Josh Zapin

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.

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.

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%.

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.