Career

2013 - Present · 13 yrs 2 mos

I founded OakHart Consulting to help small businesses and nonprofit organizations operate more effectively within limited budgets. My work focuses on improving internal processes, strengthening leadership teams, modernizing systems, and building sustainable operating models that deliver measurable results.

It is based on a holistic view of success. I believe organizations carry a threefold responsibility: to those who invest in them, to the employees and customers they serve, and to the broader community in which they operate. True success is not defined by profit alone, but by balancing these obligations—delivering strong financial performance, fostering engaged teams and satisfied customers, and contributing positively to society.

An organization that generates revenue while harming the environment, underpaying its workforce, or cutting corners on quality is not, by definition, successful. Strong systems and ethical leadership go hand in hand.

Rather than adding bureaucracy, I help organizations clarify priorities, improve accountability, and deliver better outcomes with the resources they already have.

Mar 2012 - Present · 14 yrs


Driven by a commitment to sustainability and community impact, I stepped away from traditional business to lead the acquisition and restoration of a historic 1917 multi-family building that was at risk of being red-tagged by the city.

While learning construction hands-on, I transformed the property into a model green apartment community through the use of eco-friendly materials, energy- and water-efficient systems, smart-home technology, and sustainability-focused lease agreements.

The renovated building attracted more than 150 applications in a single week for the two available units, is now fully occupied with long-term tenants, and maintains an active waitlist. Today, it serves as a catalyst for neighborhood revitalization, a case study in sustainable redevelopment, and a financially successful investment, achieving over 150% ROI.

2015 - 2023 · 8 yrs

Initially engaged to advise leadership on transitioning the company from a traditional break-fix IT service model to a Managed Services Provider (MSP) structure. Provided strategic guidance on business model redesign, pricing structure, service standardization, and operational systems required to support recurring service delivery.

As the company expanded, assumed the role of Director of Operations.

Oversaw process development, policy design, service delivery systems, and internal technology infrastructure. Implemented standardized operating procedures, accountability frameworks, and performance tracking systems to support scalable growth.

Advised ownership on marketing strategy, client positioning, and long-term business planning to align operational capacity with revenue goals.

Aug 2009 - Mar 2012 · 2 yrs 8 mos

Directed an organization of technical managers, IT Business Analysts, and their teams responsible for supporting a worldwide network of 110,000 internal desktops and 200,000 vendor workstations. We were tasked with partnering with IT to maintain and upgrade the usability, stability, and security of the workstations, operating systems, and over 500 applications on the desktops for disparate customer facing organizations such as Customer Service, Billing, Tech Support, and Sales for our flagship products (DSL, Wireless, and Uverse Broadband/IP Telephony/Television) as well as our core residential landline business. 

Organizational Rebuild - Within months of taking over the organization comprised of support teams patched together from 5 merged Bell companies and 15 international outsource vendors, I met with senior leadership to put forth a proposal to rebuild the organization. Successful changes to organizational team structure, as well as improvements to security, infrastructure, asset tracking, and support processes and systems resulted in:

• 42% increase in field client satisfaction ratings

• 35% headcount savings in my organization

• $4 million in savings from the IT and Operations organizations.

Apr 2007 - Aug 2009 · 2 yrs 5 mos

Led a highly technical team of desktop and network managers responsible for managing systems outages for the customer facing organizations while leading on special projects at Senior VP’s direction.

System Reliability – Partner with IT to monitor and analyze outages on 40 mission critical systems, identify improvement opportunities and costs, and build an ongoing process for achieving stability.

• Achieved a 52% frequency reduction, 15% severity reduction, and 28% duration reduction in outages.

Business Continuity Plan – Develop plans to keep all critical aspects of the call centers going during any manner of natural or man-made disaster, or catastrophic system failure, and to care for our impacted employees and customers.

• The BCP was activated twice while I was in this position, most significantly during the 2007 California Wildfires: This firestorm spread from LA to the Mexico border causing the evacuation of over 1 million people. It shut down several critical call centers, offices, and network facilities, and threatened/destroyed employees’ homes.

• Successful implementation of the BCP allowed us to maintain CPUC mandated service levels in our call centers, take care of our impacted employees and their families, and set up special support services for impacted customers both onsite at evacuation centers and remotely through call centers out of state. 

Aug 2003 - Apr 2007 · 3 yrs 9 mos

Led the IT/Internal Client interface team composed of product managers, UX designers, project managers, and business analysts who were responsible for system and process improvement for the customer contact operations organizations and for managing the real estate and facilities.

Operations – Tasked with improving 3 focus areas; customer experience, employee experience, and operational efficiency.

• Each quarter the team initiated or received proposals for an average of 80 projects, analyzed and triaged them down to 10-15, and managed them through implementation bringing an operational savings of approximately $2 million per quarter.

Real Estate/Facility Management – Work with partner organizations to manage the facilities and equipment for 40 call centers in the Western US.

• Partnered with Corporate Real Estate to ensure smooth, safe, and cost efficient daily operations.

• Oversaw 15 projects to relocate and consolidate call centers, moving several thousand people, their equipment, and their work, without work interruption.

• Oversaw 21 projects to update call center technology such new data and voice networks, workstations, call management, and telephony, without work interruption. 

• Partnered with Corporate Real Estate, IT, and Finance partners to select a location, design and build a state of the art, eco-friendly, and employee well-being focused call center. This call center is now the West Coast flagship call center and used as a model for new centers nationwide.

Aug 2001 - Aug 2003 · 2 yrs 1 mo

Individual contributor position working for the call center senior leadership, responsible for working with IT to improve existing and design new call center systems.

• Selected to represent my VP organization on the project team to build the first online shopping cart and online account billing management for the company.

• Represented my Regional President on a program to overhaul operations including IP telephony development and deployment, voice recognition IVR deployment, knowledge management software, and new systems and interfaces for the call centers. Worked directly with leadership teams from Operations and IT to guide the project direction, make strategic decisions, and sign off on each project on behalf of my leadership. Led the team to deploy the system and train 5000 reps across 25 call centers.

• Gave Systems and Operations Review presentations to the CA Public Utilities Commission and CA Attorney General.

Oct 2000 - Aug 2001 · 11 mos

Responsible for managing a portfolio of call center support projects through successful completion

• Proposed and managed a quick-hit project to build a system to automatically clean up Service Rep order errors. Total cost $50,000, savings over $4 mil.

• Proposed and managed a project to mechanize call contact flows and scripting, replacing paper scripting and procedure manuals. Total cost including hardware $80,000; business savings over $1 mil/year, plus environmental benefits by eliminating use and shipping of 1-2 tons of paper a month.

Jan 1999 to Oct 2000 · 1 yr 10 mos

Hired onto a team to build and manage the largest call center in the company with almost 1000 new hire customer service reps.

• Responsible for training, service levels, customer satisfaction ratings, sales targets, and sales quality for a team of 25 Customer Service representatives. Met or exceeded all metrics for 5 quarters.

1 yr 5 mos

CALL CENTER MANAGER
Jul 1997 - Mar 1998 · 9 mos

Managed a team of 20 customer service representatives responsible for servicing HMO and PPO health plan customers.

• Handled crisis escalations.

• Designed the process and wrote scripting for 2 major HMO plan conversions.

• When Prudential decided to move all their call center operations to Los Angeles, I was asked to move to LA to help open and run the new call center. I was unable to leave San Diego at the time so declined the promotion, but agreed to spend several months in LA to manage the transition and help get the new center underway before leaving the company.

Customer Service Representative
Nov 1996 - Jul 1997 · 9 mos

Supported HMO and PPO health plan customers by answering billing, benefits, and claims questions. Provided a friendly, supportive, and professional voice to help them understand how their health plan works and how to get the most out of it, and how navigate through the company processes during a stressful and difficult time in their lives.