Richard Ray Email & Phone Number

Manchester, Connecticut, United States

Manufacturer of premium hardwood barbecue pellets for use in pellet grills and smokers. Pellets are produced from 100% natural, locally-sourced hardwoods. Co-founder of this start-up that has grown to over 120 retail sites, multiple restaurant clients, and a recipient of various industry awards. Lead all operational aspects of the business including day to day manufacturing, procurement, supplier / partner management, staff recruiting, training, business process development, facility management, logistics and warehousing, maintenance management, continuous improvement, and project management. Partner with other founders to manage the financials, accounts receivables and payables, investor management, sales qualification, marketing, and strategy. Being a start-up I have been hands on with designing, implementing and running of all aspects of the company including the maintenance of the equipment and running of the mill facility.

Cromwell, Connecticut

Led US Operation. Led warehouse operations, product manufacturing, purchasing, resourcing, and retail product development and sales. FibreDust LLC is a US-owned private company founded in 2002 to provide growers with organic, renewable, eco-friendly substrate.

Hartford, Connecticut Area

Contracted with national bank to be sole provider of services related to the collection of receivables, asset liquidation, general maintenance and security, and other caretaker services related to my former employer, Central Connecticut Cooperative Farmers Association, that filed chapter 7 bankruptcy in August 2016. Supporting bank employees and legal counsel in bankruptcy proceedings while supporting bankruptcy trustee with research and information collection relevant to proceedings.

Manchester, Connecticut

Overall leader of a farmer owned cooperative serving regional animal nutrition and livestock needs for farms in Connecticut, Southern and Eastern New England, and Eastern New York. Responsible for production, sales, and delivery of over 4,000 tons of feed monthly and $20 million in annual sales. Reported to the Board of Directors. Day to day leadership and accountability for all company operations including strategic planning, dispatching / delivery, manufacturing, truck fleet management, facility management, purchasing, sales, marketing, customer service, finance and banking, retail store, Human Resources, staff development, union negotiations, and administration.

Northeast

Enterprise Business owner for the Member self-service web portal, Provider self-service web portals, Web Portal Voice of the Customer program, Provider Search Interface tool, IVR Voice self service, intranet knowledge base and activity tracking/CRM tool. Service Operations business owner for telephone and ACD solutions, WFM, work at home program and translation services. Executive business liaison to corporate IT department.- Implemented Web Portal Voice of the Customer Program on over 80 corporate website properties. - Member Portal Site Opinion Index consistently higher than Healthcare index- Introduced electronic communication functionality and processes via web portal and activity tracking tools resulting in annual print and postage savings of over $1 million- Increased web portal user registrations; Member Portal >25%; Provider Portals > 35%- Increased web portal transaction activities: Provider Portals > 109%- Reduced web portal incoming support calls through focus on production support, actioning voice of the customer feedback and targeted enhancements. Reduced a minimum of 11% for three years running- Lead support and maintenance of the internal CRM/activity tracking tool used by over 10,000 users; annually implement over 30 enhancements, 6,000 system administration tasks, and 400 report requests- Implemented new AVAYA telephone system (CMS 16) across over 4,500 users in the service organization providing consistent functionality, virtual queues across the sites and streamlined business continuity- Built and maintained a work at home program for multiple service center job roles supporting over 900 full time work at home employees- Maintain and evolve the enterprise wide intranet knowledge tool - essentials. Support over 10,000 users monthly; over 5,000 searches monthly; over 3,500 monthly updates

Led the pre and post sale consultancy and technical design components of Performance Optimisation solution projects. Focused on the best practice implementation and utilization of workforce optimization solutions including Call Recording, Quality Monitoring, Performance Management, Workforce Management, elearning / Coaching, Customer Feedback and Speech Analytics.- Responsible for leading consultancy engagements to over 50 top UK organizations such as BT, RSA, the DWP, HMRC, British Gas, npower, British Airways, and Conduit. Achieved several million pounds savings and improved revenue as well as up to 5% increased customer retention.- Achieved annual revenue targets through the development and implementation of a successful pilot and proof of concept deployment process for Speech Analytics solutions for Lloyds Banking Group, npower, O2 Ireland, Shop Direct Group, the DWP, HMRC, Conduit, VHI, BT Business, the AA, Talk Talk, Home Retail Group and others.- As the EMEA champion, achieved annual revenue targets through developing and managing the successful implementation of Customer Feedback Analytics solutions for Leeds City Council, Blue Square, RSA, British Gas, npower, HMRC, BGL Group, Yorkshire Building Society, Turkish Telekom, Center Parcs Europe and others.- Represented Verint as a Contact Centre Expert in industry publications and events. Authored articles and delivered presentations, webinars and workshops for major contact center publications and events including Call Centre Focus (CCF), Customer Contact Association (CCA), Utility Week, Customer Management, Contact Centre Link.com, Contact Centre World, Call Centre Helper, CCExpo and Call Centre Europe.

Lead team of 10 Solutions consultants supporting EMEA. Consultant on discovery sessions, Business Case and ROI development with contact center customers to validate their investment in a Witness performance optimization solution

Support Sales team with prospects and clients designing solutions targeted at their specific business issues. Facilitated contact center workshops to develop best practice processes and technical solutions.

In a 1,200 seat, multi-center service organization, developed, implemented and led strategic, operational and tactical business plans to achieve and exceed the customer service operations goals; reducing operational costs while increasing employee and customer satisfaction and increasing the economies of scale through acquisition and centralization. Led and was accountable for various customer service center activities including technology additions and enhancements, contact center strategies (including outsource recommendations), service teams and company wide process improvement. Performed due diligence analysis and made recommendations on the purchase of potential corporate acquisitions.

A Software Development and Customer Service Consulting Company, providing automated transaction processing solutions within the Insurance, Banking and Financial Services Industries Worldwide.- 75% improvement in claim processing turnaround time through leading the development and implementation of strategic operational improvement plans in claim processing- 200% revenue increase through client relationship development resulting in additional long-term contracts- 60% staff adherence improvement through design and implementation of a forecasting and scheduling tool

Leadership of 350 employees in a multi-product line, multi-system platform, healthcare service center providing services for claim adjudication, telephone customer service, and client administration. ($10.2M annual budget)20% unit cost reduction through cross skilling and aggressive performance development40% growth of transaction volumes through consolidation and internal alignment of business

Led 175+ employees in a healthcare service center providing claim and telephone customer service$3M annual expense reduction through leading project to rationalize and consolidate contact centers reducing total from 23 to 15 centers

Direct supervision of 50+ employees and member of Management team responsible for the dramatic improvement in service metrics of the operation.

Direct supervisor of 4 technicians: established and communicated performance expectations, administered performance appraisals, delegated tasks and managed project deliverables.

Managed the application development and implementation of OS/2 workstation for use by over 170 customer service representatives in telephone customer service teams.