Jim Larson Email & Phone Number

Eagan, Minnesota, United States

Strategy consultant with significant experience in developing and executing successful go-to-market (GTM) strategies for client. Expertise leveraged in identifying market opportunities, analyzing internal workflows, and crafting data-driven strategies that maximize growth.

Chaska, Mn

OUR MISSION: We help people and organizations unlock their value and potential in today's rapidly changing world.OUR BACKGROUND:Crawford Consulting is a management consulting firm, providing thought leadership, program / project leadership and operational subject matter expertise for organizations. Focused expertise in: value stream management, product management transformations, strategic planning, organizational strategy, strategy mobilization, employee engagement strategy, and performance management systems. Engagements include both direct and contracted services. Since its inception in 2007, Crawford Consulting has collaborated with businesses across a range of sectors, including retail, consumer packaged goods, healthcare, financial technology, and telecommunications. As a result of working with us, companies have experienced improvements to key result areas such as revenue, cost controls, product delivery, employee engagement, and customer satisfaction.

Basking Ridge, New Jersey, United States

Subject matter expert for implementing product value stream approach, including adopting flow framework and metrics. Products that participated in the rollout saw a 35% reduction in rework and an increase of 25% in on-time delivery of new product features.Program lead for the development and execution of a resourcing strategic plan. Scope included the development of financial modeling, process acceleration, and interface with offshore and nearshore solution providers. The program achieved 10% savings in operating expenses from the current run rate.

Chicago, Illinois, United States

Product manager for an internal product health metric dashboard for a health insurance business. Responsible for defining user personas, product strategy, and roadmap. Responsible for providing direction and feedback to the development teams through each sprint. Successfully deployed minimum viable product and subsequent feature enhancements across the technology organization; Program leader for the implementation of product management business cadence. Collaboration and coaching of Product Managers to increase the business acumen and ability to communicate strengths and opportunities with their business. Provided subject matter expertise and training on product value streams. As a result of the implementation, ‘work in progress’ was reduced by 20%, while cycle times improved by 30%.

Shoreview, Minnesota, United States

Provided program leadership for the Annual Operating Planning process (Strategy and Finance), including a transformation to Product Management. Improved year-over-year process time by 25% while accelerating Q1 benefits.Program leader for developing an enterprise digital strategy for a business services organization. Focus included the creation of an integrated product roadmap, integrated measurements, and consolidated status communication to executive leadership.

Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul Area

In-house management consulting. Post-merger integration, results acceleration, strategic planning, mobilization of strategic execution, and organizational management.

Eden Prairie, Mn

Project Manager / Process Owner for the development and delivery of accelerated financial benefit approach for cost savings management, gap closure, and post-merger synergy activities. Developed financial models, tracking mechanisms, and status methods to accelerate the value realization of $200M+ annually for a single business unit; facilitated weekly forums for segment CEO, CFO, and staff.Led a ‘war room’ initiative for the stabilization of a national specialty pharmacy organization. Facilitated daily communication with C-suite; oversaw development, implementation, measurement, and communication of business stabilization plans. The initiative accelerated the anticipated stabilization expenses by $3 million in the first 60 days.

Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul Area

I was hired to develop a Retail consulting practice in an emerging market office. During this time, I provided clients with executive coaching, thought leadership, subject matter expertise, and program management for the Retail industry. I also assisted in identifying growth opportunities, leading account strategies and sales tactics, and ensuring execution of projects.>Created and produced best practice sharing approach as customer acquisition strategy, increasing client acquisition by 25% in first year of implementation.>Provided subject matter expertise and thought leadership in the development of a new labor deployment model for a leading boutique retailer, increasing conversion rates by 24%.>Developed a portfolio of opportunities by increasing and diversifying revenue streams, including strategic partnerships with Fortune 500 companies.

International consulting firm, focused on developing leaders to better engage their teams to drive better results. Communities of practice include Leadership Development, Performance Management, Organizational Design, Project Management and Interim Management Solutions.Clients served include a mix of international and domestic; primary industries covered are Consumer Electronics and Retail. Also was heavily involved in development of business startup of a retail services operation as a subsidiary of the firm.Highlights included:> Implemented business operating model for an international sales organization that resulted in year over year growth of 52% and 63% in successive years.> Created a retail execution roadmap for an international retailer that created a growth plan yielding a 39% year over year increase in profitability.> Launched a new business providing third party labor retail services including sales force, retail support, and training; oversaw the operation from inception to profitability within 90 days.

Advanced through promotions throughout tenure with Best Buy, culminating in responsibility for launching a new business within the organization. Challenged to grow market share, increase profits, and enhance the customer experience through the use of retail and direct sales strategies. Manage and Mentor 26 direct reports (District Business Sales Managers) responsible for direct supervision of sales force and support of 300 retail locations.

Positioned to utilize extensive retail multi-unit leadership experience in the strategic development and execution of support functions responsible for workforce and capacity management, optimizing the utilization of $1 Billion in retail labor spending across 800 locations. > Improved support center timely response rate to retail help requests by 30% in first 90 days of process implementation.> Implemented dynamic workflow execution management system, resulting in a 20% improvement in task and communication plan execution.> Consolidated three independent support groups in to a single organization, increasing efficiency and head count productivity by 25%.

Music Theory

Activities and Societies: Residence Hall staff, UW-L Mannerchor, Camerata Singers

Education record