Ben Kohl Email & Phone Number

Winneconne, Wi, Us

Minneapolis, Mn, Us

Responsible for leading Thrivent’s engineering teams in support of our Membership and Thrivent Choice programs

Minneapolis, Mn, Us

-Responsible for leading technology in support of Thrivent Financial affiliates including Thrivent Investment Management Inc, Thrivent Trust Company, Newman Long Term Care, Thrivent Insurance Agency, and Thrivent Federal Credit Union-Increased Broker Dealer AUM by $600 million by leading a successful transition of an independent agent channel back to TIMI-Responsible for technology supporting a Top 30 Broker Dealer in Thrivent Investment ManagementIncreased software delivery velocity of team by building capacity from 3 to 15 engineers in one year and transitioning team into new Product Operating Model-Responsible for managing Vendor Hosted, On-Premise and Custom grown applications (includes Wealthscape, Envestnet, Docupace, iCapital, etc.)-Reduced Broker/Dealer’s regulatory risk tied to accessing books and records data quickly for audits-Decreased advisor time needed to submit Long Term Care insurance quotes while reducing security vulnerabilities by launching new website for Newman Long Term Care.-Led discovery to enhance Advisor’s experience tied to opening new brokerage and managed accounts-Improved Engineering Productivity across all Thrivent Application Development by procuring and implementing IntelliJ Ultimate to all engineers (over 300 engineers). -Fostered team environment for knowledge sharing to reduce single person dependency and enhance career growth of staff-Led effort to define Business Vision, Outcomes, and Capability Maturity to define new staffing structure in support of business areas looking for growth and investment

Minneapolis, Mn, Us

-Ensured accurate and timely compensation payments for over 2,000 advisors by leading a team of architects, engineers, BSAs and QA engineers successfully-Provided transparency to advisors by leading IT team through a successful implementation of a new compensation model for career advisors-Helped Negotiate Vendor Contract Renewal to save $240k annually without sacrificing business value-Reduced Advisor onboarding time and enhanced their training experience by implementing Allego software to assist with advisor training-Reduced dependency of legacy technology, WebMethods, by leading team on path to processing compensation using new architecture consisting of java, OpenShift, Kafka, and Camunda-Improved IT/Business collaboration and team efficiency by implementing New Software Delivery Model-Asset Owner Responsibilities for Vendor Hosted, On-Premise and Custom built Applications-Manage high performing team of sixteen ranging from employees to contractors across various technologies (Java, ETL, COBOL, SAP Commissions, Webmethods, data modeling, etc.)-Partnered with business to properly plan roadmap and priority across IT and business priorities

Minneapolis, Mn, Us

-Saved $300k annually by reducing reliance on contracted staff by hiring and growing internal talent to learn vendor software successfully (SAP Commissions and Producer Pro). -Increased flexibility on what distribution channels Thrivent could pay by implementing new producer master and commissions system to service independent advisors-Responsible for building new team to support the Producer Management and Commission capabilities-Manage high performing team of full-time employees in the application development domain-IT Lead for Implementation of SAP Producer Pro and Workflow Applications-Responsible for execution during the implementation of emerging technologies to support business needs and company direction (Technologies include Java, RabbitMQ, MongoDB, Spring framework, and Atlassian Toolset)-Asset Owner Responsibilities for Vendor Hosted, On-Premise and custom built applications-Vendor Responsibilities for negotiating Statements of Work and ensuring contract compliance-Collaborate with Business Product Owner for Priority Alignment and Roadmap in relation to business needs and technical requirements-Increased company java development capacity by creating In-House Upskilling Program for Mainframe and Informatica engineers to learn the new language

Minneapolis, Mn, Us

-Reduced external costs tied to upgrading PeopleSoft Financials and Supply Chain by moving to smaller, more frequent releases vs. large annual releases-Test Lead for large scaled projects-Increased Customer Flexibility in print requests by leading the implementation of a new Print Order system for Thrivent’s Home Office and Advisors (over 5,000 customers)-Increased Intern diversity by expanding colleges being recruited to include HBCU and colleges outside of the Midwest-Intern and Test Lead Mentor-Intern Hiring Responsibilities-Lead team transformation into Agile using the Kanban methodology-Manage and Prioritize Team’s Product Backlog

Minneapolis, Mn, Us

-Assist Running the Corporate Credit Card Program including the emergence of new fraternal credit card program-Assisted during the Credit Card Vendor Transition from American Express to US Bank-Lead Effort to Improve Audit of Corporate Credit Card Expense Transactions-Worked with US Bank Account Representative to Address Business and Program Needs -Helped Internal Employees with questions relating to the corporate travel program along with using the PeopleSoft expense system

Minneapolis, Mn, Us

-Assist Thrivent Members with Account Values, Beneficiary and Technical Support-Lead Junior Call Center Staff through Onboarding and Help Line-Obtained understanding of Thrivent’s various product lines and fraternal background-Assisted department leads in handling of complex follow up cases

Bachelor'S Degree, Accounting

Bachelor'S Degree, Finance, General