Dale Cass, Pmp®, Clssbb®, Csm®, Prosci® Email & Phone Number

Bellevue, Washington, United States

Supporting Continuous Improvement and Product Lifecycle Management efforts for the TCG Organization.

Continuous Improvement Professional AWARD WINNER - 2024

Renton, Washington, United States

SCOPE:Development and management of operational tools and processes supporting Consumer & Market Insights Team (Analytics and Research), coordinating portfolio management of strategic research responsibilities within Global Sales & Brand Strategy Division. Core focus on research operation initiatives for key IP's (Dungeons & Dragons (RPG) and Magic: The Gathering (TCG)). Develop and support Continuous Improvement and Operational Excellence work efforts.CHALLENGES:Join a highly dynamic, established, and expert level team to bring stabilization, visibility, and command/control mechanisms for management of robust variable research project portfolio. Lead operational efforts to improve efficiencies, effectiveness, and support a growth trajectory, through innovative process and change management. SOLUTIONS / RESULTS:● Fostered process improvement and strengthened communcation lines between Creative Studios (Product Desgin Teams), Operational Teams, and Business Partners. ● Implemented multi-faceted Asana operational workflow and project management system for portfolio management and improvised visibility, task-level execution, and measurement for KPI and metric tracking.● Served as Subject Matter Expert (SME) for key product development with strategic Creative Studio (Product Design) initiative. ● Designed and implemented customized hybrid capacity model, leveraging weighted hours structure based on status / project unit measurements with virtual Kanban utility. ● Created dynamic Program Calendar and Roadmap for internal workload management and stakeholder / leadership visibility. ● Developed inaugural Wizards research summit, paving the way for continuous improvement efforts and improving collaboration efforts.● Initiated Knowledge Management System (KMS) adoption, centralizing thousands of research studies and reports to optimize knowledge sharing, transparency, business continuity, and operational excellence.

Seattle, Washington, United States

SCOPE: Serve as Omni-Channel Product Lifecycle Management Subject Matter Expert (SME). Design, implement, and improve new and existing growth initiatives supporting Alternative Business Models / Non-Merch, Consignment, Special Orders, and assist with organization design efforts of Digital Operations. CHALLENGES:Move to an Individual Contributor role to use Subject Matter Expertise (SME), employ a business development growth mindset, and creative problem solving to drive innovative program development, resulting in enhanced customer experience and improved revenue generation. Lead strategic effort to coordinate resources, timelines, and deliverables across multiple stakeholders, business partners, and vendors. SOLUTIONS / RESULTS:● Executed multiple cross-functional project management initiatives, fostering continuous improvement in business processes for eCommerce / Direct channel and revenue growth, by adapting Brick & Mortar processes to online setting.● Overhauled the Fine Jewelry Consignment program, enhancing sales growth and operational effectiveness. ● Leveraged creativity, business process development, and Knowledge Management System (KMS) development for scalable growth, business continuity, and process improvements / standardization. ● Optimized KPI tracking, analytics, dashboards, and ad-hoc reporting, to enhance overall efficiency and support informed decision-making for key stakeholders.

Seattle, Washington, United States

SCOPE:Lead 16 cross-functional teams, fostering collaborative relationships, providing leadership development coaching, and overseeing program management for 100+ team members. Core Teams: Competitive Intelligence, Business Intelligence / Technical Team, Price Teams (US & Canada), Drop Ship, Replenishment, Data Governance & Exception, Supplier Teams (US & Canada), Ordering Teams (US & Canada), Data Hierarchy & Corporate File, Customer Special Orders, Prosthesis, Consignment, Look Book - Marketing Catalog Team.CHALLENGES: Lead Merchandise Operations - Support, exceeding KPI's, all through major business transitions including changes in workloads (volume & types) and structural shifts to reorganize working groups along with enterprise migrations to new platforms for multiple supported teams. SOLUTIONS / RESULTS: ● Served as Business Product Owner / Subject Matter Expert (SME) of PIM (MDM), DAM, PKMS, CRM, POMS, CSO Web, and more.● Formulated business solutions for inventory management, shrinkage reduction, Photo Unit PO management, and strategic planning for Merchant and Supply Chain partners, resulting in a 20% improvement in KPI performance and procedural standardization.● Successfully restructured and redesigned internal workloads and workflows as well as staffing support to accommodate evolving changes on all teams over 5 years, while meeting or exceeding KPIs.● Increased retail sales by pioneering and managing the Special Orders and Deposits program, enabling the sale of customized Made-To-Measure (MTM) apparel and facilitating the acceptance of customer deposits. ● Achieved a company cost savings of $500K while supporting $1B in sales through Centralized Drop Ship Team creation.● Established a Competitive Intelligence Team to devise and implement price-matching logic with comparative daily analysis of over 200+ websites.● Successfully onboarded 4K+ new Suppliers through Supplier Team efforts, in first year of implementing new Supplier platform.

Seattle, Washington, United States

SCOPE:Develop a dynamic business operations team comprising 300+ employees with a $14M+ annual budget. Lead 27 unique functional teams through organizational design, change management, and servant leadership, consistently exceeding KPI milestones while maintaining a balance in forecasting, risk management, and stakeholder expectations.CHALLENGES:Evolve a 30 person department into a robust operational program that can scale, adapt, and evolve to support strategic initiatives and an aggressive growth strategy. Develop SME level expertise in multiple operational areas and seek out opportunities outside of AOR to add measurable value.SOLUTIONS / RESULTS: ● Crafted agile business intelligence frameworks to enhance data analytics, reporting, and problem-solving capabilities. Created the Business Intelligence Team later evolving into Analytics Reporting and Technical Team (ARTS). ● Created Recalled Items process for legal and stores, significantly enhancing the customer experience.● Optimized program management for precise KPI tracking, seamless business process continuity, strategic alignment, SLA delivery, and data integrity by leveraging Oracle enterprise software.● Championed IT leadership development initiatives for business analysts, fostering improved staffing and workforce planning aka. Business Analyst Shared Services (BASS) program. ● Helped develop the Corporate Inventory Control Team, spearheading successful global inventory management initiatives across the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico.● Realized a cost reduction exceeding $1M in operating expenses through the strategic application of Lean Six Sigma and Value Stream mapping methodologies. Became "Value Stream Champion" for Merchandise Operations. ● Created foundational Non-Merch (Alternative Business Models) Program making services, non-owned inventory, and non-merchandise transactional though Nordstrom's systems - paving the way for over $1.5B in revenue over the lifespan of the program.

Bachelor Of Science - Bs, Business Adminstration, Award Of Excellence (2020) - College Of Business

Master Of Business Administration - Mba Certificate, Organizational Behavior Studies