Ben Thurgood Email & Phone Number

Tacoma, Wa, Us

Tacoma, Washington

Partnering with people, enhancing processes and empowering others to LEARN, IMPROVE, and LEAD. I lead and established the Continuous Improvement division which includes the Innovation & Process Improvement Team, Learning (Training & Development) Team, and Workforce Data Analytics.Expanded innovation & process improvement to support entire organization; oversaw 70 projects in the first year with focus on creating efficiency, effectiveness, equity, and employee empowerment. Examples: 80% reduction in police hiring timeline; establishment of funding processes for a new community assistance program; and decreased errors in paramedic drug administration. Expanded CI Advocate network to over 180 staff. Coordinated decentralized strategy efforts; created and deployed organizational development framework; chartered "Strategic Leads Group" to prioritize and align strategic efforts across the organization and with community partners. Established leadership training program for all levels of the organization including quarterly executive collaboration and development meetings. Developed "Our Leadership Promise" to provide strategic direction to over 600 supervisors. Enhanced executive communications to people leaders. Redeveloped corporate learning strategy, established Learning Team, deployed LinkedIn Learning, and aligned organizational resources in federated learning model. Established organizational culture and change management initiative beginning with oversight of engagement survey & action plan development. Coordinated organization wide efforts to improve employee communication. Established centralized change management function.Oversaw development and ongoing management of $192M biennial HR budget. Helped develop org-wide response to COVID-19 including staff support and budget reductions.

Tacoma, Wa

Led a team of analysts to create a culture of inquiry, enhance business operations, and ensure long-term fiscal sustainability for the City of Tacoma so that the organization can meet the needs of current and future residents.Redeveloped Labor Policy Advisory Team and established organization-wide labor strategy framework and objectives. Oversaw 7 project teams assigned by executive leadership to recommend improvements to all people programs. Oversaw enhanced workforce analytics leading to a Workforce Equity Study, Class & Comp Study, and organization-wide leadership development program.Developed proprietary ci4i framework and taught it to staff throughout the organization. A mix of lean, user experience design, behavioral insights, analytics, and other methodologies, this framework is used by internal service and operational departments to generate cost savings, improve outcomes, champion equity, and increase employee empowerment. Example project: Improvements to the Library's material receipts process reduced time-to-process from 90+ to less than 7 days, avoided the need to increase headcount, relied solely on recommendations from staff who reported, "Summer has finally come to the Library."

Tacoma, Wa

I developed and launched a citywide continuous improvement initiative to solve complex, cross-departmental problems using lean, customer-centered design thinking, and other process improvement methodologies. As part of the initiative I provide ongoing training to a core group of analysts to enhance their problem solving and process improvement abilities. I consulted with senior management and executive leadership to identify, recommend, and assist with implementation strategies for improvement. I train management on principles of continuous improvement and lead discussions for developing a citywide culture to overcome resistance and encourage leadership to expose their areas to analysis and focused improvement activities.I led cross-functional teams as I facilitate improvement events and act as a coach as I guide the implementation of recommendations and change management efforts.I continued to support the Office of Management and Budget with development of the biennial budget; analysis of the maintenance and operations budget; and development of organization-wide goal setting and performance management.

Tacoma, Wa

Established citywide maintenance and operations budget baseline and reduced the budgetary deficit by $1.6M. I created several tools to leverage work of 7 other analysts and promote consistency in reporting, analysis, and public presentations. Designed and developed monthly budget reports to allow departments to better manage their spend. Created organization-wide tool to track all budget changes across versions over multiple years. Worked with department representatives to gather and report year-end performance measures to governing body. Established new paradigm and system for distributing internal costs; corrected a recurring $4M misallocation and established foundation for greater internal collaboration around shared services. Conducted follow-on Trust and Transparency project to further enhance operations and build relationships among operational and internal service divisions. Solved 6 week impasse by determining approach for re-projecting year over year budgets.

Albuquerque, New Mexico Area

Promoted to subject matter expert and area lead within first six months of employment. Performed cost analysis on $111M process; presented the change to senior level management; announced change to 10,000 member workforce and served as corporate point of contact for compliance and implementation issues. Conducted audit of internal service centers to determine best business practices, draft corresponding policy, and propose recommendations to improve processes and minimize risk. Key member of multifunction team to develop an alternative method of cost distribution. Represented Controller’s organization in a multifunctional team to develop new tools for contract management that reduced administration costs on impacted projects by 50 percent. Corporate Administrator for projects totaling $137M; oversaw operation of about 2 dozen indirect projects across the labs; coordinated annual renewal and disclosure process to Federal oversight agency. Automated tedious tasks using macros, PivotTables, conditional formatting, data validation, and formulas in MS Excel (Example: consolidated 9 monthly reports into a one—saved managers’ time and increased analytical capability). Conducted regular trainings for staff on corporate financial policy and systems operation.

Provo, Utah

Teaching assistant for Intermediate Microeconomics 1 and 2; MBA Money, Finance, and Banking; International Trade & Finance; MPA Government Finance

Centerville, Ut

Perform analysis of engineering fees; develop comprehensive public information program and social media policy; review and revise City policy; ad hoc analysis and research

Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Researched international policy related to drugs, alcohol, tobacco, gambling, and nuclear power.

Product Management Certificate, Product Management

Master Of Public Administration (M.P.A.), Financial And Management Analysis, 4.0

Bachelor Of Science (B.S.), Economics