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Customer Service Manager

Location:
Ballston Spa, NY, 12020
Posted:
September 14, 2010

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Resume:

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



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