Customer Service Management

James P. Ratchford

Mail - PO Box *****, Seattle WA 98111 / Home – 7815 175th Street SW, Edmonds WA 98026

Cell - 206-***-**** / Home - 425-***-**** / *.*********@****.***

Chief Information Officer

Accomplished IT Executive – Education Services Focused, Strategic Planner, Collaborative Partner,

Innovative Solutions Designer, Customer Service Driver and Technology Solutions Provider

Career Profile

Results oriented IT executive with core healthcare experience creating strategic vision, and

leading technology-based multi-million dollar medical center and clinic initiatives based upon

sound performance and economic values. Accomplished track-record based upon demonstrated

ability to achieve cross-functional medical objectives, to build high-performing teams, and to

deliver world-class customer focused services. A key contributor to senior management teams who

provides veteran leadership, a decisive and collaborative perspective to create practical IT

strategies and implementation plans designed to solve healthcare requirements, to assure

maximum return at the lowest cost, and to gain a competitive edge

Highlighted Immediate Contribution Value

Envisioned Enterprise Architecture design for maximum performance and value –

recognized inefficiencies linked to non-integrated business applications; resulted in Business

Process Redesign initiatives; set course to standardize on core platforms and eliminate costly

software systems; and reduced OPEX costs by $2.5 million.

Established a project management model to achieve strategic objectives – defined and

implemented a Project Management Office following best practices; created and led IT

Governance effort; provided structure where none existed, ensured project progress was

measured and communicated, and delivered all projects on-time, on-budget.

Created a risk avoidance strategy by protecting confidential client data – set strategic

direction for a data encryption plan; deployed encryption solution for all sensitive data; a

recognized industry leader for using this technology; protected clients from Identify Theft risk and

company from damaged reputation/liability for lost data.

Championed academic use of technology to gain philanthropic donations – defined needs

and benefits to strategic partners; set expectations for student growth and achievement results;

received nearly $2m in direct grants and negotiated 50-80% cost reductions for

products/services.

Core Areas of Expertise

o Healthcare IT Strategy & o Regulatory Compliance o Internet Service

Execution Management

o Medical Center Mission o Product & Technology o Information

Fulfillment Launch Architecture

o Program & Project o Medical Center IT o Process Improvement

Management Systems

o Profit & Loss o Clinical Systems o Team Building &

Management Management Leadership

o Risk Management o Enterprise IT Systems o Organization

Design/Restructure

o Time & Resource o Enterprise Software o Vendor & Contract

Optimization Development Negotiations

Professional Experience

Seattle Public Schools – Seattle, WA 2008 - Present

Largest school district in Washington State – provides K12 education services to 46,000 students at nearly 100 remote

locations.

Chief Information Officer

Strategic leader responsible to envision, plan, implement and sustain all IT services. Delivers

systems and data services for primary ERP, Student Information, and strategic platforms. Sets

direction for software development, testing, and user acceptance, primarily using .Net. Establishes

internal/external partnerships to drive organizational strategic and tactical objectives to successful

conclusion. Leads IT project management services and manages IT Governance. Directs

operational support for applications, contact center, data warehouse, desktop systems, security,

telecommunications, television studio, and data center operations. Engages publicly elected

officials. Addresses the public on technology topics. Leads a team of 95 technology professionals

with 7 direct reports and manages a $70 million, OPEX and CAPEX budget.

Key Results:

Led discussions with academic and business teams to define technology needs; envisioned

strategic direction to focus on efficiency and innovation; gained leadership support for an

affordable and executable 5-year plan.

Emphasized importance of data quality to business operations; established data management

standards and data steward roles; implemented foundational Data Warehouse; enabled leaders to

make date-driven decisions.

Made use of commercial software and Software as a Service products a business standard;

reduced internal software development by 90 percent; reduced applications by 30 products with

another 80 retired in 2011.

Prioritized project to eliminate legacy mainframe system that was 3 years behind

completion; identified software for retirement; developed replacement software in-house; user

acceptance of applications has exceeded customer expectations for functionality, ease of use and

performance; project will complete in 2011 with $1 million savings.

Expanded funding sources by making multiple grants requests; successfully gained

foundational support for key academic initiatives and IT systems with $1.5 million in grants.

Required use of Key Performance Indicators as service quality initiative; initial

measurements set baseline expectation for customers; managers are now using metrics to make

decisions that improve service delivery.

Addressed serious district budgetary shortfalls; identified business automation opportunities

and implemented solutions; consolidated work centers; eliminated unneeded services;

minimized service impacts; saved $8m.

Rescued a floundering SAP program; executives sought a total system replacement due to

multiple operational failures; identified system-wide problems from outdated business processes

to unskilled workforce to SAP design errors; set-up an SAP steering committee of business

leaders to own decisions; service problems are in decline.

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Called out inefficient customer service model; recommended a Contact Center model to

centralize multiple departments and communications methods; garnered executive and customer

approval; successful 6-month project.

Implemented standardized IT Service Management using Information Technology

Infrastructure (ITIL); for first time IT is able to deliver support using Service Level Agreements;

tasks are completed 25-50 percent faster.

Corrected long standing data center risks; led efforts to procure Uninterruptable Power

System and Computer Room Air Conditioning equipment; standardized on blade servers and

virtual servers; increased system reliability.

Leveraged the power of the Internet to communicate with key stakeholders; updated IT

platforms; gained executive support to procure new Web Content Management System; raised

quality of information provided to the public.

Partnered with Special Education Director to select a new software package; demonstrated

that collaborative efforts yield better results; advertised Request for Proposal heralded by

customer as best work to date with IT department.

Developed a video teleconference plan to enable central office staff to meet with school

leaders; this new service increases collaborative discussions without wasting travel time;

decisions happen faster with greater buy-in.

Identified print services as a high cost capability; audited number of print images and

equipment used; outlined a project to reduce costs by 40 percent, eliminate equipment and

improve quality of printing.

Earned strong endorsement from Council of Great City Schools IT Audit; results revealed

significant IT support improvements in last 2 years; recognized CIO for organization leadership,

IT vision and team motivation.

Walt Disney Internet Group – Seattle, WA 2005 - 2008

Internet technology division of The Walt Disney Company – delivers web-based ecommerce, advertising, news, and

entertainment generating over a billion in on-line revenue for all Disney Internet properties.

Director, Technical Services

Senior IT executive leading IT Infrastructure strategy and initiatives critical to deliver 24/7 guest

access to Disney Internet properties. Planned and executed global business and operations strategy

as a member of the executive team reporting to the CTO. Set direction for IT organization and key

infrastructure systems to strengthen quality of service, timely product delivery and team capabilities

while continuously improving reliability and reducing costs. Optimized software design,

functionality, and Infrastructure integration. Controlled a $76M annual budget and led 35-person

technical staff with 5 direct reports. Managed data center operations at 3 U.S. locations; large-scale

network architecture; Oracle, MS SQL and MySQL database systems; 120TB Storage Area

Network environment; and 5000+ servers using Windows and Linux operating systems.

Key Results:

Worked closely with business units to increase technical staff awareness of business drivers and challenges;

translated this information into business unit partnerships during product development – reduced time to market by 10

percent and design error rate by 20 percent.

Measured key performance indicators for computing resource growth; then leveraged virtualization technologies

to increase utilization of existing computing systems to forego a $1.2M purchase of new systems.

Enabled business applications redesign to be production ready ahead of schedule and saving $1M in development

costs; ensured systems integration worked as designed via sound cross-team planning.

Established a governance process for project management that implemented a tiered management model and

enabled project prioritization with full business unit approval.

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Reduced operational costs by 15 percent by designing and deploying a new state of the art data center;

consolidated three facilities into two; and marshaled resources to deliver new facility in six weeks versus six months.

Corrected long standing inadequate building maintenance agreements by standardizing on qualified vendors,

defining service levels, improving quality of service and reducing total support costs by 30 percent.

Established a standard load balancer solution by removing three vendor platforms and replacing with a single

platform resulting in improved business applications performance, reliability at 99.9 level and saving $300K yearly.

Developed a data life-cycle management architecture by deploying a first in the Enterprise 100TB SAN on-time,

on-budget and effectively managed vendor performance challenges to ensure no business impact.

Defined and implemented a server consolidation strategy that evaluated and selected standard server platforms,

used virtualization technologies to increase ROI by recovering costs in two years, and reduced TCO by 25 percent.

Promoted use of bandwidth utilization metrics to determine user trends and match bandwidth capacity to business

needs; added bandwidth to meet high demand, lowered carrier commit level and cost by 20 percent.

Recognized that out-dated or lack of process documentation negatively impacted systems availability/reliability;

established a documentation program to create understandable and repeatable processes resulting in improved staff

productivity and improved business systems reliability by 35 percent.

Boeing Employees’ Credit Union – Tukwila, WA

2003 – 2005

Top-5 national Credit Union; with $5.5B in assets, 2 financial centers, 2 call centers, 37 remote sites, and 825 employees.

Director, IT Infrastructure

Ensured banking systems operated 24/7 without interruption, secured confidential data, and

provided a technically agile enterprise to fully serve business and member needs. Provided retail

support for on-line banking, telephone banking, bank branches, and remote ATMs/kiosks. As CIO

direct report, managed a technical team of 50 – 3 data centers, databases, help desk/desktop support,

IT security, network services, storage systems, systems administration, telephone services, and

hardware/software management. Identified, implemented and supported information technology

opportunities in collaboration with business unit executives. Managed customer service levels,

solved issues and created project plans with business partners to address short-term/long-term

objectives. Developed banking technology standards, policies and procedures. Defined and tested

disaster recovery plan. Owned vendor relationships and negotiated all IT Infrastructure contracts.

Managed a $42.5M budget. Presented key topics/initiatives to the board, executive management

team, business partners, and credit union members.

Key Results:

Raised customer service levels with business units through direct and open conversations;

learned that technical staff did not know their customers and business drivers; coached

managers and mentored team to take ownership of the need to improve service; raised customer

satisfaction to a level of trusted partner.

Solved a database reliability and performance challenge that negatively impacted Member

Services and Mortgage Services productivity; extensive collaboration efforts failed to improve

database performance; selected and deployed a new database system – cutover was flawless –

immediate business benefit; reduced operating costs; lowered batch processing time by half; no

system outages in first 12 months of operation.

Negotiated software and maintenance contracts with Microsoft and Oracle; eliminated unneeded

licenses and services; improved vendor relationships by focusing on real needs; saved nearly

$1M.

Built-out new data center in Spokane; shifted 20% of production operations to new facility;

leveraged site for disaster recovery; can now restore critical systems in 4 hours versus previous

norm of 1 day.

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Eliminated 100 production servers by using virtualization technologies; corrected architecture

deficiencies; saved 20 hours and $1000 of maintenance support each week.

Set strategic direction for an Information Life-Cycle Management plan; worked closely with

records management team and business units to define business rules for records retention; then

implemented a tiered storage architecture to support customer data access needs; reduced

technical complexity, improved data integrity, and increased business unit speed of access to

data.

Simplified Call Center operations; consolidated 3 PBX systems; facilitated deployment plan

discussion with Call Center management; reduced maintenance downtime and saved $30K in

recurring monthly costs.

Used new technology to automate batch processing; brought together core application vendor

and automation vendor – led to a formal business alliance; as a front-runner, brought this

technology to other financial institutions; ultimately, improved batch processing by significantly

reducing human error.

Challenged by executive management to cut budget by 20%; engaged business managers and

technical staff to determine opportunities; respected discussion and made difficult decisions to

reduce expenses by $2.5M and 16 staff positions.

Personal Sabbatical – professional development with Overlake Hospital and Medical Center

2002 – 2003

Department of Defense (U.S. and European Locations)

1973 – 2001

Provided community, regional and global IT Operations; technical resources valued in excess of one billion dollars; and

services focused on delivery of local community services to include: airport, broadcast television, civil engineering, finance,

legal, library, medical, police/fire, procurement, public affairs, recreation, retail, schools, transportation, and social services.

General Manager – IT Operations Europe 1997 – 2001

Provided strategic direction and developed tactical plans for a diverse mix of healthcare and

network systems at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, three regional hospitals and numerous

clinics. Managed an IT operations staff of 60 people at 27 European locations and reported to the

CIO. Division representative to corporate headquarters focused on hospital/clinic reengineering

development and deployment of local and regional information technology infrastructure and

systems. Provided executive sponsorship for major projects related to medical center/clinic network

operations, software development, web services, IT Infrastructure upgrades, training and staffing of

IT professionals. Led operational management of an IT Enterprise supporting 600 users with an

operating budget of $25M.

Other DoD positions:

IT Operations Director 1994 – 1997

Program Manager, Security Systems 1993 – 1994

Director, Data Operations Center 1991 – 1993

Various Hospital and Medical Center positions 1973 – 1991

Key locations: Landstuhl Regional Medical Center (Landstuhl, Germany) David Grant Medical

Center (Fairfield, CA) and Wilford Hall Medical Center (San Antonio, TX)

Professional Awards

Led team to Emmy award for technology innovation in television

Two times led team to Department of the Air Force IT Excellence Award

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Three times led team to European IT Quality of Service Award

Two times Executive of the Year

Three times Manager of the Year

Education & Credentials

8/2001 – Master's Degree - Bowie State University – Management Information Systems (GPA: 3.636 of 4.0)

5/1998 – Bachelor's Degree - University of Maryland – Management (GPA: 3.825 of 4.0 / Honors: Cum Laude)

8/1988 – Associate’s Degree - Community College of the Air Force – Telecommunications Technologies

8/2001 – Information Systems Analyst Certificate - Bowie State University

Board Memberships

2004 – Present Society for Information Management – Seattle Chapter

2010 – Present University of Washington – Information School Advisory Board

Professional Associations

1991 – Present Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association

1995 – Present Institute of Electrical, Electronics Engineers

2001 – Present Association of Computing Machinery

2001 – Present Society for Information Management

2003 – 2008 HP Business Critical Servers Executive Council

2008 – Present Council of the Great City Schools Member

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