Kelly Johnston
Durham,NC
Summary
Accomplished Director of Operations with extensive experience at Amazon.com, specializing in Risk Management and Operational Improvement. Successfully led initiatives that decreased SLA failures by 25% while enhancing team performance through strategic staff development. Demonstrates strong problem-solving capabilities and exceptional leadership skills in navigating complex compliance policies.
Overview
21
21
years of professional experience
Work History
Director of Operations
Riverbend Consulting LLC
Tinton Falls, NJ
09.2017 - Current
- Primary area of expertise involved coaching sellers navigate the complex, dense, and ever-evolving policies within Amazon so that they could be successful
- Became the primary consultant to handle reinstatement cases
- Successfully appealed products removed from Amazon’s site 82% of the time so that the vendors were able to again sell their products on Amazon for revenue
- Successfully appealed account closures; 88% of the time accounts were reopened on Amazon for the vendor and then generated revenue
- Analyzed sellers’ IP practices and strategies to reduce risk and increase protection for brand; reduced brand infringement and litigation
- Improved client operational efficiency, including designing feedback loops or defect analyses for use in shipping and new product listing; process improvement that reduced costs, increased revenue, reduced risk from problems
- Improved handling of CS issues, including Amazon A-to-z Guarantee claims, by training clients and their staff to adopt Amazon’s 'gold standard' of service; enhanced client success in the market place
- Continuously improved hiring
Partner, Director of Operations
Cascadia Seller Solutions
Seattle, WA
07.2016 - 03.2017
- Primary area of expertise involved coaching sellers navigate the complex, dense, and ever-evolving policies within Amazon so that they could be successful
- Became the primary consultant to handle reinstatement cases
- Successfully appealed products removed from Amazon’s site 82% of the time so that the vendors were able to again sell their products on Amazon for revenue
- Successfully appealed account closures; 88% of the time accounts were reopened on Amazon for the vendor and then generated revenue
- Analyzed sellers’ IP practices and strategies to reduce risk and increase protection for brand; reduced brand infringement and litigation
- Improved client operational efficiency, including designing feedback loops or defect analyses for use in shipping and new product listing; process improvement that reduced costs, increased revenue, reduced risk from problems
- Improved handling of CS issues, including Amazon A-to-z Guarantee claims, by training clients and their staff to adopt Amazon’s 'gold standard' of service; enhanced client success in the market place
- Continuously improved hiring, training, and delegating tasks to expand operations and grow retainer business products by 20% YoY
Risk Investigations Manager
Amazon.com
Seattle, WA
01.2012 - 01.2013
- Managed two teams of 25 total investigators, owning individual workflow and team performance against department goals
- Promoted 3 FTE investigators in less than 9 months of managing the team; provided enhanced skills and ability to move within additional jobs and projects
- Hired, trained, and managed team of contractors for OFAC compliance work
- This team exceeded productivity goals by 40% within 3 months of launch
- Created standardized process to interview language-specialty investigator or OFAC candidates to ensure language fluency; French, German, Spanish most frequently utilized
- Built escalation process for addressing Better Business Bureau contacts
- Produced automated weekly queries in OBIEE business tool for reporting to legal and senior management teams
- Changes reduced Service Level Agreement (SLA) failures by 25% within 1 month
- Managed response to large PR event in March 2013 that created vast customer contact issues in the US/UK
- Collaborated with engineering, category managers, and legal teams, managing removal of 1 million+ suspect products from Amazon’s US & UK catalog
- Provided information back to the PR team regarding the product removal
Program Manager – Trade & Product Compliance
Amazon.com
Seattle, WA
01.2012 - 12.2012
- Validated and corrected the export classification of items in various categories in accordance with Federal guidelines, collecting results weekly for metrics reporting to senior managers
- Coordinated with engineering teams to address deficiencies with the automation and reporting for the compliance rules within export law; implemented the recommendations operationally to address Federal law
- Tested and calibrated Amazon proprietary database for automatically checking appropriate ITAR/ECCN (export regulations) classifications for items entered into Amazon's catalog
- Reduced Amazon’s regulatory risk exposure and insured continued compliance with applicable trade laws
Risk Investigator – Transaction Risk Management
Amazon.com
Seattle, WA
01.2004 - 12.2012
- Charged with becoming strong subject matter expert in counterfeit investigations
- Exceeded productivity & quality goals each year (2004-2012), resulting in promotion to higher level
- Implemented many tool improvements with engineering teams to increase decision quality, productivity, and produce higher yields of actionable investigations
- Reports were improved to concentrate investigator time on most critical issues
- Trained team onsite in India office to establish 24-7 presence, which increased global coverage by 30%
- Decision quality and productivity were tracked and reported by Excel pivot tables and charts; important to demonstrate improved results from training
Skills
- Process Audit
- Operational Improvement
- Staff Development
- Effective Leadership
- Employee Development
- Problem Resolution Expertise
- Risk Management
- Cross-Functional Teamwork
- Client Support
- Operations Management
- Data Interpretation
- Technical Interface Language
- Project Management
- Client Relations
- Problem-solving
- Proficient in Negotiation Strategies
- Process Management
Communityserviceandinterests
- Cipher-Art.com is my business in mixed media and collage; I focus on create art with reused/recycled items.
- Fundraising for art community, Durham, NC (The Carrack and the Scrap Exchange).
- United Way fundraising for Amazon.
Professional Development
- Introduction to Social Media Strategies, Skillshare.com, 2017
- Photoshop: Drawing, Layers, Masks, & Selections, Skillshare.com, 2017
- Social Media Tips, Tricks, & Techniques, Udemy.com, 2014
- Search Engine Optimization, Udemy.com, 2014
- Employment Law & Management, Amazon, 2013
- Amazon Oracle 101, Amazon, 2013
- Interviewing- The STAR Method, Amazon, 2011
- Ruby Programming-Beginning, Udemy.com, 2011
- Performance Management, Amazon, 2009
- Trainer The Trainer, Amazon, 2007
- Operational Excellence (Six Sigma Methodologies), Amazon, 2006
- Microsoft Excel 2010 Intermediate & Advanced, Udemy.com, 2005
Timeline
Director of Operations
Riverbend Consulting LLC
09.2017 - Current
Partner, Director of Operations
Cascadia Seller Solutions
07.2016 - 03.2017
Risk Investigations Manager
Amazon.com
01.2012 - 01.2013
Program Manager – Trade & Product Compliance
Amazon.com
01.2012 - 12.2012
Risk Investigator – Transaction Risk Management
Amazon.com
01.2004 - 12.2012
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