Transforming a Business
A year ago, I was tasked to fundamentally change the way the largest retailer on the planet does business. Working with this retailer’s procurement organization, I was paired with our global client sponsor to take on a formidable and truly transformative pursuit: define, implement, and technologically enable a new strategic sourcing process that would touch $x-$yB of spend, 100 sourcing professionals, and >100 procurement categories across 13 countries. Over a year, I authored the new sourcing process, led teams in the US and UK to implement supporting technology, managed training program development and delivered it in both countries, and served as a subject matter expert for subsequent implementations in China and Japan. Due to this work, sourcing professionals all over the world now have a common process and technological platform through which to perform their sourcing activities, and the senior executive team has visibility into the key performance metrics of its organization, allowing the team to quickly drive toward intelligent business decisions. Given the $xM in identified savings already achieved through this implementation, I am fulfilled by the deep impact of my endeavors, the invaluable lessons learned in global project management, and the achievement of a long-term business vision.
Legitimizing an Organization
A significant personal accomplishment was my legitimizing the premier Jewish a cappella group at Washington University. At my first Hillel Shabbat, I was excited by the prospect of merging my Jewish identity with a lifelong passion for music through a new singing group, “Staam.” To build Staam, I first recruited a young but talented pool of students through a week of interviews and tryouts. Second, with the value proposition of bringing unique notoriety to the Jewish community on campus and in St. Louis, I secured and managed $15,000 over four years from the university and generous donors. Next, I established an operational framework that still exists today to organize how the group composes, practices, promotes, performs, records and distributes its music. Finally, I placed long-term focus on performing in the broader St. Louis area at charity and community events.
Over four years, I led the group to produce its first two CD’s, take our music to a national stage and share our half-Hebrew, half-English repertoire at more community performances than any other of the 8 choral groups on campus. Today, I greatly value the high entertainment and exposure to Jewish culture that Staam brings to campus, as well as the priceless memories and friendships gained from the experience.
Disseminating a Body of Knowledge
My third accomplishment has been innovatively dispensing my knowledge of financial modeling and optimization techniques to a broad audience of Deloitte colleagues, clients, and students at Washington University. At Deloitte, I have trained multiple colleagues in technologically-enabled optimization techniques, deepening our collective skill sets and providing greater value to our clients. At a previous client, I recognized a deficit in analytics skills within the procurement organization and devised a well-received training series to enable the organization to quantitatively assess its volume allocation scenarios. At Washington University, I led a team of colleagues to deliver a training and case study, better preparing students for successful internships and job searches. All told, I have enhanced >80 trainees’ analytical toolsets.
These initiatives are most personally fulfilling to me as they are in alignment with my commitment to “Tikkun Olam” – the Judaic concept roughly translated as “the betterment of the world.” Purposeful application of Tikkun Olam through mentorship and training efforts is a major focus in my life and I am fulfilled to be able to employ my expertise to better those around me.
