I am a Wheaton, Maryland-based business consultant with a proven track record of helping my clients improve business and program performance by re-designing business processes, increasing attendance, improving efficiency, and reducing costs.
My capabilities include business and strategic planning; business process re-design and implementation; data modeling, analysis, and visualization using Microsoft Excel, Power BI; management report and tool development (e.g., executive dashboards, educational games, etc.); performance management design and implementation; program and internal controls assessment, design, and implementation; project management and leadership; resource allocation optimization; and risk management. Please find below my suite of services:
BUSINESS PROCESS IMPROVEMENT
Assess, re-design and implement an existing business function, system, and/or process in order to:
• Better serve and add value to stakeholders;
• Be more customer-centric;
• Be more user-friendly; and
• Improve program performance, including effective and efficient allocation of resources and operation of business functions, systems, and processes.
BUSINESS PROCESS OPTIMIZATION
Assess, re-design, and implement an existing business function, system, and/or process in order to optimize program effectiveness and efficiency, minimize costs, etc. This service is recommended for programs that currently have clearly defined business functions, systems, and processes and want to improve their current performance.
RESOURCE ALLOCATION OPTIMIZATION
Assess, re-design, and implement existing resource allocation approaches and methodologies in order to optimize program effectiveness and efficiency, minimize costs, etc.
PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT DESIGN & IMPLEMENTATION
Design and implement a performance management framework and methodology employed by management to record, review, and improve the performance of existing programs.
What I’ve accomplished for my clients
These are my successful engagements. Click Read More to read the project summaries. To review my complete portfolio, please click View Portfolio.
Business advisory – Health & Wellness Group
Business advisory – Health & Wellness Group
Challenge. Health & Wellness Group, composed of multiple practitioners, was interested in consolidating their practices into and forming a single business entity in the Seattle market. They wanted to clearly understand the characteristics and benefits of the various business structures and the process required to form a new business entity. They were bogged down in discussion and needed some clarity to make an objective business decision […]
Challenge. The environmental program of Higher Education Institution lacked a regional organization, standards, and brand presence in the six north Puget Sound counties in which it operated. Program principals wanted a sustainable business plan that considered various options for organizational structure, program design, branding/marketing strategy, and funding strategy, among other considerations, as well as a strategy […]
Competitor research and analysis – National Multi-Service General Construction Co.
Competitor research and analysis – National Multi-Service General Construction Co.
Challenge. The EVP of Strategy & Growth of a mid-sized, national multi-service contractor was interested in performing a competitor analysis in the core four-state region in which his firm primarily operated. He faced challenges in obtaining accurate, reliable competitor information due to the fact that many of these companies were privately-held, and oftentimes family owned, entities for which coverage provided by even well known, […]
Credit evaluation tool design and development – International Chemical Manufacturing Co.
Credit evaluation tool design and development – International Chemical Manufacturing Co.
Challenge. The client, an executive at an international chemical manufacturing company, was seeking a Microsoft Excel-based tool that he could use to help him better evaluate the credit risk of and issue credit to his company’s B2B customers. He wanted a more rigorous, data-based decision-making methodology to improve the process his credit administration team was currently using. […]
Custom industry-market research – Business Entrepreneur
Custom industry-market research – Business Entrepreneur
Challenge. Entrepreneur Team was considering establishing a national business providing niche advertising services and wanted to better understand the industry and market. They had a plethora of questions related to such items as key players, potential partners, prospective customers’ buying decisions, products, market pricing, asset management technology, market opportunities, etc. However, because this was a niche […]
Event re-design and management – U.S. Government Agency
Event re-design and management – U.S. Government Agency
Challenge. The monthly customer meetings (hereafter, “Event”) hosted by U.S. Government Financial Management organization generated sparse and irregular attendance among the target audience – extra-organization personnel responsible for budget management in their respective programs. The meetings seemed to lack structure and there wasn’t much enthusiasm among leadership. Approach. Sensing an opportunity for […]
Executive dashboard design and development - U.S. Government Agency
Executive dashboard design and development - U.S. Government Agency
Challenge. U.S. Government Agency Program had incurred excessive overtime expenditures in recent fiscal years and, as part of a Headquarters-directed, enterprise-wide initiative, Region leadership was charged to reduce overtime expenditures in the current fiscal year to 25% of base year levels. To help evaluate its effort, Region leadership sought a simple, user-friendly labor execution reporting tool it could use to track and analyze […]
Funding allocation process re-design – U.S. Government Agency
Funding allocation process re-design – U.S. Government Agency
Challenge. The funding allocation process (hereafter, “Funding Process”) at Regional Headquarters of U.S. Government Agency traced its origins to the Unfunded Requirements List (“UFR List”) and was designed to provide Region Program Directors (RPDs) and Installation Commanders an alternative source of funding to Command Headquarters-issued funds through which to purchase programmatic requirements. […]
Market feasibility assessment – Medical Pathologist
Market feasibility assessment – Medical Pathologist
Challenge. Medical Pathologist, MD/PhD, was interested in determining the economic viability of a start-up business providing clinical pathology services to medical facilities in the Puget Sound region. This business would be centered on a relatively new pathology procedure which was seeing increasing adoption among physicians and other primary medical care providers. […]
National volunteer program restructuring – International Humanitarian Aid Organization
National volunteer program restructuring – International Humanitarian Aid Organization
Challenge. Per the guidelines issued by a corporate initiative, International Humanitarian Aid Non-Profit Organization’s program director and strategic planning director were planning to restructure the organization’s national volunteer program and needed a decision-support model that took into account key factors such as territory size, number of field staff, location of program offices, number of sponsors, […]
Performance management system design and implementation – U.S. Government Agency
Performance management system design and implementation – U.S. Government Agency
Challenge. The monthly customer meetings (hereafter, “Event”) hosted by U.S. Government Financial Management organization generated sparse and irregular attendance among the target audience – extra-organization personnel responsible for budget management in their respective programs. Moreover, there didn’t seem to be any type of performance tracking by which to measure and improve performance. […]
Challenge. Private Equity Firm principals were considering investing in a category leading retail chain with over 2,000 locations in the U.S. and internationally and wanted to gather store level performance information to supplement existing information they had on the subject company. They had concerns about certain elements of the company’s business and wanted to better assess its viability via primary research at the store level. […]
Product assessment and strategy development – Internet Co.
Product assessment and strategy development – Internet Co.
Challenge. Bellevue-based Internet Co.’s signature social networking product lagged behind its competitors in keyword search rankings and online traffic. Internet Co.’s director of marketing wanted to improve the product’s online performance, increase traffic to its site, and ultimately increase its user base. Approach. My team and I performed research into key SEM principles and strategies […]
Product cost analysis and report development – Global Supply Chain Technology Co.
Product cost analysis and report development – Global Supply Chain Technology Co.
Challenge. Global Supply Chain Technology Co.’s supply chain operations team was entering contract re-negotiations with a key overseas vendor and needed a baseline cost analysis of products at both part and configuration levels. They had concerns with the integrity of existing data coming from internal sources and needed reliable information quickly in preparation for their impending negotiations. […]
Product forecast model design – International Humanitarian Aid Organization
Product forecast model design – International Humanitarian Aid Organization
Challenge. International Humanitarian Aid Non-Profit Organization’s strategic planning director needed a forecast model for one the organization’s key products. One of her requirements was that she wanted an optimal geographical distribution of the product based on certain key factors and constraints. The sources of information she was working with had copious amounts of data, not all of which was pertinent to her objective. […]
Product forecast model design – Niche Consulting Firm
Product forecast model design – Niche Consulting Firm
Challenge. The client, a product management consultant at a niche business consultancy, needed a financial forecast model for her clients’ prospective new product launch. She wanted a two-year revenue and expense model that accurately reflected the product’s expected performance in the market and incorporated multiple customer and revenue streams and user-controllable variables. Furthermore, she was working under a tight […]
Product funding assessment – International Humanitarian Aid Organization
Product funding assessment – International Humanitarian Aid Organization
Challenge. The strategic marketing director at International Humanitarian Aid Non-Profit Organization wanted to understand why a couple products in his portfolio were underperforming with respect to funding.
Approach. I performed an assessment of these products which included a review of their revenues, interviews of key […]
Program design and implementation – Community Bank Co.
Program design and implementation – Community Bank Co.
Challenge. Community Bank Co. was a six year-old, 4-branch, $220M asset community bank that was growing very rapidly. Its leadership wanted a functional and scalable internal audit program that would help the bank realize its business goals and also address growing pressure from bank regulators to develop a more comprehensive and formalized internal audit program. […]
Sales-Marketing collateral production – Professional Association
Sales-Marketing collateral production – Professional Association
Challenge. The corporate sponsorship chair of the local chapter of a national professional association wasn’t happy with the current document her team used in their sponsorship procurement activities and sought a new document that better represented the organization and communicated the benefits and value of partnership to prospective sponsors. […]
Don’t take my word for it – here’s what my clients say:
Event re-design and management – U.S. Government Agency
"The [Event] is the single most successful [Financial Management organization] initiative of the last two performance periods. Stephen successfully increased attendance during this cycle and helped coordinate multiple training sessions for our customers, a new element to the [Event] designed by him. There [have] been numerous [“well dones!”] provided to the Comptroller and the Budget Officer for our continued efforts to bring financial information to our customers … This was an EXTREMELY successful year for Stephen…”
J. Odiorne, Deputy Director / Budget Officer
Regional Headquarters of U.S. Government Agency
Funding allocation process re-design – U.S. Government Agency
“The project met and in many ways exceeded the requirements and the objectives of the task … The final product gave all levels an accessible application to initiate, review, and execute needed requirements … Given the hardship of competing priorities the quality of project management was beyond what [I] was expecting from the project … I truly believe the outcome and final product met all the major areas that was envisioned by the working group and the Comptroller.”
J. Odiorne, Deputy Director / Budget Officer
Regional Headquarters of U.S. Government Agency
Credit evaluation tool design and development – International Chemical Manufacturing Co.
“Steve did a great job. He [spent] enough time to get the job done to exactly what I needed. He did a lot of research and presented many options for me to make … the best decisions for the project. He went over and beyond to get this done.”
P. Cueva
International Chemical Manufacturing Co.
Credit evaluation tool design and development – International Chemical Manufacturing Co.
"Steve did a a great in depth research brief on credit risk management. He found some really good sources and presented the information in a way that it will be easy to use. This research brief gave me the tools to proceed with the next step on this project."
P. Cueva
International Chemical Manufacturing Co.
Custom industry-market research – Business Entrepreneur
“Did a great job for us. Dug deep into the topic and created research for us that was on point and in depth.”
Charles G.
Business Entrepreneur
Competitor research and analysis – National Multi-Service General Construction Co
“Steve did a fantastic job. He communicated with me to make certain he was delivering on expectations and I appreciate that. His work was exactly what I needed for this project and he performed in a very timely manner.”
C. Gordon, EVP of Strategy & Growth
National Multi-Service General Construction Co.
Business advisory – Internet Co.
"Steve was a great person to work with really knowledgable and informative, definitely added valuable information to my project. Thanks for the help."
Anthony C.
Business Entrepreneur
Primary market research – Private Equity Firm
"Steve was an incredible asset on this project. Not only did he drive along the project preparation process with his strong insights and questioning, but he was always offering to help other teammates with what he was finding. He is a detailed and hard worker that I would recommend for any other project. I look forward to working with him again!”
Luke F.
for Private Equity Firm
Sales-Marketing collateral production – Professional Association
“I worked with Steve to produce a Sponsorship Document for [Professional Association]. Starting with a basic document he led the process to develop a revised communication that conveyed a lot of information in an easy to access manner. Steve looked at individual content critically while keeping in mind the overall purpose of the document. During conversations he never lost sight of the ‘why it matters’ question. He is skilled in collaboration and communication and his questions and suggestions added value. With his excellent follow up and follow through we met our deadline now have a working document that not only will help us increase and build partnerships but it will help us define our association. I enjoyed working with Steve and would do so again.” Top qualities: Personable, On Time, High Integrity
J. Ganje, VP Corporate Sponsorship
Professional Association
Product cost analysis and report development – Global Supply Chain Technology Co.
“Steve was hired to help on a database project. He worked hard to deliver a product against challenging requirements that were evolving during the project. His contribution was helpful during a challenging transition phase for our operations.” Top qualities: Good Value, On Time, High Integrity
A. DeFreece, Supply Chain Manager
Global Supply Chain Technology Co.
Program design and implementation – Community Bank Co.
“Steve researched the regulatory requirements for, and designed, a start-up internal audit program (including risk assessment) that was accepted by federal banking regulators. He had a good working relationship with federal and state auditors, who spoke well of his work product.”
P.S. Faust, EVP and Chief Operating Officer
Community Bank Co.
Do you believe I can help you achieve your strategic objectives?
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