mark cutler

Director Of Consulting Engagement Manager at Ascendant Strategy Management Group

Bio Summary

Over 15 years' experience as a management consultant specializing in strategy and performance management, data analytics and business intelligence, dashboards and key performance indicators, business transformation strategy, change management, and project management. Expertise in the Balanced Scorecard; strategic planning, measurement, and execution; data analysis; IT strategy; facilitation; and communications.

Specialties: Strategic planning, strategy implementation, performance management, Balanced Scorecard, change management, proposal writing, communications strategy, strategic communications, project management, SaaS implementation, Agile software development, Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), software development life cycle, intellectual property rights strategies, business architecture, and open business models.

Industry Experience: Nonprofit, Government, Utilities and Energy, Finance and Insurance, Education.

Sample Clients: United Nations Federal Credit Union, National Association of Independent Schools, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, Northeast Texas Electric Cooperative, Western Electricity Coordinating Council, National Grid, World Bank, Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures, The Children's School, U.S. Navy, Chevron Corp., Huawei.

Employment History

Founder And Principal

Edison Strategy Solutions, LLC

September 2014 - present

Washington, DC, USA

• Lead strategic planning and performance management consulting engagements--including designing and implementing strategic plans and performance management systems; helping clients develop metrics, dashboards, initiatives, ...see more

Director Of Consulting Engagement Manager

Ascendant Strategy Management Group

November 2010 - present

Washington, DC, USA

• Led multiple strategy and performance management consulting engagements simultaneously--including designing and implementing performance management systems, drafting deliverables, and providing thought leadership--with a wide range of clients including: the Association of Research Libraries, Defense Threat Reduction Agency, the World Bank, Mapfre Insurance, the National Association of Independent Schools, and the Rochester City School District. • Led two year-long Balanced Scorecard strategic planning cohorts with Association of Research Libraries (ARL) members to help them develop strategic objectives, measures, and initiatives for their individual libraries. University research library participants included: Case Western Reserve University, Emory University, James Madison University, New York University, Notre Dame, University at Buffalo, Washington University, George Mason University, and University of California-Santa Barbara. • Planned and facilitated client strategic planning meetings, including interviewing executives, analyzing and synthesizing data, conducting project portfolio analysis, facilitating leadership workshops with C-suite-level and SES-level executives, and developing strategic plans and Balanced Scorecards. • Developed Excel-based agency performance management assessment tool for U.S. of Office of Management & Budget (OMB) Performance Improvement Council (PIC). • Managed annual company conference, including finding venue, marketing, budgeting, recruiting speakers and sponsors, preparing agenda, conducting conference training workshops, and moderating panel discussions. • Helped develop and implement company risk management framework. • Responsible for managing and facilitating company quarterly strategy review meetings, including analyzing, interpreting financial and other performance data. • Developed and was responsible for firm marketing calendar, which included writing quarterly email newsletter, drafting press releases, and blogging on strategy and performance management topics. • Led performance management software implementations at clients, including the Wayne County Airport Authority; the City of Vaughan, ON, Canada; and the City of Fort Collins, CO. • Helped gather requirements for new releases of ClearPoint Strategy software and conducted testing of pre-release versions of software. Conducted market research of competitor products.

Consultant/Subject Matter Expert

J3 Consulting, LLC

March 2020 - September 2021

Washington, DC, USA

• Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) Consulting: Track software development vendors' progress with agreed-to Agile metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) such as team velocity/capacity, Iteration and Prog ...see more

Program Manager

Four

October 2016 - June 2020

Washington, DC, USA

• Project manager for team that provided project management office (PMO) related support to government IT project managers (GPMs) managing Agile and Waterfall software development projects, including helping ensure vendors ...see more

Managing Consultant

IBM

January 2005 - November 2010

Washington, DC, USA

• Key project team member of IBM's change management consulting team to the Navy's Open Architecture Enterprise Team (OAET). Led baseline assessment of current state of the Navy's acquisition and contracting policies for acquiring National Security Systems. Led development and updates of the Naval OA Contract Guidebook for Program Managers. Assessed Navy and industry software reuse practices, including interviewing Navy and industry SMEs, analyzing best practices, and recommending next steps for improving reuse practices across the Navy. • Managed an IT strategy assessment project for Loyola University, a mid-size Catholic college in Maryland. Supervised research and data gathering. Managed project financials. Interviewed and surveyed college deans, faculty, students, and staff on the as-is status and desired to-be model of the Information Technology (IT) organization. Developed a three-year prioritized IT strategic roadmap aligning IT needs to Loyola's strategic plan using data gathered in conjunction with IBM intellectual capital and higher education industry trends. • Conducted interviews and research to rationalize redundant services within NATO command and develop new business architecture. • Led issue-based financial analysis of business operations of Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC)--the Surface Navy's center for research and development. Analyzed financial data to determine costs to run NSWC's operations and tested hypotheses regarding money spent to get advanced military capability to the warfighter. • Developed "CBM Methodology for Huawei," 50-page end-to-end "playbook" for Huawei, a Chinese network equipment manufacturer, specifically to enable Huawei to conduct its own internal analysis using IBM's component business modeling (CBM) methodology. • Led US Air Force pilot Open Architecture (OA) assessment at Hanscom Air Force Base by leveraging knowledge and experience from IBM's Navy OA project to assess the openness of a USAF program. • Conducted an OA assessment of a USAF program using the Navy's OA Assessment Tool and provided recommendations for "opening up" the program with new business practices. • Created a business architecture for Chevron's Operational Excellence Management System (OEMS)--a system of 31 workplace health, environment, and safety processes being implemented across the company. Conducted interviews and group workshops to gather information to properly define 31 OEMS processes and overlaps.

Education

Master's in Business Administration/Management

The George Washington University School of Business

2003

Master's in Pre-Law

Georgetown University Law Center

1997

Bachelor's in English

Tufts University

1993

Language Skills

English

Country Experience

United States China Canada

Skills

Data Analysis

Data Analytics

Information Technology

Data Management,

IT PMO,

IT Strategy

Business

Change & Implementation,

Balance Scorecard,

Monitoring & Evaluation,

Strategy Execution,

Project Management,

Benchmarking & Best Practice,

Business Unit Strategy,

Corporate Strategy,

Strategic Management,

Strategic Planning