Richard J.

Schwager
rs917bcc@westpost.net
40010 N. Candlewyck Ln., Anthem, AZ 85382
(623) 321-6004 (eFax); (623) 703-0509 (Mobile)
EDUCATION AND CREDENTIALS
MBA, Harvard Business School, Boston, MA; Baker Scholar (top 5% of class), GM Fe
llow
BIA, General Motors Institute, Flint MI
PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENTS
MANAGEMENT CONSULTING
*Led Deloitte Consulting engagement team on supply chain optimization engagement
for major Asian importer/distributor and manufacturer; reduced wholesale vehicl
e inventory by 90% and reduced order-to-delivery time from 88 days to 28 days. A
chieved cross-functional integration including new, common make-model tables, de
aler ordering and vehicle allocation system, production forecasting, scheduling
and preferencing system, and reporting across Client Sales, Distribution, Port/U
pfit, Logistics, and worldwide Production activities.
*As Manager in Deloitte Consulting's Process People Strategy Service Line, exper
tly utilized Reengineering for Results/Process Modeling, Supply Chain Results an
d Change Leadership methodologies, plus industry-based best practices from propr
ietary Firm repositories. Practiced Performance Improvement at C-Level across gr
oups, staffs and divisions, finally, developed status and results reporting (inc
luding the "Leadership Dashboard" ).
*While independently consulting, led transformation and relaunch of automotive s
ervices company including contract and funding, collections, product configurati
on, master schedule, finance, legal, HR and IT. Successfully transitioned from u
ndercapitalized, struggling general agency to effective, rationalized sales arm
of an acquiring partner via negotiations through several firm valuation models d
eveloped within engagement.
*Developed and implemented market and open point opportunity matrix, then operat
ing and financial control infrastructure for new US-based investment firm whose
mission was to invest in startup and buy-sell automotive dealer opportunities. T
his resulted in recruiting/signing a successful network of six dealerships natio
nwide.
*Launched one such startup Dealer operation by very closely matching S,G&A to em
erging revenue and cash flow, by target marketing to middle-lower income demogra
phic group, and by implementing national/web auction purchasing as well as aggre
ssive service-to-sales prospect turns.
LARGE-SCALE REENGINEERING / PROGRAM LEADERSHIP
* For General Motors Corporate Order-To-Delivery initiative, designed a custom p
roject management and systems development methodology named "OTD-21", including
stakeholder assessment, readiness assessments, redesign of planning and communic
ations, implementation of milestones, gates and metrics, and considerable indivi
dual and group coaching and counseling. Resulted in execution on time/budget on
a very large scale Corporate initiative.
*Again for General Motors, created common processes, data and systems to support
the sales of North American vehicles worldwide, and the cross-sales of Canadian
and US-produced vehicles. As a parallel initiative, designed all US/Canada comm
on overseas vehicle sales platforms in a way to be readily "folded into" GM Corp
orate common systems in Billing, Order Management, Logistics, Dealer Ordering, a
nd Technical/Customer Service.
- Overcame nearly insurmountable change readiness challenge in the incumbent GM
Detroit organization who would lose over 1/3 of its jobs (but whose knowledge/su
pport was vital to the project's success) and the GM Canada organization who was
 absorbing 32 FTE of work with no additional headcount (similar impact to Detroi
t and Canada ITS groups).
- Redesigned GM Canada group and individual roles, due to complete transformatio
n of role, authority, and accountability. Additionally, emerging new process an
d information flows between individuals and groups drove several more iterations
of organization and systems design.
- Project reduced transportation/upfits by 5-10%; eliminated obsolete data cente
r at cost of $3.5MM/yr., and eliminated 35% of active professional positions in
export operations.
*For leading Automotive CRM firm in the US, developed and launched a framework f
or Firm-wide Project Assessment/Ranking and Project Management, which provided a
phased and gated formal methodology to manage a portfolio of +-25 revenue expan
sion initiatives, ensuring implementation on-time and within budget
OPERATIONS LEADERSHIP
*Created brand-new call center for vehicle fleet drivers by disaggregating Drive
r Service function from Client Servicing and implementing new organization desig
n, processes and systems. Utilized Coopers & Lybrand BPR methodology in mapping,
identifying highest cost and client satisfaction drivers, configuring, piloting
and maintaining management and client buy-in. Increased productivity 20% over f
irst year.
*Led call center growth plan and expanded from less than 250 to more than 600 ag
ents in one year; improved service levels by as much as 15 points, improved qual
ity monitors 12-20%, reduced handling time by about 120 seconds per gate, and re
duced attrition by about 20%
*Added significant revenue opportunity by analyzing the patterns of under-utiliz
ed agents, re-engineering cross-gate coverage, and applying freed-up resource to
the processing of vendor claims, a batch-based task which was not critically ti
me sensitive. This achieved a run rate of 200,000 claims/yr for "zero" increment
al resources.
*As Site Manager for GM Locomotives South African, immediately addressed critica
l performance deterioration due to 24-months history of failure to remotely meet
production or cost targets. Once performance was stabilized, redesigned organiz
ation to better utilize individual skills and to better align with production an
d sourcing problems. In 18 months, fully allocated unit costs dropped by 35%, q
uality metrics improved by 140%, five months of schedule deterioration was erase
d, and profitability was restored for the first time in 4 years.
SUPPLIER STRATEGY/SUPPLIER NETWORK DEVELOPMENT
*Led management team and staffs, and overall Supplier Network in designing and i
mplementing new network-specific supplier strategies, new performance-based agre
ements, and new leadership priorities focused on aggregation of volume, creation
of partnership and gainsharing, then flowing benefits through to Clients.
*Increased quick-lube commissions by 18%, increased bodyshop commissions by 15%
while improving network usage by 8%, and concentrated vehicle repairs in 60% of
original shops to gain leverage
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Hale Venture Capital Group 2009 INVESTMENT STRATEGY MANAGER

American Express Business Travel Network - Service Delivery Optimisation 20

07-present
SENIOR MANAGER, STRATEGIC PLANNING

Ensurety Group, Inc., Scottsdale, AZ 2005-2006

EXECUTIVE VICE-PRESIDENT AND GENERAL MANAGER

Newgen Results Corporation, San Diego, CA

2004
DIRECTOR, PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Automotive Equity Partners, Detroit, MI 2002 - 2004

GENERAL MANAGER

Deloitte Consulting, Detroit, MI 1999-2001

MANAGER

Cross Country Automotive Services, Tucson, AZ 1997-1

998
CALL CENTER MANAGER

PHH Vehicle Management Services, Hunt Valley, MD 1992 - 1997

VICE PRESIDENT, SUPPLIER SERVICES

General Motors Overseas Distribution Corporation (various locations)

1979 - 1992
DIRECTOR, SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT TEAM (Detroit, MI)
REGIONAL MANAGER and SITE MANAGER, EMD South African (Port Elisabeth, SA)
SALES and SERVICE MANAGER, ELECTRO-MOTIVE DIV. (La Grange, IL)