Client Achievements
Demonstrated Success.
Jeff has served executives across more than a dozen industries, including SaaS, financial services, philanthropy, K-12 and higher education, wireless, utilities, technology development and online commerce. Please read on for examples of the success he has achieved for his clients.
From Chaos to Progress
Challenge:
The Director of a $200M strategy at a large family foundation found it difficult to track the progress of his organization against their five-year goals. The team’s complex strategy involved hundreds of partners working on dozens of grant programs. Rapid growth, turnover in key internal positions and rivalries among senior managers further complicated the assessment of progress. Without direct evidence of progress, the foundation would be forced to seek someone new to lead the strategy. The Director had one of his team reach out to Jeff for help.
Jeff’s Solution:
Jeff was engaged to provide visibility into the actual progress of the strategy. He conducted meetings to understand the grant portfolio of each Program Officer, attended grantee meetings and digested dozens of grant documents. He distilled this information into a comprehensive work plan that visualized the progress to date, as well as the work to be done over the coming 24 months.
The plan enabled coordination of work across the team and highlighted efforts that didn’t align to the organization’s strategy. Most importantly, Jeff’s work became a focal point for resolving the incongruent priorities of the senior managers and provided a framework for their resolution.
A Reality Check and a Compass
Challenge:
A large insurance carrier had under invested in its billing systems for years and was facing growing customer dissatisfaction at the carrier’s inability to produce electronic bills and take online payments. The VP overseeing billing launched an effort to replace their aged billing system with a new outsourced solution who’s vendor promised a quick, painless implementation.
Jeff’s Solution:
Jeff was engaged to represent the carrier’s interests during the contract negotiations. He identified overly optimistic assumptions that would have resulted in expensive penalties. He also found that the vendor had severely under-estimated the implementation schedule and budget. Initially both the vendor and the VP rejected Jeff’s analysis, preferring to accept the vendor’s promises. Jeff developed a visual depiction of the work and patiently helped the VP understand how the vendor’s promises were not feasible. The vendor’s sales rep was dismissed from the account and Jeff was asked to oversee the rest of the implementation.
Breakthrough to Progress
Challenge:
A consortium of charter management organizations representing almost 35,000 students received a large grant from a family foundation to improve educational performance through innovative technology. After failing to make progress implementing their technology plans, the foundation recommended outside help.
Jeff’s Solution:
The consortium’s board engaged Jeff to assess and remediate the initiative. Jeff identified issues with the existing strategy and roadmap. He collaborated with member organizations to develop a new strategy to meet their performance commitments within their budgets and timelines. He led the implementation planning, vendor selection and negotiations of more than a dozen vendor contracts on his client’s behalf. He then oversaw the implementation and adoption of more than 20 systems in the following months, enabling each organization to make measurable improvements to their educational performance.
Delivering Competitive Advantage
Challenge:
A large commercial bank had grown quickly based on its high touch service and leverage of technology partners to provide up to date customer technology. As more and more competitors began using the same technology, the bank sought to differentiate themselves.
Solution:
Jeff was engaged by a commercial bank to assess the capabilities of their in-house technology team prior to embarking on a major initiative to develop new customer service and mobile-enabled products. Jeff met with the leadership to understand the bank’s needs and expectations including the people, processes and tools available to them. He found that the bank was ill-prepared for such an endeavor. Jeff collaborated with the bank’s leadership and technology team to produce a strategy and roadmap that resulted in an enhanced ability to grow their development capabilities and deliver a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
