Joseph F. Knowles
** ******** **., * **** Ballston Spa, NY 12020 480-***-****
abk6j3@r.postjobfree.com
Senior Management Executive
Project Leadership Highly accomplished professional with 15+ years of
Quality Assurance experience providing integrated solutions to help
Travel Management corporations manage and optimize their travel
Customer spend/investment. Expertise in negotiating contracts and
Satisfaction service level agreements, setting benchmarks, and managing
Microsoft Office new vendor implementations.
Suite Demonstrated capacity to create new business within a
Multi-Site regional territory, build influential relationships with
Operations new prospects, and develop a web of influence at senior
Contract levels. Developed a strong record of introducing new
Negotiations products, services, and strategies to bring greater value
Regulatory to business customers.
Compliance Expertise in defining, organizing, and executing
Client Needs multifaceted projects within time and budgetary
Assessment constraints. Excellent team leader and effective manager of
Key Account change, with proven ability to comply with strict
Management regulatory guidelines and identify opportunities for costs
savings in every project.
Professional Experience & Achievements
TRAVEL MANAGER/CONSULTANT
Volt Workforce Solutions/GLOBALFOUNDRIES US, Inc Current
Implement program to align travel platforms globally under one TMC.
Initiate, negotiate and conclude agreements between GLOBALFOUNDRIES and
vendors. Monitor all travel vendors for contractual compliance.
Consolidate data from various sources such as TMC and corporate card to
provide monthly travel spend report to leadership. Created KPIs and SLAs
to monitor performance/utilization and to drive program compliance.
Responsible for training travel policy, practice and procedure, policy
enforcement, implementing changes to the policy when required and acting as
a liaison between employees and the travel agency. Provide HR support by
assisting with candidate travel, long term assignments and relocation.
Periodically review web content and provide updates to the web master.
Manage employee American Express Corporate Card application and approval
process, rejection, past due communication, terminations. Reconcile
monthly American Express Business Travel Accounts, create journal entries
and submit to AP for timely payment.
SMALL BUSINESS OWNER 2006 - 2008
MotoPhoto and Portrait Studio
Owned and operated a MotoPhoto and Portrait Studio franchise with $500,000
in revenues. Managed 4 employees, overseeing all aspects of daily
operations, payroll, accounting, inventory, customer service, sales, public
relations, and marketing.
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - BERKELEY, Berkeley, CA 2001 - 2005
Travel Manager, Financial Services
Hired to develop an efficient, cost-effective travel management program and
develop long-term strategies to transition the University to a single
travel agency. Worked cross-functionally across the department to develop
an online reimbursement system, roll out a corporate card program, and
cultivate relationships with new and existing vendors. Negotiated air, car,
and hotel arrangements for the University to optimize the travel spending
budget.
Key results included:
< Achieved a 95% adoption rate for online travel and entertainment
reimbursement tool within one year;
< Reduced turnaround time for reimbursements from 45 days to 2 days while
eliminating 2 FT employees;
< Directed development of the departmental web site, providing valuable
creative and functional input;
< Led the consolidation of multiple travel agencies and managed the RFP
process to identify one agency.
Joseph F. Knowles, Page 2
480-***-**** abk6j3@r.postjobfree.com
Professional Experience & Achievements Continued
AMERICAN EXPRESS, Multiple California Locations 1997 - 2001
Manager, Client Services (2001)
Manager, Business Travel Customer Service / Alliance Call Center (1999-
2001)
Charged with leading the daily business operations at 3 alliance call
centers with combined revenue of $102 million. Supervised a staff of 110
employees, providing training and performance feedback to maximize service
levels and ensure contracted client commitments were upheld. Work closely
with the account development team and the customer to improve
communications, identify trends, and resolve service issues.
Key results included:
< Increased profitability for the unit by transitioning each call center
to lower cost, domestic centers;
< Retained 75% of the client base despite major challenges from the
migration to external call centers;
< Secured positions for 95% of the displaced call center employees within
other AMEX business units;
Large Market Manager, Business Travel Customer Service (1998-1999)
Maintained P&L responsibility for a $51 million corporate travel unit,
managing a staff of 40 employees across 4 different sites. Implemented
training and incentive programs to ensure quality customer service and
accurate completion of both international and domestic travel arrangements,
including air/rail transportation, hotels, cruises, tours and car rental.
Focused efforts on up-selling, cross-selling, and building on referral
customers to maximize profitability.
Key results included:
< Increased counselor productivity by 10% following roll-out of a
recognition and incentive program;
< Enhanced quality ratings by reducing redundancies and inefficiencies
across the department;
< Provided organizational leadership after merging the Stanford site into
the Los Gatos center.
On-Site Manager, Stanford University (1997-1998)
Oversaw daily operations across 3 sites on the Stanford campus, including
the on-site call center, walk-in leisure center, and one-person implant in
the Athletic department. Managed a staff of 18 employees to ensure the team
was conistently meeting and exceeding contracted service levels. Developed
student-focused marketing collateral to increase AMEX's visibility across
the campus.
Key results included:
< Executed a business plan that enabled the on-site to achieve
profitability for the first time in six years;
< Reduced staff by 10% to achieve leaner operations without affecting the
service agreement.
Education & Training
Bachelor of Arts in History
GLASSBORO STATE COLLEGE, Glassboro, NJ
Certified Corporate Travel Executive - University of Houston (2004),
Completed numerous NBTA professional development courses involving key
travel management issues
Realtor (not current) California, Arizona