colleen daher

I managed three direct reports and 37 personnel in the Aftermarket Sales area, including a team of Customer Support Specialists and Manufacturing Operators. I was recruited to this position to reduce costs and improve customer relationships while realizing departmental efficiencies.

In this position, I managed the proposal process to ensure a complete, responsive, high quality, competitive, and on-time proposal response to the customer for both multi-divisional bundled opportunities as well as single-divisional responses. This position provided a unique view of how division set its direction - "the tip of the sword" POV.

During my nine years in this position, I managed five Quality Engineers and nine Quality Inspectors responsible for 30+ programs: Pilot, Production, Overhaul & Repair. We had direct interface with our customer counterparts and presented solutions for issues. Within the role of Quality Assurance, my QEs and I acted as Process Engineers, working towards preventive actions and leading CPI meetings with Manufacturing Operations.

During my brief tenure at Lucent (they were bought by OFS), I was the Process Engineer for the Post-Draw operation - easily the most labor intensive in the 1.2M sq ft facility. Working in a union environment can be limiting, but our team was able to successfully implement lean / cellular manufacturing to this operation, increasing fiber sales on-time delivery from 68% to 97%;

Working at FOCAS was the first time I'd seen Lean principles introduced and implemented very successfully. The Technicians from each of the three shifts presented to management their Current vs. Future states and what they needed to achieve these goals. We had lively actionable discussions with the Techs so ownership of their processes was really given to them. Further, the Technicians were encouraged to participate in customer telecoms, specifically trouble-shooting, so they were able to appreciate how their processes affected the end-user. Sadly, this operation was moved to South Carolina.

Working in a very labor intensive letter shop was a great opportunity for me - so many processes to make more effective and I was the only Industrial Engineer. Management was very supportive, teaching me how to justify these projects. The best part of this job was the long leash I was given to successfully implement 55 major projects and present those benefits to upper management.

I managed functional teams in a matrix organization to ensure overall project planning and execution meets contract requirements. I was recruited half-way through this development program to reestablish our customer relationship and put our program back on track. I'm also the PMO for the legacy product for this same platform, so the inter-dependencies between development and legacy are an advantage to managing both efforts.

* Although I'd absorbed some PM responsibilities in October 2016, my full transition wasn't until March 2017. Being a PM in the VAST Business Area is different than my previous PM experience in that my customer is internal * customer-facing ViaSat PMs. All the elements that go with the typical PM role are there * coordinating with technical and operations teams, managing budget and schedule, presenting milestone and gating reviews * with a lot more collaboration with the customer. Definitely interesting and definitely fast-paced!!

What an interesting job - it's a hybrid of Program Manager and Operations liaison. ViaSat does an amazing job training new hires and getting them acclimated to the culture and processes. Working with the PMs team on two development programs leading a follow-on Production program, and bridging the gap for ground service activities on another has exposed a lot of the internal processes and decision-making variables. It's been a lot of fun learning this industry and understanding the customer needs. More to come...

Activities and Societies: Certified Co-op, GA Tech Research Institute, Student Government Representative, Residence Hall Assistant (RA), State Treasurer College Republicans, Intramural Activities