Supply Chain Management Consultant

DOROTHEA GRIMES-FARROW, SENIOR MANAGEMENT CONSULTANT

Operations Excellence Change Management Implementation-Focused Results-Driven

732-***-**** ********@*****.*** Athens, Georgia, 30677 LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedIn.com/in/dgrimesfarrow

PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY

Results-driven management consultant with 15+ years of experience driving significant operational improvements and business transformations. Proven ability to increase client efficiency by 20% and reduce costs by 18%, leveraging expertise in:

•Process optimization

•Organizational Change Management

•Strategic business analysis and process mapping

•Value stream mapping

•Business re-engineering

•Systematic continuous improvement methodologies

•Critical thinking and collaborative problem-solving

•Supply chain operations

•New product introduction (NPI)

•Product development decision gates

•Demand planning and Sales, Inventory, and Operations Planning (SIOP)

•Adaptability

•Strategic communication

•Leadership

•Consultant practices

Extensive experience at Cisco Systems, Avaya Systems Software, AT&T Bell Laboratories, and SGS

Management Consultants, coupled with a strong foundation in data-driven decision-making and cross-functional team leadership, positions me as a trusted advisor, impactful change agent, and AI influencer.

EXPERIENCE

Independent Management Consultant: Business Optimization, Transformation, and Value Creation June 2024 – Present

Third-Party Management Consultant Firms, Atlanta Metropolitan Area and U.S.

Guide clients to reach new levels of competitiveness through operational excellence, connected and streamlined process flows, transformative business models, new workforce skills and capabilities, clearly defined roles and accountabilities, end-to-end business alignment, and key performance indicator (KPI) dashboards and governance. Collaborate with clients to:

•Accelerate product development and NPI time-to-market processes and capabilities, allowing clients to seize emerging opportunities.

•Implement and oversee supply chain operations best practices, leading to efficiencies and customer experience improvements.

•Achieve comprehensive vetting, end-to-end visibility, and cross-functional alignment on SIOP decisions, resulting in improved decision-making, better planning, reduced risks, and increased efficiency.

•Develop well-constructed AI use cases with structured teams and a collaborative approach.

•Create and implement strategies to improve supplier relationships, ensuring reliable sourcing and cost-effective procurement.

•Engage with internal and external client partners and stakeholders to achieve scalable and seamless business benefits.

•Utilize proven tools and methodologies to ensure data-driven decision-making.

•Apply systematic continuous improvement methods to identify and eliminate waste, optimize process outputs, and foster ongoing organizational learning.

•Tackle complex challenges and deliver innovative solutions.

•Communicate complex information clearly and concisely.

•Create and document standard operating procedures (SOPs) to optimize compliance, improve efficiency and productivity, reduce errors, ensure knowledge retention, and quickly onboard new employees.

•Train, coach, and mentor employees and establish onboarding practices to ensure team members grasp their responsibilities and excel.

•Develop KPI dashboards to proactively reduce risk, enhance visibility, and optimize operations through robust data governance and accountability.

•Conduct post-implementation assessments.

Operations Consultant: Operations Optimization and Value Creation

January 2017 – June 2024

SGS Maine Pointe Management Consultants, Plymouth, MA

•Operations Excellence: Formulated, spearheaded, and oversaw agile product development solutions for a leading acoustics company, accelerating time-to-market by 200%. Coordinated and standardized product development workflows, streamlined processes, and aligned key milestones with Contract Manufacturers to ensure consistent adherence to release schedules and quality standards.

•Supply Chain - Raw Material Sourcing: Led raw material sourcing initiative for a high-tech transportation company, securing bids that resulted in $1M in addressable cost reductions.

•Product Development: Transformed client’s product development practices into a scalable, sustainable capability to optimize cost, quality, delivery, and time-to-market. Built robust front-end planning and NPI and PLM operations. Reduced direct and indirect costs of poor quality by $300,000 annually. Decreased inventory levels by 30% annually for three years. Reduced incoming and outgoing materials/product expedited expenses by $500 annually.

•Advanced Analytics, Automation: Modeled, implemented, and oversaw predictive analytics tool that resulted in 20% fewer production plan changes inside the 30-day production window.

•Procurement: Spearheaded procurement strategy for a leading food manufacturer, delivering $17-20 million in cost savings by focusing on raw material costs, which constituted 70% of the total product cost.

•Mergers and Acquisitions: Facilitated successful integration of acquired companies' front-end sales operations, resulting in $10 million in cost savings.

•Supply Chain Planning: Guided Sales, Inventory, and Operations Planning (SIOP) implementation in six industries. Increased supply chain efficiency, enabling production teams to forecast and accurately manage operations. Facilitated training, leadership alignment, and post-implementation assessment.

Director, Supply Chain Operations

July 2008 – December 2016

Cisco Systems Technology, San Jose, CA

•Supply Chain and Operations: Led a $4 billion P&L and the company’s most successful product portfolio, achieving a revenue run rate of $1 billion in under four quarters. Oversaw product introduction, supply chain operations, and SIOP. Managed budgets and forecasted resources to execute plans.

•Problem Solving: Organized and facilitated a cross-functional team that eliminated a production halt for a critical product, generating a $10 million revenue stream. Identified and addressed the root cause of the issue, implemented forward-looking metrics, and standardized best practices.

•Revenue and Margin: Achieved a seven-point improvement in profit margin within a single fiscal quarter by optimizing COGS through strategic sourcing and procurement, supplier relationship management, and Lean manufacturing.

•Value Creation: Launched Cisco's first multi-platform SaaS mobility solution, transforming supply chain capabilities. Analyzed and validated projected shifts to SaaS and updated the company’s five-year plan into a quantitative forecast for software revenue growth.

•Transformation: Developed and institutionalized a new agile supply chain operating model while maintaining service level goals, achieving over 85% organizational adoption at launch.

Technical Product Director and General Manager

September 2000 – June 2008

Avaya Communications Technology, Basking Ridge, NJ

•Operations Assessment & Turnaround: Improved the performance of two Tier-I contract manufacturers, moving them from last place to 1st and 2nd place.

•Product Portfolio Rationalization & Development Solution: Led the company's first structured go-to-market transformation for a private equity acquisition, ensuring success while minimizing disruption. Implemented effective management practices to unify five siloed business units into a cohesive, goal-oriented decision-making process.

•Product Quality: Analyzed customer satisfaction data, created a product realization process map, identified performance gaps, and developed and executed a gap-to-goal strategy. Completed 3,000 system deployments with no quality defects upon installation, enabling and derisking $300 million in revenue.

•Order to Cash Optimization: Achieved $100 million in cost reductions through comprehensive supply chain audits, inventory management strategies, strategic sourcing and procurement, supplier relationship management, Six Sigma projects, product reverse engineering, value stream mapping, Six Sigma Lean manufacturing, portfolio rationalization, product lifecycle management, and Design for Manufacturing (DFX). Engaged and trained cross-functional teams to operate effectively within the new frameworks.

SKILLS

Business Process Improvement, Process Flow, Operational Excellence, Continuous Improvement, Business

Analysis, Process Analysis Requirements, Process Analysis, Process Mapping, Business Process Model and

Notation, Visio, Process Engineering, Value Stream Mapping, Process Re-engineering, Supply Chain Operations,

Sales-Inventory-Operations Planning (SIOP), Procurement, Strategic Sourcing, Material Requirements Planning

(MRP), New Product Introduction (NPI), Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), Product Lifecycle Management

(PLM), Agile Methodologies, User Acceptance Testing, Design for Manufacturing (DFM), Standard Operating

Procedures, Technical Documentation, Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP),

Lean Six Sigma, Six Sigma, DMAIC, Kaizen, Change Management, Consulting Practices, Leadership, Adaptability

CERTIFICATIONS

•Six Sigma Champion, Issued by Cisco Systems, San Jose, CA.

•Agile Project Management, Issued by Cisco Systems, San Jose, CA.

•Agile Product Owner Role, Issued by Cisco Systems, San Jose, CA.

•Instructional Technology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ.

•Expert Mediation, Issued by Human Relations Office, City of Santa Clara, CA

•AWS AI Practitioner, ETA Q4/2025.

EDUCATION

•Doctoral, Science and Technology Education Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ

•Bachelors, Physics, Southern University, Baton Rouge, LA

•Executive Education Programs:

oBusiness Finance: Duke University Fuqua School of Business, Durham, NC

oProduct Management: Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management, Evanston, IL o Innovation: MIT Sloan School of Management, Cambridge, MA

oDisruptive Leadership: NYU Stern School of Business, New York, NY

oValue Chain Management: Carnegie Mellon University Tepper School of Business, Pittsburgh, PA

RECOGNITION/ENDORSEMENTS

•Women in Supply Chain Award, Supply & Demand Chain Executive, 2022

•Excellence in Client Service, Consulting Magazine Women Leaders in Consulting, 2022

•Excellence in Client Service Star Award, SGS Maine Pointe, 2017

•Company Innovator: Four U.S. Patents, Bell Laboratories, 2006

Contact this candidate