Michael Walz Email & Phone Number

Elk River, Minnesota, United States

Provide quality, detail oriented real estate closing services as a licensed Notary and Real Estate Closer in Minnesota. Will travel through out Minnesota for quick, short notice closing 7x24 service and a fast return of closing documents. Certified through the Loan Signing System and National Notary Association.

Elk River, Mn

Developed and Managed a unique educational conference/program to obtain Continuing Education while on a cruise ship. This allows attendees to earn Accredited Continuing Education Units while taking a luxurious cruise at affordable rates! Utilizing Business Development, Program Management, Marketing, Social Media, Networking, Contract and Vendor Negotiations, these conferences provide all industries that require attendees needing CEUs to maintain licensure while taking much needed time to relax and enjoy their own experience with family, friends and co-workers.

Elk River, Mn

OwnerITHOUGHT LLC March, 2012 — December, 2017 (5 years 9 months)Business operations and technical consulting to small, medium and large nationwide organizations to improve processes, reduce costs and improve customer satisfactionLicensed Life Insurance provider for State of Minnesota, selling Term and Whole Life, Mortgage Protection and AnnuitiesOwner/Operator of 5 Walz Travel agency providing personal and business travel arrangementsTypes of travel included individual business travel, family and group travel arrangements for Land and Cruise experiencesCLIA member and certified in Marriott, Hilton, Holiday Inn Group, Disney Cruise and Adventures, Norwegian, Princess and Royal Carribean Cruise linesDeveloped new nationwide educational delivery format for various industries to deliver continuing education and conferences while experiencing destination experiences that reduce overhead costs and improve networking and educational retentionDesigned and developed mobile application for a new industry typically not associated with technologyDesigning the application, database, customer facing interface, marketing and advertising approach while obtaining corporate sponsors to help launch the applicationCertified Pre-Marital counselor, assisting new couples in resolving conflicts and identifying ways to improve communications and creating mutual respect in high stress situationsCertified Wedding Officiant - Performing legal ceremonies authorized by the State of Minnesota

Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul Area

Booking and coordinating vacations, groups, corporate travel, personal travel, Land and Sea vacations at great prices. International travel bookings also available!

Sauk Rapids, Mn

• Identify operational strengths and weaknesses and develop technical solutions to improve performance.• Develop relationships between departments internally as well as with clients and 3rd party vendors.• Consult with retailers nationwide to develop new business operations as well as improve existing operations using various technologies and strategies. Showing retailers how to build a competitive edge in their industry and showcase operations by implementing new technologies and best practices.• Extensive travel to better understand retailer operations and build relationships with current and prospective customers.• Performed training seminars at regional offices to train field representatives on customer qualifications and product knowledge.• Collaborate with Internal resources, external vendors and retailers to deliver optimal solutions that meet customer needs and expectations that match project timelines and milestones.• Analyzed internal processes and implemented changes to improve delivery and customer service and establish expectations.• Lead product manager and development team in software redesign to utilize alternative Microsoft products and hardware recommendations that resulted in a 25% reduction in production costs; which resulted in lower end user costs and increased sales opportunities.• Developed and implemented project management process for software implementation to ensure smooth delivery and successful operations to new customers.• Provided customer demonstrations of software product and determined how the solution would benefit them and their operations to improve productivity and increase EBIT.• Provide feedback, guidance and solutions to internal development in providing a quality product that improves implementation and support processes that are provided to customers.• Developed and delivered professional product presentations for nationwide business conferences and Industry trade shows.

Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul Area

- Integrated and Migrated POS system from several systems to Micros 9700. Maintaining all system maintenance and implementation of new revenue centers, menu items, employees and bi-annual price increases.- Managed PCI compliance of all POS equipment.- Analyzed business processes and applications, recommending and implementing new technology to improve productivity and reduce overall expenses.- Created multiple cost/benefit analysis and presented to Senior Management at U of M with recommendations.- Implemented Windows, IIS, SQL, NFS servers and desktop technology in support of numerous projects.- Managed projects to ensure compliance with SLAs.- Managed relationships between business units and vendors to ensure effective communications.- Coordinated Application and hardware issues between various lines of businesses, providing feedback to analysts and developers on product release issues and improvement requests.- Responsible for sourcing, purchasing and implementation of new technology in support of over 500 computers and POS equipment to 65 locations in a campus-wide environment.- Developed and maintained standards in desktop hardware and software.- Provided on-site support for all dining and sports locations at U of M, TC campus- Recommended complete redesign of IS / IT infrastructure and managed each of multiple projects to a strict and aggressive timeline.- Provided technical input and vision for developing standards and creating processes and procedures..- Responsible for daily support of all systems and infrastructure. Including but not limited to Windows Desktops, Windows Server, Microsoft SQL Server, and Microsoft IIS Server Escalating issues to vendor support when necessary to resolve issues and minimize downtime.- Develops and provides end user training and support of existing systems and implementation of new systems.- Acts as a technical liaison with client to resolve infrastructure issues and assist with implementation of new systems

Elk River, Mn

• Analyzed business processes and supporting infrastructures, recommending and implementing technology to reduce costs and increase productivity and performance in business spanning from small entrepreneurships to nationwide organizations.• Managed support services for desktop computers, laptop computers, and servers in local and nationwide organizations supporting over 1000 users.• Managed upgrades / migrations of desktop applications, server applications, integrated systems.Provided analysis and recommendations for implementation of system solutions • Migrated infrastructure of local and wide area networks to current technologies and provided on-going support post migration.• Provided staff augmentation for short term and long term projects.• Developed Training program for support personnel in support of standardizing desktop and laptop configurations.

Master Of Business Administration (M.B.A.), Business Administration And Management, General, 3.8

Activities and Societies: International Study in Chile. Developed SWOT analysis to identify import / export opportunities with Chile.

Bachelors, It Management, 3.8

Education record