I grew up in rural Indiana, where I learned the values of hard work, perseverance, and generosity. Mentors encouraged me to ask questions and experiment; Mom pointed me toward pharmaceutical manufacturing. College brought the vocabulary of business and the magic of data visualization. Reading “The Goal” by Eliyahu M. Goldratt showed me practically how to apply all that theory. I’ve made a career out of these tools and the confidence that I can learn anything with a little elbow grease and patience. Early roles in Customer Service became a foundation to build upon. Forecasting, Analytics, Logistics, Marketing and Sales Support followed, each giving me a new perspective and appreciation for my colleagues, clients, and vendors. Every experience has had elements of Project Management – scope definition, timeline creation, scenario planning, budget management, and stakeholder communication. I’m passionate about project management because these skills reliably help teams identify core issues and solve complex problems. I love the challenge of taking a complex goal, breaking it into bite size pieces, understanding how each piece fits in relation to the others and crafting an achievable path to success. Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) takes project management to the enterprise level – a business process that explicitly seeks to align the pillars of an organization in support of a strategic purpose. The process provides a framework for Sales, Operations, Finance and Supply Chain to speak the same language and gives them a methodology for decision making that considers the varying capabilities, perspectives, and assumptions of each function. Even a simple S&OP process can make the impossible, possible with focus and cross-functional buy-in. My role today is to create the tools, demonstrate the possibility and then support implementation with Clients. Out of the office - my high school sweetheart and I have 2 extraordinary kiddos, I’m a bibliophile, a Tetris lover and a distance runner. I like to spend time in my community; volunteering at the schools, supporting local food banks and exploring our fabulous rails to trail system on foot or bike. My favorite day of the week is Monday and everyone should read “Great Expectations” by Charles Dickens at least once.