Karen DeJohn

Experience

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  Catalyst Fund Management

  Jun 2000 - Aug 2000

  Research & Data Analyst Intern

  Venture capital investment analysis.

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  Bucky, Inc

  Sept 2000 - Mar 2001

  Export Launch Team Intern

  Worked directly with the CEO to develop an international exporting agenda aligned with the company and CEO's future objectives. Identified optimal target countries for sale of Bucky retail products.

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  Accenture

  Jun 2001 - Jan 2010

  Manager

  Consistently exceeded or achieved performance goals as measured by project KPI's, team utilization rates, morale surveys, post-launch customer satisfaction surveys, SOX audits, and direct reports’ future success.Roles:Outsourcing Account Manager• Responsible for client relationship management and contract delivery• Established capacity management tools to meet contractual obligations and increase internal profit margins on our ~50 person account• Achieved department velocity, quality, resource utilization, and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance goalsTeam Manager• Group supervisor for onshore and offshore teams• People Project Advocate: Responsible for account engagement, defining improvement strategies, and empowering junior team members to drive people action plans through to completion• Career Counselor: Provided on-going career management and professional development guidance, as well as annual reviews and support for promotions, through years of growth and recession.Project Manager• Assumed positions of increasing scope, client responsibility, and staff supervision• Worked on projects with budgets ranging from $10K-$7.5M USD• Utilized Six Sigma, Transactional Lean, ITIL, and PMBOKClients served, many in the Fortune 500, across high tech, communications and energy. Show less

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  Qualcomm

  Jan 2010 - Aug 2016

  Project Manager, Staff

  Business Relationship Manager, Program Manager, Project Manager. Define and direct implementation of business solutions with ROI, bottom line, and strategic benefits. Manage staff, temps, vendors, contract negotiations, budgets.Keys to success:• Engage frequently with the customer• Keep current on business and technology trends• Capture complex as-is processes and create beneficial to-be processes • Define real business cases around proposed modifications• Provide a clear vision, obtain and maintain stakeholder buy-in• Drive change management with open communication• Engage with Executives, End Users, Sales, Marketing, Legal, and Engineering teams• Focus on the critical path, swiftly weigh the impact of change requests, leverage Agile development to propose optimal release strategies• Assist task owners in starting new assignments and breaking through barriers• Inspire collaboration across diverse, sometimes competing, groups and divisions• Recognize significant contributions and celebrate! Show less

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  Rady School of Management

  Jun 2013 - Mar 2014

  Defined, refined, and pitched an augmented reality software application for the commercial construction industry.Broke in to the market via cold calls on construction sites and personal networks. Conducted in-person and phone interviews with builders, project engineers, project managers, buyers, and advisers at regional and major international construction firms. Co-developed a business case and pitch that won funding in the form of a National Science Foundation i-Corps grant. Created a business plan and go-to-market strategy presented to successful entrepreneurs, industry experts, and VC's. Show less

  • Independent Study - Product Strategy Analysis

    Jan 2014 - Mar 2014

  • Co-founder Augmented Reality Software Application

    Jun 2013 - Dec 2013
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  PTC

  Aug 2016 - Oct 2019

  Director of Program Management

  As program director, I held full program ownership of two pillars of the Vuforia Augmented Reality software program: Engine and Eyewear.I designed and orchestrated bi-annual planning, leading the international senior leadership team in establishing a rolling 12-month roadmap and resourcing approach. In tight collaboration with the leadership team, product, engineering and marketing, I led prioritization and execution on our program roadmap and drove delivery of some of Vuforia's highest profile features and initiatives: 3D model recognition (Model Targets), Ground Plane Smart Terrain, support for new eyewear (HoloLens, Vuzix M300), an integration into the world’s leading game industry software (Unity), and more. Show less

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  Intuit

  Oct 2019 - Sept 2024

  Directing a strategy team overseeing operations across Intuit, I drove transformational change in how Intuit plans and operates as an AI-driven platform company. Through cross-functional collaboration and novel data analysis, I defined, championed, and executed a multi-year roadmap focused on increasing platform leverage while improving prioritization, accountability, and investment decisions in taking Intuit's strategy through to execution.With an approach characterized by holistic thinking and extreme ownership of initiatives, I cultivated a high-performing, diverse and innovative teaming environment that consistently delivered results.Accomplishments in the form of feedback loops:- One of four executives selected for a Finance SVP-level sponsorship in 2024; as determined by senior leaders identifying top talent employees to engage in a long-term career growth program- Stakeholder feedback, "You've provided invaluable counsel across a broad spectrum of topics with your ability to look at both the big picture and drill down into the small details. Your capacity to quickly understand new and complex topics, and provide strategic counsel, along with detailed implementation advice, on a broad scope of my work across <business solution areas> have been integral to their completion"- Direct report feedback, "There are people you feel like going the extra mile for, just basis the amount of support they in turn provide. Karen is one such leader!" Show less My leadership in Business Operations was instrumental in aligning operational planning processes across Intuit. My team and I successfully centralized 30+ quarterly planning activities into a singular, cohesive framework, significantly reducing coordination efforts and enhancing transparency for cross-company initiatives. We designed and launched a novel tool to support the process, allowing for standardized prioritization of 1000's of initiatives. This effort has directly supported Intuit's evolution into a platform-centric organization. Accomplishments in the form of feedback loops:- SVP of Operations, "You managed to onboard the entire company onto the common in-year planning process in record time and with virtually no speed bumps... I would trust you to implement even the most complex process across Intuit."- Cross-functional Stakeholder, "Karen excels at strategic problem solving. She not only has a deep understanding of methods (e.g. Design for Delight, Customer-Driven Innovation, and facilitation) and when/how to apply them, but also is bold in her strategic thinking. She questions everything, helps develop a bold vision, and encourages/influences people toward the vision."- Cross-functional Stakeholder, "Karen truly embodies being stronger together. She's a great team member, and when things get difficult or challenging, she "leans in", which demonstrates extreme ownership." Show less In this strategy and execution role, I defined leadership team operations, led planning and drove execution of growth programs for the Consumer Group, Go to Market and Virtual Expert Platform organizations - representing one of Intuit’s flagship products and two highly leveraged platform capabilities.I led 30+ Technical Program Managers, all of whom were key leaders/partners in achieving 7-17% revenue growth in the Consumer Group business over three fiscal years.I defined and drove the approach for annual planning, accounting for 2000+ engineers and $400m+ in annual budget, optimizing for site strategy, FTE/CW mix, cloud service spend, run the business vs growth investments, etc. (FY20-FY22, inclusive of pandemic and layoff strategy)I prepared the SVP of engineering for CTO 1:1s, SVP leader scrums, and multi-day leadership offsites. I held VP's accountable for strategic deliverables. I led a multi-year effort to increase velocity in the engineering organization through People, Process and Technology levers.Accomplishments in the form of feedback loops:- SVP Engineering, "(yours is) one of the most difficult jobs in the company, where dependencies all come together and you have to navigate that with the team - you have done a wonderful job"- Executive Business Partner, "your knowledge and domain expertise... coupled with your business and tech ecosystem acumen is extremely impactful. You're very well versed in the business and it not only helped me tremendously as I was onboarding into the role, but it truly makes an impact in the work you drove and delivered"- Cross-functional Stakeholder, "She's highly efficient and manages to expertly distill very complex concepts and ideas into relevant, actionable plans. She facilitates well and makes sure the team successfully meets very challenging timelines and requests."- Functional Business Partner, "She has single-handedly taught more about <SVP's> large and complex organization than anyone in my 6 years" Show less

  • Director, Intuit Business Operations

    Dec 2023 - Sept 2024

  • Director, Intuit Business Operations, In-Year Planning

    Sept 2022 - Dec 2023

  • Technical Program Director and Chief of Staff

    Oct 2019 - Sept 2022
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  ServiceNow

  Nov 2024 - now

  Director, Strategic Operations

  As Chief of Staff to the SVP of Platform Experience, I drive strategy and execution across product, engineering, and other cross-functional teams. Accountable for strategy and business operations inclusive of financial planning, operational rhythms, headcount/budget management, aligning key objectives (OKRs) and ensuring overall organizational effectiveness.