Listen before acting
Understand the work as people actually experience it, not only as the process says it should happen.
Experience
I’ve made a career of seeing the whole problem.
In banking, that meant the team, customers, risk, and the scorecard. At Electric Red, it meant helping the people and systems behind a growing business keep pace. I’m proudest of the work that left others better equipped to carry on.
How I approach the work
Start by understanding the system—not just the symptom.
When the answer is not obvious, I stay steady and get curious. I listen to the people closest to the work, trace how decisions and information move, and learn the constraints before changing anything.
From there, I bring the right people together, separate urgent work from systemic issues, and build a path that balances immediate execution with structure that can last. I do not need to be the only person with an answer. I need to help the organization find and act on the next right one.
Connect the whole system
See how people, clients, finances, tools, policy, and daily decisions affect one another.
Build for adoption
Create a practical path people can understand, own, and adjust as the organization learns.
Selected operating outcomes
Results make more sense with the work around them.
These results occurred while I helped a young technology-services company mature from an informal, founder-led operating environment into a more structured multi-state organization.
Headcount growth supported while the company built more mature people systems.
Revenue growth supported through pricing, onboarding, delivery, and operational alignment.
Administrative time reduced by centralizing and improving recurring workflows.
Where my experience is useful
The recurring situations that have shaped my professional strengths.
Across my career, I have often been asked to help when an issue crosses functions, ownership is unclear, or a growing organization needs more structure without adding unnecessary weight.
Growth has outpaced the operating system
Clarify priorities, decision rights, ownership, and the routines needed to scale without relying on heroics.
Work keeps falling between departments
Reconnect handoffs across teams so information travels, accountability is visible, and clients feel the difference.
People systems have not caught up
Strengthen hiring, onboarding, performance, benefits, policy, and employee support with processes people can actually use.
Process is creating more drag than value
Remove unnecessary steps while preserving the controls, documentation, and compliance the work requires.
Technology exists, but adoption does not
Connect tools to real workflows, involve the people doing the work, and make implementation practical.
Important work has no clear owner
Bring structure to cross-functional projects, vendor relationships, and business priorities until ownership can hold.
Career journey
Different environments. A consistent kind of work.
Banking built discipline around risk, relationships, accountability, and measurable performance. Technology services expanded that work across the full operating system. Today, as Founder & Principal of Watkins Strategic Solutions, I apply those experiences to cross-functional work that needs a clear path from research and decision-making through implementation and handoff.
2025—Present
Founder & Principal
Watkins Strategic Solutions
After leaving Electric Red in December 2024, I began independent consulting in January 2025. That work grew into Watkins Strategic Solutions, which I formalized as an LLC in 2026.
I help startup and small-business owners who have too much on their plate or are unsure what to tackle next. I work alongside them to clarify priorities and take responsibility for operations, hiring and people needs, financial administration, projects, registrations, and technology coordination.
The work can be a defined project or ongoing support. Sometimes it means improving a process; sometimes it means taking recurring responsibilities off the owner’s desk and following through, giving them more time for their customers, growth, and the work they started the business to do.
2019—2024
Director of Operations & People
Electric Red, Inc.
I joined a young, fast-growing technology-services company that had been founded only a few years earlier and was still operating in a startup-stage environment. As the business scaled, I helped build the business behind the business—connecting people, finance partnership, vendor management, procurement, legal coordination, facilities, client delivery, compliance, and internal systems into a more cohesive operating model.
That work included designing processes and policies, building people systems, strengthening multi-state operations, leading a headquarters relocation, coordinating enterprise-client pursuit and onboarding, and helping the company transition through COVID. The challenge was not managing isolated functions; it was building an operating foundation that could keep pace with approximately 180% workforce growth, an operating footprint that more than doubled, and revenue growth of more than 150%.
Representative Results
≈180%Headcount increase
≈120%Operating-footprint expansion
≈35 ptsBenefits-participation increase
>150%Revenue increase
2015—2018
Vice President & Licensed Financial Sales Manager
First Citizens Bank
I stepped into an underperforming branch and treated the challenge as an operating turnaround, not simply a production problem. I reset expectations, coached the team, aligned relationship work with daily execution, and made accountability visible. The result was improvement across the full operating scorecard rather than a single sales category.
Representative Results
911%Increase in net profit
346%Increase in business-loan production
5 of 6Performance categories exceeded
2014—2015
Vice President & Branch Manager
The Commercial Bank
I led home-office branch operations and lending for a regional bank, managed a substantial commercial and consumer loan portfolio, and supported the home-office team while improving processes and helping prepare for system change.
2005—2014
Licensed Branch Manager & Mortgage Loan Consultant
SunTrust Bank & SunTrust Mortgage
I moved between branch leadership and mortgage operations, turning a non-performing branch into Branch of the Year and later supporting mortgage work across a regional branch network. The common thread was coaching people, earning client trust, and making performance expectations useful.
2002—2005
Early financial-services roles
Wachovia Bank & Horace Mann Insurance
These roles built an early foundation in customer relationships, deposits, lending, investments, insurance, and retirement planning. At Wachovia, I ranked first in the market for investment and insurance sales and referrals while consistently exceeding broader production goals.
Core strengths
The recurring capabilities behind the career history.
Operations & scale
- Operations
- Process improvement
- Compliance
- Project leadership
People & clients
- People leadership
- Human resources
- Customer experience
Business & delivery
- Finance
- Business growth
- Vendor management
- AI-enabled workflow design
Looking ahead
The work I enjoy most leaves an organization stronger than I found it.
That work can happen inside an organization or through Watkins Strategic Solutions. I’m interested in the responsibility, the people beside me, and whether we can leave the place stronger than we found it.