Senior Product Leader - Consumer Products

Kurt E. Bulawa

Sr. Product Manager, Strategy, Technical Innovation, & Transformation

****.*.******@*****.*** 720-***-**** Denver, CO https://www.linkedin.com/in/kurtbulawa SUMMARY

Serves as the product expert responsible for shaping, driving, and executing the overall digital product vision and growth strategy for transformation, turnaround, and new venture opportunities. Oversees all aspects of the product lifecycle, product management, strategy, product design, and go-to-market alignment to ensure efficient delivery of cutting-edge AI, SaaS, and Cloud solutions that meet evolving client needs. Partners closely with other product managers to align product strategies, while fostering a culture of innovation, scalability, and customer-centric design. CORE AND ANALYTICAL SKILLS

• Leadership: Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, Communications, Executive Stakeholder Management, Storytelling

• Functional: Product Management and Growth Strategy (PLG), Program Management, M&A, SAFe/Agile/Scrum, B2B, B2C

• AI Product Management Tools: Amplitude.ai, H2O.ai, ChatPRD, Thoughtspot, MonkeyLearn, Zeda.ai, and others

• Values: Work Hard, Really Hard, Keep Your Word, Help Others, Have Fun Doing It EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

Grovia Group, Denver, CO 10/2021 – PRESENT

Senior Manager, Product Management and Strategy

Fractional, interim operator and consultation roles through engagements with P/E backed SMB, early stage ventures, and complex initiatives in larger environments. Goal was to drive targeted, strategic growth and innovation for clients at critical stages of their lifecycle—typically turnarounds, transformations, and new ventures. Concentration on growth strategy and orchestration of a roadmap, high-performing Product Manager emulation, and operational maturity for product delivery processes.

• Client domains within industries: Public Health, Healthcare, Healthtech, Govtech, Public Safety, Fintech, and Legaltech

- LegalShield 1-yr.: Peak P/E portfolio company valuation in anticipation of divesting within 12 months

- Lexipol 1-yr.: Bridge a planned CEO transition 2-yrs into its P/E cycle and plan for 3x EBITDA growth via build and M&A

- Center for Disease Control (CDC) (via CDW) 1-yr.+: $60M SaaS/Cloud pandemic virus surveillance platform modernization

- SimplyKlean 1-yr.: Establish an ecosystem of licensing agreements for a patented healthcare and eco-friendly portfolio

• Define and communicate the product vision and strategy, ensuring alignment with overall business objectives

• Create and owning the product roadmap, including prioritization of features and coordinating with cross-functional teams

• Conduct market research and competitive analysis to identify trends, gaps, and opportunities for product growth

• Mentor associate product managers, fostering team culture, writing requirements, and gauging performance

• Collaborate with engineering, design, marketing, sales, and support for efficient development and delivery of products

• Develop and executing go-to-market strategies, including product positioning, pricing, and launch plans

• Engage with customers and collecting feedback to validate concepts and inform product decisions

• Analyze product performance metrics, user data, and customer feedback to optimize product results

• Manage the entire product lifecycle, from ideation through launch and ongoing iterations

• Set stakeholder expectations and communicating progress, challenges, and outcomes to leadership and other teams

• Accomplishments to-date:

- Delivered Cloud infrastructure, SaaS, and artificial intelligence solutions for 3x EBITDA growth via build and M&A

- Integrated generative AI (Cognigy/OpenAI) for infrastructure modernization through strategy planning segmentation

- Drove AI/ML (Amelia/Sprinklr) and PaaS strategy for U.K. expansion of a legal services venture valued at $13M/yr rev.

- Launched modernized system, HL7 (EMR/ELR/FHIR) in AWS/Azure cloud after failed attempts by three predecessors

- Negotiated 3-year $20M strategic distribution agreements with top-tier banking and internet marketing partners

- Acquired a U.K. $7M reputation management firm, Yourself Online, to integrate into the PPLSI cyber-security portfolio

- Added $150M in enterprise valuation in 12 months and partnered with Goldman Sachs on pitch for divestiture

- Championed Q1 2023 asset acquisition to internalize critical portfolio capability that generated 15% EBITDA FIS/Worldpay, Jacksonville, FL 8/2019 – 9/2021

Sr. Product Manager for Payment Ventures

Transformation opportunity for a Fintech Payments processor to redefine, reconstruct, and launch a lethargic $50M platform of multi-acquirer, merchant payment CP/CNP point-solutions. Goal was to offer broad SMB payment services for emerging merchant segments via both internal and integrated 3rd party gateway API services.

• Developed SaaS-based features eWallet, Text-2-Pay, eReceipt, eInvoice via build and partner with annualized value at $15M

• Installed best-practice processes, tools, and teams to drive investment prioritization, alignment, transparency, and oversight

• Allocated $7M of annual budget to return $55M direct and $800M in shadow P&L value annually

• Directed a 45 FTE offshore development and program management team in India to execute on the product roadmap Kaiser Permanente, Denver, CO 8/2014 – 8/2019

Principal Product Manager of Strategy, Innovation and Digital Transformation Transformation opportunity reporting to the Chief Strategy Officer at an integrated healthcare insurance payor and provider in a highly regulated, non-profit (501c3) environment. Goal was to transform the portfolio to drive a revamped digital and patient- centered experience with new product innovations that balance membership objectives in anticipation of the Affordable Care Act.

• Launched new products: patient kiosk, telehealth, text-a-doc, dental services, billing view, and EMR/EHR auto-processing

• Established new digital channels of virtual care delivery that enhance key performance indicators UX/CX satisfaction by 5%

• Launched first regional HIPAA compliant Oral Healthcare LOB through a $17M Delta Dental JV partnership post A/B testing

• Created HCD user experience, journey mapping, product portfolio, and positioning for strong CRM and NPS of 92% Walmart, Bentonville, AR 3/2013 – 8/2014

Lead Product Manager, Innovation and Digital Strategy for Consumer Financial Services Transformation opportunity for a high margin but growth-stagnated $1.2BN Financial Services P&L. Goal was to advance a retail consumer relationship strategy, thus LTV, to defend against competitive Amazon pressure by offering a value proposition via SaaS interface of banking services on an integrated platform: checking/savings, money transfer remittances, payments, money order, prepaid/credit card, and check cashing with APIs to Walmart’s Health&Wellness Healthcare platform.

• Built the long-term strategic direction from market intelligence, regulatory requirements and business case justification

• Aligned on a $20M investment business case for a new SaaS platform to integrate all 3rd party bank services

• Launched a retail portfolio of new consumer financial services in 6-9 months in collaboration with retail operations

• Drove new product revenue of $235M and achieved 50% of the domestic remittance market share within 180 days of launch Western Union, Denver, CO 10/2006 – 3/2013

Sr. Product Manager and Strategy for Global Payments Turnaround opportunity of a $300M P&L attenuating at ~18% YoY for a global consumer payment and prepaid products business that sports the company’s highest EBITDA. Goal was to identify the market friction and hemorrhaging, rebuild the tech-stack with

“0–1”/“1–N” solutions that revamp the customer experience, pricing, sales, and distribution channels.

• Developed go-to-market strategy (GTM) with voice-of-the-customer (VoC) and delivered concept-to-launch commercialization

• Built a $6M investment business case and financial model to digitally transform the portfolio, platform and UI/UX

• Realized 30% operational efficiencies with self-service in client implementation automation continuous improvement

• Resuscitated $300M payments business turnaround of 22% in volume, 16% in revenue, and 9% in margin EDUCATION

Masters of Business Administration (MBA) International Business, DePaul University, Chicago, IL Bachelor of Science in Electronics Engineering Digital Systems, DeVry University, Chicago, IL PERSONAL PASSIONS & AFFILIATIONS

Boards: Governor’s Ranch Board of Directors, Treasurer 1,022 dwellings $1.5M budget Passion/Hobby: NCAA Men’s Basketball Referee since 2019

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