Patrick O'Connell
Buffalo
Summary
Results-driven with extensive experience in customs brokerage and customer service. Proven track record in leading diverse teams to process thousands of entries while optimizing operational efficiency and enhancing employee training programs.
Overview
27
27
years of professional experience
Work History
ECR MANAGER - Vendor management
FEDEX
01.2017 - Current
- Oversee ECR’s relationship with the Global Shared Service Center (GSSC) and IPW support vendors. The teams consist of approximately 650 vendors and 210 badged front line employees. These teams have multiple customer contact roles that support ECR.
- Work closely with the Customer Experience vendor management group to make sure our goals are aligned.
- The teams work approximately 20k-40k open CEBS cases daily.
- Monitored team progress on open CEBS cases, ensuring adherence to procedures and timely updates.
- Created reports and pulled data on team performance, sending daily status updates to IPW/GSSC.
- My small team handles hundreds of Bill of Lading issues / Port Flips / Errors and any other issues on cases owned by IPW/GSSC.
- Train the teams in new processes and procedures.
- Assist with any technical issues the team may encounter.
- Oversee multiple support chats that receive hundreds of questions a day.
- Maintain SOPs for the various support teams.
- Held regular meetings with teams to gather status updates and production numbers, ensuring alignment with goals.
- I regularly work with ECR Sr. management in order to ensure the IPW/GSSC teams are providing the support we need and remain flexible as business needs change.
ECR MANAGER – ECR -CUSTOMER SERVICE
FEDEX
01.2017 - 01.2026
- Managed a team of 25 -30 employees consisting of 5 team leads, and 20-25 Customs Trade Specialists.
- Recruit, screen, interview, and hire job applicants. Followed by onboarding (IMAGE /PDSM roles) gap training.
- Handled various levels of employees' IT issues. Worked through them in training guides or opened help tickets.
- Managed employee calendars and payroll via Workday App and Outlook, scheduling vacations, floating holidays, overtime, and federal holidays while monitoring attendance and Workday punches daily.
- FY24 my team made 42,213 entries.
- Our group handled thousands of shipments a month in our CEBS system. Along with the 3000+ entries per month and tens of thousands of lines, we also handle BSO’s, Sec321’s, Military, and other various clearance activities that are not accounted for in these numbers.
- Run daily Power bi reports for my employees to show the previous day’s work output(production).
- Run multiple daily Excel scripts to pull workload data, scraping the report for erroneous work to be pulled from the agents’ workload.
- Perform dozens of Bill of Lading update weekly, other entry corrections, and send multiple emails to various port select teams to assist on ones that need manifest updates by the carrier.
- Handled daily escalations stemming from high work volumes and movement issues, providing guidance to customers and fostering strong customer relationships.
- Ensure Team Leads are assisting in keying, updating cases, and supervising their individual span of employees so the team’s goals are met.
- Managing overtime to ensure business needs are addressed with adherence to cost efficiency. Having other employees that are finished for the day help others who may need assistance.
- Address employee issues quickly and efficiently and respectfully. I also have many team members that have various scheduling issues / FMLA, PFL, etc. that are complex, but handled efficiently.
- Reviewed QA referrals regularly to ensure timely resolution of team errors, researching and addressing issues while clearly communicating agreements or disputes.
- Ensure FLC trainings are complete ahead of due dates for the entire team.
- Meet with front line team members at minimum once per quarter to do one on one to reviews of production, accuracy, and any other concerns or suggestions they may have.
- Make decisions daily on various hub related issues and work with FTN hub management to ensure that procedures remain consistent among ports.
- Handle CCII issues and work with port when shipments are not moving, and intercepts are satisfied.
- Monitor all RIGHT documents on Share Point to ensure all teams are utilizing the most up to date procedures.
- Work on a daily basis with little to no supervision. I discuss matters with my manager as needed and try to handle daily matters on my own. I am given the support when needed but am trusted to make sound rational decisions as a manager. I rarely have any escalations that need to be redirected.
- I have worked with employees at many levels of the company and understand that all are important to the organization as a whole, participating in alignment meetings with various internal teams including GSSC, ECR, ECCS, etc.
- Have assigned additional training and mentored employees who have expressed interest in learning more about other departments and advancing. Many of my former employees have advanced within the company to Team Leads, Administrators, Managers, etc.
- Cover for Sr. management during their time off (Holiday/Vacation/Sick).
- Coordinated logistics operations to ensure timely delivery of shipments.
SBP - ACCOUNT ADMINISTRATOR
FEDEX
10.2015 - 01.2017
- Manage accounts of 30+ high volume corporate customers (Microsoft, 3M, Cisco, etc.).
- Help onboard new clients with their accounts; Organize SOP’s, Powers of Attorney, and global brokerage fees.
- Interpret requirements in the clients Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). Develop internal operational procedures.
- Prepare, quantify, and analyze reports for presentation in Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint.
- Link and present detailed statistical import data for client Quarterly Business Review with a focus on Key Performance Indicators.
- Build and strengthen solid connections with clients inside and outside the organization at every level, including senior and executive managers.
- Collaborate with internal and external business partners, vendors, and IT to offer technical troubleshooting and escalation support for the customer.
- Work in tandem with internal and external contacts at all organizational levels to provide regulatory and process guidance within US Customs and FDA regulations and advise on international trade matters.
- Coordinated logistics operations to ensure efficient transportation and delivery of goods.
TEAM LEAD - FDA
FEDEX
01.2010 - 10.2015
- One of two team leads on a group of 20. Facilitate agents, remove performance obstacles, answer questions, build DUPLEX party profiles.
- Corrected ABI errors for our team for both Customs and FDA issues when they arose.
- Worked directly with FDA officers on FDA Notice of Actions to resolve any compliance issues with our entries, or within the customers provided documentation.
- Handled our groups backlog of shipments on their days off, or when they called in.
CLEARANCE/CLASSIFICATION TEAM (VARIOUS ROLES)
FEDEX
05.2006 - 01.2010
- Customs Brokerage of International Shipments. Including reviewing paperwork for incoming shipments and processing entries with US Customs through the DUPLEX system.
- Extensive use of US Harmonized Tariff Schedule.
FRONT END SUPERVISOR
Kmart
West Seneca
01.1999 - 01.2006
- Customer Service Desk
- One-Hour Photo
Education
B.S. - International Business and Trade
State University of New York At Buffalo
01-2005
High School -
Bishop Timon High School
Buffalo, NY01-2001
Skills
- Customer service
- Vendor management
- Data reporting
- Process optimization
- Strategic Decision-Making
- Prioritization and Scheduling
- Team leadership
- Employee training
- Decision making
- Effective communication
Timeline
ECR MANAGER - Vendor management
FEDEX
01.2017 - Current
ECR MANAGER – ECR -CUSTOMER SERVICE
FEDEX
01.2017 - 01.2026
SBP - ACCOUNT ADMINISTRATOR
FEDEX
10.2015 - 01.2017
TEAM LEAD - FDA
FEDEX
01.2010 - 10.2015
CLEARANCE/CLASSIFICATION TEAM (VARIOUS ROLES)
FEDEX
05.2006 - 01.2010
FRONT END SUPERVISOR
Kmart
01.1999 - 01.2006
B.S. - International Business and Trade
State University of New York At Buffalo
High School -
Bishop Timon High School