Kalen Lagerquist, Management Consultant in San Francisco, CA, United States
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Kalen Lagerquist

Verified Expert  in Management Consulting

Management Consulting Expert

San Francisco, CA, United States

Toptal member since September 6, 2024

Expertise
Human ResourcesM&AFundraising
Bio

Kalen is a dynamic leader who artfully blends people, processes, and culture to maximize team potential. With a foundation in project management and the scientific method, he builds adaptable teams and processes that drive business performance. Kalen has led transformative projects, including a complete shift in team dynamics for a 110+ person sales team at a renewable energy company. His expertise spans organizational change management, sales transformation, and process improvement.

Case Studies

Software Expertise

  • Jira

Other Expertise

  • ADKAR Change Model
  • Azure
  • IT Project Management
  • Organizational Change Management (OCM)
  • Organizational Leadership
  • Project Management
  • Strategic Workforce Planning

Work Experience

Senior Consultant

2022 - PRESENT
Unify
  • Re-engineered onboarding processes focused on improving retention by over 28% and employee enablement. Reduced IT and HR HelpDesk tickets by 65% within nine months and aligned with IT and security to increase timely provisioning by 20%.
  • Oversaw combined information systems and HR initiatives for process improvement during a major ERP implementation to evolve business processes and improve bottom-line finances without sacrificing quality.
  • Drove critical improvements for a top 10 largest health system, helping retain top talent and create data-driven decisions for continuous improvement.
  • Executed end-to-end solutions that improved the onboarding process from frontline workers to leadership.
  • Led specialized teams for union labor best practices, M&A activity integration, and "rainy day" plans.
  • Steered the team to create and deliver a customized, customer-centric sales methodology for the leading renewable energy company in the US.
  • Upskilled the sales team to effectively sell cross-product solutions, drive more sales, and improve collaboration.
  • Invigorated the sales team that had three leaders in 18 months and lacked a team identity.
  • Delivered e-learning, instructor-led training, and coaching to make training stick.
  • Implemented the train-the-trainer model and elevated champions for continuous improvement.
Focus areas: Sales Training, Sales Transformation, Organizational Change Management (OCM), Learning & Development

Senior Consultant

2021 - 2022
Presence
  • Led the development initiative to bring microservices in-house for the nation's leading solar operations and maintenance provider.
  • Reviewed and analyzed products and vendors that provided significant sources of information needed to drive industry leadership at Borrego.
  • Managed product development and scrums concurrently for six separate products.
  • Collaborated with onshore, near-shore, and offshore development teams to build a complete set of services to stabilize the cost and develop unique tools and insight to improve industry leadership in the marketplace.
  • Delivered seven MVPs of critical product services in nine months that reduced spend by 38%.
Focus areas: Jira, Confluence, Azure

Senior Change Management Consultant

2020 - 2022
Logic20/20
  • Headed the US operational intelligence initiatives for business transformation focused on processes between completion of phase III clinical trials and submission to world health authorities.
  • Led virtual workshops in the US and Europe, leveraging SIPOC, RACI, root-cause analysis, and process mapping to gather and present data with end-to-end solutions to the open innovation stage gate and then to senior leadership.
  • Drove pilots in Western Europe and LATAM that standardized, optimized, and automated global field marketing operations at Microsoft, scaling for global audiences.
Focus areas: Organizational Change Management (OCM), Product Development, Product Management, New Products

Director of Operations

2017 - 2018
Mayfield Robotics
  • Achieved a 97% retention rate after overseeing the development of a best-in-class company culture and set of benefits.
  • Created and facilitated international supply chain logistics in China, Canada, and the US to get three contract manufacturing lines up from scratch and through the validation testing stages of manufacturing for engineering, design, and production.
  • Rebuilt the IT infrastructure that was primed for growth and was globally secure.
Focus areas: Operations, IT Networking, Legal, Human Resources (HR), Facilities Management

Director of Operations

2015 - 2017
Stem
  • Created a network operations center responsible for around 500 systems with 75 Megawatt hours of energy storage deployed in four states for the world's largest and smartest energy storage system network.
  • Managed an HQ team of 7 and an overseas team of 12 for seamless product development and 24/7 monitoring of assets.
  • Built reporting systems—executive dashboards for internal teams, customers, utilities, and investors—that empowered executive decision-making and customer success, leading to a $146 million series C funding round.
Focus areas: Information & Communications Technology (ICT)

Chief of Staff

2014 - 2015
Generate Capital
  • Designed and created the operations and back-office for a new specialty finance company focused on doing more with less of our critical resources like energy, water, food, and materials, growing the staff from 6 to 50.
  • Organized, prioritized, and aligned resources to manage pipelines and inquiries from developers and media.
  • Managed investor relationships and organized board of directors' engagements.
Focus areas: Fundraising

COO

2011 - 2014
GoBe.Me
  • Built a SaaS and mobile workforce development and education technology company from idea to 21 people.
  • Secured relationships with the Departments of Education and Labor, members of Congress, and national labor organizations for workforce development within two years of inception.
  • Developed a pitch strategy and presented it to angel investors and VC firms, leading to $1 million in seed funding.
  • Established a team of advisors, including a former Undersecretary of the Department of Education and the Head of Software SIG for Band of Angels.
Focus areas: Workforce Management (WFM), Strategic Workforce Planning, HR/Workforce Transformation

Director of New Products & Innovation

2009 - 2012
Optum
  • Worked with senior executives to create and disseminate the corporate vision in the face of the ACA for the largest behavioral health managed care company in the US with 10,000+ employees, $2+ billion in annual revenue, and 127 million customers.
  • Coordinated with unionized labor and actuaries to improve guidelines for new products.
  • Created the first disciplined product development process to review and improve the entire product development portfolio—including leading C-level executives in a product council to drive decision-making.
  • Developed and led a governance process for major integration and merger projects across a matrix environment, collaborating with IT, clinical, operations, legal, sales, marketing, and customer service teams of over 25.
  • Led the company's highest margin product, first TPA product, and first new payer sales in four years.
  • Saved the company $6.7 million over three years by sunsetting under-performing products.
Focus areas: Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), New Product Development

Education

1991 - 1996

Dual Bachelor's Degree in Biology and History

University of California, San Diego - La Jolla, CA, USA

Certifications

OCTOBER 2020 - PRESENT

UiPath Certified Advanced RPA Developer (UiARD)

UiPath Academy

JUNE 2010 - PRESENT

Lean Six Sigma Training Certification

United Healthcare

Skills

Finance

Fundraising, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A)

Output Software

Jira

Other

ADKAR Change Model, DMAIC, Organizational Leadership, Project Management, Organizational Change Management (OCM), Information & Communications Technology (ICT), Strategic Workforce Planning, Process Design, Lean, Agile, Customer Success, Energy Storage, Microsoft, Google, Confluence, Asana, Six Sigma, IT Project Management, Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Sales Transformation, Product Management, New Products, Operations, Human Resources (HR), Facilities Management, Workforce Management (WFM), HR/Workforce Transformation, Process Flows, A/B Testing, User Testing, Compliance, Solar, Software Integration, Azure, UiPath, Sales Training, Learning & Development, Product Development, IT Networking, Legal, New Product Development, IT Security, Sales, Instruction & Coaching, Instructional Design, API Integration

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