Kevin Marra, Product Manager in St. Augustine, FL, United States
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Kevin Marra

Verified Expert  in Product Management

Product Manager

St. Augustine, FL, United States

Toptal member since August 26, 2021

Expertise
Agile Product Management
Bio

Kevin is a long-time management consultant focused on innovative product management in startup and corporate innovation business units. He specializes in process improvement work for complex enterprise environments. Kevin holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management and a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Connecticut.

Project Highlights

eCommerce Strategy
Collaborated with the P&L leaders of four Whirlpool divisions and the major appliance distribution partners such as Home Depot, Lowe's, and Sears to create a direct-to-consumer strategy to increase revenue by 30% over five years.
eCommerce Business Transformation
Led the creation of a corporate platform for a Mexican network television station to incorporate approximately 30 acquired web properties into the existing ecosystem of websites.
The Launch Pad
Mentored the University of Miami alumni and faculty about the viability of their startup ideas.

Expertise

  • Business Models
  • Business Strategy
  • Operating Models
  • Organizational Design
  • Pricing
  • Product Strategy
  • Strategy
  • eCommerce

Work Experience

Independent Management Consultant

2014 - PRESENT
Slingshot Strategy Co.
  • Acted as an independent consultant on operational improvement engagements.
  • Collaborated with the executives of smaller corporations on M&A strategy, due diligence, deal structuring, and post-acquisition integration.
  • Oversaw market growth, market segmentation, sales force effectiveness, product and pricing, competitive landscape, industry viability, new entrants, and revenue impacts.

Associate Partner

2001 - 2014
IBM
  • Served as a process improvement consultant to standardize business processes for General Motors (GM) portfolio brands worldwide. This work was performed for GM's service operations group and was heavily operations and finance-focused.
  • Acted as a process and configuration analyst for large SAP projects.
  • Transitioned to a strategy and operations expert for eCommerce, supply chain, and service parts clients.
  • Oversaw the career development of ten senior manager-level consultants and had project-based responsibility for a staff of 50+ project-based resources.
  • Started as a college hire analyst and was promoted to associate partner level.

Project History

eCommerce Strategy

Collaborated with the P&L leaders of four Whirlpool divisions and the major appliance distribution partners such as Home Depot, Lowe's, and Sears to create a direct-to-consumer strategy to increase revenue by 30% over five years.

I introduced an eCommerce platform for 12 Whirlpool brands, consisting of IBM's WebSphere and SAP, that sold small appliance, accessory, and service parts to avoid a channel conflict with the large appliance distribution partners.

I also created a five-year strategic vision and corresponding project roadmap for Whirlpool's eCommerce program. As a strategic advisor to project sponsors, I ensured that the intended business case achieved and exceeded ROI.

eCommerce Business Transformation

https://www.televisa.com/

Led the creation of a corporate platform for a Mexican network television station to incorporate approximately 30 acquired web properties into the existing ecosystem of websites.

I centralized the back-office functions for acquired websites while maintaining editorial independence and the magic that made each website successful before acquisition.

In addition, I crafted a windowing strategy to maximize revenue across distribution channels, balancing share and views from linear TV, platform distribution (website and YouTube), and the client's over-the-top (OTT) product. The result was a 20% increase in revenue without decreasing any distribution channel's current revenue; otherwise, it was a 40% increase in revenue by optimizing income across channels.

The Launch Pad

https://www.thelaunchpad.org/

Mentored the University of Miami alumni and faculty about the viability of their startup ideas.

I mentored alumni, faculty, and staff as an in-house consultant for the University of Miami's entrepreneurship center. My job involves meeting with about 40 startups annually and giving them strategic advice on product management, marketing, go-to-market strategy, and pricing.

Fantasy Sports Platform

Founded startup in the daily fantasy sports industry focused on PGA tour golf and with plans to expand to tennis, NASCAR, and Formula 1.

I acted as a product manager and scrum master, reducing release sprint time from three weeks to one week. I also reduced customer acquisition costs from $50/user to $10/user via hyper-targeted digital marketing campaigns.

The startup shut down in the spring of 2016 due to the ambiguous legal status of fantasy sports.

Operating Model Redesign

Led the creation of the firm's strategic approach to digital transformation via a unique combination of business strategy, design thinking, and customer journey mapping.

I convened five pharmaceutical manufacturers and facilitated design thinking workshops that produced prototypes for a doctor-patient application to assist patients in adhering to their prescriptions. The result was an initiated project work for involved clients and a project reference for new clients.

Pricing Transformation

Designed and implemented a dynamic pricing model for selling the core product, Spark Plugs, to automotive OEMs based on ten variables relevant to optimal profitability.

I collaborated with American executives in Detroit to get buy-in from Japanese executives by showing best, worst, and probable scenario business cases. I also taught the sales team how to use the dynamic pricing system and introduced the benefits of the new pricing model to the company and individual sellers.

Education

2012 - 2014

Master of Business Administration (MBA) Degree in Business Administration

Kellogg School of Management - Evanston, IL, United States

1997 - 2001

Bachelor's Degree in Economics

University of Connecticut - Storrs, CT, United States

Skills

Paradigms

Agile Product Management, Agile, B2C

Other

Strategy, Business Administration, Business Strategy, B2B, Business Models, Product Strategy, Service, Startups, Web Applications, Operating Models, Business Process Modeling, Business Processes, Business Process Analysis, Spanish, Negotiation, Pricing, Product Management, Product Design, Organizational Design, Finance, UX Design, UI Design, Waterfall Methodology, Integration, SAP, Sales, eCommerce, Business Transformation, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Entrepreneurship, Sales Operations, Pricing Strategy, Due Diligence, Marketing

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