General Manager Business Process

KENT SZALLA

ad5cpy@r.postjobfree.com 412-***-**** Pittsburgh, PA www.linkedin.com/in/kentszalla/, https://szallaholdings.com/

GENERAL MANAGER AND CEO

Technology-driven, business savvy, and entrepreneurial executive who has successfully run SaaS, 3PL and transportation companies as well as enterprise projects for large transportation, manufacturing, utility, oil/gas, and distribution/warehousing businesses. Deep understanding of business process and people alignment to strategy couched in change management controls.

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

Software as a Service (SaaS) Artificial Intelligence (AI) Machine Learning (MI) Logistics Transportation ERP Data Warehouse BI CRM Integration Safety M&A WMS Distribution

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Szalla Holdings Corporation, Pittsburgh PA (8/2023 – Present)

President

Started a business to perform business consulting and research opportunities to acquire businesses that have growth potential through process improvement, sales, and marketing.

Brij, Pittsburgh, PA (3/2019 – 7/2023)

VP Service Delivery and RevOps

Responsible for all ERP/EPM projects, support, and staffing services including building and growing new service offerings. Creating go to market strategies, pricing and a world class delivery organization with recurring revenue models. Team works on ERP upgrades, implementations, advanced analytics, business process improvement and education. Responsible for division P&L. Heavy focus on Cloud Apps and Infrastructure. Prior to focusing on ERP/EPM, ran the entire Service Delivery function across Brij until we strategically decided to focus on building EPM. Kickstarted that effort.

PREDICTIVE SOLUTIONS an Industrial Scientific Company, Pittsburgh, PA (10/2014 – 2/2019)

VP Industrial Scientific Digital Division and Predictive Solutions 2018 – 2019

Industrial Scientific recently formed a pure software and service division called Industrial Scientific Digital, which included Predictive Solutions, iNet, iNet Now and all other commercial software products that are cloud-based SaaS. Served as second in command to the Senior VP and General Manager of the new Digital team. Oversaw internal and external technology systems and processes for efficient and effective operations of all software and service of the division.

Implemented Zendesk, HubSpot, TSheets, Slack, Trello and custom applications to support business.

Served as bridge between customer needs and software developers to align products to demand.

Provided design and architecture guidance on cutting edge technologies such as BI, data warehousing, and integration tools.

Automated sales and marketing efforts to generate and foster demand for products.

Oversaw all revenue streams for the company as well as researched new revenue channels through business development efforts.

General Manager / CEO of Predictive Solutions 2016 – 2018

Led directors and managers of Software Development, Quality Assurance, Sales, Marketing, Professional Service and Support. Managed and grew the Predictive Solutions organization, a SaaS safety software and Artificial Intelligence organization, from profit and loss through sales, services, development and delivery. Reported to Board of Directors.

Provided direction and high-level design of a new software platform to complement the flagship product based on AWS, node.js, Angular, Redshift and Sisense. Lead team to successful launch.

Presented frequently on machine learning and predictive analytics at many industry conferences.

Unleashed the creativity of sales team to grow sales by 12% two consecutive years.

Created new enterprise license pricing structure that increased contract bookings by 330%.

Performed deep dive on entire cost structure to increase operating margin by 20%.

Engaged new marketing avenues to reach a broader customer base in risk management and safety.

Deployed new product features to meet customer needs saving over $500,000 in recurring revenue.

Built large pipeline of Artificial Intelligence clients including many Fortune 100 companies.

Sr. Director of Predictive Solutions 2016

Assumed all responsibility for Software Development, IT, Quality Assurance, Implementation and Service for the complete Predictive Solutions service offerings.

Moved development team from Waterfall to Agile process.

Built BI platform for customers on AWS leveraging Matillion, Redshift and Sisense.

Initiated building a new product set on AWS involving micro service architecture and MongoDB.

Launched aggressive marketing campaign to existing customers that increased attendance of Predictive Solutions’ Customer Conference 31%.

Moved team to cloud JIRA.

Director Customer Solutions of Predictive Solutions 2014 to 2016

Implemented SaaS used to predict areas of risk for construction, manufacturing and energy companies.

Led integration services to link software to customers’ ERP and management systems.

Managed third-party developers to build custom code to bridge feature gaps for customers.

Built capabilities to sell a wide range of professional services including custom development, report writing, business intelligence and integration.

Reorganized service and support into teams to better serve customers’ and employees’ needs. Removed silos and other boundaries. Increased SLAs from unmeasurable to 99% meeting goals and increased morale of the team.

Changed work processes that built more efficiency in the Customer Solutions team. Capacity was added while costs decreased. Reduced oversees headcount.

Created processes and metrics to proactively connect with customers that increased customer satisfaction by 33%, net promotor score by 10%, and improved churn from 13% to less than 5%.

PITT OHIO GROUND a Pitt Ohio Express Company, Pittsburgh, PA (10/2001 – 9/2014)

General Manager / Head of Company and Technology 2009 – 2014

Appointed by CEO of Pitt Ohio Express, the parent company, started new third-party logistics (3PL) company from market research through normalization of operations. Led directors and managers of Software Development, IT, Sales, Marketing, Analytics, and Support. Responsible for full P&L.

Built custom IT systems to integrate deeply with customers and vendors to compete with national parcel and ground transportation companies for scanning, tracking, invoicing and customer service. Product included .NET website and MS SQL Server backend.

Built systems and metrics to measure vendor and carrier performance.

Built desktop multi-carrier shipping software for customer dock operations to print labels and manifests. It tied into customers’ ERP and other backend software.

Provided specialty services including supply chain, logistics, warehousing, and transportation.

Leveraged entreprenurial and business skills, grew company from $0 to profitability in less than five years and is still in operation today.

Built a world class service organization that received 9.5 out of 10 in customer service surveys.

Led vendor and carrier negotiations.

Personally, sold over $1 million in new sales in 2014.

General Manager – US Cargo a Pitt Ohio Express Company 2011 – 2013

Appointed by CEO of Pitt Ohio Express to lead Us Cargo integration and normalization of operations for two years to ensure the company was on solid footing before refocusing solely on Pitt Ohio Ground. This role was held concurrently with General Manager of Pitt Ohio Ground.

Performed due diligence and recommended Pitt Ohio Express to acquire US Cargo, transportation provider with 300 drivers, as a strategic move for Pitt Ohio Ground.

Shed $2 million of unprofitable business and restructured workforce that improved financials by 50%.

Rolled out new state of the art handheld technology for drivers and package handlers enabling team to track metrics and service on deliveries and transportation processes.

Reengineered operations to increase service levels from unmeasurable to 97% on time.

Director Business Systems at Pitt Ohio Express 2001 – 2009

Oversaw Business Systems, Projects and Strategy – PMO Management, controlling a $4 million budget with a team of project leads, business analysts, quality professionals and a matrixed team of developers.

Helped company scale systems from $150 million to over $400 million in annual sales.

Built integrated systems for invoicing, tracking and customer service across a strategic partnership of carriers across North America. The network generated tens of millions in revenue in first 12 months.

Directed team who worked as liaisons to all business units to streamline processes with technology.

Implemented on-board computers for trucks to automate driver operations for a $1.2 million annual ROI and was the first LTL carrier to do so.

Ensured high system availability and strategic roadmaps for all business applications including Operations, Sales, Clarus Financials, HRMS Ultipro, Pricing, Billing, Safety, Cognos, and McLeod systems in Windows, UNIX, Cobol, VB, ASP, C++, and MS SQL Server.

Sold custom software built by Pitt Ohio to external trucking firms for safety and operations.

Served as key contributor in winning many industry awards including M2M Value Chain 2008, CIO Magazine CIO 100 Award in 2007, CCJ Innovator of the Year Award in 2007, and PeopleNet Innovator of the Year in 2006.

Defined and championed SDLC methodology.

Presented technical strategies and roadmaps in support of key initiatives to leadership team.

Managed partnerships with vendors, including PeopleNet, FileNet, Ultimate Software and Actuate.

Created a sales portal to make critical information available to the sales team.

Guided the development of a secure e-commerce Extranet for customers.

ADDITIONAL EXPERIENCE

IDEA INTEGRATION, Pittsburgh, PA – Application Integration Practice and Project Manager

GENCO DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM, Pittsburgh, PA – WMS Project Manager

SYSTEMS AND COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY (SCT), Malvern, PA – ERP Consultant

AMERICAN POWER CONVERSION (APC), West Kingston, RI - Manufacturing/Distribution Analyst

EDUCATION

Master of Business Administration (Executive MBA) – University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA

Graduated top of class with 4.0 GPA

Beta Gamma Sigma member

Bachelor of Science (BS), Industrial Engineering – The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA

Bachelor of Arts (BA), General Arts and Sciences – The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

LEADERSHIP PITTSBURGH - Board Member (2007 – 2009)

ENTERPRISE PITTSBURGH FORUM of MIT - Board Member (2009 – 2011)

COURSE ADVISOR FOR KATZ AT UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH (2020 – present)

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