HEY, I'M MIKE!
WHO AM I?
I'm a global citizen, learner, and problem-solver.
I was born in Hong Kong, raised in Australia, and spent my formative years in the United States.
I spent a good deal of time in the Washington, DC area between school and work, but needed a change of pace. I now happily reside in Denver, with my wife, kids, and dog.
I consider myself a lifelong learner. You'll catch me reading books on everything from behavioral economics to race, and analyzing power and authority at organizations or developing a nitro cold-brewed coffee recipe.
In my professional life, I enjoy bringing order to chaos and re-engineering business processes to better accomplish organizational goals. I take a human-centric and systematic approach.
In my personal life, I enjoy cooking and eating food, hiking, traveling, tattoos, and punk and metal.
Myers–Briggs/16 Personalities: INTJ
StrengthsFinders: Analytical, Strategic, Focus, Ideation, Consistency
PROFESSIONAL HISTORY
My Roles & Responsibilities
CONSULTING MANAGER, PARIVEDA
March 2022 - Present
I work with our clients on strategy and execution of complex projects at large enterprises. Much of the work is organizational transformation facilitated by technology, with an emphasis on thoughtful, proactive change management.
Key Skills: Project management, technology implementation, business analysis
SENIOR CONSULTANT, THOUGHT ENSEMBLE (acquired by Pariveda)
February 2021 - March 2022
I work with our clients on strategy and execution of complex projects at large enterprises. Much of the work is organizational transformation facilitated by technology, with an emphasis on thoughtful, proactive change management.
Key Skills: Project management, technology implementation, business analysis
SENIOR DIVISION OPERATIONS MANAGER, YES! COMMUNITIES
July 2019 - December 2019
I was promoted to this position from Division Operations Manager. My portfolio of work was expanded to include business process improvement for the management of capital projects, management of the team that ensured compliance with commercial loan terms, human resources workflow, and due diligence for acquisitions.
Key Skills: People management and development, capital budgeting and management, Lean and Six Sigma
DIVISION OPERATIONS MANAGER, YES! COMMUNITIES
October 2017 - July 2019
I was hired to re-engineer business processes for the company following recapitalization in anticipation of growth. Specific projects included the improvement of the used home purchase process, reducing weeks of logistics hours from a 500+ person assignment problem, and turnaround monitoring of a series of acquisitions.
Key Skills: Financial analysis, systems thinking, administration of incentive programs
SR. SECTION RELATIONSHIP MANAGER, AMERICAN WATER WORKS ASSOCIATION
May 2015 - October 2017
This was an internal consulting role based in the headquarters of an international trade group, aligning regional affiliate and headquarters strategy and governance. My assignment included 12 groups in the Northeastern United States and in Canada. I did this through the facilitation of strategic planning retreats and the review of bylaws.
Key Skills: Relationship building and management, organizational governance, change management
VARIOUS POSITIONS, REBUILDING TOGETHER
July 2012 - May 2015
I was originally brought on to benchmark the operations of affiliate organizations, identify gaps in operational processes, and expand the access to best practices. As affiliate organizations were independently operated, each with their own boards and staff, the headquarters delivered value by distributing resources and disseminating information, including effective business practices. My primary responsibilities were to understand what business practices worked for affiliate organizations and to find a way to disseminate the findings across the network.
I accepted the position as Organizational Analyst after the elimination of my previous position in a round of layoffs. My role as the Organizational Analyst was to anticipate the research needs of the board and executives during the financial and operational turnaround of the organization. Much of the time was spent creating and implementing a plan to find, validate, and consolidate 25+ years of operational and financial data that was stored across an organization with no data management or warehousing capabilities at the time. This was supplemented with US Census and other secondary data to provide analyses that charted the course for organizational stability after the crisis.
After an operational and financial turnaround, my position was expanded to include market research and the business case development and planning for a Salesforce managed package to build the organization’s capability for real-time operational data sharing and capacity for enhanced volunteer and client management.
Key Skills: Data collection, cleaning, management, and analysis, high level decision making, organizational strategy
VARIOUS POSITIONS, YOUNG NONPROFIT PROFESSIONALS NETWORK OF WASHINGTON, DC
July 2012 - July 2015
I began my work with YNPNdc on the Professional Development Committee. I worked with the team to organize two workshops and a cohort-based program for 50+ members, aimed at developing the professional capabilities of other young nonprofit professionals in the Washington, DC area and worked to secure content for an annual conference.
By the nature of being a Co-Chair of the Professional Development Committee, I had a seat on the board. The Professional Development Committee was the largest and most active committee, putting on weekly workshops as well as the content for the annual conference. This was a mostly operational role with some governance responsibilities with the board. In total, the committee developed and executed 25 professional development programs with seven committee members.
This was an all-volunteer led organization, so as the board chair I had dual responsibilities as the chief executive and governance leader. I oversaw the strategic planning process, working with the consultant to chart the plan for organizational realignment. The goal was to increase the quality of member engagement through the introduction of programs such as an extended mentor/mentee matching program. On the operations side, I oversaw the work of the organization’s 16 board members and 33 committee members in the delivery of the mission.
Key Skills: People management, process evaluation and development, financial management
VARIOUS POSITIONS, YOUTH SERVICE AMERICA
February 2010-June 2012
I was originally hired as a temp with this organization, in a position that focused on congressional and gubernatorial outreach around the organization’s signature annual event. This involved developing and maintaining a database of United States federal, state, and local government contacts and drafting and editing educational materials used by youth, educators, and volunteer service coordinators to reach out to public officials for support in local events.
I was retained as a permanent staff member after my temporary posting as the Government Outreach Assistant. In this position, I was a manager of pass-through funds from the federal government and corporate foundations. My time was spent on fund stewardship and compliance, relationship management with key partners, and customer relationship management (CRM) administration.
Key Skills: Federal and corporate grant management, youth programs, grant writing
INTERN, CONGRESSIONAL COALITION ON ADOPTION INSTITUTE
September 2009-February 2010
My responsibilities at CCAI were primarily related to an annual fundraiser attended by Members of Congress and other VIPs. Other tasks included researching and tracking legislation related to adoption and foster care as well as drafting of external communications.
Key Skills: Research, advocacy, event planning and management
EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE
MBA, OPERATIONS AND SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT, WHITMAN SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT, SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY
While the MBA is designed to be comprehensive business education that included courses on economics, finance, and marketing, my concentration focused on operations research and management science. Course content included linear and non-linear programming, network models, integer programs, simulation, and queuing models for tactical and strategic business decisions. This is commonly called spreadsheet modeling, optimization, and mathematical modeling.
MS, BUSINESS ANALYTICS, WHITMAN SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT, SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY
This program focused on business applications of data and analytics, specifically in decision making. Courses focused on the use of data and analytics as it related to functions such as marketing and accounting, as well as the database design and management, data modeling, and the use of R in a variety of contexts. The overarching theme was the translation of real world problems into mathematical terms and using mathematical and logical models and methods to solve those problems.
BA, CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON
This program included courses that imparted both tangible skills, such as grantwriting and ethnographic research, and deep study of abstract concepts such as globalization, race and ethnicity, and value, to provide a framework for analyzing cultural and interpersonal dynamics.
CERTIFICATE, NONPROFIT MANAGEMENT, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY
The focus of this program is to attain the knowledge to holistically lead a social good venture within the nonprofit context. Courses included general business concepts around finance and accounting through the nonprofit lens, as well as board and staff dynamics and strategy.
SELECTED PROJECTS
HOME PURCHASE PROCESS IMPROVEMENT
YES! Communities purchased owner-occupied homes in their communities across the country, often as a way to maintain a certain level of inventory in each location. Without a home on a site, it was difficult to produce revenue and meet goals set by the financial model. Lead times to place another home on the site ranged from a month to over a year, resulting in vacancy loss.
A major problem with the process for the company to buy homes from owners wishing to move is the long transaction time. From an owner showing an interest in selling their home to the time a check was issued, it took an average of two months and had taken up to nine months. It is not surprising that owners often chose to sell their homes to outside parties who remove the home or sell the home at a significant markup. The combination of vacancy loss, premium paid for homes, and staff time was not insignificant.
I used Lean and Six Sigma methodologies to analyze the existing process and quantify the effect of inefficiency. Quick wins were identified and negotiated with the appropriate departments and a deep understanding of the voice of the process was documented. The process was then designed to be moved from a paper and PDF-intensive arrangement to an electronic process that would provide greater visibility, increased efficiency, and better customer service.
BUSINESS CASE DEVELOPMENT AND INFRASTRUCTURE PLANNING
Rebuilding Together had just completed a financial and operational turnaround and the organization was looking forward into the future. One of the primary challenges throughout the turnaround was the inability of the national headquarters to secure and meaningfully use the data collected at the affiliate-level. Data was collected using survey tools but were not stored in a format conducive to uses beyond descriptive statistics, data quality was lacking, and the compilation of data took significant labor hours. A major contributor to the problem was the lack of standard reporting and operating procedures among affiliates, due to the large variety of technology used across the country. Leadership wanted a solution that allowed affiliates to share financial and operational data while providing an improvement on existing technology used by affiliates to increase efficiency and efficacy.
I worked closely with senior management and the board to gauge the appetite for a significant, enterprise-wide technology upgrade and worked with affiliates to secure requirements for a technological solution that would allow them to better manage volunteers and donations, as well as project and operational expenses. The findings were compiled into a business case to make the argument for a board allocation at the national headquarters to develop and implement a Salesforce managed package that affiliates could use to manage their local operations.
The business case was shepherded through the board approval process and the allocation was granted. Work was done to create a project plan to manage the development process, to ensure the final product met affiliate needs. This was done by forming an initial affiliate group who would act as subject matter experts in operations and assimilating the information through one channel at the national headquarters to coordinate work with developers.
The Rebuilding Together Success Pack managed package is now operational and used by 38 out of 128 affiliates.
AIRE FOOTWEAR
This was my capstone project for the MBA program. I worked in a team of five to take an idea and developed a feasibility assessment, marketing plan, operational plan, full business plan, and pro forma financial statements to simulate a launch of a company from the ground up.
The components where I had significant contribution was the operational plan, where I formulated the assumptions for everything from the use of a third party logistics firm to taxes for a company based in North Carolina, market research, where I created a survey with conditional logic and automated selection of survey respondents for a follow up survey, and the creation of pro forma financial statements that included the three major financial statements plus a valuation of the company using discounted cash flows as well as valuation multiples. I also provided the gut-check at each point, ensuring the strategies and tactics laid out in the business plan aligned with the resource allocation in financial statements.
THANKS FOR STOPPING BY. LET'S COLLABORATE!
Now that you know a bit more about me, I'd like to get to know you too.