Background

I am a consultant with a thirst for driving sustainable economic growth across organizations. With 10+ years of consulting experience in a variety of industries, I am passionate about utilizing data to make better decisions, while converting those decisions into actions that deliver tangible performance improvement. In my current role at American Express, I do internal strategy work for the Global Merchant & Network Services (GMNS) division and am responsible for driving thought leadership for GMNS priority opportunities. I am particularly interested in fintech, education tech and health tech companies where I can make a difference to help others. I am currently located in New York City and am in the process to moving to Stockholm, Sweden in July 2021.

Job experience

• November 2017 - present
  Senior Manager
  American Express
  

  New York, NY, USA

  As a Senior Manager within the GMS Strategy Planning & Insights team, I lead data analyses and strategy recommendations for executive sponsored projects in line with GMNS priorities. Examples include:
  * Partnered with external consultants to define the existing international merchant onboarding process; formulated and presented the long-term onboarding vision and key activities for a pilot to GMS leadership.
  - Selected for Global Coverage, Reporting & Merchant Experience (GCRME) team's Business Partner Award.
  * Stepped in to cover a colleague from Payment Consulting Group on parental leave to successfully support the U.S. Contactless SteerCo; coordinated with the B35s and B40s across the Blue Box to create the SteerCo materials.
  * Developed definition and structure for a new intermediary merchant model; collaborated with GMNS leadership and key stakeholders across the enterprise to gain alignment to enable the model.
  * Evaluated AXP's system architecture and delivered a technical recommendation to better serve GMNS's multi-acquired merchants and drive efficiency. Our team was one of the four teams winning the Global Strategy & Capabilities (GS&C) Legion Team Award for '19 Q3.
  * Managed the development of Incremental International Coverage Expansion (IICE) strategy for EEA markets including data integrity for all key metrics and 2019 IICE Active LIF forecasting. Our team was one of the three teams winning the GS&C (Heroes) Team Award for '18 Q3.
  - Worked directly with 7 key markets and helped them to streamline their 4-year coverage plan by challenging them and by ensuring the coverage plan they provided was feasible before Werner and Sujata presented it to Anré.
  - Provided the coverage plan of 20 key markets (~ 36 key cities) in a standard format by creating standard Coverage Plan templates (both in XLS and PPT).
  - Worked with various GCRME teams to create a methodology to systematically pull LIF data for all 20 markets and 36 cities in scope.
  - Refreshed the baseline for all EEA markets using this new, consistent methodology, calculated the refreshed incremental LIF targets, did the QA and ensured accuracy before using this data to complete the monthly dashboard.
  * Analyzed the Multicurrency product including merchant request, set-up, and recognition; delivered global growth strategy recommendations and created a detailed action plan to improve overall process.
  * Developed the organizational strategy and structure for MS-U.S. leadership to absorb a 24% account increase within the Regional Client Group (RCG); provided analytical support to VPs to optimize Client Manager portfolio assignments.
  * Additional note: Was one of the two GMNS colleagues who got awarded the 2020 Edward P. Gilligan Innovation Award for their work on Winning Through the Cycle (WTTC). WTTC was designed to help AXP predict, through various economic scenarios, how we could win through another economic downturn.

• February 2017 - November 2017
  Sales Operations Consultant
  FounderMade
  

  New York, NY, USA

  FounderMade is a startup that hosts curated summits in the food, beauty, and wellness industries to help aspiring lifestyle brands grow by connecting entrepreneurs with investors, distributors and influencers.
  * Identified strategic partnerships, generated sales activity, led negotiations, and established and implemented business plans for growth for FounderMade’s consumer discovery summits in the food, beauty, and wellness industries.
  * Managed sales operations and implemented Salesforce CRM to improve sales effectiveness and productivity.
  * Assessed strategic priorities and facilitated change management for growth in close coordination with the executive team.

• June 2015 - August 2015
  District Business Controller MBA Intern
  H&M
  

  New York, NY, USA

  * Analyzed key sales performance metrics and collaborated with H&M store management to implement initiatives that ultimately increased sales conversion up to 4% (point increase) at peak times for two high profile Manhattan stores.
  * Developed recommendations and action plans to apply the solutions with the highest ROI potential across all stores within the district.
  * Coached store management and staff on utilization of performance management tools to ensure the sustainability of improved store operations.

• July 2012 - June 2014
  Manager
  Huron Consulting Group
  

  New York, NY, USA

  * Spearheaded implementation of $2.5M to $15M annual cost savings initiatives through productivity improvement, process redesign, organizational restructuring, and reduction in contract labor and premium pay.
  * Managed day to day operations of multiple engagements with teams of up to 10 consultants per project.
  * Assessed and benchmarked workforce performance of hospitals against national industry standards and similar institutions; liaised with hospital management and staff to develop and implement sustainable performance improvement solutions.
  * Established system-wide operational performance targets and monitoring tools to drive economic growth in multi-hospital systems and Academic Medical Centers.
  * Implemented vacancy management policy and procedures to better manage new or replacement positions; generated automatic dashboards to utilize actual performance data for any position requisition.
  * Mentored a team of analysts and associates, trained them in technical skills and equipped them with industry knowledge.

• November 2007 - July 2012
  Associate
  Huron Consulting Group
  

  New York, NY, USA

  * Assessed and benchmarked workforce performance of hospitals against national industry standards and similar institutions; liaised with hospital management and staff to develop and implement sustainable performance improvement solutions.
  * Established system-wide operational performance targets and monitoring tools to drive economic growth in multi-hospital systems and Academic Medical Centers.
  * Implemented vacancy management policy and procedures to better manage new or replacement positions; generated automatic dashboards to utilize actual performance data for any position requisition.
  * Conducted staffing supply/demand analyses by department to determine inefficiencies in workforce and room utilization and helped streamline existing process inefficiencies.
  * Trained clients on productivity management to optimize staffing and room utilization, and drive performance improvement.

• January 2005 - November 2007
  Manager, Harbour Report North America
  Harbour Consulting Group
  

  Michigan, USA

  I started as a data analyst and got promoted to
  Manager.
  * Managed North American clients of the Harbour Report, the leading annual competitive analysis tool used by Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and suppliers to benchmark performance, develop strategies and improve operations by learning from industry best practices.
  * Led project scope, kick-off, and data verification meetings and conducted methodology training to OEM’s such as GM, Ford, Honda, and Mitsubishi; directed data collection, conducted analysis and managed data integrity aspects of the report.

Education

• Columbia Business School
  MBA
  

  2014 - 2016
• University of Michigan
  Industrial Engineering, with a minor in mathematics
  

  2000 - 2004

• American Express & Harvard Certificate in Leadership Excellence
  American Express & Harvard Business School Publishing
  

  2019 - present

  This certificate does not expire.