SUMMARY:

Strategic and data-driven executive with a proven track record in product leadership and market execution. Specializes in identifying high-revenue opportunities and positioning products effectively against competitors. Adept at driving quality product releases through rigorous market research, analytics, and financial planning. Expert in rallying stakeholder support, defining measurable KPIs, and optimizing workflows through Agile methodologies.

EXPERIENCE:

ClassLink, Clifton, NJ
VP of Product Development, Jan 2021 – Nov 2023

• Led Engineering, QA, UX, Data Science, Product Management, and an 8 product portfolio; executed product strategy, product vision and innovation, technology roadmaps and feature prioritization, product launches, an competitive analysis.
• Integrated, trained, and tested AI platforms/ML algorithms and mathematics to enhance product features and user experience.
• Reduced system outages by 75% and increased customer satisfaction by 15% through DDoS mitigation, technical guidance, and incident management.
• Streamlined data architecture and QA; reduced bugs by 18% through code reviews and standards.
• Managed talent acquisition and retention, improving ENPS by +26 points and grew remote team by 50% to 70+ members by coaching, establishing key performance indicators (KPIs) for the entire product and engineering teams.
• Reduced AWS Cap Ex by 2%; improved pipelines and implemented incident management.
• Managed 8 on-shore and off-shore development teams; improved cross-departmental collaboration.
• Led inter-company partnerships to improve customer retention.
• Formulated, organized, and executed company-wide product strategy, contributing to a 6% increase in annual revenue.

Watermark Insights, ​New York, NY
Director, Product Management, 2018–2021

• Create and introduce new modules to extend product reach into new growth areas.
• Lead a team of Product Managers, UX, and Business Analysts capable of working collaboratively together and across departments to create features that delight customers while maximizing company value.
• Collaborate with the VP of Engineering on ​Via​, to manage critical dependencies and critical paths.
• Develop meaningful solutions to customer problems using proven UX techniques as rapid prototyping, testing, iterating, and deploying.

Key Achievements:

• Improved Product’s NPS from -34 (10/18) to +5 (6/20).
• Established a Go-To-Market strategy and business objective KPIs to migrate $25M of legacy products to the new investment product by focusing on key competitive features and metrics.
• Earned the EdTech Breakthrough Award for Best Enterprise Learning Solution of the Year June 2019.

ProQuest, ​New York, NY
Lead Product Manager, 2016–2018

• Managed ​Pivot​, a $5M revenue research funding database and researcher profiles, and also, ​RefWorks​, a $12M revenue research reference management product.
• Headed multiple cross-functional teams across two products, set product strategy, and developed successful roadmaps to increase new sales and save renewals.
• Redesigned development processes to focus on quality, user experience, and training in the 1st month.
• Launched 30+ key features including customer-facing analytics and data visualizations in the first year.
• Performed usability tests and experiments and oversaw quarterly webinars and user group meetings.
• Managed integration projects with other ProQuest products and handled multiple partnership negotiations.

Association of College and University Educators, ​New York, NY
Director of Production and Release Management, 2015–2016

• Developed storyboards, wireframes and a minimally viable product; co-wrote and conducted usability tests and a/b tests, analyzed user data to create better user journeys resulting in an 85% improved customer satisfaction rate from pilot to launch.
• Established startup from ideation, planning, and development into implementation to secure successful series A financing.
• Managed in-house video production and post-production teams creating over 100 videos (5–8 minute) in 6 months.
• Formulated initial MVP product strategy for ​ACUE​ in partnership with CEO and COO.
• Maintained key partnerships to deliver valuable components, functionality, and processes integral to ACUE’s mission and organizational goals, ensuring that top talent was committed to timely product deliverables.

Aptara Inc.​, New York, NY
VP Product Development and Product Marketing, 2014–2015
Responsible for analyzing the current services and developing products from those services.

• Completed the development of 3 software products with two teams of 12 including an eReader for corporate training, a legal case document organizer, and a B2C platform for self-published authors​.
• Oversaw technology strategy and software product leadership of $150M offshore development company.
• Headed multiple cross-functional teams, set product strategy, and launched products.
• Established 3 corporate partnerships and 2 open-source sponsorships as well as multiple marketing affiliations.
• Supervised and trained the development team in Agile methodology to develop products.

Reed Elsevier B.V., New York, NY 2009–Present
Sr. Product Manager of SciVerse Hub
Responsible for creating, aligning and guiding business and market strategy as well as designing, developing and launching Elsevier’s newest global online “search and discovery” product, platform and APIs. Done in collaboration with Microsoft and other search providers. Deliverables include: presentations and reports of strategic roadmaps, business cases, staffing recommendations, communication plans, requirements writing,  usability testing, market research and analysis, technical implementation and development design.

• Collaboratively developed business model and business case with multiple teams across the organization.
• Successfully defined requirements, produced deliverables across multiple divisions, in diverse locations and between multiple companies.
• Performed user testing and led the usability team, commended by Elsevier’s Internal Newsletter for Innovation; implemented Google Analytics and Web Site Optimizer
• Designed requirements and implemented semantic search applications for new platforms.
• Established business rules and strategic launch objectives and transformed them into detailed functional specifications including UML, use cases and organizational workflows.

Scholastic Inc., New York, NY 2008–2009
Sr. Producer of Scholastic Achievement Manager
Charged with managing cross-functional teams and projects related to the Scholastic Achievement Manager, the proprietary learning management system that accompanies all Scholastic Education Enterprise Products. Responsibilities included writing requirements, usability testing, and product design and development.

• Successfully defined business objectives and transformed them into requirements. Produced deliverables across multiple departments and directed the team responsible for bringing Scholastic’s Enterprise LAN applications to the Internet in a SaaS scalable, secure environment on time (within one year) and on budget (under $1M).
• Performed usability tests, both formal and informal, and subsequently implemented significant changes to the user interface and reports.
• Directly managed 5 producers, each with teams of 2–5 developers and marketing teams.
• Defined and implemented the sales process across the entire division for releasing Scholastic’s Enterprise LAN applications through the Internet.

Macmillan; Bedford, Freeman, and Worth Publishing, New York, NY 2007–2008
Sr. Manager of Central Media, Online Courses and eBooks
Responsible for managing cross-company teams developing more than 15 online courses and over 40 interactive e-books per year, as well as managing quality assurance, an LMS platform, custom media production and customer support.

Wolters Kluwer; Lippincott, Williams, and Wilkins, Philadelphia, PA 2005–2007
Manager, e-Strategy Producers
Responsible for managing teams developing new and innovative product lines of multimedia content and online courses and defining their strategic fit with publishing efforts.

McGraw-Hill; Higher Education, New York, NY 2001–2005
Manager, Content Development for Online Courses
Responsible for managing the creation of a new and innovative product line of online courses.

BusinessEdge Solutions Inc., New York, NY 2000–2001
Information Architect
Built the blueprints of the sites upon which all other aspects were built – form, function, metaphor, navigation and interface, interaction and visual design.

McGraw-Hill, Higher Education, New York, NY 1999–2000
Senior Media Technology Producer
Responsible for managing the implementation, enhancement, instructional design and maintenance of McGraw-Hill Higher Education websites and CD-ROMs.

Educational Resource and Service Center (ERAS), Los Angeles, CA 1997–1999
High School Classroom Teacher and Dean
Responsible for the operation of a school – including budget, personnel, curriculum and planning matters; also taught six classes a day.

Ridley Scott Associates/USA Inc., Beverly Hills CA 1992–1997
Production Manager/Post-Production Supervisor
Oversaw the production and post-production process of commercials and music videos.

EDUCATION
Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA, Bachelor of Arts, English, 1991

CERTIFICATIONS

• Coursera/Babson University, AI for Leaders, 2019
• Mountain Goat Software, Certified Scrum Product Owner, 2015
• Coursera/Udemy, R Programming For Absolute Beginners, 2012
• MIT, Product Platform and Product Family Design: From Strategy to Implementation, 2011
• Pragmatic Institute, Product Management Certificate, 2010
• Wolters Kluwer IT Training Seminar, Managing Outsourced Vendors 2006
• Taxonomy BootCamp, How to Implement a Metadata Workflow, 2005
• Human Factors International (HFI), Usability and User-Centered Design, 2005
• American Management Association, Situational Leadership II Seminar for McGraw-Hill Managers, 2005
• Wolters Kluwer Six Sigma Training, Successful Black Belt Project Completed, 2006

TECHNOLOGY SKILLS / IT-ID MODELS

• IT/ID Models: Six Sigma, SDLC, Agile, RUP, ADDIE, User-Centered Design, and UML.
• PDM Tools: Webtrends, Gomez, Google Analytics, Omniture, R, Hadoop, Visio, Omnigraffle, Drupal, WordPress, Microsoft Project, Access, and Office.
• Semantic Tools: RDF, SKOS, SPARQL, OWL, Dublin Core
• Languages: Python XML, HTML5, JQuery, PHP, CGI and PERL, Swift + Objective C, HTML5, Video Codecs.

SPECIAL SKILLS
Communication writing, public presentations, platform and API development, content management workflows, interactive design, information architecture, experience design,  video production, patience, and storytelling.

AWARDS

• EdTech Breakthrough Award Winner for Best Enterprise Learning Solution of the Year June 2019
• 36th “PROSE Awards: American Publishers Awards for Professional and Scholarly Excellence” – Best Multidisciplinary Platform; Innovation in ePublishing, 2011.
• Wolters Kluwer Best Media Launch of the Year 2006.
• McGraw-Hill Corporate Achievement Award for Innovation (Catalyst), 2005
• McGraw-Hill Media Producer of the Year, Winter National Sales Meeting, 2005.
• McGraw-Hill First Edition of the Year, 2004 (Maimon, A Writer’s Resource).
• Teacher of the Year, ERAS Center, 1998.
• Time Magazine’s Person of the Year (you won, too), 2007.