GINA KIRKER
Liberty Township,OH
Summary
An energetic, motivated and highly dynamic person with strong working skills and a broad range of hands-on and theoretical experience ranging in many areas. Adept at providing support and developing new processes through ongoing work, defect resolution and enhancement solutions. Expert in completing demanding assignments within crucial timelines. Highly articulate, demonstrating excellent interpersonal skills. Strong management skills and methodical aptitude with an innate ability in decision-making, coordinating and synthesizing data.
Overview
33
33
years of professional experience
Work History
Product Manager Team Lead
Dominion DMS
2023.01 - 2026.04
- Led cross-functional teams to develop product roadmaps aligned with customer needs.
- Streamlined product development processes, enhancing collaboration between engineering and marketing teams.
- Conducted market research to identify emerging trends and inform strategic product decisions.
- Managed product lifecycle from concept through launch, ensuring timely delivery of innovative solutions.
- Established key performance indicators to measure product success and drive continuous improvement initiatives.
- Mentored junior product team members, fostering skill development and knowledge sharing within the team.
- Communicated effectively with team members to deliver updates on project milestones and deadlines.
- Collaborated with sales, marketing, and support teams to launch products on time and within budget.
- Managed full product lifecycle, from ideation through post-launch support, ensuring consistent quality control measures were in place.
- Implemented Agile methodologies for more efficient project management and team collaboration.
Senior Product Manager
Dominion DMS
2019.08 - 2023.01
- Led cross-functional teams to drive product development from concept to launch.
- Developed strategic roadmaps aligning product vision with market trends and customer needs.
- Implemented agile methodologies to enhance product delivery timelines and team collaboration.
- Analyzed user feedback and market data to inform product enhancements and prioritization.
Product Manager
Reynolds & Reynolds
1993.01 - 2017.01
- Sr. Product Manager
- Gather and document customer requirements by doing surveys, customer visits, phone calls and working with marketing, support and sales teams.
- Write functional specifications based off of customer requirements including screen design and layout using MS Visio, MS Paint, Visual Basic and other media.
- Manage design documents through the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC).
- Hold specification review meetings with Product Planning and Development teams.
- First level testing to determine QA ready features.
- Assist QA with testing prior to Alpha pilot stage including reviewing the test cases.
- Work with New Product Implementation and Documentation teams for product release preparedness.
- Monitor progress and customer acceptance of new features.
- Provide consulting to the end users onsite.
- Product Planning Manager
- As Product Planning Manager, I worked closely with cross functional teams to determine the product feature list prioritization.
- Worked directly with the end user of the software to capture user expectations.
- Defined requirement documents to integrate applications to existing Dealer Management System (DMS) system.
- Launched a new, integrated Customer Relationship Management (CRM) application by providing onsite training and consulting, weekly calls with sales and customer support to build out the product functionality.
- Coordinated with cross functional internal teams to solve customer issues.
- Developed external web training for our client base.
- Focused on customer retention and renewal.
- Participated in industry trade shows to demo products to customers and vendors.
- Collaborated with Competitive Intelligence team to prioritize product features based on competitive systems.
- Closely evaluated market needs and market trends to determine product feature needs.
- Worked with marketing department to demonstrate product to both internal and external clients.
Training and Development Consultant
Reynolds University
1998.05 - 2000.05
- Developed and implemented comprehensive training programs to enhance employee performance and engagement.
- Evaluated training effectiveness through assessments, feedback, and performance metrics to drive continuous improvement.
- Increased employee retention through engaging and relevant training materials.
- Streamlined onboarding processes, resulting in reduced time for new hires to reach full productivity.
- Led cross-functional teams in strategic initiatives aimed at improving onboarding processes for new hires.
Support Specialist
Technical Support Center
1993.09 - 1998.05
- Provided technical support to clients, resolving issues efficiently and enhancing user experience.
- Coordinated troubleshooting efforts across multiple platforms, ensuring seamless communication among team members.
- Analyzed support ticket trends to identify recurring issues, recommending solutions to management for long-term fixes.
- Mentored junior staff on best practices in customer service and technical problem-solving techniques.
- Acted as a liaison between clients and development teams, ensuring timely communication during critical incidents.
- Responded to customer inquiries and resolved complaints to establish trust and increase satisfaction.
- Enhanced user experience by providing comprehensive troubleshooting guidance for automotive software system.
- Led workshops for users on new features and best practices, increasing customer engagement and product utilization.
Education
Bachelor of Science Degree - Business Administration and Psychology
University of The Cumberlands
Williamsburg, KentuckySkills
- Leadership
- Problem solving
- Teamwork and collaboration
- Agile software development
- Product vision and strategy
- Product development
- Product roadmaps
- Product backlog management
- End to end feature delivery
- Requirements gathering
- Software development
- Industry Trade Show promotion
ORGANIZING, PLANNING & MANAGEMENT
- Strong organizational, administrative and analytical skills.
- Possessing the financial acumen and commercial flair needed to understand diverse market and identify potential opportunities and new clients.
- Improving margins and maintaining a high quality service to clients.
- Able to develop, coordinate, delegate and plan work activities.
- Articulate and well presented.
- Quick learner, possess a broad range of experience, highly motivated, and have the ability to work in structured and unstructured environments and initiating career awareness and self-monitoring on my overall progress.
Expertise
- Forward planning
- Product management
- Product marketing
- Product launching
- Packaging strategies
- Distribution
- Project management
- Driving performance
- Spotting business opportunities
- Implementing plans
- Sales
- Marketing plans
- Client development
- Brand marketing
- Competitor analysis
- Market intelligence
- Customer focus
Personal Skills
- Entrepreneurial spirit
- Persuasive & articulate
- Relationship development
- Influencing skills
LEADERSHIP, PROBLEM SOLVING & RESPONSIBILITY
- Commercial awareness & business acumen.
- Identifying, developing and directing the implementation of business strategy.
- Ability to improve efficiency, reduce operating costs whilst increasing productivity.
- Ability to shape, produce and deliver product management plans.
- Identifying profitable new alternative distribution points.
- Ability to learn quickly and drive new messages through customer channels.
- Ability to perform qualitative and quantitative research with existing customers and potential new prospects.
- Cultivating the companies' reputation in the market & with customers & suppliers.
- Involved in planning & organizing the organization's activities to achieve targets.
- Ability to influence and set company marketing policy and plans.
- Creating engaging marketing content across multiple platforms.
- Ability to impact sales through coaching, counseling, and influencing others to accomplish desired outcomes.
- Researching, developing and executing new product launches.
- Preparing and implementing strategies streamlining existing work-flows in order to increase efficiency.
- Provided a stabilizing influence and promoted an excellent environment conducive to increasing efficiency, enhancing quality and strengthening financial results.
IT and Numeracy
- Proficient in MS office
- Efficient in analytical and numerical problem solving techniques.
Awards
2012 Meritorious Performance Award, 2012 New Product Design (NPD) Employee of the year, 2013 New Product Design (NPD) Employee of the year, 2014, 2015, 2016 New Product Design (NPD) Consistency Award nominee
Timeline
Product Manager Team Lead
Dominion DMS
2023.01 - 2026.04
Senior Product Manager
Dominion DMS
2019.08 - 2023.01
Training and Development Consultant
Reynolds University
1998.05 - 2000.05
Support Specialist
Technical Support Center
1993.09 - 1998.05
Product Manager
Reynolds & Reynolds
1993.01 - 2017.01
Bachelor of Science Degree - Business Administration and Psychology
University of The Cumberlands