Karl Hightower Email & Phone Number

Palo Alto, Ca, Us

- Create and implement program to deliver data products with commercial value thatestablishes a vision and plan for future sustainable growth.- Provide foundational guidance and governance around utilization of next generation dataand AI technologies.- Provide mentorship, guidance, and strategic advice around Data, Decision Support, and AI to the leadership team.

Charlotte, North Carolina, United States

TFX is a Veteran-led technology venture capital firm focused on growing early-stage businesses for service-driven, high-performing and commercially tested Military and National Security Veterans who have a passion for solving real-world issues by using technology to build ideas that are net new to our society.• Provide leadership and guidance to over 20 portfolio companies and their CEOs on market conditions, product strategy, and utilization of technology.• Shark tank panel advisor and judge for the last five years selecting the companies that were awarded over $250k in investments. Working with over 30 companies, their founders, and investment partners to improve the focus, message, and strategy around participant companies.• Healthcare industry and Artificial Intelligence expert and advisor. Provide guidance and decisions on investments, market conditions, and portfolio advisement for fund additions.

Charlotte, North Carolina

Established industry-leading information management capability, including data science, business intelligence, system integration teams, data engineering, and data governance for the entire enterprise. Shaped enterprise data and analytics strategy, data models and pipelines, BI solutions, and technology infrastructure.• Designed and executed a strategic initiative to transform the company's perspective on data, fostering a data-driven culture throughout the organization, from top executives to front-line employees. Established data ownership and achieved widespread adoption of a unified metrics and reporting framework which led to the company being viewed as an industry-leading exemplar in harnessing an integrated dataset encompassing clinical, financial, and operational information.• Under my leadership, the company successfully merged financial and clinical data into a single platform, enabling comprehensive decision-making across the organization and providing valuable insights into the nuanced challenges inherent to healthcare.• Created a cross-functional analytics and dashboarding program that spearheaded a notable enhancement in safety and quality, resulting in a reduction of hospital-acquired infections, serious safety incidents, and consistent top-tier "A" ratings in Leapfrog throughout my entire tenure.• Established an AI & Innovation Institute to streamline the oversight of technology adoption and AI initiatives, as well as to centralize the management of business cases for all endeavors. The institute successfully oversaw the implementation of more than 30 AI projects, including initiatives that directly resulted in $50 million per year in claims savings, reduced stroke response times from 45 minutes to 15 minutes, the development of award-winning Opioid Use treatment models, and nationally recognized COVID prediction models.

Dallas/Fort Worth Area

Lead and directed a large technology delivery team covering the core and differentiating functions for a ~$4 billion dollar public company during a time of intense investor activism and leadership change.• Engineered a customized financial interaction risk model by leveraging both third-party and internal data sources. This innovation eliminated the need for 5,000 store managers to rely on instinct-based decisions and greatly enhanced the sales process.• Reduced Financial time to close from 4 days to 1.• Designed and implemented an AWS-hosted component-based Point of Sale (POS) system, enabling seamless utilization on tablets, mobile devices, and the web, all achieved within a budget of under $5 million and a timeline of just one year. This initiative resulted in improved field team retention, increased sales, and facilitated the company's expansion into new markets without encountering technological limitations.

Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex

Built an Information Management department, concurrently instilling Architecture, Strategy, and Innovation as integral cross-functional competencies across the organization.• Rebuilt essential SAP components by integrating third-party data into a real-time call center and web-based offer engine. This strategic overhaul led to a remarkable turnaround, as the company shifted from a yearly customer loss exceeding 5% to achieving a net neutral position within the first year.• Created Application Lifecycle Framework for reconciling the entire IT Portfolio roadmap, leading to 15% reduction in spend in first year.

Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex

Developed Enterprise Architecture framework, guiding principles and process for EA group as well as Enterprise integration and adoption. Collaborated with the business to devise strategic roadmaps, shaping IT programs, projects, and capability sets.• Pioneered a unique customer 360 environment tailored for sales and call-center operations, along with a dynamic streaming environment for agencies. This strategic initiative propelled the company's market position, elevating it from a distant fourth place to a solid third within the following two years.

Architected and led multiple large information management projects including Energy Trading platform, Large Distribution platform, Manufacturing and Supply Chain platform, Sales and Financial platform, and Global Telecommunications platform.

Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina Area

Bachelor'S Degree, Political Science And Government

Certified Enterprise Architect, Enterprise Architecture Program - Institute For Software Research