Steve Strauss

• Authored enterprise strategy, leveraging AI for Developer Experience and secured co-CEO and SVP approval, establishing an organization-wide mandate for AI capabilities, architecture, and process modernization.
• Built a decentralized PMO operating model that aligned PMs, TPMs, and engineering teams around consistent portfolio planning, prioritization, governance, and execution at scale.
• Led direct customer discovery and rapid prototyping with claude with internal engineering teams; creating feedback loops, implementation guidance, training, and playbooks for AI-enabled developer workflows and customer product deliveries.
• Improved developer productivity for 1,000+ engineers: raised first-pass yield from 35% to 78%, accelerated provisioning by 61%, and reduced validation cycles from 30 minutes to four.
• Co-defined the 2026–2031 technical program roadmap across the portfolio, aligning priorities, dependencies, and ROI with Finance, Legal, Operations, and engineering leadership.

• Launched mobile-first in-house MES platform grounded in user persona research, increasing defect capture accuracy and outbound quality 65% through targeted tablet-first deployment.
• Delivered in-house software integrating ERP, demand planning, and engineering workflows, enhancing usability for operational and vehicle-facing teams.
• Instituted customer-first development framework with continuous feedback loops and rapid iteration cycles, achieving 83% adoption among internal users.

• Established IT Infrastructure PMO from scratch, creating governance, KPI reporting, intake processes, and tooling that set operating standard for infrastructure organization, reporting to VP of Infrastructure.
• Scaled PMO to manage 100+ concurrent projects at peak, prioritizing portfolio delivery and resource allocation across enterprise, commercial, and manufacturing organizations.
• Hired and developed 8 Technical Program Managers, broadening their scope from single-technology ownership to cross-functional programs across enterprise, commercial, and manufacturing.
• Drove $1M+ in OpEx savings through 50+ contractor-to-employee conversions, reducing cost while retaining critical institutional knowledge across the IT organization.

• Designed portfolio, program, and project operating frameworks across project-management tools, creating a consistent system for prioritization, visibility, and execution across infrastructure and manufacturing software programs.

• Built and operated an international venture platform that launched brands across China, India, and other markets, working with local teams to adapt customer acquisition, pitch materials, and market positioning to local behavior and culture.
• Led prototype-led customer discovery across direct outreach, social and large-format advertising, used live customer feedback to refine positioning, and product direction before full-scale investment.
• Created customer and partner delivery processes that turned feedback into defined requirements, implementation checkpoints, quality standards, training, support, and acceptance criteria.

Selected Ventures:

• Tinka: Founded China’s first modern organic kombucha brand, adapting product and manufacturing for local markets through customer testing; starting with 20,000 bottles, then secured a 500,000-bottle order, expanded to India, and achieved a successful acquisition.
• Eyega: Launched and expanded children's eye therapy centers in China, integrating proprietary instruments, treatment processes, and a mobile app; achieved a successful business exit.
• NeverB4: Built a crowdsourced invention platform that turned community ideas into consumer products; the business was acquired.
• Keetron: Built B2B OEM and white-label operations serving customers in the U.S., U.K., Vietnam, and other markets; successfully sold the business.

• Led IT site launches for Harley-Davidson’s York and Kansas City manufacturing plants, deploying SAP, MES, IT infrastructure, and production systems supporting approximately 1,000–2,000 users and 50+ production lines.
• Established and led a cross-functional Command Center spanning four core teams and 50+ vendors, coordinating procurement, service integration, launch readiness, and resolution of production-critical issues.
• Directed SAP, MES, robotics, and IT integration across 50+ production lines, maintaining 99.95% system availability and completing high-availability cutovers in under five hours.
• Coordinated IT delivery across four major manufacturing sites in two countries, supporting consistent launch execution, operational readiness, and stakeholder alignment.
• Led help-desk operations for the York plant, supporting approximately 200 users and maintaining SLA-based service delivery across plant and international requests.
• Developed the Command Center model adopted across Harley-Davidson sites, standardizing launch processes, systems, operating practices, and knowledge transfer.