Curriculum Vitae

At this time, I am not actively seeking employment, however, please feel free to download a copy of my current CV in Adobe PDF format. The content is shown below:

Robert (Rob) Lee

Profile and Key Qualifications

Results-driven and action-oriented with a unique combination of “people skills”, business acumen, problem solving skills and technical expertise. Demonstrated management and supervisory abilities; possessing strong interpersonal, relationship building and communications skills.

A proven and verifiable record for:

• Proven relationship building, team leadership and supervisory skills developed in 2 ½ years of managing a Customer Service and Inside Technical Sales group in a demanding industrial sales environment.
• Broad range of technical abilities, people skills and business acumen, with accomplishments in engineering, IT, Project Management and Sales & Marketing (Customer Service management) fields.
• Superior analytical and problem solving skills, able to quickly grasp new concepts, evaluate root causes of problems and deliver successful solutions.
• Demonstrated dedication to customer service excellence, with the ability to deliver quality customer care in satisfying the needs of demanding industrial and OEM customers.
• Effective leadership qualities including two-way communication with staff, motivating, mentoring and coaching, goal/objective setting and performance appraisals.
• Supervision of Order Management process (order entry, invoicing, customer call handling) and Technical Support activities (quotations, trouble-shooting/issue resolution) within a demanding manufacturing company customer service environment.
• Skilled at delivering presentations to technical and non-technical audiences of all levels, from shop-floor personnel to executive management.
• Highly effective liaison between different departments within a matrix organization, skilled at influencing and mobilizing resources to expedite tasks.
• Strong English written/oral communications skills; bilingual with French written/oral skills developed during multi-year assignment in France.
• Experience with Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma and ISO9001-2000 Quality Management System methodologies for cost/waste reduction and quality/process improvements.
• eCommerce and Customer Extranet implementation and management experience.

Management Experience

Client Project Manager, Professional Services Organization June 2007 – Present
Desire2Learn Inc, Kitchener

Project Management of client initiated software implementation, upgrade and integration projects. Responsible for ensuring timely project execution and budget control through the application of recognized “best practice” Project Management methodologies and tools.

Accomplishments:

• Exceeding expectations of hiring manager by providing significant contributions to the success of the department in much less time than anticipated after being hired; tasked with providing mentoring and leadership to subsequent hires.
• Quickly building strong relationships with clients and colleagues in Account Management and Delivery Services teams to ensure efficient and effective use of limited implementation consultant and deployment specialist resources over multiple concurrent projects of varying complexity and scale.
• Successfully managing client relationships within scope of project execution to ensure high level of customer satisfaction through open and timely communications, and by going the extra mile to resolve problems that put deadlines at risk.

Manager, Customer Care and eBusiness 2004 – 2006
ASCO Valve Canada, Brantford

Managed the Fluid Control Products (FCP) Inside Sales/Customer Service department with direct reports including 4 Customer Service Representatives and 5 Inside Sales Technicians. Responsible for customer-only extranet, including implementation of eCommerce functions (e.g. on-line ordering, RMA request processing, stock availability check, etc)

Accomplishments:

• Management team contributions: exceeding business objectives; participating in annual sales planning and budget forecasting process; quality management committee activities; assisting Outside Sales team with telephone and in-person customer meetings to resolve delivery issues and improve customer satisfaction levels.
• Overseeing order management within Customer Service department, with “hands on” problem resolution for customers including expediting delivery of late orders; frequent direct customer contact when problems needed to be escalated by Inside Sales and Technical Support staff.
• Extensive liaison with other departments including A/R, Purchasing, Production Planning, Inventory Control, Manufacturing, QA, Warehousing/Order Picking and Shipping.
• Developed strong relationships with colleagues at foreign subsidiaries to gain their support in expediting orders of finished goods to meet difficult timelines and customer requirements.
• Key contributor on Six Sigma team which successfully implemented process improvement in Order Management flow which raised on-time delivery of a product line from 75% to 90+%.
• Recruitment of replacement personnel into vacant Customer Service and Inside Sales Technician positions.
  Performed probationary, interim and annual performance appraisals for FCP Sales staff; reviewed salaries and made recommendations for increases.
• Implementation of several new eCommerce functions on the customer extranet.

Project Manager 1999 – 2004
Aventis Pasteur, France / Canada

Led Project Management activities including leadership, planning, reporting, presentation and facilitation. Further responsibilities included management of System Change Control, Organizational Change Management and Quality Management processes and documentation.

Accomplishments:

• Successfully lead a global team (15+ people from France, Canada and USA) implementing a corporate-wide Documentum-based, Electronic Document Management System (EDMS) platform supporting multiple ebusiness requirements.
• Successfully validated the EDMS platform to comply with 21 CFR Part 11 pharmaceutical regulations on ebusiness initiatives.
• Successfully managed, through Change Control/Change Management, the implementation, maintenance and enhancement of multiple EDMS applications on the platform.

Senior Analyst 1996 – 1999
Aventis Pasteur, Toronto

Provided IT support to internal customers and processes, performing systems analysis and facilitation through to post-implementation user support and trouble-shooting.

Accomplishments:

• Configuration of Materials Management (MM) and Application Linking and Enabling (ALE) modules of a global, multi-site SAP implementation project.
• Led internal customer groups through “brown paper” exercises to define existing “as-is” business processes and model “to-be” business process improvements for implementation in SAP.
• Selected and implemented a stand-alone EDI system to meet external customer requirement for electronic order processing.

Previous Business Experience and Accomplishments prior to 1996

Progressively more responsible roles in Engineering, Programming and Systems Integration.

Sr. Programmer/Analyst at Hostess Frito-Lay Canada, Mississauga

• Successfully took over the maintenance and enhancement of a sales order, inventory control and manufacturing order processing system developed using Cognos 4GL tools.
• Provided support to internal customers at remote warehouses and field sales representatives, via pager and telephone.

Sr. Aerodynamics Engineer at Eurocopter (MBB Helicopter) Canada, Fort Erie

• Executed aerodynamic design studies and flight performance analyses to support engineering design and marketing activities for light-utility helicopters.
• Developed a Project Budget vs. Actual data management and reporting system for the Project Management Department, using Cognos 4GL tools.

Aerodynamics Engineer at deHavilland Aircraft of Canada, Toronto

• Performed aerodynamic design and analysis for short-haul commuter and utility aircraft.

Education, Professional Skills and Development

B.A.Sc. (Bachelor of Applied Science) in Engineering Science (Aerospace option)
University of Toronto, 1979

Project Management Skills/Professional Development

Successfully completed Juggling Multiple Projects, a PMI recognized course (14 PDUs), taught by Paul Bergman, (P. Eng. & PMP) of Procept Associates Ltd.

Computer Skills

• Advanced knowledge (including macro programming in VBA, use of styles, document templates, and document automation features) of MS Office programs, including: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Outlook, Visio, and Project.
• Broad experience with computer systems from PC to mini-computer to main-frame, including programming in a variety of languages and development environments.

Technical Skills

• Certified as an ASCO Valve Applications Specialist (AVS)
• Training courses on SAP software including fundamentals plus courses specific to Materials Management (Inventory Management, Purchasing, etc) configuration.
• Training courses on Documentum EDMS software.

Sales Skills

• Sales training on the PSP Partnership Selling Process for consultative/solution selling from Carson International (http://www.carson-international.com)

Internet/Web Technologies

• Broad experience with web development and internet technologies: personal website design (site creation/maintenance, strong knowledge of HTML, CSS, FTP, etc), blogging (from early hand-coded blogs to using TypePad and WordPress hosted blog services)

New Media/Digital Media Expertise

• Experience with podcasting technology (PC-based audio recording, mixing and editing, MP3 encoding, ID3 tag editing, RSS feeds, etc) in support of spouse’s multiple podcasts.
• Contribution of voice recordings to a number of podcasts.

Professional Memberships and Additional Activities

Licensed - P.Eng. with Professional Engineers of Ontario

Organizing Team Member – PodCamp Toronto 2008 (Finances)

Past Treasurer - OAA (Ontario Association of Archers)