Customer Service Management

Laura Wright 281-***-**** (C) **** Golden Leaf Drive

**********@*****.*** 281-***-**** (H) Kingwood, Texas 77339

Innovative financial-services professional with 30 years experience in hands-on management developing teams in Billing, Customer Service, Credit, Collections, Contract Administration, Finance, Operations, and Call Center environments. Management professional respected for solution-oriented department transitions due to mergers, acquisitions, and strategy changes. Proven ability to turn around problem departments and processes.

Extremely detail-oriented with additional areas of expertise in:

● Mergers/Acquisitions Transition Development and Project Management ● Change Management & Process Improvement

● Centralization Transition Management/IT Project Management ● Strategy Planning and Implementation

● Compliance, Performance, and Root Cause Analysis ● Accounting (AP, AR, GL, job costing, audits)

● Billing, Collections, Credit, Customer Service & Contract Management ● Team and Labor Management

● Process and Project Management (Shared Service and non-Shared Service) ● “Go To” Leader for Problem Resolution

TruGreen Landcare (ServiceMaster Corporation 2009 - 2011)

November 2009 – July 2015

Regional Administrative Analyst Manager – Texas/Oklahoma Region

Managed consolidation of all Billing, Collections, Accounts Payable, Customer Service, HR and Payroll at eleven branches in Texas/Oklahoma region as part of corporate strategy change in 2009. This included transition planning, project development, training, staff development, and implementation to all region branches. Management of all administrative team members and the processes for the region post consolidation. Manage accounting and administrative functions for eleven LandCare branches with annual sales in excess of $30 million. Implemented additional process changes in the proposal, bid, and estimating processes which resulted in labor reductions resulting in improved region cash flow by improving Operations optimization. Ongoing management of all aspects of Billing, Work Orders, AP, AR, Purchase Orders, Payroll, and Hiring. Billing, Work Order management to include management of unique customer billing requirements and 3rd party invoice submission requirements on Ariba, Exostar and other specific billing portals. Ensure GAAP compliance of all accounting processes for all Texas and Oklahoma branches. New sale/order management to include OMS setup, new sale process requirements, SOW’s, process improvement, and tracking. Coordinate and setup all complex customer requirements including multiple large municipalities and their unique billing and accounting requirements. A/P and Vendor management to include weekly A/P vendor payment allocation for all Texas and Oklahoma branches. Vendor check selection, terms and generation. Perform gross margin analysis at branch level, job level, and work order level monthly. Perform gross margin analysis and review on all new sales and monitor gross margins on all on-going jobs. Manage all accruals for labor and revenue as part of month-end accounting close. Manage large scale payroll, HR, and recruiting/hiring for labor focused service industry. Payroll for 800+ weekly/hourly associates and bi-monthly salary payroll for 60+ associates. Manage and process new hire processing to include drug screens, background checks, eVerify, Zoho new hire entry to upload to ADP and create employee profiles. Ensure all LOA’s are coordinated timely for hourly and salary associates. Manage and perform all region labor job costing for all hourly and salary associates. Manage all job costing for all Texas/Oklahoma branches. Operations management and new sales management for all region branches (Texas and Oklahoma). Asset and inventory audits quarterly and annually. Monthly review and reconciliation of all region expense reports and Purchasing Card statements. Built and manage all branch and region vacation/time-off tracking tool. Large scale hiring project management to include hiring events and H2B program participation and compliance. OFCCP audit project management. Department of Labor audit project management. Managed DOL audit in 2009/2010 for Austin branch resulting in successful audit with no fines. Manage Texas and Oklahoma Affirmative Action plans and documentation policies/procedures. Administer all HR plans to all region branches along with all region HR issues. Administer all workers compensation claim filings for Texas and Oklahoma. Streamline and rollout workers compensation claim filing process online. Manage collections for the Texas/Oklahoma region and consistently recognized as Nationwide top performer of Collections. Reduced region DSO by 30% and accounts over 60 days to less than 2% with hands-on daily management of collection activity and performance metrics. Collections litigation and liens. Collection court representation. Perform monthly bad-debt reserve analysis per branch, region and manage all bad-debt write-offs. Sales tax audits in 2010 and 2014. Managed the collection of all sales tax exemption certificates to reduce audit exposure. Administration and processing of all customer, vendor, and sub-contractor contracts for Texas and Oklahoma branches to include special billing requirement coordination. Manage all facility maintenance and telecommunications for all Texas and Oklahoma branches. In 2011, after company acquisition by Aurora Equity, managed multiple process transitions. Produced “Who to Call” list that was utilized company-wide during post acquisition migration. Reconcile all month-end financial reports for all branches in region; reconcile billing; payroll; AP; and all region PCards. Built Operations OR revenue tracking and forecast tool. Build and generate numerous adhoc Operations reports. Review each branch and the region P/L and investigate discrepancies. Review/analyze all revenue streams for monthly commission payouts. Create training modules for all finance functions; SOP’s; new system testing and training; Sales process training Participate in system design team projects to ensure all business needs and requirements were mapped in new systems including implementation of new LEAPS process on Zoho software platform in 2013. Project manage multiple commercial real estate property relocations to include new lease execution, sub-lease coordination, and facility site and move coordination. Project manage IT changes to include tax tables, software version updates, migrations, testing plans, large data verifications, and user defined changes. Frequently utilized to assist other regions to streamline and manage processes and share best practices. Assist other regions with payroll processing, A/P, hiring, training, strategic planning, and coaching. Nationwide employee of the quarter, Q3 2012

OPI GLOBAL (on site at SCI)

April 2006 – August 2009

Sr. Manager

Initially hired as Manager of Billing, Customer Service, Collections, Cash Processing and Accounts Receivable to consolidate and then outsource these teams. Manage teams exceeding 100 employess both on-site, off-shore in India, and outsourced in Houston. Managed Customer Service call center with over 10K inbound customer inquiries per month.

Outsourced Collections staff of 38 to off-site Houston partner and managed off-site rebadged associates at outsource partner. Manage Billing team and then transitioned the outsourced generation of 100,000 monthly statements and collection letters in US and Canada. Manage all 3rd party collection agencies in US and Canada. Annual GLBA privacy notification mailing to over 200,000 customers. Manage the Cash Processing team responsible for lockbox operations for customer payments, automatic bank draft program to include over 60,000 transactions monthly in both US and Canada. Managed Cash Processing team and operations both US and off-shore in India (Outsourced Cash Processing operations). July 2007 completed the transition of the Customer Service call center to an outsource provider in Houston and managed their off-site performance and rebadged associates at outsource partner. Ensure GAAP compliance of all accounting processes. Quarterly SOX compliance certifications for Collections, Billing, and Cash Processing. Collections litigation and liens; consumer collection placement and reporting. Once all of those departments were transitioned, promoted to Sr. Manager of Trust Processing team. Migrated additional processes to off-shore team members to provide cost-savings thru staff reductions. Acquisition planning and process transition migration upon purchase of competitor companies in the death-care industry. Included frequent travel to acquired company headquarters and transition accounting processes into existing operations: Acquisition #1 in November 2006 totaled over 500 cemetery/funeral locations (Alderwoods). Acquisition #2 in April 2008 totaled over 40 cemetery/funeral locations (Wilson). Responsible for the management of the Trust Processing team and processes consisting of 30 employees on-site at the client location and 40 employees offshore in India. Managed annual rotation of Trust associates between India and US. Manage and coordinate quarterly Trust transactions to include remittances and withdrawals exceeding $50,000,000. SOX compliance and perform quarterly certifications for highly regulated Trust Operations Department. Project manage IT changes to include migrations, testing plans, large data verifications, and user defined changes. Manage multi-year project to recoup lost revenue from trust withdrawals initially declined due to state regulation requirements. Project resulted in the revenue recovery totaling millions.

NEXTIRAONE, (formerly Williams Communication Solutions 1998 – 2001)

August 1998 - March 2006

Manager – Finance/Accounting

Initially hired as a Financial Analyst during transition upon blending of former WilTel Communications with other acquired telecom companies. Performed financial analysis from multiple accounting systems due to acquisitions in order to prepare performance and financial reporting. Built databases to import data from acquired company systems in order to prepare consolidated performance reports, trending reports, recurring reports, and management reports. In 1999, after accounting systems were consolidated, chosen to build Corporate Credit Department. Established Credit Policy and Procedures, hired and trained Credit team, established credit approval process and reviewed 800+ commercial credit applications each month. Designed and created eCAP. Electronic Credit Approval Process (online credit approval software). This online tool provided an efficient method for the Sales Department to submit requests for credit review and also for the Credit Analysts to complete the credit review/approval process. Create training modules for all Credit, Collections, Contract Administration and Finance functions; new system testing and training; Manage, lead and coordinate the credit review and financial analysis functions of all Analysts within the Credit Department. Created Credit Policy. Coordinate new lease transactions with Lease/Finance team. Conduct recurring Sales process training. Presentations with large groups (1000+ at annual Sales Conferences). Manage vendor relationships with D&B, LexisNexis, and multiple 3rd party Collections agencies. Filing of all UCC1's and UCC3’s. Operating and capital budget management for Credit, Billing, Central Records, Collections, and Contract Administration Departments. Multiple system integration teams including SAP and PeopleSoft. Business process mapping. Superuser on the PeopleSoft A/R team during the migration to SAP. Upon Platinum Equity acquisition in April 2001, centralized nation-wide rocesses/departments to Houston to include Credit, Collections, Billing, and Contract Administration. Travel to acquired locations to transition processes. Effective December 15, 2000 to December 1, 2001, assigned to manage Allied Interstate, an outsource collection company utilized by Williams/NextiraOne to supplement 1st party collections. Frequent travel to Dallas, Texas. Collection results improved. Established process for Allied Interstate to submit billing credits, write-offs, and account adjustments thru online tool to streamline paperwork requirements. Collections litigation and liens. Effective June 1, 2001 thru November 30, 2001, assigned to manage a Collection team in addition to the Credit Department. This Collection team consisted of Houston and East Coast based employees. During this time, increased cash collections and improved DSO. Prepared and managed monthly bad-debt reserve analysis and write-off recommendations. Effective September 2001 to March 2003, assigned to manage the Central Records team in addition to Credit Department responsibilities. In the first 90 days within the department, effectively identified all issues, projects required and worked to streamline the contract retention process. This included the migration of all company documents at dozens of locations coast-to-coast into the company headquarters in Houston including those from recently merged locations. Effective September 2001, assigned to manage the centralization transition of the Billing Department. Within 90 days, while managing the Credit Department and Central Records Department, completed the transition of the Billing Department to be centralized to Houston. All reporting from SIMS, SAP, PeopleSoft and internal databases for department performance, metrics, and deliverables. Established and generated daily/monthly score-cards for each department. Effective January 2002 to March 2006, Manager of Contract Administration responsible for the coordination and processing in excess of $30M in new order sale contracts on a monthly basis. Ensured all contract requirements were obtained and the contracts were compliant with company policy and operations requirements (credit approval, SOW’s approved, Legal compliance). Reviewed voice, data, new equipment, and maintenance contracts and SOW’s and all contract negotiation and execution. Worked with all levels of the organization regarding new contract requirements, process improvements, and streamlining of the contractual requirements. Managed a staff of 40 employees in Contract Administration. This included new product sales and maintenance contracts for both voice and data systems.

VALIC, an American General Company

March 1997 – August 1998

Supervisor, Premium Administration

Manage daily review, balancing, premium processing, and reconciliation of multiple daily lockbox contents and two Premium processing teams. Produce all rollover billings and manage all Premium billing corrections for both teams. Complex premium changes due to group and individual contributions. Annuity disbursements. Approve all G/L and JE transactions for Premium Admin team. Approve all cycle changes. Reporting and analysis of all Florida and New Jersey region transactions and team consisting of 20 employees. Coordinate system enhancements and implementation. Coordinate wire transfers for group rollovers and transfer of plan assets. Manage teams that were responsible for Florida and New Jersey regions with the largest quantities. Improved processing time by an average of 26% during initial 8 months by hands-on daily management of processes. Completed numerous American General Management Training Programs including Main Event Management and Model-Netics.

U S Telesys

November 1995 - February 1997

Billing, Customer Service, Credit/Collections Manager

Customer Service/Call Center Management of all CSR’s, Billing, and Collections teams totaling 10 associates. Billing, collections, new account setups, customer dispute escalations. Reported daily department score-cards to all key departments. Review, approved monthly billing of all customers. Coordinated monthly collection temporary disconnects of phone service due to non-payment. Managed in-bound call center team and coordination of call escalations. Collection placement; judgments; garnishments. Collections litigation and liens. Initially joined company as A/P and Payroll Supervisor: Perform duties of A/P and Payroll for 7 states to include managing hourly and salary payroll with ADP and new hire processing. Manage all weekly A/P check runs. General accounting responsibilities to include all journal entries; coded all G/L entries; managed chart of accounts for CFO

AWCO, Inc.

January 1989 - November 1995

Office Manager

Managed 40+ employees. Manage Operations weekly scheduling and labor routing. A/P, A/R, Billing. G/L coding. Payroll for salary, hourly, and contract labor. W-2’s, 1099’s. Managed transition of all finance, labor, and operations project management upon acquisition of service company in March 1991. Managed transition of Operations, labor, and accounting upon company sale in November 1995.

Houston Network, Inc.

May 1986 - December 1988

Credit and Customer Service Supervisor

Credit, Collections, and Customer Service supervision and performance including team of 5 associates. Hands-on management of teams and worked along side each associate in these tasks. Streamlined credit and collections procedures and wrote department policies. Prepared annual budgets and annual goals for department. Worked with multiple departments to coordinate Operations efficiency for customer installations. Process service turn-offs due to non-payment. Coordinate execution of writs to satisfy outstanding debts. Investigate calling card hacking cases. Produced all department reports and score-cards

Granville Knight Insurance Agency

January 1985 - May 1986

Agency Administrator

Group and individual insurance sales and service. Large and high-profile corporate life insurance policy sales/service

Group medical insurance sales/coordination. Agency correspondence, customer service, inbound call servicing

Group 1 insurance license. Claims management and coordination for VIP clients. Coordinate with underwriting to resolve issues for high value VIP clients.

Systems

Windows, Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, WordPerfect, Access, Lotus, Visio, D&B Software, Great Plains Accounting, Dynamics, Telemax, PeopleSoft, SIMS, SAP, InfoFlo, JD Edwards Accounting, SharePoint, Zoho, and database querying/reporting and database design. Designed, developed and implemented internet/database communication tool for Credit Department at WCS/NextiraOne (eCAP). Typing 80+ wpm and 10-key touch.

Furr High School University of Houston

Houston, Texas Houston, Texas

Major - Business Administration

Six Sigma Green Belt training, Project Management training, CSC Credit Training Certified, D&B Software Training Certified, Model-Netics (Main Event Management Philosophies), Numerous Customer Service, Credit/Collections, Management, Interacting with Others, and Conflict Resolution Seminars and Conferences.

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