Projects

Below you'll find just a small sample of my business transformation and strategy & operations work.

As-a-Service Operating Model Transformation & Multi-Billion Dollar Contract Negotiation

Senior Director - Engagement Lead

3 projects; 6 months of combined efforts; provided CEO, CFO & CIO-level advisory

Client Challenge | The client’s infrastructure management organization, with an annual spend of $1B+, embarked on an aggressive path to change their operating model from a complex, duplicitive and capital-intensive model to a highly outsourced “as-a-service” model. Two years after kicking off the operating model shift, progress had stagnated and cost duplication was still on the rise. The client needed to assess progress and develop a transformative and revolutionary plan to redesign their operating model and organizational structure while improving service levels and rationalizing costs. A crucial component of the transformation plan was a contract renegotiation with the client’s largest technology provider.

My Role | I led an engagement team to assess the client’s transformation progress made to date and document barriers to change. The team and I designed a one, three, and five-year business model transformation roadmap with an associated business case including organization structures, cost models, and capex/vendor cost allocations. We developed detailed, phased transition plans including location plans, team alignments, supplier renegotiation timelines, budget considerations, and success metrics for monitoring transformation effectiveness

As part of the transformation, I led a team of consultants and client executive leadership and staff through a 60-day negotiation of a $1.7B, seven-year contract with the client’s largest technology service, software and hardware provider.

Results

Identified a net savings opportunity of $472.1M (~35%) in capital, vendor, and staffing cost for the fully transformed organization
Designed a target end-state organizational structure that supported the IaaS business model and provided one, three, and five-year visions of services provided and transitional structure
Built a dynamic total cost calculator to estimate expected capital expenditures, vendor spend, and operational cost during any stage of the transformation process
Outlined the project plan for the overall IaaS Transformation Program, including 17 individual workstreams through Q2 2021
Successfully negotiated a $1.7B, seven-year contract with the client’s largest technology provider, structured to enable and drive transformation and technology advancement

Accounting, Finance and Procurement Turnaround & Procure-to-Pay System Implementation

Director - Engagment Lead

8 months; team of seven; Chief Business Officer, CEO & Board advisory; interim management

Client Challenge | Our client, a large charter school network, had received six findings from an audit by the State of California, following allegations of misuse of public funds (which were deemed merit-less by the State of California). Several of the client’s 28 schools were up for charter renewal, and faced with lingering concerns related to the state’s findings, were in jeopardy of not receiving their charter renewal. This would have had an immediate impact to several hundred under-served youth in the Los Angeles area.

My Role | I was engaged to lead a small team to determine the root cause of the breakdowns in accounting, finance and procurement that had led to the negative audit findings. I served as the primary advisor to the newly-hired Chief Business Officer and worked quickly to make critical organizational changes to avert further crisis, which included bringing in an interim controller. My team and I developed fiscal policies and procedures, designed and implemented a new chart of accounts, served in an interim Chief Financial Officer and Controller functions, and implemented an enterprise-grade procure-to-pay platform.

Results

The six audit findings were cleared by the State of California
For the first time in the organization’s history, all principals, school administrators and home office executive team members and staff received fiscal policies and procedures training
The interim controller led the organization successfully through its year-end audit
School closures were kept to a minimum

Assessment and Advisory for the Chief Technology Officer

Director - Client Delivery

2 months; led team of five; advised CTO

Client Challenge | The client, a large international Registered Investment Advisory (RIA) firm, with a steep growth curve, brought in a new CTO to help the organization meet its aggressive growth targets. The CTO sought advisory and assistance in assessing the people and organization, processes, architecture and technology currently supporting the client’s business initiatives. The CTO suspected that the organization’s technology was not well positioned to enable growth. The team was engaged to develop the future state vision and business plan to enable the client’s technology capabilities to scale with its growth targets.

My Role | I was asked to step in and lead the engagement team when the Senior Director on the case was facing challenges in delivering results and meeting client and Managing Partner expectations. I led the team to develop a current state assessment of the organization’s technology capabilities compared to expected best practices. I worked with the CTO to define the organization’s technology future-state, and the team outlined critical people, process and technology gaps between the current state and future state vision. We developed a multi-year transformation roadmap and began creating a business case for socialization with the CEO.

Results |

Conducted 35 interview / area review sessions across the enterprise, documented ~500 pain points, ~250 asks, inventoried 130+ applications, and analyzed server asset inventory data.
Assessed capability maturity of business application portfolios, processes and infrastructure based on Scalability, Functional fit, Performance, Availability, Supportability, Data Quality and Disaster Recovery
Identified gaps in business applications, processes and infrastructure that would inhibit the scaling of the Business to $1 Trillion AUM
Highlighted the focus areas, including “low hanging fruit” opportunities, based on the pain points reported by business users and supporting technology groups
Defined a high level Implementation roadmap to close the gaps and improve capabilities to meet target future state
Estimated the funding needs for the CTO to achieve the short term goals as defined in Implementation plan