Operational Excellence Continuous Improvement

BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION SENIOR LEADER

Results-driven senior leader with a proven track record of driving continuous improvement through operational excellence principles within highly regulated industries. Experienced in transforming organizations using Lean, Six Sigma, and management-operating-system methods to enhance shareholder value across manufacturing and financial-services businesses. Known for fostering high-performing teams, delivering impactful training, and driving goal-achievement through strategic alignment. Strong communicator and servant-leader with expertise in managing change, improving process performance, and building organizational capabilities.

PROFESSIONAL SKILLS

TRANSFORMATION

TECHNOLOGY

LEADERSHIP

Shingo Model™ management-system organizational-excellence methods

Lean and Six Sigma process-improvement methods

Organizational change-management methods

Creating training content and coaching the use of continuous-improvement tools for each method

Root-cause problem solving and improvement-ideas analysis

(Developing in 2025)

Cloud computing

Machine learning

Artificial intelligence

Business intelligence

Advanced analytics

Strategic planning and execution

Critical thinking and decision making

Cross-functional team leadership

Stakeholder-relationship management

Constructive feedback gathering and delivery

Initiative and innovation

Responsibility and integrity

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

REGIS TECHNOLOGIES Morton Grove, Illinois 2024

Director of Operational Excellence

Chief designer and implementer of a continuous-improvement business system for a privately held cGMP active-pharmaceutical-ingredient contract-development-and-manufacturing organization

Spearheaded the implementation of a visual-management continuous-improvement system that encouraged the organization to embrace Lean thinking as a new way to work in a USA FDA cGMP environment

Transformed operational workflows with visualizations that stimulated improved communication, cross-functional collaboration, and problem solving

Trained and coached 17 leaders and managers to integrate visual-management tools that improved department alignment and performance with non-verbal communication

Introduced Hoshin Kanri X-Matrices to clarify and align organization-wide goals through each department

ENTERPRISE KAIZEN Milwaukee, Wisconsin 2023 – 2024

Executive Consultant – Lean and Operational Excellence

Transformed operations of client businesses with the foundations of Lean and Operational Excellence at a privately held boutique professional-services firm

DISCOVER FINANCIAL SERVICES Riverwoods, Illinois 2014 – 2023

Senior Manager – Discover Management System

Master-level continuous-improvement coach and people leader for a business-transformation unit at a $14 billion financial-services company

Implemented a Shingo Model™ management operating system based on visualization and continuous improvement yet emphasized the importance of leadership and organizational culture in achieving enterprise-wide excellence as a key business strategy contributing to an increased market capitalization of 70 percent

Trained and coached leaders and managers to integrate work visualization, standard work, and problem-solving tools into their daily operations that aligned departments across the enterprise

Confidently co-developed a common structured enterprise-wide problem-solving approach that was recognized with a company President’s Award nomination

Inspired the application of value-stream analysis to a contracted-vendor on-boarding process that identified efficiency-improvement opportunities in the steps with the highest contributions to end-to-end processing time

THE VALSPAR CORPORATION Chicago, Illinois 2013 – 2014

Certified Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt Project Manager

Senior continuous-improvement project manager and people leader for multiple manufacturing sites of a $200 million wood-coatings business of a $4.1 billion global paint and coatings company

Coached and guided manufacturing and quality-control functional leaders to make key managerial decisions that decreased the production process cycle time of two plants by 22 percent, eliminated three overtime shifts per week from one of the plants, and improved working-capital performance

Led technical functional leaders through a comprehensive analysis of their end-to-end product-development processes that addressed 45 percent of the risk associated with manufacturing operations and reduced cost-of-poor-quality by $2.3 million

ACCENTURE Chicago, Illinois 2012 – 2013

Operational Excellence Manager

Senior operational-excellence business advisor for a services-delivery team that directed associates in India at a $12 billion financial-services business-process outsourcing unit of a $28 billion professional-services firm

ERNST & YOUNG Chicago, Illinois 2011 – 2012

Senior Performance Improvement Consultant

Senior process advisor for a large-scale change-initiatives team that drove adoption of new technologies and processes at clients of a $4.3 billion financial-services advisory unit of a $23 billion professional-services firm

LISEK CONSULTING INC. Chicago, Illinois 2007 – 2010

Management Consultant

Provided workforce-optimization and operational-efficiency analysis to senior leaders at a claims unit of a $30 billion commercial property-and-casualty insurance client

Executed a new-product development strategy by directing associates in China at a $30 million transportation-seal manufacturing business under the leadership of a private-equity firm

GE PLASTICS Chicago, Illinois 2005 – 2007

Market Development Manager

Developed growth opportunities at a $400 million specialty-compounding unit of a $4.7 billion plastics-manufacturing business of General Electric (GE) Company

GE INSURANCE Chicago, Illinois 2001 – 2005

Certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt Project Manager

Senior project manager and people leader responsible for establishing an enterprise-wide transactional continuous-improvement program and driving change-management activities at a $500 million unit of a $2.4 billion commercial-insurance business of General Electric (GE) Company

GE APPLIANCES Louisville, Kentucky 1992 – 2001

Project and people leader in roles of increasing responsibility at a $5.8 billion consumer-products business of General Electric (GE) Company

Customer Service E-Commerce Operations Leader (2000 – 2001)

Optimized the customer-contact center’s answer rate, average speed of answer, and productivity performance

Certified Six Sigma Black Belt Project Manager (1996 – 2000)

Improved the distribution network’s on-time delivery rate, a stamped-part supplier’s defect rate, and the largest customer’s purchasing-process performance to increase the ease-of-doing-business with GE product managers

Product Development Engineer (1992 – 1996)

Designed injection-molded washing machine and dishwasher parts for home appliances installed in over 25 million USA households

EDUCATION

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO BOOTH SCHOOL OF BUSINESS Chicago, Illinois

Master of Business Administration with concentrations in Finance, Managerial and Organizational Behavior, Marketing, and Entrepreneurship

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS Urbana, Illinois

Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering with a concentration in Industrial Engineering

PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATIONS

TRANSFORMATION

Project Management Professional (PMP)

Six Sigma Master Black Belt Certification

Six Sigma Black Belt Certification

TECHNOLOGY (Expected 2025)

AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner

Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst

Microsoft Azure AI Fundamentals

Certified Entry-Level Python Programmer

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