KIANA JOHNSTON

**** ******* ***** **** ***. ****

HANOVER, MD 21076

CELL: 240-***-****

EMAIL: ad0bt3@r.postjobfree.com

PROFESSIONAL PROFILE

Highly motivated and engaged HR liaison with experience in onboarding, HR support functions, strategic development, delivery, and management of Organizational Processes. Highly skilled in multiple areas including deploying Innovative initiatives, First Point of Contact engager; Account Management; Recruiting, Training and Executive-level Administrative Support. Specific experience within Fortune 500 corporations as well as non-profit environments.

Exceptional dedication to facilitating workplace collaboration and productivity as recognized by numerous awards of merit. Effective Communicator, Trainer, Presenter, Liaison and Business Partner; expertise in generate transformative organizational growth and result driven overall operational success.

Areas of Expertise: HR Practices and Protocol; Best practices of administrative concepts; Client Relations; Case and/or Account Management; Issue Identification, De-escalation and Resolution; Work Processes and Efficiency Improvements; Leader in Administrative Support, Talent Acquisition; Team Building and Supervision; Employee Training; Performance Optimization; Organizational Development; Sales and Service Support; Cross-functional Team Collaboration; Special Reports; File and Documentation Maintenance; Service Level Agreement (SLA) Terms and Conditions; Impactful Presentations; Operational Functionality; Corporate Governance and Compliance; Administrative Policies and Protocols; Events Planning and Execution; Logistical Planning, Management and Delivery.

WORK EXPERIENCE

Smithsonian Institute – National Museum of Natural History June 2023-PRESENT

WASHINGTON, DC

HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT SUPPORT SPECIALIST

Serves as one of the organization’s liaisons with the Office of Human Services in carrying out personnel operations of the Museum. Supports HR management with meeting planning and special museum events. Support the Manager of Diversity, Inclusion and Access, Employee Development and museum wide efforts in this space.

Performs, facilitate and implement strategic trainings and development plans for leaders and staff of the museum. Assist with preparation of materials, correspondence, reports, and briefing. Recurring assignments using SI’s automated human resources systems for tracking and reporting on personnel and payroll information. Research and analyze various HR reports. Manage HR website content and housed documentation. Facilitate the on-boarding process for New Employee’s. Create and manage SOP’s and records management.

Initiates, processes, and tracks progress of personnel action requests, and performs a wide variety of administrative tasks for the executive office of the HR team of the Museum.

Advises supervisors and museum staff on proper HR format and requirements for personnel documents and other areas of personnel information. Lias with executive branch coordinators to align the leadership development efforts of the museum and the museums mission.

UNITED HEALTHCARE GROUP MARCH 2022-JUNE 2023

WAUSAU, WI

PROVIDER RELATIONS REIMBURSEMENT COORDINATOR

Responsible for identifying applicable UHC provider network contracts; applying UHC provider network contracted rates and reimbursement policies to medical claims for UMR. Ensure network contracts and reimbursement policies and procedures are applied accurately.

RESOURCE UTILIZATION: Identify task required to meet applicable objectives and adhere to timely deadlines on a day – to – day bases. Gather highly confidential and sensitive information for databases.

ANALYTICAL SKILLS: Perform analysis and documentation to identify needs and issue related to claims contract pricing. Prepare written correspondence for escalated reviews.

Recommend and provide assistance to staff regarding system changes and inaccuracies in company database and other supportive platforms.

Manage, implement, and evaluate inventory of repriced contracts and meet turnaround time in accordance to state regulations.

UNITED HEALTHCARE GROUP DECEMBER 2021 - MARCH 2022

MINNEAPOLIS, MN

LEAD SUBJECT MATTER EXPERT CUSTOMER SERVICE/NEW HIRE TRAINER, BEHAVIORAL HEALTH

Promoted to New Hire Training Facilitator with an average of ten New Hires per lead virtual/remote platform courses as a result of exceptional customer service and leadership. Executed day- to day support and service delivery to Medicaid patients and Provider clients of Optum healthcare- the Behavioral health subsidiary of United Healthcare Group.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS: Direct client contact via toll- free phone queue. Represented client internally and coordinated with other functional areas to implement client systems, completed projects, and address ongoing service needs. Delegated first point of contact to provide guidance and advise and ensure trainees are aligned with HR best practices and protocol. Built relationships with group clientele and served as primary contact for overall and day -to – day service delivery with new hire trainees during virtual training sessions. Prepare, edit and review presentation correspondence; drafted classified documents as needed to support leadership and time sensitive and state regulated policy changes

RESOURCES UTILIZATION: Submitted details “End of Day” reports to all leadership staff, spear-heading engagement chat to resolve immediate scheduling conflicts to alert leadership. Prepared AND dispersed standardized/routine memorandum and highly sensitive documents to staff and leadership team.

TRAINING SKILLS: Training facilitator for the two (2) classes of 25 new hire participants within the Maryland Medicaid Customer Service team, focusing on improving best practices and developed training materials by adjusting and creating new learning modules. Assess and track staff activity and new employee’s engagement and productivity using human resource software systems and proprietary software.

LEADERSHIP AND RECOGNITION: Served as Lead in the absence of team members, facilitated outreach initiatives for all new hires for pre-training requirements and protocols. Received national recognition Q2 and Q3 for strong compassion, commitment, and engagement to customers- measured by the Nexidia Sentiment intelligence software utilized on a national level of UHG customer service platforms.

Recipient of the Service Operations OPTUMIST reward for Q1 for excellent communication and presentation skills as a Training facilitator.

VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS, INC. FEBRUARY 2018 – JANUARY 2019

SILVER SPRING, MD US

EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT / QUALITY CONTROL COORDINATOR

ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT: Provided full life cycle of administrative support services to CCM, including creating mass communication memoranda, presentation materials and time-sensitive documents. Respond to and provide guidance regarding departmental communications via email inquiries as well as calendar and appointment scheduling. Prepare monthly invoices and track disbursement of training, marketing and supplies for leadership team; coordinate and track credit card forms and invoices for leadership, submitted and prepared call center RFP’s. Prepared meeting materials coordinated travel and other accommodations for Executive site visits. Coordinated logistical travel and accommodations for CCM, verify and submit financial transactions post travel. Submit and filed reimbursement forms for leadership team. Track and alert CCM of department budget status and discrepancies. Performed monthly analyses and prepared reports to support leadership staff for presentations and other meetings planned and time-sensitive commitments.

POWERPOINT PRESENTATION SKILLS: Prepared PowerPoint presentations for leadership staff and C-Suite level guest of the center and first point of contact for center initiatives assigned by national leadership within Call Center and QC areas. Prepare, edit and gathered highly sensitive documentation for reports and other supporting correspondence as needed and delegated by Call center and C-Suite level executives. Review correspondence and departmental communications for proper grammar-spelling and corporate communication guidelines were met.

LEADERSHIP STRATEGY MEETINGS: Attended Leadership Strategy meetings to maintain knowledge of organizational initiatives. Took all meeting minutes and distributed them to leadership team members. Also assisted CCM in preparation of statistical reports to be presented at meetings as well as memoranda for future meetings.

INTERIM SUPERVISION: When required, represented CCM in senior leadership meetings in preparation for annual budget analysis season.

ESCALATION ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT SKILLS: Managed and audited approximately thirty (30) to forty (40) executive escalation account profiles on daily basis. Addressed issues such as compliance, process design and resource management. Worked successfully to meet stringent deadlines and issue sensitivity.

QC PROJECT MANAGEMENT: Charged with managing initiatives to stimulate customer experience, improve workforce loss productivity, and reduce post billing adjustments (PBAs).

SCRIPT WRITING SKILLS FOR ENHANCED CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE: Authored scripts for two hundred and fifty (250) Call Center Representatives to promote positive customer experience. Topics included Assumptive Selling, General Call Flow (from Start to Finish), De-escalation Call Flow, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Chart, Call Matrix Chart and Local Office Business Rules, and were structured to engage callers and define customer needs to yield optimal service results.

IMPROVED LOSS PRODUCTIVITY REPORTS (LPR) CAMPAIGN: Initiated campaign to identify outliers in ten (10) separate Call Center teams of twenty-five (25) to thirty (30) Representatives per team. Through two-week period of activity monitoring, i.e. Average Time Hold, Call Duration, Call Time Lapses, Dead Air Time, Call Volume, Transferred Calls, Breaks and Lunch, identified outlier Representatives and delivered performance evaluations as compared to ideal Verizon metrics and established customer support protocol. Also assigned team Supervisors to Representatives for one-on-one coaching, resulting in 40% improvement in LPRs. Final result of full campaign life-cycle was Call Center’s overall performance exceeding national rate by up to 5%.

IMPROVED POST-BILLING ADJUSTMENTS (PBA) INITIATIVES: Reduced PBAs by 15% by implementing daily written tracking system. Required Representatives to record all adjustments for Supervisor review, heightening awareness which resulted in slowing PBA activity.

VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS, INC. DECEMBER 2016 – FEBRUARY 2018

SILVER SPRING, MD US

SALES AND SERVICE SUPERVISOR

Hired to supervise team of twenty-five (25) Sales and Service Representatives in job performance, customer service skills and revenue generation strategies.

CALL MONITORING SCHEDULE: Monitored all inbound calls into Call Center on daily basis.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS: Maintained clear and direct communication with all Representatives in order to convey Sales and Service support expectations in an accessible manner to promote expedited solutions.

COACHING SKILLS: Facilitated across-the-board coaching sessions among Call Center Representatives to ensure performance excellence as well as corporate compliance. Regularly reviewed Best Practices, instructed procedural processes and analyzed policies with all Representatives.

TRAINING MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT: In tandem with corporate-mandated training modules, created Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) and Job Summary booklets to enhance employee understanding of Verizon policies, procedures, services and products. Materials designed to act as quick reference guides when in production mode.

LEADERSHIP SKILLS: Throughout tenure, consistently ranked in top three (3) Supervisors among team of twelve (12).

REVENUE ATTAINMENT: On average, exceeded revenue attainment goals by 15% to 25% per month, outperforming desired 10% beyond established goals.

ACCOUNTABILITY INITIATIVES: Worked to promote accountability and ethics among team as well as collaboration and productivity. Recognized Representatives for performance excellence while, when necessary, applied disciplinary action, i.e. probation or suspension, to those who violated Code of Conduct directives. Conducted and recorded all disciplinary meetings which often included union representation due to Call Center Representative status as union position. Adhered to all union and corporate protocols during disciplinary process.

SPECIAL PROJECTS: Designed, initiated and managed two (2) month experimental campaign to determine key factors in underperforming American Community Survey (ACS) results. Monitored Call Center budgets related to proper staffing and meeting government deadlines. Re-evaluated subsequent performances to ensure resources were being appropriately utilized and conferred with Representatives on improved service delivery. After campaign completion, previous Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 65% - 85% was raised to highly competitive 97%.

TALENT ACQUISITION: Served on Hiring Panel for all new Call Center hires. Participated in interview and evaluation processes to discern both internal and external candidate viability and skill set alignment with company needs.

ORIENTATION AND TRAINING: Spearheaded and facilitated orientation for all new Call Center hires Also initiated, designed and implemented critical training to ensure optimal performances among all Representatives.

MENTORING SKILLS: Participated in Verizon’s Emerging Consultants Mentorship Program for new Consultant hires. Program designed to assist new Consultants to acquire skills for career advancement within organization.

NEW EMPLOYEE NESTING PROGRAM FACILITATOR: Facilitated New Employee Nesting Program which consisted of ninety (90) day period of direct coaching and mentoring to promote assimilation, performance excellence and overall success. Activities included daily meetings, break-out session, guest speaker presentations, best practices tutorials and peer-to-peer assignments.

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT: Implemented policies and managed performance management program for entire department to address low ratings and reported trends and analysis to senior management. Facilitated trainings to implement changes to senior leadership which saw a 92% rating increase over two years. Drafted monthly and end-of-year (EOY) performance evaluations and appraisals for all 25 Call Center employees.

ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT SKILLS: Based on performance, regularly recommended outstanding employees to senior management for promotions to positions of heightened responsibility and leadership.

CORPORATE AMBASSADOR: Acted as Verizon Brand Ambassador by representing Call Center at various road show campaigns. Traveled to multiple East Coast Call Centers to share presentations on Best Practices with other Leadership Members and Consultants.

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION: Consistently recognized for performance quality and dedication through receipt of various meritorious awards.

LEADERSHIP RECOGNITION AWARD: Recipient of Leadership Recognition Award after achieving 2nd Place in Regional Consumer Sales and Service and exceeding strategic metrics. Team outperformed East Coast Verizon Call Center Teams representing five hundred (500) Consultants.

VERIZON EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP GROUP: Selected as Mentee for internal mentorship group that coached Managers and Supervisors seeking career advancement. Met with Verizon Executives monthly to cultivate personal leadership skills and practices.

EVENT AND PROJECT COORDINATION SKILLS: Partnered with internal as well as external stakeholders to plan and execute various events and / or projects.

CALL CENTER RELOCATION: Collaborated with Leadership and Logistics Committees to relocate Call Center from 3rd Floor to 5th Floor, impacting two hundred and fifty (250) Call Center employees. Liaised with internal IT, Construction and Branding Departments as well as outside vendors and service providers to ensure project completion within designated timeframe. Project included Call Center build-out as well as new interior design and additional features, i.e. Executive suites and Zen Room. Participated in Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony upon opening and oversaw Public Relations (PR) efforts.

VENDOR PANEL FACILITATOR: Held oversight of Vendor Panel Visits. Planned meetings, lunches and overall itineraries. Vendors included Strayer, SHOWTIME, HBO, Starz and Epix.

HOLIDAY EVENTS FACILITATOR: Arranged details for annual Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners for all 250 Call Center employees. Directly liaised with vendors and ancillary service providers.

VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS, INC. SEPTEMBER 2007 – DECEMBER 2016

MCLEAN, VA US

SALES / SERVICE CONSULTANT, CONSUMER ACCOUNTS

Recruited to serve as Sales and Service Consultant in high-volume Call Center. Utilized organizational, communication and operational skills acquired during tenure in previous position as Project Coordinator for nationally respected non-profit.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS: Answered and addressed average of eighty (80) to one hundred (100) inbound calls on daily basis. Topics of calls ranged from billing inquiries, terms of contracts, service performance and television, Internet and phone functionality.

CASE / ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT SKILLS: Dedicated appropriate time and attention to fully understand purpose of call as well as discern best course of action to address or resolve issue presented. Recorded and documented details of call, steps taken, and future plans of action as needed.

ESCALATION SUBJECT MATTER EXPERT (SME): Trained and designated as SME for escalated and / or highly problematic calls due to experience, diplomacy and ability to solve issues by tapping appropriate colleagues and channels.

ISSUE RESOLUTION: Worked to discern best course of action to address or resolve issue presented. Recorded and documented details of call, steps taken, and future plans of action as needed.

CROSS-FUNCTIONAL TEAM INTERFACE: Partnered with teams in IT or Financial Services to assist in more complex technical and / or billing issues.

CONSULTANT RECOGNITION AWARD: Two-time Recipient of Consultant Recognition Award for ranking in Top 10 among two hundred (200) Regional Consultants, and for breaking single-day sales revenue record within local Call Center.

PLATINUM CLUB AWARD: Recognized for exceeding metric goals within Verizon Consumer Sales and Service division.

AWARDS AND HONORS

Q2 and Q3 National Nexidia Sentiment Recipient United Healthcare

Leadership Recognition Award Verizon Communications

Two-time Consultant Recognition Award Verizon Communications

Platinum Club Winner Verizon Communications

EDUCATION

Certificate & Courses 2023

Human Resource Management certificate-Cornell University Certificate program (In-progress)

Fundamentals for Supervisors – Federal Government

Federal Human Resource Management – Human Resource Institute

Processing Federal Personnel Actions – Human Resource Institute

EEO in the Federal sector – USA Graduate School

Introduction to Projects Management University of Phoenix

Problem Solving Techniques Verizon Management Training

Managing and Influencing Talent Verizon Management Training

Labor Relations and Collective Bargaining Verizon Management Training

Ethics and Code of Conduct Training Verizon Management Training

Customers, Conflict & Confrontation Verizon VZ Learning Platform

Organizational Skills: Time Management Verizon VZ Learning Platform

Conquering Conflict through Communication Verizon VZ Learning Platform

University of Maryland

College Park, MD

Undergraduate Studies in Business Administration

1997 to 1999

University of the Arts

Philadelphia, PA

Undergraduate Studies in Dance Education

1995-1997

TECHNICAL SKILLS

Microsoft Office Suite (Excel, Word, Outlook and PowerPoint), Optix, IEX Workforce Management (WFM), PeopleSoft Financial (ERP), EPP, HRMS, EPMS, Moodle, Jabber, ISF, CoA, Adobe, Smartsheet, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) / Content Management System (CMS) software, QuickBooks, SN4, BillMatrix, Avaya Phone Systems, Mobile Coach, CalendarWiz®, Same Time Instant Messaging, Miss Utility

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