Jay Hawkinson

Executive Information Technology Leader, Food & Beverages

Jay Hawkinson - Fusing business and technology together to fuel change and accelerate value!

Jay Hawkinson's Bio:

Jay Hawkinson's Experience:

• Sr Director Data & Analytics at Lamb Weston, Inc

  December 2023 - Present | Eagle, ID

  31 direct reports and over thirty indirect in decentralized Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office. Created a decentralized Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office, focusing on using global data to increase business value. Reorganized a strictly IT reporting function, built and started delivering on a strategy of reusable Digital Data Products, Self-Service Enablement, and a quick time to value. Collaborated with and presented Data Strategy and roadmap. Regularly interfaced and influenced C-Level executives (including CIDO, CFO, and CSO) on driving initiatives like self-service, AI, data useability, and Innovation. Used AWS and Snowflake to create a Data Lakehouse to address global needs, both tactical (lack of visibility after a complex SAP implementation) and strategic (secure data stores across APAC, EMEA, and Americas). Led multiple teams to use the new data and technologies across functions. Successes with Inventory Visibility (saved 26 people from manual work), approving claims (replacing over $400K in temps), and several AI initiatives. Reduced budget by over 25% in year one, improving service and maturity.

• Director of Data Analytics & Insights at Valmont Industries

  January 2020 - September 2023 | Omaha, Nebraska, USA

  19 direct reports and twenty indirect in four functional based Data Governance and Stewardship Centers of Excellence. Led the shift towards a data-centric organizational model, maturing and standardizing data & analytics functions across the enterprise and outpacing industrial peers in maturity (Gartner). 80% improvement in delivery time and fostering 26% reduction in time-to-insights. Created a single Data Lakehouse (Azure Databricks) to house all data across 39 business units, applying common process and data quality checks to improve accessibility and useability. Led multiple teams to use the new data and technologies across functions. Successes with Artificial Intelligence for HR, EHS Safety, and Material Forecast, reducing 14%-time lost incidents, $1M in improved productivity, and reducing licensing costs by 36%.

• Interim CIO at AFL Global

  July 2018 - April 2020 | Duncan, SC

  IT Leadership over business solutions, with global team of 38 associates & 4 managers, with an annual budget of $16M. Directed EIM, ERP (Oracle EBS, SAP, and Great Plains), Microsoft Azure, custom, cloud, and on premise applications. Sped up innovation and creation of business value by over 25% while maintaining seamless operations. Defined, Proposed, and gained C-Suite level buy-in on 3-year strategic roadmap ; Directed global, virtual teams (US, UK, EMEA, APAC) for project delivery. Enhanced value from SFDC, by saving 9% in Actual Cost per User while adding more features through negotiation with SFDC. Reduced risk by identifying and replacing two high business risk systems (Australia ERP and US Quality Testing system. Sourced, hired, onboarded, and developed Architecture Team to guide business through IT and business transformation. Additional positions: Director of Business Solutions and integration (2019-2020); Director of Enterprise Architecture and integration (2018–2019)

• Director of Technology at Virtual Business Office Associates

  October 2017 - July 2018 | Columbia, SC

  Supervised team of 17 employees and played key role in delivering strategic changes for operations. Oversaw all data processing, programming, and technical decisions within VBOA. • Increased ability to flex by reducing training time from 6 to under 1 month through creation of formal training program for new Data Associates. • Delivered improvements of over 25% reducing rework and client issues through enhanced communication between Technology and Operations. • Lead technology improvements investigation and created and gained approval for multi-year strategic plan with Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Enterprise Data Services (EDS), and Visualization/Analytical tools.

• Global Senior IT Manager at Belden

  January 2003 - October 2017 | Indianapolis, IN

  Belden ($2,308M revenue in 2014) globally produces and sells a comprehensive portfolio of connectivity and networking products into a variety of markets, including industrial, enterprise, and broadcast. Initially hired as a Network Security Analyst in 2003, but promoted quickly within the Global IT organization. As a member of the IT Leadership team (CIO + 5 leaders), with team responsibilities over Global IT Strategy Deployment and IT Service Delivery. Current areas of responsibilities include: Global Sales and Marketing Tools IT Delivery (including SFDC, Hubspot, SAVO); Sales Operations for Americas (Sales Incentive, Compensation and Analytics); IT Service Delivery for one of Belden’s four business platforms (Industrial IT); Overseeing Front Office applications (Sales, Marketing, Service) in our GrassValley organization; and Global Project Management Office for IT (including Strategy planning and deployment, standards and best practices, Lean IT, IT Quality and Metrics, Architecture, and IT Partnership with the business). ▪ Managing the integration, and day to day operations, of all front office process and applications (Finance, HR, CRM, Sales Engineering, Marketing, Service, and PLM) of a new acquisition into Belden. Managing seven multi-functional teams. (2014+) ▪ Successfully managed 6 migrations/conversions to Salesforce.Com (SFDC) for over 1200 associates, from multiple regions, business units and functions. Continue to manage four SFDC instances for Sales, Marketing and Service. (2012+) ▪ Spearheaded the project management, delivery and support of a centralized Global BI System (SQL & Hyperion), and increased number of Global BI users 400% by developing value proposition and gaining buy-in from business VPs (2008+) ▪ Led special SOX compliance project, instituting policies and procedures for Americas IT. Selected as IT member of corporate compliance committee and instituted policies and procedures for SOX compliance across 17 global business units. (2005+)

Jay Hawkinson's Education:

• Western Governors University

  2016 – 2016
  MSc Management and Leadership

• WGU

  2013 – 2015
  MBA
  Concentration: Information Technology Management

• Marist College

  BSc
  Concentration: Computer Science

Jay Hawkinson's Interests & Activities: