John Davidson, Management Consultant in Auburn, AL, United States
John is available for hire
Hire John

John Davidson

Verified Expert  in Management Consulting

Management Consulting Expert

Auburn, AL, United States

Toptal member since June 20, 2023

Expertise
Growth StrategyFinancial ModelingBusiness DevelopmentInterim CEOsSalesforce Consulting
Bio

John is a dynamic strategic leader with a rich history of driving impactful digital transformations across diverse sectors. His 20+ year journey includes modernizing business apps, optimizing supply chains, and realigning IT with business needs. A professional known for a can-do attitude, John is adept at utilizing data for business process improvement, tackling complex legacy issues, ensuring regulatory compliance, and building agile teams.

Career Highlights

Senior IT Director
The Coca-Cola Company
Global IT Executive
General Motors
Global Senior Director
Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Case Studies

Software Expertise

  • Salesforce

Other Expertise

  • Business Intelligence (BI)
  • Business Processes
  • eCommerce
  • Enterprise Architecture
  • IT Strategy
  • Software Development Management
  • Supply Chain

Work Experience

Interim CIO/CTO

2019 - PRESENT
Davidson Insights LLC
  • Provided, for a specialty retailer, the leadership of all facets of IT, including architecture, security, budgets, retail technology, infrastructure, Salesforce, and SAP.
  • Shifted a client's traditional service desk into an outbound lead generation team using UCaaS, 3rd-party data, and visionary analytics.
  • Created a digitally connected marketplace with consumer-facing mobile applications integrated with the Salesforce Sales Cloud.
  • Created a digital roadmap for a unique unified experience for employees and customers made possible by an emerging omnichannel retail eCommerce model for a specialty retailer.
Focus areas: Digital Marketing, CRM Systems, Point of Sale, Salesforce, ITSM, SAP, NetSuite, IT Strategy, Enterprise Architecture, Microsoft Power BI, Supply Chain, CEO, CIO, Business Process Improvement (BPI), Strategic Planning & Execution, Business Intelligence (BI), Master Data Management (MDM), IT Governance, Data Architecture, PCI Compliance, Cloud, Analytics, Digital Transformation, Data, Mobile Apps, Data Warehousing, Data Analytics, Business Strategy, COO, Market Research, Financial Modeling, Business Development, Organizational Design, B2C, Retail & Wholesale, Sales Effectiveness, Sales Strategy, Performance Improvement, Roadmaps, Startups, System Integration, PMO, Business Process Re-engineering, Presentations, Growth Strategy, Digital Project Management, Chief of Staff, Coaching, Training, Data Analysis, Organizational Analysis, GAP Analysis, Structure & Organizational Design

Senior IT Director

2021 - 2023
The Coca-Cola Company
  • Led the team in maintaining regulatory compliance by providing a central repository for all compliance-related information, which helped mitigate risks.
  • Streamlined and digitized the product lifecycle process and enabled significant efficiencies in the required management of materials, bill of materials (BOM), and recipes. Reduced time to market, improved management of resources, and reduced costs.
  • Created and deployed a proprietary IT service management (ITSM) solution to unify all global service desks, including IT and business, and replace the expensive licensing of ServiceNow.
  • Reinstated enterprise architecture (EA) as a practice and created an EA steering committee, governance review processes, an architecture repository, and an application inventory.
  • Implemented custom analytics to track a 360-degree view of application inventory, which included architectural health, administrative licensing and renewals, cyber vulnerabilities, and incident trends.
  • Addressed significant performance and throughput issues with Informatica's master data management (MDM) software.
  • Enhanced Salesforce platforms, optimized sales and service, streamlined purchasing, integrated systems, and developed custom apps with scalable, cost-effective cloud solutions.
Focus areas: Master Data Management (MDM), Enterprise Architecture, IT Governance, Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, Project Management Office (PMO), Software Development Management, eCommerce, IT Strategy, Microsoft Power BI, Six Sigma, Supply Chain, CRM Systems, ITSM, SAP, Business Process Improvement (BPI), Strategic Planning & Execution, Business Intelligence (BI), Data Governance, Data Architecture, Cloud, Analytics, Digital Transformation, Data, Lean Six Sigma, Data Warehousing, Data Analytics, Business Strategy, COO, Financial Modeling, Change Management, Organizational Design, Organizational Change Management (OCM), Process Mapping, Enterprise Software, Roadmaps, System Integration, PMO, Business Process Re-engineering, Presentations, Growth Strategy, Digital Project Management, Product Strategy Consultant, Coaching, Training, Data Analysis, Organizational Analysis, GAP Analysis, Structure & Organizational Design

Global IT Executive

2012 - 2019
General Motors
  • Migrated legacy applications to on-premise cloud infrastructure.
  • Hired and mentored 120 people in a from-scratch effort to insource all critical IT functions.
  • Created a data lake and advanced analytics to monitor and protect residual values for North American brands and models.
  • Partnered with sales operations leaders and key dealerships to reimagine CRM, analytics, order management, sales forecasting, and other modern working methods.
  • Set up and staffed a 250,000 square feet facility that served as an office for 1,500 IT professionals. It was a foundational component in insourcing talent and reversed 30 years of ineffective and bloated managed service providers.
  • Partnered with Georgia Institute of Technology and Kennesaw State University as General Motors' executive partner and relationship manager.
  • Elected to the board of economic development for the city of Roswell, Georgia.
Focus areas: Business Intelligence (BI), Business Process Improvement (BPI), Data Architecture, Agile DevOps, Software Development Management, eCommerce, IT Strategy, Enterprise Architecture, Microsoft Power BI, Six Sigma, Supply Chain, CIO, CRM Systems, ITSM, Strategic Planning & Execution, Master Data Management (MDM), Data Governance, Microsoft Dynamics, Cloud, Analytics, Digital Transformation, Data, Mobile Apps, Lean Six Sigma, Data Warehousing, Data Analytics, Business Strategy, COO, Market Research, Financial Modeling, Change Management, Organizational Design, Retail & Wholesale, Sales Effectiveness, Sales Strategy, Organizational Change Management (OCM), Process Mapping, Performance Improvement, Manufacturing, Enterprise Software, Roadmaps, System Integration, PMO, Business Process Re-engineering, Presentations, Executive Coaching, Growth Strategy, Digital Project Management, Product Strategy Consultant, Coaching, Training, Data Analysis, Organizational Analysis, GAP Analysis, Structure & Organizational Design

Global Senior Director

2011 - 2012
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
  • Provided thought leadership to HP executive and strategy teams to create 3-year roadmaps describing a path to end-state capabilities with milestones for HP's global supply chain transformation.
  • Standardized processes using the APQC framework, consolidated ERP, and enabled EDI messaging standards for greater inventory visibility and availability. This led to significant improvements in service levels and balance sheet improvements of over $100 million.
  • Introduced the Agile paradigm to COTS products to shorten the development lifecycle, increase organizational scalability, and improve project delivery.
  • Organized an executive advisory board to enforce architecture principles, measure the adoption of standards, and influence an architecture-driven delivery model across a 500-person IT delivery organization.
Focus areas: Software Development Management, Project Management Office (PMO), Enterprise Architecture, IT Strategy, Supply Chain, ITSM, SAP, Business Process Improvement (BPI), Strategic Planning & Execution, Business Intelligence (BI), Data Architecture, Analytics, Data, Business Strategy, COO, Change Management, Organizational Design, Retail & Wholesale, Performance Improvement, Manufacturing, Enterprise Software, Roadmaps, PMO, Business Process Re-engineering, Presentations, Executive Coaching, Growth Strategy, Digital Project Management, Product Strategy Consultant, Coaching, Training, Data Analysis, Organizational Analysis, Financial Modeling, Structure & Organizational Design

Senior Development Manager

2005 - 2008
Dell
  • Led development teams that powered Dell's $19 billion software and peripheral eCommerce channel. Converged all global B2B and B2C channels onto a single technology platform and eCommerce SOA framework with an annual budget of $17 million and a staff of 100.
  • Championed software development for eCommerce offering of computer spare parts, generating $2.9 million in revenue and $1.74 million gross margin during its first 90 days.
  • Generated $45 million in annualized revenue by expanding the visibility of Dell consumer electronic products on external shopper sites.
  • Was given a special assignment by the CIO staff to represent IT in a leadership team to determine strategic direction for order management, resulting in the 1st-year $21 million annualized OPEX reduction.
Focus areas: eCommerce, Software Development Management, IT Strategy, Six Sigma, Supply Chain, ITSM, NetSuite, Business Process Improvement (BPI), Business Intelligence (BI), Master Data Management (MDM), Data Governance, Data Architecture, Analytics, Data, Lean Six Sigma, Data Warehousing, Data Analytics, Change Management, Organizational Design, B2C, Retail & Wholesale, Sales Effectiveness, Sales Strategy, Manufacturing, Enterprise Software, Business Process Re-engineering, Coaching, Training, Data Analysis, Organizational Analysis

Education

1986 - 1990

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science

University of Arkansas - Fayetteville, AR, USA

Skills

Finance

Business Intelligence (BI), Financial Modeling, Data Analysis, GAP Analysis, Market Research

Industry Expertise

Retail & Wholesale, Lean Six Sigma

Data & Analysis Software

NetSuite, Salesforce

Output Software

Microsoft Dynamics

Other

IT Strategy, Supply Chain, Data Warehousing, Data Analytics, Software Development Management, Business Process Analysis, Business Processes, ITSM, Business Strategy, COO, Change Management, Organizational Design, Sales Effectiveness, Organizational Change Management (OCM), Process Mapping, Manufacturing, Enterprise Software, Roadmaps, System Integration, Presentations, Executive Coaching, Growth Strategy, Digital Project Management, Coaching, Training, Organizational Analysis, Structure & Organizational Design, Enterprise Architecture, Microsoft Power BI, Business Process Improvement (BPI), Strategic Planning & Execution, eCommerce, CIO, SAP, Business Development, B2C, Sales Strategy, Performance Improvement, Startups, PMO, Business Process Re-engineering, Product Strategy Consultant, Chief of Staff, Six Sigma, Master Data Management (MDM), Data Governance, IT Governance, Project Management Office (PMO), Data Architecture, Agile DevOps, PCI Compliance, Cloud, Analytics, Digital Transformation, Data, Geospatial Analytics, Mobile Apps, CEO, Digital Marketing, CRM Systems, Point of Sale

Collaboration That Works

How to Work with Toptal

Toptal matches you directly with global industry experts from our network in hours—not weeks or months.

1

Share your needs

Discuss your requirements and refine your scope in a call with a Toptal domain expert.
2

Choose your talent

Get a short list of expertly matched talent within 24 hours to review, interview, and choose from.
3

Start your risk-free talent trial

Work with your chosen talent on a trial basis for up to two weeks. Pay only if you decide to hire them.

Top talent is in high demand.

Start hiring