Josh Penzell

Josh Penzell Email and Phone Number

Founder and CEO @ Imagination Applied
Seattle, WA, US
Josh Penzell's Location
Seattle, Washington, United States, United States
Josh Penzell's Contact Details

Josh Penzell personal email

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About Josh Penzell

With over 15 years of experience in coaching sales teams, developing global strategy, leading cross-functional teams, and facilitating organizational innovation, I am a Head Consultant who uses the power of Metaphor and the language of Theater to solve big business problems, especially in the age of Generative AI. I call this approach TheaterThink, because it leverages my theater career to deliver value and results in diverse and complex situations.As an AI Consultant at ELB Learning, I unlock the power of Generative AI for e-learning, instructional design, and sales to create value for ELB and its customers. I apply TheaterThink to design novel learning experiences, such as a just-in-time voice assistant for vehicle manufacturers at Zoox, that reduce errors and wasted time. I also propel learning initiatives to the next level by delivering results and behaviors rather than spending resources on creating content. For example, I reduced ongoing new hire training resources at Zillow Rentals by 50% while also improving the ramp performance of sales professionals by 86%. My vision is my value; my results are my proof.

Josh Penzell's Current Company Details
Imagination Applied

Imagination Applied

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Founder and CEO
Seattle, WA, US
Josh Penzell Work Experience Details
  • Imagination Applied
    Founder And Ceo
    Imagination Applied
    Seattle, Wa, Us
  • Elb Learning
    Vice President Of Ai Strategy & Innovation
    Elb Learning Jan 2024 - Present
    American Fork, Ut, Us
  • Elb Learning
    Head Of Custom Ai Solutions
    Elb Learning Apr 2023 - Jan 2024
    American Fork, Ut, Us
    Unlocking the power of Generative AI for elearning, instructional design, and sales to create value for ELB and its customers.
  • Theaterthink
    Founding Artistic Director
    Theaterthink Feb 2023 - Present
    Seattle, Wa, Us
    I use the power of Metaphor and the language of Theater to solve big business problems, especially in the age of Generative AI.
  • Skillsoft
    Senior Director Of Product Management - Leadership & Business
    Skillsoft Jan 2022 - Feb 2023
    Nashua, New Hampshire, Us
    I led a cross-functional team responsible for managing and expanding Skillsoft's Leadership & Business product portfolio, which included over six products generating millions in revenue.IMPACT: Increased customer satisfaction for the entire Portfolio by 25% while reducing operating expenses by 50% and maintaining revenue growth.RESULTS:* Launched the First Time Manager Career Journey with 75% less lead time and 60% fewer resources, while achieving performance on par with or better than other Career Journeys in the Portfolio.* Developed a new content type with no external resources and a turnaround time of 6 weeks, compared to previous types that took 3 months and cost $20K.* Streamlined and updated sales collateral while reducing the number of one-off requests from the revenue organization by 40% year over year. This drove a 3x increase in usage of the Highspot platform and reduced time spent on these issues by 30%.* Developed new processes that allowed the team to maintain SLAs despite a 50% reduction in headcount, resulting in a 25% reduction in operating expenses.* Increased the Portfolio's Net Promoter Score by 15 points (25% YoY) through the development and delivery of a refreshed content approach.RESPONSIBILITIES:* Oversaw the product roadmap for the Leadership & Business portfolio, prioritizing updates based on market and customer feedback.* Collaborated with development teams to ensure timely product releases that met customer needs.* Worked with sales and marketing teams to develop go-to-market strategies and positioning for new and existing products.* Conducted market research and competitive analysis to identify new product opportunities and gaps in the market.* Managed a team of product managers and collaborated with cross-functional teams to ensure successful product launches and ongoing support for customers.* Established and maintained relationships with external vendors and industry experts to ensure initiatives remained innovative.
  • Zillow
    Manager, Sales Enablement And L&D - Rentals Sales & Business Operations
    Zillow Dec 2020 - Jan 2022
    Seattle, Washington, Us
    I managed a 4-person team responsible for educating and enabling 500+ employee stakeholders in the Rentals Sales and Sales Support org. IMPACT: Through the work my sales enablement team delivered, we were able to increase revenue by $500,000 YoY for Zillow's fastest-growing organization.RESULTS:• I grew the rentals learning and enablement team in 2021 to support an 800% increase in staffing across the rentals sales org.• I onboarded 2x as many people in the first half of 2021 as my team did the previous two years combined.• I developed six team members who were each awarded at least one L&D- or company-wide award every quarter while on my team.• I Implemented systems training for the Rentals business operations org that reduced the time required to onboard customers by 20%. • I launched a 7-week new hire/onboarding program that increased sales revenue by 200k (4.7x over an 8.5-week ramp period).• I worked cross-functionally with our marketing team to drive a 189% increase in approved messaging, as measured in actual phone calls via Gong. RESPONSIBILITIES:• Builds and leads a team focused on improving all Zillow Rentals' employees' productivity, experience, and effectiveness.• Owns the New Hire/Onboarding of all sales professionals, account managers, and customer success representatives, driving to reduce ramp time, increase quality activity, and decrease human error in systems. • Establishes mechanisms between sales, marketing, and product to create operational efficiency in the Go-to-Market processes.• Scopes, sources, and creates educational programs around leadership development, sales skills and methodologies, and industry knowledge.• Ensures data integrity in the CRM (Salesforce) and drives adoption of other sales enablement tools (Outreach, Gong).• Defines OKR's and drives success based on KPIs defined in concert with executive leadership.
  • Zillow
    Sales Training Program Manager - Rentals Sales & Business Operations
    Zillow Apr 2019 - Dec 2020
    Seattle, Washington, Us
    Ran the training and development of Zillow Group's Rentals vertical by delivering training, creating e-learning, and advising the VP of Sales on effective training strategies IMPACT: Oversaw the analysis, creation, and delivery of multiple new training projects (~1.8) every week to build a new sales enablement program.RESULTS:• Within the first 6 months, I reduced the time-to-productivity of new hires from 2 weeks to 4 days while increasing the close:won rate of new hires by 20%.• I Implemented a Salesforce update training rollout that saved over 450 learner hours compared to the previous year's rollout and reduced recovery time from three to zero business days.• I launched sales enablement tools (i.e., Outreach, Gong, Highspot) to our sales floor, realizing a 25% quicker ramp than launches to other LOB's.• Created programs for client-facing events that generated $117,500 in Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR).RESPONSIBILITIES:• Facilitates and "produces" training that engages and motivates sales professionals.• Follows up with employees through coaching conversations and provides tools and resources they need to improve their sales performance.• In partnership with the VP of Rentals Sales, evolve a leadership development program to build a bench of future leaders and develop managers into effective sales coaches.• Maintains post-training tools and resources in our Learning and Content Management Systems.• Manages complex relationships with marketing, sales, and product partners using consulting skills in an environment with short deadlines and high business impact.• Identifies future learning needs and builds new curriculums in partnership with Sales and L&D leadership.• Incorporates new learning approaches to deliver sustainable and scalable learning programs in a rapidly growing organization
  • Zoox
    Senior Program Manager, Operations Training
    Zoox Sep 2018 - Jan 2019
    Foster City, California, Us
    I built out the training function for the vehicle operations arm of Zoox.IMPACT: Reduced the cost to train by over 60% through revamping training and created new L&D programs providing a 15% ROI to the Engineering organization. RESULTS:• I developed streamlined learning paths and employee leveling across four functional organizations, which enabled the organization to scale competitively.• I worked with leadership and vendors to drive the creation of a hands-free learning system, reducing downtime for manufacturing and engineering by 15%.• I optimized the use of shared resources to reduce the time-to-productivity of new operators by 65%, from twelve weeks to four. RESPONSIBILITIES• Align training curriculums across operational organizations.• Align onboarding and ramp-up across an operational organization, including cross-training.• Work with safety and certification teams to approve training curriculums.• Generate training content that spans groups.• Work with Product and Engineering on developing new training tools.• Work with individual operations training leads to improve their programs.• Document and track progress for trainees.• Generate weekly/monthly metrics and ID levers for the program.
  • Amazon
    Global Alexa Training Program Manager, Amazon Devices - Global Sales Operations
    Amazon Jun 2017 - Sep 2018
    Seattle, Wa, Us
    I launched 15+ Alexa products and 100+ features to over 10 countries.IMPACT: I developed and scaled training to support 1000% growth and the most significant device launch in Amazon’s history; empowered 1,000+ corporate employees and 10,000+ retail field associates to communicate with consumers worldwide.RESULTS:• I partnered with global teams across Product, Field Sales, and R&D to influence the launch of 15+ devices across 10 countries and over 100 retailers—a 1,000% increase from the previous year. • I worked with Product and Go-to-market leads to reduce time-for-approval from Legal, Tax, and Trademark by 85% (from 80+ to 10 touchpoints) worldwide.• I proposed, developed, and implemented a continuous delivery mechanism to provide global offline sales training on Alexa features, scaling from 10 over-the-air launches to more than 100 within the first year.RESPONSIBILITIES:• Owns the strategy and processes to ensure our retail partners are successful with Amazon Echo and Alexa devices globally. • Leads go-to-market readiness for multiple Amazon Echo and Alexa Product Lines for Offline Retail while also driving projects to improve how we scale our operations and tools. • Works across functional groups with multiple teams and senior leaders across the Devices organization to create legally approved training content for offline partners.• Represents the Offline Retail team across multiple Amazon Echo and Alexa Product Lines throughout the product life-cycle. • Identifies process gaps and drives projects for sustained improvements, influencing and working with leaders and technologies across Amazon.•Evaluates the effectiveness of each launch and iterates to improve the Go-to-market process for Amazon Echo and Alexa devices
  • Amazon
    Launch Program Manager, Connections
    Amazon Jan 2017 - May 2017
    Seattle, Wa, Us
    I supported the launch of Connections, Amazon’s employee survey and analytics tool.IMPACT: I built a request intake and routing system to support the program’s global launch to 400,000+ employees, increasing tracked requests by 200% and reducing turnaround by 7 days. • I launched an automated one-stop-shop intake system to cross-functionally distribute intake requests for follow-up and provide organizational transparency via reporting. The new system replaced the manual process, resulting in a savings of 100 weekly employee hours and increased adherence to a 48-hour turnaround (SLA) by 85%.• I realized a 50% budget savings by customizing internal tools (SharePoint, Brightworks, Nintex) and creating computer-based simulations and standard operating procedure job-aids (SOPs).
  • Rlh Corporation
    Director Of Development And Engagement
    Rlh Corporation Sep 2015 - Oct 2016
    Denver, Co, Us
    I led company-wide talent management programs for 5,000+ people nationwide.IMPACT: I revamped the internal Learning Management System (LMS), which resulted in reducing company costs over $300K in three years and increased the workforce adoption rate by 50%.• Based on a needs assessment, I moved systems to open-source platforms, investing cost-savings into system customizations—such as foreign language support—realizing a savings of 10% for on-site HR by reducing reliance on live translation services.• I partnered with the Director of Internal Audit to build a compliance program using internal rather than external resources, achieving 95% compliance in the first year compared to 70% average over the previous five years.• I identified vendors for and executed a new performance review process achieving a 90% participation rate in the first year.
  • Communispond
    Director Of Faculty And Training
    Communispond Sep 2013 - Sep 2015
    Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Us
    I updated the teaching approach and content for a virtual company while leading a team of 30 remote direct reports.IMPACT: I overhauled training product content and delivery model to meet the needs of the B2B market, enabling the company to meet its sales quota for the first time in three years, securing an increase of over 15% in customer demand.• I led the company’s first content update in over 10 years, designing two new leadership development training experiences in six months and ramping recruitment by 20% to meet new demand.• I negotiated an exclusivity agreement with vendor Jigsaw Interactive to focus on delivering all live content via e-learning which immediately doubled product offerings while reducing operating expenses by 5%.• I instituted standardized travel and expense processes for faculty by reducing executive escalations by 50%, which enabled the Accounts Payable department to optimize turnaround time from 45 to 15 days.
  • Creative Training Consultants
    Managing Director
    Creative Training Consultants Aug 2008 - Sep 2013
    I was a facilitation and instructional design consultant who outperformed standard benchmarks.IMPACT: I grew revenue by 75% over two years, earning repeat business from 70% of customers.• My technical certification delivery programs outperformed industry standard pass rate of 75%, with program participants achieving 99% passing.• I consulted with the U.S. Department of Defense’s Cyber Investigation Training Academy to reduce time-to-productivity of technical trainers, instructional designers, and learning partners by 50%; developed in-house train-the-trainer programs required for government compliance.• I optimized the design and delivery process to create over 250 hours of global technical training material in six months, beating industry standard (and promised deadline) of over one year.
  • Theatre Building Chicago
    Interim Marketing Director
    Theatre Building Chicago Apr 2007 - Aug 2008
    Us
    Due to a sudden opening, the Theatre Building was left without a resource to provide contracted marketing support to upcoming lessees. • Coordinated marketing efforts across all channels (direct, social, advertising, email, web) for over 30 productions. Clients received 100% support, with no additional costs to the organization.
  • Keno Kozie Associates
    Junior Engineer
    Keno Kozie Associates May 2006 - Apr 2007
    Chicago, Illinois, Us
    • Oversaw support and training for 15 regular and up to 50 ad-hoc clients, focusing on the specialized software, hardware, and compliance required by legal and tax firms.• Conducted backup and preventative support, as well as conducted risk analysis, for organizations with protected digital assets in the tens of millions.• Led all secure Wi-Fi installations for local- and wide- area networks spanning the country, utilizing authentication and security principles that remain the standard for Wi-Fi security industry-wide, to this day.

Josh Penzell Skills

Public Speaking Training Leadership Teaching Instructional Design Management Social Media Coaching Editing Team Building Performing Arts Leadership Development Program Management Strategy Project Management Teacher Training Sales Consulting Event Planning Employee Training Mentoring Corporate Communications Public Relations E Learning Learning And Development Mobile Technology Video Editing Client Relationship Development Communication Training Delivery Team Leadership Motivational Speaking Problem Solving Organizational Development Instructional Technology Presentation Development Presentation Coaching Creative Development And Direction Stakeholder Negotiation Coaching And Mentoring Education Curriculum Development Adult Education Customer Relationship Management Excel Creative Problem Solving Facilitation Curriculum Development And Implementation Cost Analysis And Projection Virtual Learning Film Instructional Music

Josh Penzell Education Details

  • Northwestern University
    Northwestern University
    Theatre
  • University Of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
    University Of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
    Master Of Business Administration - Mba
  • Brooklyn College
    Brooklyn College
    Directing

Frequently Asked Questions about Josh Penzell

What company does Josh Penzell work for?

Josh Penzell works for Imagination Applied

What is Josh Penzell's role at the current company?

Josh Penzell's current role is Founder and CEO.

What is Josh Penzell's email address?

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What is Josh Penzell's direct phone number?

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What schools did Josh Penzell attend?

Josh Penzell attended Northwestern University, University Of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Brooklyn College.

What are some of Josh Penzell's interests?

Josh Penzell has interest in Cheese Making, Nlp, Scuba Diving, Reading, Gourmet Cooking, Coffee Roasting, Health, Children, Cooking, Environment.

What skills is Josh Penzell known for?

Josh Penzell has skills like Public Speaking, Training, Leadership, Teaching, Instructional Design, Management, Social Media, Coaching, Editing, Team Building, Performing Arts, Leadership Development.

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