melodyplayford2

A designer and manufacturer of material handling systems for various industries including parcel, warehouse & distribution, and manufacturing, based in Arkansas. Chief Information Officer Driving Hytrol’s digital transformation to revolutionize operations and deliver enhanced value to customers. Focused on aligning technology with business goals through innovation, efficiency, and building a skilled modern workforce. Established and lead the Information Technology platforms, security, product and program management office, coordinated strategic plans and timelines, and developed a strategic roadmap. • Hired as Director in a planned succession role, completing nine weeks of immersive manufacturing training while preparing to assume the CIO position; formally transitioned into the role upon completion with a public announcement the following fiscal year. • Spearheaded the transition to a cloud-based infrastructure with Microsoft Azure, enhancing scalability, security, and operational efficiency. • Implemented Agile Software Engineering practices to accelerate delivery and improve collaboration across teams. • Deployed Microsoft Azure DevOps to streamline development workflows and enable continuous integration and deployment. • Introduced product management frameworks to prioritize internal customer needs, align technology development with business objectives, and deliver measurable value for the organization. • Led AI initiatives, including: o Engineering Automation and Configuration to streamline processes and reduce time-to-market. o Bill of Material Accuracy and Audits to enhance precision and reduce errors using machine learning. • Drove the product management of engineering design tools for customers. Delivered technology vision, feature functionality, and roadmap ensuring customer satisfaction and internal business requirements to ensure supply chain and manufacturing accuracy as well as reduced internal engineering costs. • Delivered a comprehensive Data Lake to centralize data and enable advanced analytics and decision-making. • Directing the implementation of Epicor Kinetic ERP, transitioning from a legacy AS400 system to modernize and standardize business processes. • Established a robust analytics ecosystem, fostering a data-driven culture organization-wide. • Cultivated a modern, skilled technology talent pool to support digital transformation and ensure long-term success.

A designer and manufacturer of material handling systems for various industries including parcel, warehouse & distribution, and manufacturing, based in Arkansas. Chief Information Officer Driving Hytrol’s digital transformation to revolutionize operations and deliver enhanced value to customers. Focused on aligning technology with business goals through innovation, efficiency, and building a skilled modern workforce. Established and lead the Information Technology platforms, security, product and program management office, coordinated strategic plans and timelines, and developed a strategic roadmap. • Hired as Director in a planned succession role, completing nine weeks of immersive manufacturing training while preparing to assume the CIO position; formally transitioned into the role upon completion with a public announcement the following fiscal year. • Spearheaded the transition to a cloud-based infrastructure with Microsoft Azure, enhancing scalability, security, and operational efficiency. • Implemented Agile Software Engineering practices to accelerate delivery and improve collaboration across teams. • Deployed Microsoft Azure DevOps to streamline development workflows and enable continuous integration and deployment. • Introduced product management frameworks to prioritize internal customer needs, align technology development with business objectives, and deliver measurable value for the organization. • Led AI initiatives, including: o Engineering Automation and Configuration to streamline processes and reduce time-to-market. o Bill of Material Accuracy and Audits to enhance precision and reduce errors using machine learning. • Drove the product management of engineering design tools for customers. Delivered technology vision, feature functionality, and roadmap ensuring customer satisfaction and internal business requirements to ensure supply chain and manufacturing accuracy as well as reduced internal engineering costs. • Delivered a comprehensive Data Lake to centralize data and enable advanced analytics and decision-making. • Directing the implementation of Epicor Kinetic ERP, transitioning from a legacy AS400 system to modernize and standardize business processes. • Established a robust analytics ecosystem, fostering a data-driven culture organization-wide. • Cultivated a modern, skilled technology talent pool to support digital transformation and ensure long-term success.

A for-profit genealogy company operating with more than 4,500 associates at the time. Senior Director Product Management Defined the vision, established goals, developed roadmaps, and delivered solutions for product customization, customer personalization, marketing technology, and data strategy with four direct reports, 20 indirect reports, and a cross-matrixed agile delivery team of product managers, engineers, data scientists, and business associates. Led cross-functional hybrid project and programs with 50+ FTE and four vendors. Constructed a single view of the customer with predictive behavior attributes, propensities, and segments. Delivered a technical environment to support research data science and machine learning, enterprise landing zone, and business intelligence. ● $4.4 million estimated revenue growth combined with a $3+ million first-year savings generated by leveraging Lean Six Sigma to optimize and automate business processes, workflows, integrations, and campaign management, technical solutions, and data strategies through an improved marketing process. ● Enhanced real-time capabilities, including streamlining abilities in providing services, by cultivating partnerships with external vendors and various internal departments. ● Expanded customer retention and brand loyalty while boosting sales by creating a single customer view across the enterprise with predictive behavior attributes, propensities, segments, and behavior tracking. ●Grew customer engagement by optimizing the customer experience through leveraging technologies to develop real-time online e-commerce experience, mobile marketing, and personalization capability to track customer support across all channels. ● Lifted customer and employee satisfaction and engagement while simultaneously besting solution delivery time by converting to an agile methodology, training both the business and technology teams to enhance proficiencies.

A retail corporation operating 11,510 stores worldwide with 2.2 million employees and ~$524 billion in revenue. Director Technology and Product Management & Senior Manager of DevOps Stewarded the continuous evolution of data management and integrated AI, machine learning, and analytics in the day-to-day merchandise management, marketing, price optimization, and e-commerce workstreams. Led four managers, 50 internal FTE across engineering data, data science, analytics, project management and product management with 125+ FTE engineers across three vendors. Transitioned the customer data platforms and marketing technology to a DevOps approach for software development and IT operations that reduced costs, improved productivity, and enhanced quality. ● $10 billion ROI projected by enabling the company to anticipate and react to customer buying behavior to drive sales by executing a $2.2 million capital proof of concept of customer DNA, identity, and customer IQ (CIQ) projects focused on merchandise management, customer retention / acquisition, and revenue. ● Enriched margins and revenue by collaborating with business leadership, designing, and delivering a POC for a knowledge pricing platform to drive a differentiated pricing strategy with guidance for competitive pricing, integration of operational applications, performance measurement, and 360-degree data integration. ● $50 million sales expansion identified by gaining market share through changing how the company leveraged insights and predictive capabilities to understand sell-through improvements; incorporated CIQ into promotions mix, product assortment, placement, substitution, and price optimization. ● mproved product quality, reduced time to delivery, and boosted customer satisfaction by training the business and technology teams in SAFe agile methodologies and technology training for big data platforms and analytics. ● 25% increase in customer identification unlocked by creating a roadmap, designing, and delivering a data framework for all aspects of customer-related insights and predictions, and a single customer view, resulting in 50+ patents and better decision-making across a global organization.

Established strategy and roadmaps for technology and enterprise information management, and delivered enterprise data governance and technical solutions through project management, agile software development, and Lean Six Sigma. Oversaw the enterprise data warehouse's technical delivery, integration, predictive analytics, marketing technology, and applications development with six direct reports and 105 FTEs in engineering, data, analytics, data scientists, and project and product management. Established strategy and roadmaps for technology and enterprise information management, and delivered enterprise data governance and technical solutions through project management, agile software development, and Lean Six Sigma. Oversaw the enterprise data warehouse's technical delivery, integration, predictive analytics, marketing technology, and applications development with six direct reports and 105 FTEs in engineering, data, analytics, data scientists, and project and product management. Skills: Project Portfolio Management · Risk Assessment · Technical Requirements · Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) · Commerce · Project Planning · Risk Management · IT Management · Talent Development · Strategic Planning · Skill Development · Key Performance Indicators · Operational Excellence · Cost Control · Long-term Vision · Engineering Management · Systems Analysis · Project Managers · User Stories · Digital Transformation · Technology Leadership · Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) · Technology Trends · IT Project Leadership · Annual Planning · Resource Management · Operations · B2C e-commerce · Project Management · IT Operations · Process Evaluation · Technology Integration · Re-engineering · Drive Change · Negotiation · Budgeting · Communication · Building Trust · Computer Science · Service Levels · Team Motivation · Pre-launch · Executive Management · Cost Engineering · IT Escalation · Problem Solving · Change Impact Analysis · Budget Management · IT Projects

Developed the strategy and roadmap for performance management and enterprise information management. Championed data warehouse, integration, predictive analytics, modeling, project management office, enterprise data standards, and governance with a team of three direct reports and 70+ FTEs in engineering, analytics, and project management. ● Elevated technical and business competencies and created career progression, sound architecture, cost-effective delivery, and customer and employee satisfaction when delivering enterprise data warehouse and analytics functions. ● Refined IT efforts while tracking various key performance metrics by enabling roadmap generation, prioritization of work, and on time and within budget delivery by building an enterprise project management office. ● Expanded profits across business functions by successfully delivering an enterprise data warehouse by leveraging business value assessments to determine value, prioritize deliverables, generate business requirements, develop change management plans, and create a rollout and training plan to transition to new technologies. ● Drove consistency in the adoption and confidence in technology implementations by establishing a common language for data definitions, metrics, and calculations

Captured and transformed client requirements into scalable and right-sized IT infrastructures, enterprise data warehouses, and analytics strategies that augmented system capabilities. Worked across multiple environments, including mainframe, distributed systems, and web. Captured and transformed client requirements into scalable and right-sized IT infrastructures, enterprise data warehouses, and analytics strategies that augmented system capabilities. Worked across multiple environments, including mainframe, distributed systems, and web. Skills: Risk Assessment · Engineering Management · Systems Analysis · User Stories · Computer Science · Service Levels · Pre-launch · IT Escalation · Problem Solving