I apologize in advance to those who prefer succinct and cookie-cutter summaries, but cookie-cutter is simply not in my nature.Creative problem-solving and optimizing operational efficiencies are at my core. My passion for fixing things dates back to the '80s, starting with lawn mowing of all things. My grandpa’s mower would run out of gas with precisely one strip of grass left no more than 30 feet long. Through experimentation, I developed a pattern that allowed me to finish the whole yard on a single tank of gas.Fast forward 30 years, and while the objectives have changed, the principles remain the same. I design, develop, deploy, and train managers on reports, tools, and applications to make their jobs easier and more efficient. The reports, gateways, bots, and analyses my team and I create are more than just numbers. We generate insights that paint a clear picture of trends and projections, helping to influence decisions that benefit our organization and the community we serve.How do we perform? When I took on this role in 2010, we were middle of the pack compared to other Blue Cross plans and health insurers. Now? We win. Our success required a cultural revamp and buy-in from top to bottom. Since then, we’ve routinely walked away with JD Power Awards for best in class in our region for health insurance, sweeping all six categories in 2023. We’ve consistently won multiple gold and silver awards from both iXCA and US XCA, competing against much larger companies. Our call center has finished in the top 3 out of over 500 call centers for “Call Center of the Year” in both of the last two years as evaluated by the customer service and QA experts at the SQM Group. Not too shabby.At the end of the day, my job is incredibly gratifying. I love our CX awards because we’ve worked hard to solve the CX puzzle. But if you work in operations or a contact center, here’s my advice: the secret sauce to CX is EX. Math will always be my true love, but EX is my new passion.