LaToya Hopkins
Surprise,AZ
Summary
Transformational leader with 15 years of experience driving strategic initiatives, project management, and people leadership within the financial services and operations sectors. Demonstrated expertise in building and leading high-performing teams, fostering innovation, and delivering measurable business outcomes. Skilled at optimizing operational processes, managing complex projects, and aligning business objectives with customer-centric strategies. Specializes in executing business strategies, improving operational efficiency, and providing relationship-based servicing. Consistently achieves excellence in customer satisfaction, productivity, and financial performance.
Overview
12
12
years of professional experience
Work History
Director, Banking Operations
American Express
10.2021 - Current
- Launched the checking banking operations organization, creating a strategic foundation for servicing operations.
- Designed and executed the servicing onshore / offshore footprint strategy aligning resources to meet customer and business needs.
- Scaled business and consumer checking products, driving operational efficiency and process improvement.
- Lead organization of 200+ front office servicing colleagues and support another 250+ colleagues across money movement, legal and fraud servicing.
- Manage $50.8M annual operating budget in close partnership with finance partners achieving YoY target reductions.
- Operate closely with capacity management to ensure alignment of capacity to volumes, appropriate scheduling, flex capacity and optimization of the global footprint (US, Manila, Gurgaon).
- Manage operational risk effectively by enforcing strong internal controls and compliance measures.
- Foster talent development, achieving a 90% retention rate among high performing team members.
- Partner with Fraud, Compliance and Risk teams to ensure effective and complaint servicing across the organization.
- Management of customer satisfaction and efficiency KPIs.
- Interviewed and hired talented individuals with top-level strengths, improving organizational talent, and skill set.
- Cultivated strong relationships with key stakeholders, including customers, vendors, and regulators to promote collaboration and long-term success.
- Leveraged technology to automate workflows and streamline processes, resulting in increased productivity and cost savings across the organization.
- Built high-performance teams through effective recruitment practices focused on competency alignment coupled with ongoing performance management processes.
Director, Commercial Servicing
American Express
01.2021 - 10.2021
- Lead and inspire a team of tenured, new and/or interim Team Leaders, exempt colleagues and an organization of 100+ Customer Care Professionals
- Develop / Lead strategy for Commercial servicing teams.
- Ensure on-going delivery of all key operations metrics across Shareholder, Customer and Colleagues.
- Deliver “Best in Class” Recommend to Friend (RTF) scores leading to greater advocacy in our Client base and ensure the strengthening of ‘Customer First' ethos in operations.
- Support of GCP growth strategies within servicing operations (e.g. Value Generation).
- Relationship Management with key business partners at VP/GM level.
- Highly effective collaboration and Relationship Management with a wide number of GSG Network partners such as GCSI, forecasting & planning partners, HR, Compliance, Finance and Recruitment as well as GSG partner servicing teams.
- Development of servicing strategies that support Global Commercial Services in their abilities to grow their business
- Development of strategies to optimize the margins at which we deliver superior service.
Manager Strategy & Execution/ Manager Assistant
American Express
01.2020 - 01.2021
- Lead key projects that cut across various parts of the organization on behalf of the VP of Commercial Servicing Operations.
- Perform deep dive analysis on high priority topics across Commercial (Small Business).
- Drive operational efficiencies improving customer performance metrics.
- Lead a high performing and multi-disciplinary team of 500+ colleagues globally.
- Lead critical activities including employee engagement, talent assessments, and work closely with central and market HR teams.
- Managed $50M annual budget across the team (e.g., investment, headcount, travel).
- Synthesize strategic priorities and develop creative and impactful presentations for diverse audiences (e.g., Senior Executive meetings, employee Town Halls, partner events, external meetings etc.).
- Controlled costs to keep business operating within budget and increase profits.
- Achieved departmental goals by developing and executing strategic plans and performance metrics.
- Streamlined workflows by identifying bottlenecks in existing systems and implementing appropriate solutions.
Senior Project Manager
American Express
06.2016 - 12.2020
- Proven ability to successfully lead end to end project lifecycles across a number of projects including those with operations, technologies, digital, payments and compliance implications which have delivered over 5 million in REE.
- Developed road map for launching global idea submission / management tool IGNITE Led the priorities of the Phoenix Innovation program to meet the needs of 4-5 VPs with various areas of focus.
- Direct management of 6-8 direct reports guiding their projects and providing constructive feedback on their work performance.
- Led project team that prioritized of 900+ process improvement ideas with a 15% implementation rate annually.
Senior Project Analyst
American Express
05.2015 - 06.2016
- Reviewed ideas submitted by front line employees to identify customer friction points.
- Developed CBAs to support business cases and to obtain funding for process improvement opportunities.
- Managed numerous projects end to end Delivered $600k in re-engineering Lead 6 employees to drive innovation throughout the Americas.
- Developed custom reports for executive stakeholders, facilitating data-driven decision making for strategic projects.
- Drove continuous improvement efforts by analyzing past performance data and identifying areas for enhanced efficiency or effectiveness.
- Served as a subject matter expert in project management methodologies, training and mentoring colleagues as needed.
- Balanced competing priorities with ease, adeptly managing multiple projects concurrently while maintaining focus on critical tasks.
Team Leader
American Express
09.2012 - 06.2015
- Lead a team of 15-20 in bound phone Customer Care Professionals that service Small Business Customers.
- Developed and managed work from home project and pilot team to create flexibility for employees work style.
- Delivered strong results exceeding department goals year over year- top 3 leader in Phoenix for 3 consecutive years.
- Quality Leader for business, coaching and providing feedback to peers.
Education
American Express & Harvard Certificate in Leadership - Harvard Business -
Harvard
06.2019
Six Sigma Green Belt (ICGB)
Villanova University
Villanova, PA12.2016
Bachelor of Science - BS - Communication, Journalism, and Related Programs
North Carolina Agricultural And Technical State University
Greensboro, NC05.2009
Skills
- People Leadership
- Analytical Skills
- Lean Six Sigma
- Operational efficiency
- Business Process Improvement
- Project Management
- Strategic Planning
- Operations management
- Internal controls
Timeline
Director, Banking Operations
American Express
10.2021 - Current
Director, Commercial Servicing
American Express
01.2021 - 10.2021
Manager Strategy & Execution/ Manager Assistant
American Express
01.2020 - 01.2021
Senior Project Manager
American Express
06.2016 - 12.2020
Senior Project Analyst
American Express
05.2015 - 06.2016
Team Leader
American Express
09.2012 - 06.2015
Six Sigma Green Belt (ICGB)
Villanova University
American Express & Harvard Certificate in Leadership - Harvard Business -
Harvard
Bachelor of Science - BS - Communication, Journalism, and Related Programs
North Carolina Agricultural And Technical State University
Similar Profiles
Oswald ReedOswald Reed
Travel Consultant at American ExpressTravel Consultant at American Express
MARA GUMARA GU
Technical PMO at American ExpressTechnical PMO at American Express
Pankaj RayPankaj Ray
Lead Credit Analyst at American ExpressLead Credit Analyst at American Express