Ro Kumar Email & Phone Number

Chicago, Us

Strategy and investment firm building a portfolio of for-profit environmentally friendly and sustainable businesses.Acquired iSonic, Inc. (www.isonicinc.com) a manufacturer of environmentally friendly ultrasonic cleaning machines and solutions.Provided seed capital to Demi (www.demicomposting.com) an early stage business that is providing composting services to residents in high-rise buildings.Provided seed capital to Priara GmbH. Exited business in April 2023.

Chicago, Illinois, Us

A public-private sector partnership between local and federal agencies to strengthen the resilience and reliability of the Chicago’s financial firms to deal with business disruptions caused by natural or man-made disasters. ChicagoFIRST’s Innovative business model was recognized by US Congress in the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 as a necessary mechanism to protect local financial industry. The Department of Treasury uses the model to organize other areas of the nation with a high concentration of financial industry assets. The company acquired a seat at Chicago’s 911 Center and attracted federal funding for disaster planning and emergency evacuation drills for the industry.

Copenhagen, Dk

ZTE is a wholly owned subsidiary of WW Grainger, and an eCommerce company. Appointed as Managing Director and responsible for all aspects of Grainger’s Global Online business unit for the EU.Restructured ZTE by reducing variable costs such as freight and promotions, while increasing prices resulting in an 11% improvement in Net GP. Slashed headcount and real estate lease costs reducing cash burn by over 50%. Re-envisioned product and merchandising strategy to feature hand tools and consumables vs. power tools resulting in a higher product GP and better customer repeat rates. Grew product assortment to 800K SKUs.Recognized by Handelsblatt as the #1 website for hand tools in Germany in 2019.

Chicago, Illinois, Us

Zoro is a wholly owned subsidiary of WW Grainger. Primarily responsible for leading IT and Business Analytics. As a member of Zoro’s Board led business strategy, partnerships, and M&A. Launched new revenue channels such as Zorocanada.com, marketplaces, mobile Pay On Google, and a Game App for marketing promotions. Improved onsite search, navigation, user experience, and moved to a responsive design for zoro.com. Integrated product recommendation engine, real-time targeting, and product reviews. Made significant improvements to conversion rates, time on site and bounce rates.Scaled-up technology team from 8 to 70+ engineers, product managers, DevOps and QA. Established an MVP delivery methodology, Agile process and IT controls for compliance and risk management. Built a team of 9 data scientists to handle quantitative and qualitative customer and market analysis. Scaled-up the technology platform to support higher transaction volume. Upgraded Financial, CRM and Master Data Management systems and rebuilt system interfaces. Continuously enhanced architecture to address deficiencies. Enhanced digital security and operational reliability of systems and infrastructure. Led the strategy team to flip zoro.com into a marketplace for MRO products. Developed the business case, plans for the proof-of-concept and secured funding from the Board. Recognized by The Chicago Tribune as a Top100 place to work in 2016.

Chicago, Illinois, Us

A shopper marketing and analytics start-up that innovated by installing touch screens at the point of purchase. As CEO set the business strategy, investment plan, and established operating processes to grow the business. Engaged the Board and restructured all functions of the company. Refocused company on customer needs, sales, and marketing versus investing in developing a software product platform and burning cash. Changed the go-to-market strategy from relying on channel partners to a direct sales model. Acquired new customers such as Starbucks, Ashley Home Furniture, Pfizer, Beam and P&G. Generated a 45% growth in revenue and produced a positive EBITDA.Raised $1.5M in growth capital from new investors to expand the sales and marketing functions. Won the Gold Award from the Point of Purchase Advertising International in 2011 for Diageo’s Virtual Bartender implementation for the most innovative technology in a retail store.

A $1B portfolio company owned by Welsh, Carson, Anderson, and Stowe a Private Equity firm. A publisher of Yellow Pages books in 900+ markets in North America. Managed a team of 150+ employees and contractors. Consolidated and integrated the prospect-to-cash processes for 3 companies acquired by implementing a single CRM, order entry, billing, accounts receivable, publishing and fulfillment system.Expanded the portfolio of products sold by the sales representatives by identifying and executing strategic partnerships with websites developers, SEM, SEO, and pay-for-performance vendors. Outsourced and consolidated 4 data centers and networks. Transitioned support of legacy systems and business back-office operations to the Dominican Republic and India.

Chicago, Illinois, Us

The holding company for The Chicago Sun-Times and 70+ other suburban newspapers. Led both the Interactive Media business unit and the Information Technology function. Managed a staff of 110 employees and contractors.Transformed fledgling online business to achieve an overall 200% increase in revenue in 3 years. Increased page views by 24% and site visits by 29%. Created partnerships and alliances with local broadcasters, pure-play web entities and local content distribution channels.Spearheaded the realization $5+ million in EBITDA by outsourcing advertising graphics creation, classified advertising sales, IT systems and call centers. Partnered with business unit heads to manage business change.Executed 40+ IT initiatives on-time and on-budget and achieved $30M+ in EBITDA improvements. Upgraded voice, data and email infrastructures. Installed systems for news editing, publication, and printing. Achieved compliance with SOX audit regulation by fixing 486 pervasive control deficiencies within 2 years.

Chicago, Illinois, Us

Lead corporate strategy and new business development for a $130M+ clearinghouse for financial derivatives. As CTO, was responsible for technology strategy, architecture and procurement. Served as focal point for company and external partners on technology related strategic issues for clearing and settlement functions in the industry. Managed customer and strategic partnerships. Established a Technology Roundtable to facilitate dialog between exchanges and clearing firms. Facilitated adoption of new protocols for transaction processing and agreements on cooperation in the event of a disaster. Represented OCC on the technology advisory committee of the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation and on the Board of the Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council that provides guidance to the Treasury Secretary on critical infrastructure protection and homeland security. Spearheaded new business ventures. Point person to lead new initiatives and respond to RFPs. Successfully bid on and won contract to build a network to link the five options exchanges called Options Linkage Authority (OLA) Successfully led the alliance with another Clearing Corporation to jointly acquire and operate a back-up data center for business continuity operations.Established new functions to manage technology. Established governance and processes to create the enterprise architecture function. Transformed the organization away from a departmental focus to an cross-functional architectural focus; improved internal communications; eliminated redundant/obsolete technologies; resulting in an integrated systems platform for the new clearing platform ENCORE.

Chicago, Illinois, Us

Us

Mba, Buiness

Ms, Management Information Systems

Ba, Economics