Sandra Ellerbee-Watson
Lexington,SC
Summary
Experienced leader known for visionary approach, clarity of purpose, and exceptional ability to transform organizations, implement and manage customer experience programs and drive results. Adept at building high-performing teams and cultures centered around customer-centricity, inspiring buy-in and fostering collaboration. Driven by challenge, innovation, and thrives in disruptive environments. Background of driving positive customer experiences and overseeing full customer journeys, including B2B and B2C. Certified Customer Experience Professional (CCXP) and IDEO U certified in Human-Centered Design.
Overview
24
24
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
SENIOR DIRECTOR OF CX AND PROCESS IMPROVEMENT
MassMutual
Boston, MA
07.2021 - 11.2024
- Company Overview: Leading financial services provider
- Collaborated with senior leaders across functional areas and vendors to enhance the advisor/customer experience, control costs, and address root causes of issues driven by voice of customer, customer needs and experience strategic goals
- Managed customer relationships and ensured customer success by proactively identifying customer needs, uncovering quick wins, and prioritizing strategic initiatives for the roadmap
- Provided transparent and effective communication on experience performance to customers and internal stakeholders, aligning insights with critical success measures to drive continuous improvement and long-term value
- Established an embedded Advisor/Customer Experience team managing Voice of the Customer programs, CX KPI dashboards, journey mapping, and process improvement
- Conducted competitive intelligence, customer satisfaction surveys, and industry research to measure success, identify key drivers for customer retention, and inform data-driven action plans that resulted in enhanced customer retention, operational improvements and revenue growth
- Transformed startup contact center into an omni-channel customer engagement center, implementing and optimizing CRM and telephony platforms (Genesys and ServiceNow) for phone, chat, video, email, workforce management, quality, and knowledge management
- Enabled agile and personalized customer experiences by forming a technology product team to drive 'low code, no code' changes in IVR, channel management, and content, leveraging the new contact center platform
- Proactively led the seamless migration of 400,000+ policies to a new digital platform, ensuring operational efficiency and creating a specialized team for outlier handling
- Developed new business and underwriting advisor experience strategy to improve the ease of doing business, resulting in the implementation of a new account manager business model and investment in technology enhancements to reduce friction points, improving the customer effort score (CES) by 5% within the first 6 months
- Set strategic plans and KPIs to strengthen operations and drive growth.
CX MANAGER
BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina
05.2011 - 07.2021
- Company Overview: Health insurance provider
- Stay up to date with CX and industry trends and best practices, continuously skill building to reflect evolving landscape of customer experience management, establishing KPIs to monitor and measure success
- Recruited, motivated, and provided direction for high-performance CX team, consisting of program managers, strategists, digital experts (technical, UX, UI, content management), and market research specialists
- Implemented robust 'Voice of Customer' program using Qualtrics consumer panels and surveys, engaging thousands of active participants to gather feedback on experiences and processes and drive process improvements
- Leveraged advanced technology solutions, including implementation of Nexidia’s speech and text analytics with 600-seat call center, reducing repeat calls, transfers, and agent knowledge gaps
- Implemented new HealthSparq national provider directory to enhance member access to care and improve overall customer experience
- Swiftly implemented secure SMS texting capabilities during COVID-19 pandemic, engaging patients and retaining customers by expanding SMS/Texting program from internal employees to external customers in just 3 weeks through collaboration with the Digital User Experience team and Care Delivery
- Created CX insight practice to gather member, provider, employer-group and employee understandings providing valuable insights to C-level leaders through executive summaries and presentations
- Launched customer-focused internal communication strategies and initiatives to boost employee morale and shift the call center culture
- Achieved significant improvements, including a 19% increase in first call resolution, an 18% improvement in customer satisfaction, and a 23% increase in world-class calls within a 3-year period
CONTACT CENTER & CLAIMS PROCESSING MANAGER
BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina
Columbia, SC
04.2005 - 05.2011
- Company Overview: Health insurance provider
- Managed day-to-day operations for multiple teams and supervisors with accountability for employee performance management, ensuring adherence to established standards, driving professional development, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement to achieve departmental goals
- Managed vendor relationships, including contract negotiations, to ensure agreement aligned with B2B expectations to support our strategic goals and expected business outcomes
- Collaborated with independent Blue Plans on Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) projects, forging strategic partnerships to enhance service offerings and expand market reach
- Positioned the company as a trusted strategic sourcing partner for Consumer-Driven Health Plan (CDHP) administration for other Blue Plans
- Conducted competitive intelligence, customer satisfaction surveys, and industry research to measure success, identify key drivers for customer retention, and inform data-driven action plans that resulted in enhanced customer retention and revenue growth
- Measured and monitored KPIs, including account-specific service level agreements, avoiding penalties for not meeting contractual expectations
- Led and managed RCM teams including coders, adjusters and appeal team
- Optimize workflows to reduce claim denials, billing errors and revenue leakage
- Implemented cost reductions and developed reporting procedures and systems resulting in 8% cost savings.
- Fostered safe and clean work environment by educating and directing team on control points, equipment and resources.
- Analyzed workload and cycle time data to continuously optimize processes.
PROJECT MANAGER
BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina
07.2000 - 04.2005
- Company Overview: Health insurance provider
- Implemented operational process improvements, digital strategies, and patient satisfaction initiatives, including self-service tools and technologies, resulting in improved customer satisfaction and engagement
- Streamlined billing processes by standardizing procedures and reducing manual errors, resulting in a 20% improvement in payment accuracy and a 30% reduction in processing times
- Successfully managed multiple projects simultaneously by prioritizing tasks according to urgency, resource availability, and alignment with organizational goals.
- Planned, designed, and scheduled phases for large projects.
- Met project deadlines without sacrificing build quality or workplace safety.
- Established effective communication among team members for enhanced collaboration and successful project completion.
- Developed comprehensive project plans with clear timelines, milestones, and budget requirements, ensuring timely delivery of high-quality results.
- Delivered exceptional customer satisfaction by proactively addressing client concerns and meeting or exceeding expectations throughout the engagement process.
Education
Bachelor of Arts - English W/Communications Emphasis
Columbia College
Columbia, SC05.1989
Skills
- Digital strategy
- User experience (UX)
- Effective communication
- Customer intelligence
- Voice of customer insights
- Feedback solicitation
- Roadmap development and refinement
- Process improvement
- Customer satisfaction action planning
- Employee satisfaction action planning
- Team performance management
- Team alignment with operating plans and standards
- Internal stakeholder collaboration
Certification
- Certified Customer Experience Professional (CCXP) | Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA)
- Foundations in Design Thinking | IDEO U
- Brand & Consumer Psychology Masterclass | Holger E. Metzger
- Project Management | Darla Moore’s School of Business—University of South Carolina
Timeline
SENIOR DIRECTOR OF CX AND PROCESS IMPROVEMENT
MassMutual
07.2021 - 11.2024
CX MANAGER
BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina
05.2011 - 07.2021
CONTACT CENTER & CLAIMS PROCESSING MANAGER
BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina
04.2005 - 05.2011
PROJECT MANAGER
BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina
07.2000 - 04.2005
Bachelor of Arts - English W/Communications Emphasis
Columbia College
Similar Profiles
TYSON LONGTYSON LONG
Financial Advisor at MassMutualFinancial Advisor at MassMutual
Emily CevallosEmily Cevallos
Client Data Specialist at MassMutualClient Data Specialist at MassMutual
Livecareer MurphyLivecareer Murphy
Sales Associate at MassMutualSales Associate at MassMutual