Al Krueger Email & Phone Number

Greater Milwaukee

Leading a new combined team of Experience Strategy, Research, and Design that is dedicated to helping advance Highmark Health's mission to create remarkable health experiences, freeing people to be their best. This team of 30+ exceptionally talented human-centered team members strives to always put the people we serve at the center of the experiences and solutions we design. Also lead our enterprise's human-centered design training program to help all critical functions at Highmark Health practically apply a human-centered mindset and methods in their daily jobs.

Greater Milwaukee

Leading further building of a world-class Experience Research + Design Practice that challenges norms to revolutionize how our company thinks about serving customers and clinicians, transforming how people experience health and healthcare. This effort includes centralizing and designing an innovative research function to drive our Product and Health Experience team's future-facing roadmap work forward. Also lead our enterprise's human-centered design training program to help all critical functions at Highmark Health practically apply a human-centered mindset and methods in their daily jobs.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States

InsideOut is a leadership community custom-built for senior leaders of in-house design, creative, and experience teams at high-profile brands. Our small format roundtables provide space to connect, collaborate and generate new ways to move business forward, faster.

Greater Milwaukee Area

Led the build, development and growth of a human-centered design / design thinking team, competency, capabilities, culture and projects to innovate and transform care at Advocate Aurora Health. Focused on gaining deep understanding of the human behaviors, challenges, needs and unmet needs of those providing, supporting and receiving care in our system and through participatory co-design methodologies brought new concepts, improved experiences and transformed care delivery models to life supported and enhanced by the right technology. Project areas included primary care transformation; ambulatory redesign; retail health; elevating the food experience for patients, guests to our hospitals and our teammates; environmental sustainability; memory care / senior services; hybrid virtual video visit workflows for clinicians; clinician and team member wellbeing; clinics of the future; DE&I patient experiences; frontline and clinician innovation and more...Served in additional systemwide leadership roles: Primary Care Transformation Drive Team, Wellbeing Council

Greater Milwaukee Area

Led efforts with Advocate Aurora Health’s commercial innovation team to identify new business models to define, pilot, launch, build and scale new adjacent business ventures - especially within the sports performance market - that advance the organization’s position in the marketplace, produce increased value and do more to help people in the communities we serve live well. Building innovation capabilities, including design thinking, human-centered design and other methodologies to shape a culture of creativity and innovative thinking. Built venture investment pipeline while evaluating 200+ startups and technology platforms.

Greater Milwaukee Area

Greater Milwaukee Area

Business, innovation and human-centered design leader with extensive experience developing, evaluating, cultivating and pivoting ideas and then bringing them to life as well as solving big problems. Significant corporate, enterprise, agency and startup experience leading strategy, innovation, design thinking, brand, product development, digital, communications efforts to build B2C and B2B companies through flawless execution.Projects have included Milwaukee-based technology, fashion and product-based startups, as well as Rightpoint, Johnson Controls and others.

Greater Milwaukee Area

Helped lead the development of an enterprise-wide Design Thinking practice. This effort cultivated and elevated design thinking and innovation skills throughout the organization to foster future-facing culture transformation. I also led Design Thinking efforts to address employee engagement, governance and external technology initiatives as well as taught Design Thinking courses / classes.

Greater Milwaukee Area

Led day-to-day activities including future-facing vision development, revenue model creation, strategic planning, new market selection, marketing, sales and growth for hankr, the mouthwateringly-visual, food-finding tool/app that launched successfully in two markets in 2016. hankr quickly grew to 10,000 users, over 250,000 user interactions and close to 100 restaurant clients. Revenue projections were approaching $100,000 in its first 12 months.Oversaw the redevelopment of the business structure, vision, brand and purpose from an original concept called Food Mood, which was a business-to-business white label platform for a restaurant group to share good food photography with their customers. Engineered a strategy shift and pivot to create a marketing engine that would help connect restaurants and consumers through the use of exceptional true-to-life food photography and an innovative user experience. Also led the overall strategic vision and development of complementary offerings to create a well-rounded marketing and digital ecosystem for restaurant marketing.

Greater Milwaukee Area

Drove overall business strategy, vision, organizational development and future planning for hankr, the mouthwateringly-visual, food-finding tool/app that launched in Milwaukee and Madison in 2016. Quickly grew to 10,000 users and close to 100 restaurant customers. Promoted to president.

Greater Milwaukee Area

Led and drove the development and execution of a vision to create a venture group that would develop and build its own ideas and invest in external entrepreneurial ideas. Equity stakes were taken based on the value of the digital components that were built to each run the company, as well as leadership, oversight and running each company. The group was designed to start and run new companies and leverage Ascedia's (a digital development firm) digital expertise to bring the ideas to life. In short, the group would originate, identify and cultivate ideas to build digital-based businesses, tools and intellectual property as well as run and manage these companies. - Created the overall strategy, purpose and perspective of Knihter (as well as the brand). - Developed all research programs and investment vetting protocols.- Led all vetting efforts, research and plan development for new businesses and venture candidates.- Managed and led the development and launch of each business property, including hankr.- Oversaw total investment and value contributions of nearly $1M.

Greater Milwaukee Area

Helped drive strategic vision and grant giving of over $250,000 for an organization that was dedicated to educating and inspiring the next generation of creative professionals in the Milwaukee region.

Greater Milwaukee Area

Led all digital functions at MorganMyers as well as helped the agency and its clients to innovate in meaningful ways and adopt big, new ideas. Helped MorganMyers' global and national consumer-facing food and agriculture clients connect with the right customers (B2C and B2B) at the right times through the right channels.Led significant innovation and digital programs for Case IH and Oscar Mayer.MorganMyers is a strategic communications firm that builds, protects and promotes great brands that help feed the world. The agency works with brands like Oscar Mayer, Merck, Kraft, Miller Brewing, McDonald's, General Mills, Pillsbury and other prominent brands.

Greater Milwaukee Area

Vice President, Social Media + PRResponsible for oversight of strategic social media and PR programs that deliver deep brand experiences for marquee clients like Wilson Sporting Goods, Wolverine Boots, Koss Corporation and more. Led strategic initiatives at marquee events including Super Bowl XLV and NCAA March Madness Championships while overseeing strategic planning, PR and social media creative development and execution of a national product launch for an innovative Wi-Fi-based personal headphone system.Responsibility included driving organic sales efforts with existing HDC clients to leverage new social media, PR and digital offerings. My efforts contributed to a 100% year over year increase in this key business area.Director of MarketingResponsible for oversight and advancement of strategic marketing of the agency to propel growth by delivering a deep brand experience of our work, culture and people. Through this process I led efforts to abandon the "Cobbler's kids" mentality for agency marketing and drove a significant uptick in inbound inquires and web traffic through strategic content develop, social media, video, a regular thought-leadership e-newsletter, Active Insights as well as hosted meaningful and strategic agency and industry events.During this time, led the successful endorsement deal to sponsor Olympian Nick Symmonds via his "Your Twitter Name on an Olympian in 2012" campaign. As part of this effort we launched and gained significant national publicity for the Hanson Dodge Creative Active Lifestyle Advisory Board.HDC is America’s leading active lifestyle agency. Based in Milwaukee's Historic Third Ward, HDC is a full-service firm that specializes in helping global brands attain market leadership through the strategic integration of world-class branding, relationship marketing, social media, e-commerce and advanced interactive technology. Clients include Wilson Sporting Goods, Trek, Wolverine, Thule and Kmart.

Greater Milwaukee Area

Helped develop and concept a one-day innovative conference focused on exploring and educating students and professionals on the convergence of traditional and social media. Oversaw each event and led marketing, social media and publicity efforts for the events that drew significant attendance (2009 = 300; 2010 = 350; 2011 = 500). Over the three occurrences of the event all net-proceeds were donated to student organizations, scholarships and grants totaling over $40,000. The events featured prominent thought leaders in branding, marketing, social media and public relations from marquee brands such as IBM, Pepsi, The North Face, American Eagle Outfitters, Lands' End, Southwest Airlines, Harley-Davidson Motor Company, Jockey International and more.

Greater Milwaukee Area

Founded Comet to heavily focus on helping brands grow their business through brand-centric communications and specifically, social media. Revenues quickly approached $1Million.The company was one of the first in the marketplace and region to specialize in levering social media, online content and video for business purposes.While leading Comet:- Led the founding, concept development and management of the PR+Social Media Summit (noted separately)- Spoke to many businesses and at conferences across the country (including the PRSA International Conference)- Was named to the Milwaukee Business Journal's Forty under 40, the publication's Power Book of Most Influential people - Developed large amounts of strategic branding, PR and social media content on our blog and via guests posts on other influential blogs and publications (PR Week, etc.). - Founded Comet Branding Radio, an Internet radio show that featuring PR, branding and social media thought leaders from around the country and great brands like Ford Motor Company, Harley-Davidson and Subaru (produced over 70 shows in three years).During this time, we grew the business to eight people and became a very attractive merger/acquisition target. The firm was merged with Hanson Dodge Creative at the beginning of 2011 when I became a partner and vice president of that organization.

Bs - Communications, Public Relations And Marketing

Activities and Societies: While at UWW I founded and ran the UWW Cycling Team, which competed nationally. Through this experience, I was.

Exchange Program, Marketing Emphasis