Rob Blake Email & Phone Number

Downers Grove, IL, US

• Agile expert tasked with bringing blend of Agile experience and modern implementation strategies to clients’ solution development needs
• Product lead for major accounting firm’s internally developed ChatGPT-based GenAI solution; oversee product team responsible for firmwide GenAI launch to 120,000+ global users
• Coordinated roadmap presentation, prioritization, and execution including features for initial firmwide launch including support for ChatGPT-3.5 and ChatGPT-4, prompt builder, custom plugins focused on internal data.
• Performed ChatGPT-Enterprise competitive analysis to help inform leadership’s 2024 GenAI strategic intent
• Leveraged Microsoft Copilot’s GenAI to create initial user stories and acceptance criteria 90% faster than traditional (manual) methods

Washington, District Of Columbia, US

• Implement and refine vendor selection process including overall workflow and timing, functional and non-functional requirements, solution analysis, and recommendation process and communication
• Lead creation and submission of digital transformation business case for Office of Hearing Officers resulting from a vendor selection process involving courthouse management and legal document management SaaS solutions
• Lead vendor relations and initial business case creation for modernizing data privacy function based on a vendor selection process targeting personal data inventory, loss reporting, and privacy impact assessments.
• Co-lead Product new on-boarding workstream improvements focused on increasing new hire satisfaction within the Product organization.
• Expand from initial (as-hired) individual contributor role to team lead by onboarding first direct report

London, GB

• Identified, managed, and executed product strategies for client-facing solutions primarily focused on the Global Tax Platform
• Interacted with internal team members including Partners, subject matter experts, and delivery/engineering to socialize, identify, and recommend new products
• Primary contact and lead for all product aspects including strategy, user experience design, development, and deployment.
• Continuously evaluated and validated product vision to anticipate and address changing business and user needs. Profit and loss responsibilities for a product(s), ensuring it meets user, market, and business demand.
• Helped identify opportunities for products to align with the firm’s broader organizational mission and strategy and that it is competitively positioned driving revenue and EY’s technological footprint in the market.
• Managed portfolio reporting covering both financial and headcount health checks.

Denver, Colorado, US

• Managed, coached, and recruited remote team of 8 (7 product managers, 1 senior designer) overseeing SaaS inventory management solution
• Created Two-in-a-box relationship with Engineering and establish key Agile Scrum ceremonies and process improvements to help remove unnecessary interruptions
• Partnered with Marketing to formalize go-to-market process for all new features
• Established formal process to collect and manage Voice of... feedback loop process to help centralize and improvement priority outcome ideation
• Established Early Adopter Program to help launch new Warehouse Management and B2B Online Store modules
• Oversaw improvement in overall NPS by launching new user interface and accounting user profile-specific NPS by prioritizing critical QuickBook/Xero defects

Woodland Hills, CA, US

• Led a 7-person product management team located in the US and Poland; responsible for overseeing individual and team performance, creating a culture of continuous improvement, and ensuring team alignment to corporate.
• Created and maintained short- and long-term product roadmap for flagship account reconciliation and variance modules, incorporating prioritized Voice of Customer priorities from Customer Advisory Board as well as.
• Provided steady leadership, mentoring, and support for my Product team, ensuring that morale and productivity remained high; worked closely with peer Product Directors to monitor overall health of entire Product team.
• Created repeatable Product team interview process and leveraged to hire two full-time product managers
• Oversaw project to implement new transaction-level account analysis functionality to account reconciliation module that involved seven different internal teams
• Implemented release planning process to provide frequent updates on roadmap contents and progress, as well as the decision-making process that goes into defining the roadmap.

Roseville, CA, US

• Refined sales process from CRM to marketing collateral to contracting with focus on reducing sales friction/increase prospect satisfaction
• Increased product revenue/new customer acquisitions
• Provided win/loss analysis and competitive intelligence to internal teams
• Managed sales team including pipeline building and review, forecasting, and playbook execution
• Worked closely with Product Management to bring Voice of Sales requirements into the roadmap planning process

Roseville, CA, US

• Led strategic and tactical product direction and differentiation for existing offerings
• Leveraged Agile methodologies (Scrum) to run successful Release/Sprint planning, Sprint Review and Retrospective sessions, and create functional requirements
• Created and maintained product road map, and refine product backlog
• Developed new user experience prototypes that encompass socialization, workflow, and dashboard functionality
• Oversaw strategic migration of desktop-based functionality into single comprehensive Cloud-based solution
• Recruited and maintained partner and technology alliances

Roseville, CA, US

Responsible for the tactical and strategic direction for Certent Disclosure Management, a business reporting solution focused on helping both private and public companies manage their SEC traditional and XBRL filing requirements.

Jackson, WY, US

• Achieved Salesforce Administrator certification within first 25 days
• Designed and implemented loan management and servicing solution built on Lightning including invoicing, loan payments, and investor distributions
• Created custom reports and dashboards for all primary personas

Plano, Texas, US

• Implemented Agile Scrum to run successful Release/Sprint planning, Sprint Review, and Retrospective sessions; authored all use case briefs/use cases/story documents
• Created and maintained product roadmaps and backlog
• Recommended new external contractors and technology components to accelerate product launch and customer acceptance
• Marketing team subject matter resource responsible for Sales playbooks, go-to-market strategies and pricing, competitive intelligence/battle cards, demonstration scripts, and customer presentations
• Visionary and project manager for large-scale user experience project that created new reporting socialization hub encompassing all types of reporting users
• Proposed and negotiated technology contracts with four external vendors including Adobe, Fujitsu, and IBM

Chicago, Illinois, US

• Led release planning, backlog refinement, and requirements definition for Cloud-based regulatory reporting platform initially developed at Bowne & Co.
• Provided technology and best practices oversight for advancing existing software solutions
• Created and maintained company's first ever blog, focused on regulatory reporting and XBRL
• Led resource for training/educating internal team members and clients
• Provided XBRL domain/industry expertise by speaking at The SEC Institute conferences across the US.
• Developed market and competitive feedback for Vice President, Business Development

• Defined resource staffing (mix of on- and off-shore resources) and operational implementation strategy, and maintained initial P&L for new XBRL full service offering
• Product manager for six solutions including a Cloud-based collaborative review and approval platform used by over 2,000 internal and external resources
• Recommended partner strategy for offering customers a self-service option (i.e., enabling companies to do XBRL internally) and in-house technical validation
• Primary public relations resource for media activities including press releases and interviews
• Assisted in creating/reviewing marketing strategy including white papers, web site content, marketing collateral and product naming/branding
• Created and maintained company's first ever blog

Washington, DC, US

• Project Manager hired to oversee the initial phase of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's US GAAP Financial Statement Taxonomies project. Responsible for all tactical and technical aspects of the project.
• Worked directly with SEC Chair Chris Cox, SEC Deputy Chief of Staff Mike Halloran, and President of XBRL US to secure multi-million dollar contract to create initial version of the U.S. GAAP XBRL taxonomy
• Program manager responsible for all aspects of project including resource procurement, labor schedules, project milestones, project management plan, and work breakdown structure
• Secured 70+ subject matter resources from 15 different companies including all major accounting firms and Robert Half and consolidated resources in New York City
• Implemented Agile methodologies for overall project management and taxonomy development/testing
• Helped deliver first version of XBRL taxonomy involving 15,000 XML accounting elements to SEC Chairman for public presentation in September 2007

• Product manager for Crossfire, a regulatory reporting solution with integrated XBRL support
• Creator and product manager for DragonTag and DragonView, XBRL tagging and review solutions
• Project/product manager for responding to and winning contract to build SEC’s initial XBRL Viewer
• Managed all non-development functions including professional services and support, quality assurance, product management, technical writing/documentation, and marketing functions
• Subject matter expert and primary liaison with outside counsel for three XBRL patent applications
• Partner manager responsible for signing/maintaining strategic partners including AICPA, Bowne & Co., CCH (Wolters Kluwer), Creative Solutions (Thomson Financials), EY, Microsoft, and PR Newswire

Redmond, Washington, US

• Product manager for Microsoft Office Tool for XBRL, the first XBRL tagging application within Office
• Product manager for Microsoft Excel Investor’s Assistant, world’s first XBRL analytic proof-of-concept
• Partnered with Global Accounts VP to define and execute license/marketing strategies around XBRL
• Thought-leader/featured speaker at panels and industry symposiums on XML, XBRL, and Web services
• Company spokesperson for all XBRL-related activities including product launches and SEC submissions
• Prepared/submitted Microsoft 10-K/Q and Earnings Release XBRL documents to the SEC EDGAR system

US

• Member of management team that executed sale of company to Great Plains Software, Inc.
• Created product road map and requirements for FRx Financial Reporter versions 5.5, 6.0, 6.5, and 7.0
• Oversaw data integration to 30+ accounting and ERP systems including Great Plains, Solomon, Platinum/Epicor, Sage, JD Edwards, Peoplesoft and SAP
• Solicited and tracked product feedback from customers/partners; implemented bug tracking system
• Evaluated/maintained third-party technology partnerships including ProClarity and eBudgets
• Conducted 200+ training courses and product seminars for both accounting/finance and technical users

• Created marketing requirements, test plans and release schedules for general ledger application
• Developed test case data and automated test scripts, and maintained issue tracking system
• Provided pre- and post-sales application and technical support
• Primary Presales product specialist, conducting detailed product demonstrations to prospective clients
• Consultant responsible for post-sales installation, configuration, training and support services

• Maintained primary chart of accounts for the St. Charles (IL) global training center
• Reconciled local office to remote office allocations
• Compiled annual budget for Controller's office
• Primary liaison with remote office for addressing questions/concerns on charge-backs
• Investigated and resolve outstanding account balance issues from prior years

Akron, OH, US

Trust accountant responsible for providng basic accounting/financial oversight of Trust department.

Bsba, Finance, With Emphasis In Accounting

High School, College Prep