As a direct report to CEO, lead a group of 11 teams handling sales support and order entry as well as traditional customer service duties, primarily organized by product line and located in Herff Jones plants. Because the company has grown (largely) through acquisition and, until recently there has been limited integration of the customer service operations in each plant, seeking opportunities to integrate people/ process/ tools is a priority.Under this position there exists a central, customer experience group located at company headquarters in Indianapolis focused on end-customers (students, parents, etc.).The transformation of this department began in 2022 with the streamlining of customer service across product lines and an improved consistency through the regions. Continuing to lead all Customer Service operations and participate in the design and implementation of new, common order management and customer service systems.In addition to systems and processes, also tasked with building a strong team-based culture within Customer Service that empowers and grows direct reports and other high potential team members. The approach is to operate as a player/coach and be comfortable working collaboratively across the organization.Completed Zendesk implementation >6 months ahead of schedule, on budget.Current improvement projects include: Order Entry, addressing attrition through the use of AI/ GenAI assistance tools (onboarding, training, upskilling, QA, coaching), and team restructuring.

Published CX Book of Knowledge Oct. 4, ‘22Initially identified the need for the projectLed 60 writers to create the book; 120+ volunteers in total, including content reviewers and editors

Created CX strategy for $5B organization, leading a cross-functional enterprise-wide governance team• Envisioned future state for customers & enterprise & identified creative strategies to achieve vision• Synthesized strategic insights for C-Suite via customer research, including Net Promoter (NPS), Customer Effort Score (CES), & Satisfaction (CSAT)• Deployed Qualtrics digital customer listening suite to gather & analyze Voice of Customer (VoC)• Evaluated, architected & re-implemented enterprise CX Listening Strategy: VoC, CJM, digital

Led global team to solve 450 customer problems per year, while maintaining enterprise EBITDA.• Introduced external Benchmarking & Customer Journey Mapping to solve problems 15% faster.• Combined 2 global CX programs & teams; selected best-in-class process & tools.

Trained coaches for GE’s FastWorks start-up incubation, ideation, & innovation methodology.• Moved ideas from nascent through MVP to revenue generating stage, generated >$240MM (2015).• Co-created with customers & crowd-sourced ideas to create market-viable products & services.

• Consolidated people, processes & tools to integrate GE's two largest IT organizations (750+ employees & ~3500 contractors), via consensus building with a cross-functional team.

• Engagement lead with ~$54MM annual portfolio with global team of IT architects who acted as internal consultants across GE’s industrial business units.• SaaS & on-prem: Demonstrated software to CIO/ buying teams; negotiated financial terms for adoption; monitored usage stats to ensure renewals; quarterly+ presentations with CIO teams to build & maintain relationships & encourage renewals.

• Co-founding member of GE’s IT Corporate Audit Staff (CAS), GE’s premier leadership development program. Integrated IT methodologies into existing Finance structures.

• Led multiple software development, network migration, & other projects, including NPS rollout.

• Spearheaded company-wide strategic planning initiative; identified profitable emerging VC-affiliated “Rent a CIO” Business Development area as part of consulting business.

• Known for identifying opportunities within accounts to target expansions, solidifying client engagement & driving long term contract growth.• Established teams for success: employed tools such as RACI, GRPI to avoid interpersonal conflicts.• Directed business reviews & ad-hoc analytics as needed to engage C-Suite & technical clients.• Created SoWs to answer RFPs, reports & other documents as needed to compel decision makers.