Ruben Ibarra

Summary Senior product leader overseeing customer‑facing voice and chat platforms, driving large‑scale transformations across automation, customer experience, fraud prevention, and operational efficiency. Partnered with engineering, operations, risk, compliance, and external vendors to deliver measurable impact, modernize legacy systems, and support major product launches and decommissioning efforts.

Key Achievements

• Played a key role in launching the Apple Savings Product, including development of IVR and chat channels and integration with the Apple digital wallet.
• Supported the enterprise transition to a new customer chat platform, ensuring stability, continuity, and improved customer experience.
• Led the IVR transformation from a menu‑based system to an intent‑based platform.
  Implemented self‑service bots and enhanced IVR bot capabilities, increasing phone containment from 25% to 75% in 18 months.
  Delivered over $10M in annual savings through automation and improved call routing.
• Directed the decommissioning of IVR and chat channels for the GM Credit Card portfolio following its sale, ensuring a seamless and compliant transition.
• Improved IVR Customer Satisfaction scores by 20% through deep‑dive analysis and collaboration with engineering and operations teams.
• Reduced phone transfer rates by 25% over two years through targeted enhancements and optimization initiatives.
• Served as a liaison between Apple and Goldman Sachs, reviewing product roadmaps, aligning priorities, and delivering KPI reporting for leadership.
• Partnered with legal, compliance, and tech risk teams to secure approvals and ensure customer protection across all customer‑facing initiatives.
• Created new controls for all IVR customer journeys, strengthening governance and risk management.
• Launched a new consent‑order flow within the IVR system to support special handling of accounts with previously declined disputes.
• Partnered with TransUnion to deploy a new IVR‑based Fraud Prevention model to detect robocalls and apply special handling, coordinating approvals and analysis with Fraud, Risk, and Compliance teams.
• Collaborated with Amazon AWS to enhance the intent‑based IVR platform, refining existing bots and developing new ones to improve accuracy and containment.
• Worked closely with cross‑functional stakeholders across the firm to drive initiatives impacting multiple business lines.
• Met daily with engineering teams to groom enhancement and bug tickets in Jira, ensuring clear requirements, prioritization, and timely delivery.

• Managed a portfolio of reporting, analytics, and technical projects supporting enterprise customer care operations with 600+ associates across multiple sites.
• Led a Bangalore‑based reporting and analytics team responsible for data ingestion pipelines and Tableau dashboards that enable performance visibility and decision‑making.
• Served as Project Lead for major system integrations and migrations, including deployment of a new survey platform and workforce management (WFM) system.
• Partnered with vendor implementation teams and internal IT leaders to ensure seamless project execution, risk mitigation, and adoption across contact center teams.
• Oversaw the transition from physical grid cards to VPN soft tokens for 500+ remote associates, improving security and reducing support overhead.
• Managed the Jira board and facilitate daily stand‑ups for the project management team, ensuring alignment, prioritization, and delivery against timelines.
• Led annual peak‑season readiness for three consecutive years, coordinating planning and operational support for a 30%+ surge in call volume and revenue during the holiday period.
• Directed the rollout of a new Order Management System to 600+ associates, ensuring training, change management, and operational continuity.
• Acted as Business Representative for the internal CRM product, collaborating with Product Managers, Scrum Masters, and engineering teams to define acceptance criteria for enhancements and bug fixes.
• Led a $3.1M strategic initiative to close the Milwaukee call center and expand the Lenexa site by 500 seats, partnering with HR, Compensation, Procurement, Facilities Engineering, and senior leadership to deliver on time and within budget.

• Responsible for 60+ non-exempt employees and 4 exempt employees leading all day-to-day call center and risk management operations, including performance, customer satisfaction, and developing appropriate reporting metrics
• Oversaw the dialer strategy for the Dun 2 operations to ensure penetration, contact rate, and roll rate goals were met
• Achieved the highest Dun 2 operations penetration and contact rates in the last three years
• Provided weekly and monthly reporting of our Dun 2 operations that included month to date reporting and comparisons year over year in an effort to identify specific call campaigns that will increase performance
• Responsible for creating a quarterly business dashboard that highlights the scorecard performance, attrition, compliance, and engagement for all three of our sites
• Delivered transformational change through innovative strategic vision, hands-on operational leadership, and relationship building
• Led various initiatives focused on continuous improvement which include the implementation of journey mapping the customer experience for our top contact drivers and identifying friction points that are causing our low contacts per order
• Selected as seed leader responsible for onboarding 400+ Associates and Leaders in the start-up of the Kohl’s Dallas Customer Service Operations Center