The SME Forum (www.TheSMEForum.NET), previously known as "The CRM Forum", is a professional membership organization primarily for Sales, Marketing, Operations and Technology practitioners for Retail and Institutional Asset Managers in the financial services industry. The organization is based out of the New York City area but serving members throughout the US and Europe. The Forum organizes Spring and Fall conferences in the US and an International conference each June in London, England. Additionally, bi-weekly webinars, surveys, benchmarking studies and whitepapers are authored to support the needs of the members throughout the year.Begun in the early 2000's as a Siebel CRM support group, it has blossomed over the years to now include over 60 Asset Management firms with nearly 800 individuals from across those firms. We have cultivated a very unique community of deep support across various disciplines that are largely responsible for the enablement of the core Sales and Marketing efforts of these firms. Our members include all sizes of retail and institutional asset managers often with origins rooted in the mutual funds space. We also have a curated, member recommended, group of dedicated vendor Partners as well.We welcome direct inquiries to learn more about The SME Forum, our deep industry involvement and the many vendor partner relationships we have developed on behalf of our members.

In addition to operating the SME Forum, I offer consulting and advisory services to integrate operational, technical, sales and marketing needs with innovative solutions. Act as a subject matter expert and/or project lead to facilitate business growth and deliver results directly for clients or through vendors and integration partners. Insightful and forward thinking, identifies improvements, organizes diverse talent, and delivers on mutually defined expectations with high degree of client and team satisfaction. Takes ownership and acts in consideration of all stakeholders to meet near and long-term commitments. KEY CAPACITIES• Innovate strategy conception and development• Lead business process design and enhancement• Anticipate and quickly assess situations to focus action • Coach, mentor and develop talent and teams to excel• Effectively lead change and manage expectations • Deliver results with all available resourcesCurrent and Recent Projects Include:- Retained as a Subject Matter Expert on sales and marketing enablement technologies and operations within the Financial Services industry - Business Development for a highly innovative behavior and cognitive analytics provider that is delivering exceptional returns for customer-centric organizations that want to deliver superior client experiences.-Business Development for a leading boutique financial services technology strategy and integration provider that has deep financial services experiences and capabilities- Advising a UK-based online money transfer company on improved utilization and best practices Salesforce.com CRM by the sales and business development teams worldwide- Developing two new service offerings with a technology-facilitated services company to extend their reach into their well established position within the asset management industry

Tasked to develop additive low cost digital sales channel, prescriptive lead generation and a culture of collaborative innovation to address margin pressures in an increasingly competitive asset management industry. • Solution with DesignThinking approach and methodologies, instilling a culture of innovation to challenge status quo and deliver both incremental and dramatic improvements more efficiently and effectively with better user experiences• Employ artificial intelligence, machine learning, and natural language processing among other emerging technologies in solutions that advance business processes and improve capacity to scale and grow based with rapid deployments • Institutionalize previous successes achieved with pilots into broader business strategy and implementation tactics

Provided overall technology direction for hardware, software and third-party subscriptions and services in conjunction with the Corporate Technology Group. Tapped to lead group COO functions including Business Continuity, Disaster Recovery, Records Retention, NY and Denver space for the sales organization along with respective corporate teams.• As Chief Product Owner led intense multi-year replacement program of Siebel with SaaS Salesforce.com as first ever cloud based solution in firm for Retail, Retirement, Institutional, Strategic Accounts, and the Wealth Management Groups in conjunction with Marketing and Service Agent ultimately achieving 87% adoption across primary users• Implemented comprehensive curriculums, training and mentor programs for sales personnel to drive adoption use• Successfully influenced senior sales management, legal teams, compliance officers, and marketing to develop, implement and grow first ever social media capabilities for sales personnel using LinkedIn and Hearsay to help drive advisor relationships while conforming to rapidly evolving regulatory environment and compliance considerations• Pioneered adoption of user driven design and mobile-first approach to deliver groundbreaking functionalities and capabilities on the Salesforce.com platform and other technologies with high degrees of satisfaction and adoption• Employed Agile methodologies using Scrum, Kanban and traditional waterfall as best fit development life cycles for better alignment of user experiences (UX) with delivery of high value capabilities that led to improved adoption rates

Drafted directly into the Sales Distribution business line, led several multidisciplinary teams to oversee development, maintenance and evolution of data, reporting, analytics, compensation and broad technology needs for sales distribution organization during a time of rapid growth and change in the industry. Led domain specific teams to maturity, spun off.• Provide detailed analytics to sales executives, management and personnel of sales, assets, flows, redemptions, and other internal and external measures such as goals, budgets, forecasts, and scenario planning for improved resource utilization, territory management, compensation, and Broker/Dealer relationship management• Inform the product and portfolio management teams with key transaction demographic analysis and interpretation to correlate fund activity with sales efforts and results. • Dramatically rationalized sales management reports while focusing development on actionable interpretation and analysis that helped focus attention on areas of opportunity, share erosion, and highlighting sales best practices• Led the sourcing and engagement of third-party service providers to enhance internal analysis with peer group benchmarking. Drove adoption of vendor sales administration service providers to focus on relationship building

Facilitated working groups with a team of seven to strategize and plan tactics that support overall business objectives for improved service, streamlined organizations and cost containment where appropriate between the Corporate Technology Group and other areas across the company including Sales, Marketing, Finance, and Operations.• Conceived and gained approval for outsourcing of several non-core sales and marketing business processes delivering improved quality, service and long-term savings to the company• Established business process redesign skills and practices to more effectively assess opportunities for improvement, and provide more complete interpretations of potential improvements leading to fulfillment of business goals• Helped to establish and formalize program management (PMO) practices within IT and across business units resulting in faster, on budget and to spec projects that consistently met and exceeded expectations of all involved

Recruited from B-School to help lead transformation and knowledge management programs across American Express’ Large and Middle Market credit card and merchant services businesses. Delivered multiple ground-breaking initiatives.• Led virtual team of six to record, codify and standardize a complex work process of over 400 steps resulting in reduced costs, improved conversion rates and increased sales in a highly competitive and mature market segment• Implemented balanced scorecards for business units covering organization, process, customers, and key financials• Using SixSigma approach, developed customer feedback mechanisms for 5 business units to improve efficacy• Co-developed change management training programs and delivered multiple "change recipient" training seminars

Joined this nascent consulting group to build practice, lead delivery teams and help grow the business across industries.• Used activity based costing methodologies to gain approval of $6.1mm (17%) net annual operational improvements for the airline catering facility of Gate Gourmet at London Heathrow Airport• Developed comprehensive financial models and investment proposal with local and regional Gate Gourmet management and manufacturing engineers to gain $685,000 in matching funds from the Irish Development Agency and Swissair for the first fully automated sandwich production facility in Ireland• Designed and implemented a change management approach for the North American Swissôtels to adapt business process reengineering and continuous improvement initiatives. Realigned activities to reflect desired customer experiences that resulted in improved recurring revenue streams and reduced costs of sales and marketing efforts

Operations Leader and Management Consultant, (Boston, Atlanta, Beijing, Zurich, Istanbul, New York, Chicago)Held various roles of rapidly increasing responsibilities and scope for the management and leadership of four and five star hotels. Recruited onto internal consulting team to continue work initially performed by McKinsey and BCG.• Co-managed hotel reengineering project in Istanbul to increase revenues by $2.4mm, reduce costs by $3.1mm, and invest an additional $1.2mm in upgrades and renovations. Helped identify new profitable customer segments• Identified $800,000 in mismanaged expenses by analyzing operational data and managerial decision patterns• Developed recommendations to improve operational forecasting and budgeting methodology for the hotel group• Captured 7% revenue increase and 9% reduction in operating costs by ensuring product quality and on-time delivery of meals to guest rooms and dining rooms. Improved satisfaction ratings by over 30% within 9 months.• Developed comprehensive training program for 25 senior staff with HR L&D, owners, and affiliated companies in Asia• Responsible for fiscal, marketing, staffing and product development initiatives for 7 restaurants and over 200 staff