Coffee, outdoor activities, anytime with my dogs and family
Diana Klassen
Executive Operating Officer
Milwaukee,WI
Summary
Dynamic senior manager with over 20 years of leadership experience in driving operational excellence and strategic growth. Proven track record of fostering high-performing, engaged teams. Expertise in aligning cross-functional teams with organizational objectives while enhancing stakeholder relationships. Natural leader with motivational approach to inspiring employee performance. Skilled at connecting with customers and cultivating brand loyalty.
Overview
25
25
years of professional experience
Work History
Franchise Owner
Woof Gang Bakery and Grooming
Pet Industry Experience Leader - Brookfield, WI
01.2024 - Current
- Owner operator, over-seeing all business operations, hiring, cash-flow, inventory, supplies, team development, and brand compliance obtaining profitability after 5 months
- Day to day business operations and customer care
- Leading and managing all marketing needs, including content and budget planning producing growing professional dashboard to 4k views per month and resulting in an average of 102% booked daily.
- Determining all business actions in coordination with Corporate Woof Gang executive team
- Managed staff training programs to enhance service delivery and operational efficiency resulting in only one safety incident since opening.
- Create community engagement, build and foster relationships through fund raisers, Chamber of Commerce relationships, events, and follow-up.
- Deep knowledge of health-care plans, traditional and unique benefit options, benefit administration, and compliance to achieve 93% retention.
Executive Creative Operations Director
GMR Marketing
Global Experiential - Hybrid, New Berlin, WI
01.2020 - 01.2024
- Strategic short- and long-term staff and business planning solutions increasing team engagement survey results by 12%
- Acting Chief of Staff for a team up to 85, providing enterprise guiding career development, talent review, recruiting, team growth process, and standard development
- Overall enterprise process improvement, change strategist, and longevity implementation for 10+ agency wide changes.
- Workflow education, proficiency expectations, adherence, and company standard development
- Lead agency project management and expertise mobilization with 100% project coverage
- Executive sponsor for project management tool implementation
- Expert data analyst advising strategic cross-functional collaboration
- Project Management, Resource, Fleet, Print, Event and Content Production VP
Production Controller
Target
Global Retail Company - Oconomowoc, WI
01.2011 - 01.2020
- Strong cross business communication, overseeing operation status while managing issues and risk with strategy and authenticity
- Leader and link between day-to-day operation and key stakeholders ensuring optimum staffing utilization toward financial responsibility increasing cartons per hour by an average of 3.6.
- Facilitate and influence the flow of overall production determining sources of truth for standards
- Develop, define and track strategic direction through interpreting S&OP forecasting, driving long term staffing success
- Managed and led building changes towards a 3-hour average decrease in delivery to our 81 stores.
Operations Manager
Target
Global Retail Company - Oconomowoc, WI
01.2001 - 01.2011
- Succession planning and talent acquisition for team, including all aspects of talent management for a team of 86+
- Key personnel manager guiding team to complete individual tasks in order to achieve stakeholder goals
- Diversity and Inclusion building leader introducing acceptance and business impact ideas for 4 years
- Performance improvement plan implementation, celebrating milestones and accountability and driving 28% team retention increase
- Development and deployment of Continuous Improvement and Lean project management identifying changes to process and eliminating waste
Education
Bachelor of Arts - English Literature, Comparative Religious Studies
University Wisconsin Milwaukee
Milwaukee, WI01.2008
Skills
- Strategic resource planning
- Problem-solving
- KPI management
- Profit and loss analysis
- Process improvements
- Business operations
Accomplishments
- Long Term Staffing Solutions
- Reduced department overhead 29% through standard agency freelance strategy implementation
- 16.2% average profitability improvement YOY
- Workflow proficiency, overall process improvement and change longevity
- 12% Delivery Improvement to Guest
- Managed and led building changes towards a 3-hour average decrease in delivery to our 81 stores.
- Competitive Production Planning Results
- Built global in-market capabilities, interconnecting cross-functionally towards 6% revenue growth with 12% cost reductions
Work Availability
monday
tuesday
wednesday
thursday
friday
saturday
sunday
morning
afternoon
evening
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AWARDS
"Delivers Exceptional Results" 5 years running, Operations Manager of the Year 2017, Quarterly Leadership Award 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018
Interests
Timeline
Franchise Owner
Woof Gang Bakery and Grooming
01.2024 - Current
Executive Creative Operations Director
GMR Marketing
01.2020 - 01.2024
Production Controller
Target
01.2011 - 01.2020
Operations Manager
Target
01.2001 - 01.2011
Bachelor of Arts - English Literature, Comparative Religious Studies
University Wisconsin Milwaukee