Weekly News & Agenda for Tuesday, 24 October 2017

1. AGENDA FOR TUESDAY, 24 OCTOBER 2017:

0700-0800:  Introductions, Networking, and Open Forum Discussion

Tell us what's new for you, especially any networking needs.  We can help with referrals, advice, job search assistance, and other networking.  We also welcome any topics for general discussion.  Don't have immediate networking needs?  Come anyway to strengthen your personal network with grads.

2. SPEAKER SCHEDULE:

24 Oct (this week):  Open Networking - see above.

31 Oct:  TBD/available for a speaker. If you have a speaker in mind for this date or any upcoming Tuesday, or would like to lead a discussion yourself, just let me know, at panicciaj@aol.com.

7 Nov:  Dave Jackson (USMA '73) will provide an overview of the top Direct Marketing company. He'll discuss income potential, risks associated with this business, monetary outlays required, along with a full explanation of what one will need to do to succeed in this business model. For anyone that has a defined need for extra income without affecting your current job, this could open up options.

3.  GRAD SEEKING ASSISTANCE:

Erich Petersen (USMA '03) is conducting a career/job search in the Denver area.  Please see his resume below, and contact him directly if you can offer assistance.  (Please note:  Formatting errors below are due to the limitations of our BizNet blog tool, which does not allow attachments and has limited ability to upload images and files.)

Erich writes as follows:

I am new to Denver and looking for job opportunities in either corporate strategy, consulting, or an early stage/startup company. I am a 2003 USMA grad and recently earned my MBA from The University of Chicago. I plan on showing up next Tuesday to the Biznet meeting but wanted to get the ball rolling. Attached you will find my resume. Could you send this out to the broader group? That would be very helpful. Thank you!

Erich H. Petersen

Denver, Colorado | (770) 367-5490 | erich.h.petersen@gmail.com

EDUCATION

The University of Chicago Booth School of Business                                                                    Chicago, IL

Master of Business Administration (MBA), Entrepreneurship, Finance, Strategic Management   Sept 2014 – Jun 2017

·        Dean’s List

·        Studies include corporate valuation, financial statement analysis, financial modeling, leveraged finance, and accounting

·        2015: Selected for foreign exchange study program at Guanghua School of Management at Peking University in China

·        2016-17: Case Team Lead, Venture Capital Investment Competition: lead team of seven individuals in researching, developing, and proposing three venture capital deals to a panel of professional investors

 The United States Military Academy                                                                                      West Point, NY

Bachelor of Science, Systems Engineering                                                                                 Jun 1999 – May 2003

·        Dean’s List, Commandant’s List

·        Volunteer for Big Brothers/Big Sisters; Tutor for Department of English

·        Selected as Commander of 112-member cadet company

EXPERIENCE

Slalom                                                                                                                                            Chicago, IL
Management Consultant                                                                                              Sept 2014 – May 2017                              

·        Led team of five in post-acquisition integration and organizational redesign efforts for the IT organization of a large global logistics company. Led initial stakeholder analysis, organizational impact and change readiness analysis, and change management planning for 11-member IT team serving sales and account management organizations encompassing over 500 individuals. Redesigned 14 core business processes to improve team efficiency. Designed process and service level agreements for incident management process. Additional responsibilities included executive stakeholder management, communications management, delivery leadership, budget management, and business development.

·        Led a team of three in planning and executing organizational change management activities to support a large system implementation at large property management firm. Led stakeholder analysis, organizational impact analysis, communications planning and execution, and creation of six instructor-led trainings and four web-based trainings (WBT).

Accenture                                                                                                                                  Chicago, IL
Management Consultant                                                                                                    Jan 2012 – Sept 2014

·        Led change management efforts on $7M software implementation project for an international telecommunications company. Responsible for planning and execution of all change management activities across Americas, EMEA, and APAC regions and oversight of multiple team members.

·        Led team of three in scoping, defining, and developing all change management deliverables as Change Management Lead on a $10M software implementation project for a utility company. Led development of over 25 hours of communication and training content to inform and educate employees across organization. Worked extensively with offshore support teams in India and the Philippines.

·        Project consultant at nonprofit supporting Chicago-area at-risk youth. Donated nearly $30K in billable work. Key driver of efforts to prepare nonprofit for audit by large charitable fund. Efforts helped nonprofit secure $2.75M charitable endowment.

Independent Contractor                           Chicago, IL

Management Consultant                Jul 2011 – Dec 2011       

·        Business Readiness Lead on software implementation project for a large telecommunications company. Led three-person team in data analysis efforts to support business case for augmenting existing call center support model to accommodate an estimated 75% increase in call volume over a six-month period. Supported sale of nearly $2M in additional business.

Boston Scientific                                                                                      Spencer, IN                                 
Senior Operations Supervisor                          Oct 2009 – Jul 2011

·        Managed manufacturing operations of largest (by volume) department in Spencer, IN facility. Took over underperforming department that only achieved committed build plan (CBP) in 2 of previous 12 months while accruing 11 quality incidences (QIs). Managed workforce of over 75, driving people and process initiatives that catalyzed improvements in performance, resulting in achievement of monthly CBP in 11 of 12 months while realizing an over 80% reduction in QIs.

·        Led team of six in major Lean initiative project, resulting in an over 50% reduction in scrap, over 25% reduction in order cycle time, and improving production efficiency by over 40%. Received three Value Improvement Project awards in recognition of efforts. Successfully managed department through two FDA audits.

·        Led change management and process improvement efforts on large offshoring initiative. Acted as key advisor to General Manager of Coyol, Costa Rica facility, implementing measures resulting in a 50% improvement in product yield and 41% improvement in production efficiency.

Independent Contractor & Entrepreneur                                                                                                                                           Atlanta, GA

Executive                                                                                                                                                          Jul 2008 – Oct 2009

·        Chief Operations Officer for Atlanta-based ecommerce start-up. Secured over $30K in startup seed funding.

·        Project Manager for banking startup in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Developed and executed plan to establish a scalable call center infrastructure capable of supporting a near 500% increase in anticipated call volume over a one-year period. Lead data modeling, business case development, and staffing ramp-up efforts, growing call center staff from 4 to 25.

ADDITIONAL

·        Earned Lean/Six Sigma Green Belt in 2008; earned Project Management Professional (PMP) certification in 2009

·        Member, Junior Board of Directors at Youth Guidance; three-time committee member and two-time program lead for Youth Guidance’s “Prepare for What’s Next” outreach program

·        Volunteer for multiple charitable causes, including Wounded Warrior Project, The Center on Halsted, The Trevor Project, Camden’s Comfort Project, and Toys for Tots

·        Completed Train the Street: Corporate Valuation, 2017

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Have a great week.

Joe Paniccia (USMA '84)

panicciaj@aol.com

Service Academy BizNet of Denver meets weekly on Tuesdays at 0700, in the Embassy Suites at 7525 East Hampden Avenue, Denver, CO 80231.  From I-25, exit at Hampden, then proceed east for 1 mile, where the hotel will be on your left.  Parking at the hotel is free. Look for us in Fourteeners Room, which is to your left as you enter the hotel's central atrium.  RSVP is not required. Dress is casual. Attendance is open to graduates of the federal service academies (USAFA, USCGA, USMA, USMMA, USNA). There are no dues or fees.  Our schedule, roster, and other information are posted at www.academybiznet.org.  Sign up (free) by following the instructions on the home page, to receive communications via our blog and email.