strategic conversations with a goal of accelerating business value and impact; specific outcomes include more effective IT/business alignment and collaboration, improved quality and solution scalability, and reduced long-term costs– Actively engaging with business and technical teams, I encouraged conversations that sought to find the balance between what’s desirable from a user perspective, what’s feasible from a technical or timeline perspective, and what’s viable from a business perspective Show less

• 

  Polaris inc.

  Mar 2021 - now

  Information technology business relationship manager

  Working from within the Office of the Divisional CIO for Off-road and On-road vehicles (ATVs, UTVs, SxS, Snow, Motorcycles and Slingshot), I serve as a strategic interface between Business Teams and Digital & Information Technology Delivery Teams – with primary areas of focus around understanding business needs, solution discovery, technology strategy development, service management, risk management, business operations and relationship management.Relevant Skills and Experience– Serving as a key liaison between Business Leaders and the Digital & Information Technology functions, to ensure understanding of long range business plans, strategies, and tactical goals or objectives– Driving and facilitating the 'right' discussions with business leaders to identify technical solutions that will enable current and future business objectives– Providing assistance with business case development, prioritization, establishing cross-functional consensus on planning and execution, and the development of capability and technology roadmaps– Collaborating with architecture, infrastructure, and operations teams to ensure solution compatibility and alignment with current or future business processes or technology roadmaps– Creation of a shared vision for approved solutions, and facilitation of decision making and arbitration relating to trade-offs both within and between different solution platforms– Ability to collaborate/orchestrate work across multiple teams to ensure GBU deliverables and objectives will be met and desired results will be achieved– Driving continuous improvement to Digital & Information Technology processes, technologies and applications Show less