CH ROBINSON, Eden Prairie, MN                IT Black Belt and Project Manager              2004 – 2009

Managed project plans, scope, strategies, and communications for medium to large scale IT projects that delivered process and system improvements. Utilized DMAIC, DMADV, DFSS, BPMS, FMEA, LEAN, and other Six Sigma tools to significantly improve existing processes and to create new business processes.

• Reduced cycle time. Redesigned a corporate portal, request forms, and business processes to reduce end user time spent requesting services by 75% while eliminating redundant callbacks by 80%.
• Established customer-focused service levels and significantly improved service fulfillment from 50% to 90%. Created exception and escalation processes for managing unique or unusual requests.
• Improved system availability for customer reporting. Reduced data latency defects in an IT system by 99% improving customer access up-to-the-minute data from 65% to 99.9% during core hours.
• Benchmarked and established IT position descriptions with industry-relevant salary ranges.
• Conducted cost-benefit analyses and obtained approval for system improvements. One bill tracking system had a $75,000 annual cost, yet analysis revealed a net cost savings of $1.3 M over four years.
• Created measures and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) using readily available tools such as Excel.
• Facilitated cross organizational discussions to map out high level business processes, established process Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and incorporated Capability Maturity Models (CMMI).
• Established 'use case' requirements based on voice of the customer analysis and solicited Requests for Proposal (RFPs) for purchased IT systems.
• Mentored, trained, and designed instructional materials for Green Belts, Black Belts, project champions, and quality improvement teams using Six Sigma concepts and techniques.
• Facilitated rational analysis sessions using Kepner-Tregoe techniques.
  

CARLSON COMPANIES, Minnetonka, MN IT Black Belt and Project Manager              1998 – 2004

Managed medium to large scale IT projects that delivered significant process and technology improvements. Utilized Six Sigma tools to significantly improve existing processes and to create new business processes.Managed a project to deploy a large scale Help Desk ticketing system for managing system configurations, IT changes, incidents, problems, and IT monitoring tools.

• Established a corporate umbrella project management process to prioritize a portfolio of IT projects.
• Led two black belt projects to eliminate website and network outages, resulting in annual cost savings of over $250,000.
• Managed a project to deploy, configure, and administer a call center computer telephony system that reduced call abandonment by 12% and increased call handling capacity by 25%.
• Used sophisticated statistical measurements to determine process capability with respect to customer specifications. Identified process gaps and chartered projects to improve key customer facing processes.
• Facilitated strategic planning, Balanced Scorecard, and dashboard design sessions.
• Authored and gained approval for Authorizations for Expenditure (AFEs) for $1M+ enterprise projects.
• Automated support processes with systems integrations between monitoring tools and core systems.
• Integrated help desk software system with automatic notifications, reducing resolution time by 35%.
• Managed the implementation of repeatable and reliable improvement strategies for Information Technology: configuration, change, incident, problem, and request management processes.
• Identified data sources and established key metrics using software reporting and database tools.

CARLSON COMPANIES, Minnetonka, MN Service Desk Manager                                   1996 – 1998

Managed 18 service desk employees covering incident, problem, request, and escalation management services.

• Deployed a skills-based call distribution system to improve first call resolution from 25% to 80%.
• Designed queuing models to effectively allocate resources and to reengineer call handling processes. Improved first call resolution by 30% while reducing call abandonment from 12% to 4%.
• Constructed statistical analyses from production data to identify problem root causes and effect solutions.
• Reconfigured incoming call Voice Response Unit (VRU) menus to significantly improve customer satisfaction by reducing menu selections, minimizing wait time, and improving first call resolution.

American Society for Quality, Member
Project Management Institute, Past Member
Toastmasters International, Member and International Board of Directors Member
Minneapolis Aquatennial, Past Event Chair
'Hired' Volunteer (Assisting job seekers to become qualified for and obtain employment)