Josh Zapin, Project Manager in Boulder, CO, United States
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Josh Zapin

Verified Expert  in Project Management

Project Manager

Location
Boulder, CO, United States
Toptal Member Since
January 24, 2020

Josh is a versatile project and program management leader in SaaS, eCommerce, and other digital organizations. He has over 20 years of experience leading complex multi-million dollar B2C and B2B initiatives for marquee organizations, including Crocs, AspenDental, Ryder, American Express, and Volkswagen. A passionate problem-solver, Josh has led 20+ member teams and departments through organizational change, including agile transformations.

Project Highlights

AspenDental.com | Digital Transformation and Productization
Led the $2+ million yearly digital program and Agile transformation that realized 25% and $200 million YOY conversion gains.
Crocs.com Program and Project Management and Operational Transformation
Normalized project management of a four-region, 30+ person eCommerce team supporting over $100 million in annual revenue.
Zingfit Professional Services, Customer Onboarding, and Process Normalization
Established operational vision and improved customer satisfaction at a boot-strapped high-growth SaaS eCommerce platform.

Expertise

Work Experience

Founder, Digital Project Management Certificate Program

2017 - PRESENT
Boulder Digital Arts
  • Founded a two-day course that provides aspiring digital project managers with real-world skills and knowledge to manage world-class digital projects such as websites and mobile applications.
  • Functioned as a trainer and course developer in the class that covers the processes to build a digital application, with a heavy focus on the deliverables and disciplines needed to bring a digital vision into reality.
  • Mentored would-be digital program managers on career options and ways to morph their current jobs.

Principal Consultant, Project Manager, Program Management, Digital Transformation, Agile Coach

2014 - PRESENT
Corvus3
  • Functioned as a project manager, program manager, scrum master, Agile coach, operations consultant, or other flexible roles as needed by clients.
  • Improved the operations of digital agencies and consultancies by implementing tools and processes such as resource management and statement of work writing.
  • Designed a proprietary process improvement methodology based on Agile principles that enable teams and organizations to see operational improvements in three weeks or less.
  • Provided recommendations for the eCommerce re-platform of Backcountryaccess.com to WooCommerce.
  • Delivered the redesign and re-platform of Mwhglobal.com to WordPress.
  • Oversaw the #justgotjingled campaign for JCPenny during the Christmas holiday, leveraging social media channels such as Twitter and Instagram.
  • Configured and administered Jira and Confluence for several customers.

Engineering Program Manager for the Anthem.ai Developer Portal

2020 - 2021
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield
  • Established an 18-month vision for developer portal program which included the implementation of a content management system, integration of salesforce as a customer relationship management (CRM) and ticketing systems, and plans for eCommerce.
  • Delivered regular presentations to the executive steering committee in order to gain buy-in and approval for the overall program, budget, and timeline.
  • Established the software operation for the engineering team that included key meetings, workflows, and processes to normalize release delivery and expectation settings.
  • Oversaw a period of time of massive growth where the engineering and stakeholder teams grew from four to 14 and four to nine team members, respectively, in order to meet the growing demand for the program.

Director of Professional Services and Customer Success

2018 - 2019
Zingfit, LLC.
  • Spearheaded professional services and customer success at this boutique fitness studio and software platform company. Liable for all initial and continuing customer support.
  • Managed three teams that included over a dozen direct reports, including developers, project managers, and onboarding coaches.
  • Functioned as a project manager, program manager, scrum master, Agile coach, operations consultant, and other flexible roles needed by the company.
  • Elevated the quality and throughput of the team by defining organization hierarchy, processes, metrics, and toolsets.
  • Rolled out a successful white-label mobile app that helped generate additional bottom-line revenue and improved user experience.
  • Increased onboarding velocity by 100%, reduced project overages by 200%, and saw the net promoter (NPS) score increase to above the industry average.
  • Became an integral part of the management team that helped set company-wide objectives and goals.
  • Took a leadership role in establishing a long-range operational vision for this high-growth software-as-a-service (SaaS) company. Helped establish, amongst other initiatives, the need for the rigor of product management.
  • Configured and administered Jira and Confluence to improve workflows and software development efficiencies.

Director of Platform for Consulting Services, Program Manager, Project Manager

2016 - 2018
Crispin Porter & Bogusky
  • Led the practice that supported customers’ large, mission-critical, revenue-generating digital properties for multi-billion dollar, multinational brands.
  • Functioned as a project manager, program manager, scrum master, agile coach, operations consultant, and other flexible roles as needed by clients.
  • Liaised and bridged the gap between customer brand marketing teams and their own internal IT by providing a full suite of digital services, including user experience, analytics, and development.
  • Charged for a retainer of over $2 million for the digital program of AspenDental, the largest retail dentistry chain in the United States.
  • Coordinated the agile transformation for AspenDental that enabled their flagship website to put in improvements that realized 25% year-over-year gains in conversion, yielding over $200 million in revenue.
  • Managed the redesign of AspenDental.com as part of the migration to Sitecore.
  • Led the nearly $1 million redesign of Rentals.ryder.com that overhauled the site's user experience built on top of Sitecore and interfaced with decades-old back-end legacy systems. Managed a 12-person development team.

Global Director of eCommerce Operations and Production, Program Manager, Project Manager

2011 - 2014
Crocs
  • Oversaw operations and program management for Crocs' global eCommerce team that supports over $100 million in annual revenue across 21 sites around the globe.
  • Established new processes including the project lifecycle, program management, resource allocation, and new product introduction to improve communication, increase task visibility, and reduce rework in an over 30 person geographically dispersed team.
  • Spearheaded many new initiatives, including the global omnichannel strategy, global mobile commerce rollout, and PayPal integration.
  • Led a corporate-wide initiative to improve project management processes and establish company operation standards and guidelines.
  • Oversaw the redesign of crocs.com, a 12-month initiative that included a complete rethinking of the user experience and improved conversion through implementing tools such as a recommendation engine.
  • Ran five direct reports, in addition to several contractors, provided coaching, mentorship, and direction.
  • Configured and administered Jira and Confluence to improve software development workflows and efficiencies.
  • Functioned as a project manager, scrum master, agile coach, operations change agent and other flexible roles as needed by the client.

Director of Project Management, Program Manager, Project Management

2006 - 2011
Texturemedia: Crispin Porter + Bogusky
  • Functioned as a project manager, program manager, scrum master, operations consultant, mentor, and other flexible roles as needed by the client.
  • Led over $2 million of digital projects for Volkswagen of America’s flagship website, including Nav Companion, a Google Maps city guide mash-up that integrated with VW’s navigation system.
  • Managed a $1 million retainer for the American Express OPEN Forum small business social networking website with thousands of registered subscribers and 1.5 million visitors a month. Managed a 10+ person team.
  • Oversaw the initial planning for the complete redesign of volkswagen.com; worked with customer brand marketing, IT teams, outside vendors to derive a product backlog, a roadmap, and updated design and user experience.
  • Managed American Express’ OPEN Forum small business social networking website with thousands of registered subscribers and 1.5 million visitors a month.
  • Oversaw the Agile transformation of the American Express OPEN Forum, which allowed for greater synergies between customer brand marketing, IT teams, and the project delivery teams.
  • Spearheaded the planning of the redesign and re-platform of American Express’ OPEN Forum, including a budget, scope, and timeline.
  • Led the redesign of steamboat.com v2.0, a ski resort website, with the first iteration to include a content management system.
  • Implemented a comprehensive agency management system consolidating several business processes, including project management, resource management, billing, accounting, and sales.

Web Producer, PMO Task Force Leader, Project Manager, Program Manager

2004 - 2006
Maxtor, Inc.
  • Functioned as a project manager, program manager, operations consultant, mentor, and other flexible roles as needed by the client.
  • Managed all aspects of the public-facing website (Maxtor.com) for this $2 billion global hard-drive manufacturer.
  • Oversaw transition to the latest version of Vignette StoryServer to enable end users more freedom to update content.
  • Bridged gap between marketing, product, and IT through the rigor of project and program management.
  • Led task force to instill a Project Management Organization (PMO) within the web group and the larger IT organization to improve project management methods and processes.
  • Implemented Microsoft Office Project Server.

Director of Project Management

2003 - 2004
Creation Chamber
  • Functioned as a project manager, program manager, Scrum Master, operations consultant, and mentor as needed by the client.
  • Managed over 25 projects simultaneously, valued at nearly $1 million for an award-winning web development consultancy including the Denver Broncos, Einstein Brothers Bagels, MapQuest, and the Denver Public School System.
  • Implemented a trafficking and time management system to enable expense tracking and predictable results.

Project Management Consultant

2002 - 2003
Federal Reserve Bank
  • Functioned as a project management operations consultant and other flexible roles as needed by the client and organization.
  • Consulted on a $250+ million Information technology (IT) initiative to improve the project management practices of a 90-person team that supported branches through a massive technology conversion.
  • Provided analysis and reporting that assured that the project was running effectively and efficiently.

Senior Digital Project Manager

2000 - 2001
Agency.com
  • Functioned as a project manager, program manager, and did other flexible roles as needed by the client.
  • Provided strategy, branding, and technology services to corporate clients, including Incyte Genomics, the first-ever eCommerce site for genetic sequences.
  • Helped to establish role/processes for this digital consultancy.

Digital Project Manager

1999 - 2000
Organic
  • Functioned as a project manager, program manager, operations consultant, and other flexible roles as needed by the client.
  • Managed the $2 million Awards.com project, one of the first eCommerce sites with customizable products. Managed a 15-person team of developers, designers, user experience, and quality assurance leads. Delivered a complete site within seven months.
  • Led the construction of eCommerce sporting goods sites for two nationally recognized brands, The Athlete’s Foot and Dunham’s Sports. The project required managing two ten-person technology teams simultaneously.
  • Liaised and bridged the gap between customer brand marketing, product teams, and their own internal IT.
  • Established a new agile methodology that became the foundation for future projects; enabled development to start in less than six weeks from project kickoff. Recognized by the leadership team for this innovation.

Digital Project Manager, Program Manager

1997 - 1998
Bowne, Inc.
  • Functioned as a project manager, program manager, operations consultant, and other flexible roles as needed by the client.
  • Convinced the executive team of this billion-dollar publicly traded financial services organization to spend a $1 million+ technology investment for the re-launch of Bowne.com.
  • Oversaw the implementation of bowne.com, a site that was translated into six languages (including Japanese). Bowne.com used one of the first web-based translation content management systems.

Digital Producer

1995 - 1997
Micro Interactive, Inc.
  • Functioned as a project manager, program manager, operations consultant, and other flexible roles as needed by the client.
  • Established the role of this multimedia pioneer by delivering projects faster, with less effort, and with greater quality as the company's first digital producer.
  • Owned the delivery of over $3 million in project revenues.
  • Built several generations of in-store/retail demos for IBM’s Aptiva brand of the high-end home computer, including translation into over a dozen languages.
  • Worked closely with IBM’s marketing, IT, and product to deliver the product on its corporate build.
  • Delivered, in four months, the first-ever DVD-quality video-based sales system for CBS Sports. Helped the CBS Sports sales team sell national television advertising space in record time.
  • Established agile processes to enable building a proprietary multimedia development framework/platform while delivering client projects.
  • Managed a team of interns who were embedded with our team for six months, who contributed directly to projects through coding, QA, and project management responsibilities.

AspenDental.com | Digital Transformation and Productization

https://www.aspendental.com/

Led the $2+ million yearly digital program and Agile transformation that realized 25% and $200 million YOY conversion gains.

AspenDental, the largest retail dentistry chain in the US, saw an opportunity to convert more customers through its flagship website. While there were sporadic projects to improve its features, there was inconsistency and tension in their delivery; the scope would change, and deadlines would be adjusted to meet the ever-changing needs. Through a series of meetings, we convinced AspenDental to think of AspenDental.com as a product: constant, regular improvements with a feature set expected to change monthly. We set up a 3-month pilot that measurably demonstrated the flexibility and bottom-line improvements.

Consequently, AspenDental signed up for two years' worth of improvements (valued at nearly $4 million), culminating in the eventual redesign and re-platforming of AspenDental.com. The original site was built with a rudimentary, open-source content management system and a Java-based business logic layer to interface with legacy back-end systems. We leveraged a 20+ person development team, including developers, designers, UX leads, and quality assurance professionals, that interfaced directly with AspenDental's IT and product teams. Parts of the development and quality assurance teams were contracted and offshore.

Crocs.com Program and Project Management and Operational Transformation

Normalized project management of a four-region, 30+ person eCommerce team supporting over $100 million in annual revenue.

After launching 21 direct-to-consumer retail websites across four regions, 12 countries in nearly as many languages within two years, Crocs, the ubiquitous shoe manufacturer, needed to normalize how it leveraged and expanded its digital properties. Through the establishment of rigorous backlog grooming, resource allocation, and Agile project processes, I was able to transform the digital operation so that measurable feature enhancements were delivered monthly and within budget. Launched changes included additional global payment providers, simplified checkout flows, streamlined new product additions, and mobile web experience that yielded positive bottom-line results. Additionally, spearheaded $2+ million global redesigns to refresh the brand and provide improved acquisition and conversion opportunities. The site was built on SalesForce CommerceCloud (formerly Demandware), leveraging Adobe Analytics and Experience Manager. I was responsible for launching and administering JIRA and Confluence.

Zingfit Professional Services, Customer Onboarding, and Process Normalization

http://www.zingfit.com

Established operational vision and improved customer satisfaction at a boot-strapped high-growth SaaS eCommerce platform.

As the company's lead for professional services, onboarding, and customer success I was able to increase onboarding velocity by 100%, reduced project overages by 200%, and saw the net promoter (NPS) score increase to above the industry average at this small, but fast-growing SaaS eCommerce provider to boutique fitness studios. Elevated the quality and throughput of the team by defining organization hierarchy, processes, metrics, and toolsets, including leveraging Jira, Confluence, Asana, SmartSheet, and EverHour. Managed a 12+ person, geographically dispersed team that included developers, project managers, and onboarding coaches across four timezones. Oversaw the successful rollout of a white-label mobile app that generated an additional $100,000 to the company revenues as well as an iFrame product that reduced the onboarding costs by 50%.

American Express OPEN Forum Agile Transformation

Normalized the maintenance and enhancements of this 1.5 million monthly visit content juggernaut for American Express.

Managed a $1+ million retainer for American Express’ OPEN Forum, a small business social networking website that has thousands of registered subscribers and 1.5 million visitors a month. I oversaw the Agile transformation of the American Express OPEN Forum, which allowed for greater synergies between customer brand marketing, IT teams, and the project delivery teams. The 10+ person team consisted of developers, designers, user experience leads, and quality assurance analysts that needed to work closely with the American Express product, IT, and marketing teams. I normalized the process such that American Express awarded my consultancy the $10 million redesign/replatform project.
1989 - 1993

Bachelor's Degree in Business Management and Marketing

Cornell University - Ithaca, New York

MARCH 2022 - PRESENT

Certified in Managing Jira Projects for Cloud

Atlassian

JANUARY 2011 - PRESENT

Certified Scrum Master

Scrum Alliance

JULY 2001 - PRESENT

Project Management Professional (PMP)

Project Management Institute (PMI)

Collaboration That Works

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