-Provide thought leadership as a subject matter expert to evangelize taxonomy, schema and data best practices by speaking at conferences, writing articles and hosting webinars on data.-Maintain Strategic Data Services (SDS) catalog of services and ensure the delivery team has the tools and resources to provide service success. -Sell data projects by demonstrating the ROI of data, as well as, developing tools for the sales team to better understand taxonomy. Provide directional leadership for any data projects to make sure they align with our internal goals. -Provide sales team with subject matter expertise to drive increased sales and demonstrate that SME to have better turnover in client targeted meetings including understanding the customers objectives and providing targeted data recommendations to support their goals.-Continuously building relationships with key customers and stakeholders to ensure end to end project success as well as act as a project escalation point when/if issues occur and help drive solutions to aid the project to completion.-Provide sales guidance on target customer segments and the strategy to attract those customers to our solutions.-Lead a team of information architects (IAs) to continuously learn and ensure our clients are getting top notch data and taxonomy. Work with recruitment to make sure our team is growing with the best talent in the space and collaborating with HR to ensure IAs have a road to growth.-Support my team to ensure they have a good work/life balance, enjoy participating in projects and have the tools/learning/growth opps they need to go down the path to success that excites them-Resource, scope and plan projects for clients to aid in data strategy, taxonomy builds and associated data build, normalization and governance. Drive pricing strategy for SDS programs and services.-Aid sales team by speaking to the services my team provides and the importance of clean, complete, clear, concise and correct data.

-Project Resource Planning. Ensuring the right seats are on the right projects among a team of FTEs and a large contracting pool of about 50 talented resources. -Manage a team of taxonomists and project managers to ensure we have high morale and high-quality projects.-Build and advise on project cost sheets, SOWs, and project proposals.-Provide thought leadership via the Product TaxMominist channel for taxonomy best practices, and speak at conferences including KM World and EIS webinars. -Manage, develop, and build delivery templates, exemplars, and process methodologies. Ensure the quality of those deliverables.-Train and mentor taxonomists, data analysts, and strategists to provide direction and guidance for applicable work and careers.-Manage delivery budget, hiring plan, and overall client project management.-Design strategy, plans, and roadmaps for digital data transformations for global companies including Honeywell, Holly Hunt, Silicon Labs, Millipore Sigma, Morgan Stanley, MISUMI, and Agilent among other interesting companies. -Created a robust and successful contractor recruiting, onboarding, and management process.-Act as Principal Taxonomist and Solution Architect on high-profile projects with deliverables including taxonomy workshops, digital strategy, and taxonomy design.

-Lead teams of analysts and taxonomists in product data management, taxonomy, PIM, governance, IA for AI and content management projects. -Regularly attend and speak at conferences, such as B2B Connect, KM World, Taxonomy Bootcamp, and GS1 about the benefits and best practices of strong taxonomy and product data management.-Oversee the entire lifecycle of a prospect, from initial discovery meeting to solution architecting, contract negotiations, solution deployment, and results measurement.-Leads sales and account management activities for designated accounts and business segments.-Regularly create and promote content about product data management, PIM, governance, taxonomy and more.-Scope and design project plan and deliverables. Write proposals, SOWs and negotiate cost. Ensure deliverables are of high quality for client.

Program taxonomy management to ensure multi-taxonomy projects retain consistent organizing principles, style guides and conform to the client’s overall goals.Lead teams of taxonomists to create project plan, roadmaps, methodology and taxonomies for our clients.Speak at conferences about product data best practices, the importance of data management and governance.Create and lead product data workshops for clients, internal employees and public domains.Set EIS product organizing principles, train teams on PDM and creating product data management documentation for internal and external use to ensure consistency of process and principles across the company. Interview prospective hires and train new hires to the EIS standards for PDM.Aid clients in creating or reorganizing their product taxonomies, including internal PIM taxonomy, classification taxonomy, display navigation and DAM taxonomy. Design the information architecture for schema, relationships and facets for optimal product information structures.Evaluate current PIM platforms and aid clients in selection of the best fit PIM for their company.Educate clients on use of taxonomy, attribution, faceting and tagging functionalities, as well as benefits of proper taxonomy and product data for user experience. Analyze perspective client websites for usability in the areas of taxonomy, product attribution, relationships and UX to create a web heuristic of areas that we can help improve customer experience. Researching the use of taxonomy and knowledge management in cognitive computing, intelligent virtual agents and A.I. Contribute to the company’s Ideas and Insights page with blog posts and articles related to taxonomy, product data and DX.Co-manage LinkedIn and Yahoo groups named "Taxonomy and Ontology Community of Practice".

Aid clients in creating or reorganizing their product taxonomies, including internal PIM taxonomy, classification taxonomy, display navigation and DAM taxonomy. Design the information architecture for schema, relationships and facets for optimal product information structures.Lead team of taxonomists to create project plan, roadmaps, methodology and taxonomies for our clients.Evaluate current PIM platforms and aid clients in selection of the best fit PIM for their company.Educate clients on use of taxonomy, attribution, faceting and tagging functionalities, as well as benefits of proper taxonomy and product data for user experience. Analyze perspective client websites for usability in the areas of taxonomy, product attribution, relationships and UX to create a web heuristic of areas that we can help improve customer experience. Researching the use of taxonomy and knowledge management in cognitive computing, intelligent virtual agents and A.I. Contribute to the company's Ideas and Insights page with blog posts and articles related to taxonomy, product data and DX.Co-manage LinkedIn and Yahoo groups named "Taxonomy Community of Practice".

Aid customers in choosing, implementing and maintaining their PIM (Product Information Management) systems. Manage project timelines, budgets, and client relations. Create/Manage SOWs, Requirements Matrix and Project Deliverables /Task Management via project management software including Basecamp, Project Insight and Atlassian JIRA. Organize client data to enhance/streamline the end user experience in downstream systems. Maintain successful relationship with client to ensure ongoing success. Train clients on selected PIM software, PIM principles and create client customized user guides for PIM use. Travel to customer site to present PIM advantages, gather requirements, blueprint data and train client on PIM use. Architect product taxonomy and attribute data models. Use Pentaho to migrate and integrate data.  PIM Systems: Agility Multichannel/Agility Governance/Agility Modular Interface –Super User  Programs: Pentaho, Basecamp, Atlassian JIRA, Project Insight Other: Data Modeling, Project Management

Develop the E-Business product information process for the Buildings division. Leading data modeling projects and maintaining product data and taxonomy to better market products on the iPortal site through the use of Riversand’s PREP system. Leading Technical Data Steward team for new BASIS process. Manage day to day items adds, as PREP admin, into our PREP system, by batch, for Square D, Small Building Systems and Veris Lines. Take ownership of digital media assets and assign to products, such as image, technical documents and video, to enhance customer’s buying experience. Aid in testing PREP system during upgrades, as well as provide feedback for needs and wants for upgrades. Working with IT admin to start a project to integrate a SQL database to PREP so we can better analyze product data.Selected Accomplishments-Created and implemented Small Building System’s data modeling projects through Riversand’s PIM system, PREP, including the addition of a new taxonomy, filterable attributes and technical attributes to the iPortal site.-Led data model efforts to reorganize the Energy & Power taxonomy on the iPortal site, as well as manage the addition of attribute filters and clean up of current data. Worked with Product Management to gather needed data and with Marketing to determine what filters would best ease the customer’s buying experience.- Created BASIS process for Technical Data Steward (TDS) to analyze, standardize and map customer data. Worked with both business and technical project managers to create a relational database with customer data specific to the SmartStruxure conversion. -Lead migration into Riversand’s Media Asset Management, MAM, system. Facilitate MAM as key contact and educate users on how to use the new system.-Used Riversand’s PIM system, PREP, to set up and organize data for the Cross Reference Tool. PIM System: Riversand/Riversand PREP/Riversand MAM – Super User  AGILE project management, Confluence, JIRA

Supported Grainger’s vision of becoming our customer first choice by owning the New Item Add process for the Electrical, Lighting and Test Instruments Product Management team. Coordinated between Product Managers and Suppliers to ensure accuracy and consistency in product information in the Stibo system, which feeds Grainger’s E-commerce site as well as the Catalog, to aid the customer in making the best buying decision. Led business projects to reduce product onboarding cycle time while adhering to accuracy standards to help increase sales for over 50,000 new items. Merchandised product data for the optimal catalog and online shopping experience. Analyze Stibo Item Add data, through Access Database, to find opportunities for improvement and present monthly key metrics. Continuously managed update of Item Add process instructions, illustrating use of Stibo, Excel, Access and specific cross business communications. Frequently used Access Database to create tables and queries to aid in analysis of product add data.Selected Accomplishments:-Took over lighting line in 2nd quarter 2011 and reduced cycle time by 15 days from 54 days to help increase sales. Reorganized filterable attributes and led a data cleanup project across lighting through our Stibo system to ease the customer’s online buying experience and ensure that data was consistent across all systems. -Aided in migration to upgraded Stibo system by providing process testing plan and implementing testing of various processes. Continued testing for any minor upgrades that Stibo provided.-Guided the PTIS team as Continuous Improvement Team Leader, creating and implementing projects focused on process improvement, including the addition of a Visual Management board to increase motivation and publicize item add numbers to Product Management Team, as well as analyzing item add data for areas for improvement and finding ways to make the cycle time more efficient. PIM System: Stibo/STEP/SAP – Super User

Developed and executed operational processes managing the collection of over 20 million dollars per year. Worked with multiple Grainger departments, led projects, organized and improved the accuracy of funds collection and accruals. Reviewed and validated supplier contracted agreements and worked with Product Teams and Operations to ensure Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. Worked with over 1,000 suppliers to calculate, reconcile and prepare documents for warranty, inventory return and miscellaneous supplier debits. Presented returns analysis to Product Team with recommended actions. Created and maintained Access databases for returns collections and analysis.Selected Accomplishments:- Reduced Branch Noncompliance by 58%, saving Grainger at least $2,000,000 in 2010.- Created a cross-business process with Grainger Mexico to collect Warranty recovery funds for their scrapped product totaling over $200,000 per year.- Worked with the SAP system support team using LEAN methodology to analyze, test and document Vistex functionalities, resulting in the automation of multiple manual processes and reduction in process time.- Re-designed “Cap and Allowance Scorecard”, a quarterly distribution to the Product Management team, to present and communicate performance metrics more effectively through Access and Excel macros.- Restructured Cost Support process from 8 person capability to 2 person capability

Reviewed and processed incoming customer quote and product procurement requests, researched product, added material data and completed competitive quotes for specialized suppliers. Worked with vendors, Customer Care and Grainger Representatives to make necessary decisions for updating quotes based on the needs of the customer. Developed and maintained an effective Excel log for current, pending and expired quotes for large customers, specializing in government quotes. Selected Accomplishments:- Selected for team of “Star Players” to improve quoting process and lead-time.- Consistently held position of highest and most accurate quotes for Texas team.- Exceeded daily expected volume requirement of 30 quotes with an average of 58 quotes daily.