Team Bios

Lori Bocklund, Founder and President (Download PDF Bio)

Lori is a widely recognized and respected expert in contact center strategy, technology and operations. She brings her thoughtful and insightful expertise to each client engagement, creating custom project approaches that serve clients' needs and solve real business challenges. Lori has the background and experience to not only develop the vision and strategy (and communicate it in a practical, results-focused way), but she also ensures the structure and framework deliver value each and every time. That's why so many people come back for repeat engagements, read her publications, and come to hear her speak at industry events around the world. They trust her and her unbiased, real-world knowledge of a wide range of contact center technologies.

Lori founded Strategic Contact in 2004 after spending nearly two decades in the contact center industry and working as a consultant for many years. She's attracted a team of other like-minded, bright, results-focused consultants. Together, it is the people, the processes and their collective technology expertise that contribute to the company's ever-growing best practices library.

Lori's no-nonsense style and extensive knowledge of technologies and processes is highly coveted in the industry. Clients have sought her help on a variety of projects, including these types of engagements: Developing call center and technology strategies with associated business cases to address client business objectives; Leading clients through reengineering and redesign projects that included process change, organizational redesign, change management, and technology acquisition and implementation; Helping build contact centers from the ground up to support new companies or new business initiatives; Assessing existing operations and technology environments against best practices and then developing actionable recommendations for process changes, new management practices, and organizational change (including choosing an outsourcer); Developing requirements and helping clients select and implement the best technologies to meet their needs (ACD, CRM, CTI, IVR, QM, WFM); and Serving as an expert witness in patent lawsuits in the contact center technology industry.

Lori has also co-authored the highly applauded book, Call Center Technology Demystified, along with many papers, toolkits, and a highly rated training course on call center technology planning and design. She's a frequent columnist and contributor in industry publications such as SearchCRM and Customer Management Insight, and has presented at conferences around the globe such as ICMI ACCE/Knowledge Exchange, CC Demo, LOMA, ComNet, Purdue Call Center Campus, ICCM, DMA, MTA and others.

Lori received her Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from South Dakota State University, and her Masters of Science in Electrical Engineering from George Washington University. She also holds certification in Change Management with Prosci. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and enjoys the challenge (and accomplishment) of a strenuous bicycle ride or cross-country skiing or snowshoeing adventure.

Brian brings a unique and highly valued combination of strategy, process, and financial experience to contact center consulting. He shows clients how technology can add strategic value and how to best synchronize contact center decisions with corporate strategy. His background in strategic and operational planning helps clients fully grasp all aspects of business analysis in order to provide the necessary information for decision makers.

Brian has 20 years of experience in organizational management and an additional ten years in contact center consulting. He has also held positions in executive management in start-up companies and in multi-million dollar corporations. He joined Strategic Contact in 2006 after being President of Primary Matters, Inc. where he was directly involved in the design, development, application and support of an activity-based planning and analysis tool for contact centers. Brian provided all customer training and support to the contact centers using the planning and analysis tool, as well as completing consulting projects within contact centers focusing on process-driven analysis.

With deep expertise in process-driven analysis, Brian has helped clients on a wide-range of projects, including: Determining total-cost-of-ownership and ROI for business and technology initiatives; Designing IT projects to optimize business benefits; Defining requirements, selecting technologies, and providing project management for implementation; Projecting accurate, detailed budgets and resource (headcount and system) requirements; viewing detailed forecasts of labor requirements and hiring; Examining the impact of re-designing business processes; and Benchmarking organizational best practices and generalize across the organization for efficiency.

He has authored several key financial planning models used by Fortune 50 companies in the design of next generation 800 networks, in corporate business plans, and as sales tools. He has also authored several articles and white papers and speaks at customer support conferences on using process analysis to understand resource requirement projections, the impact of technology on productivity, technology requirements, selection, and strategy, building business cases and producing ROI on technology and process changes.

Brian has an M.B.A. in Business Administration from Harvard Business School, Harvard University and a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Illinois. Brian is a retired U.S. Navy Commander. He lives in Watkinsville, Georgia where, when he is home, he tries to keep up with his family's school, church and music activities.

Matt's 24 years of experience working in the telecommunications and call center industries are brought to every strategy, technology, and operations project. Clients applaud his deep expertise creating and delivering solutions that address the relevant and pressing challenges they face in the contact center today. Matt's unbiased approach helps them navigate through the hype of many strategies and technologies.

Matt brings a diverse background in call center product and industry knowledge, and application design consulting for voice and call center solutions. Prior to joining the Strategic Contact team in 2005, he was a manager of call center services and collaborative products for a major service provider, with a focus on next generation IP Contact Centers, including hosted solutions.

He has also played an integral role in developing call center solution offerings, evaluating vendors and products, creating service offerings, and delivering call center solutions to the marketplace. Matt has held positions in the areas of sales planning, quality management, product development, sales consulting, and operations, including implementation and support.

Clients tap Matt's expertise on a wide variety of projects. A few of his most recent engagements involved helping a Fortune 100 company transform their customer interactions through technology, process, and organizational change; Delivering a network based (hosted) contact center product concept for a major service provider; Designing, developing and rolling out network based IVR product and services; Helping business customers design call center applications to effectively route callers to the best available resource; Creating and delivering training to field sales and customers on call center capabilities and services; Developing and staffing a 24 x 7 call center support team; and Creating a process improvement process that standardized IVR implementations that resulted in a decrease in work errors to less than 1% and met customer delivery dates 99% of the time.

Matt has a B.S. in Computer Science from Mount Union College and he has a Six Sigma Green Belt. He lives in Overland Park, Kansas and when he's not on a plane coming to/from client sites, you'll find him enjoying sports and woodworking, or watching his daughters' dance performances with his wife.

Steve is a highly regarded contact center operations professional with the unique ability to see the big picture and apply innovative solutions that drive valued and measurable results for clients. His 26 years of operations experience come from a wide variety of markets, including Airline and Hotel Reservations, Telecommunications, Insurance, Catalog and Retail Sales, Wireless Telecommunications and Data.

Steve has successfully planned and directed a comprehensive range of domestic and international operations including contact center startups, consolidations, outsourced management, labor contracts and multi-center networks ranging in size from 50 to 7,500 employees.

A sampling of his recent accomplishments includes: Consolidating call center operations for four companies and 12 centers into one virtual operation; Developing and implementing dashboard reporting at the representative, center and enterprise level providing immediate performance feedback on service and financial reporting; Implementing a network workforce management system consolidating three legacy systems in 12 autonomous centers into one virtual operation; and Developing a consolidated call handling group, routing and capacity plan providing the ability for inter-company centers to cross-utilize resources to reduce outsourcing and operating costs.

Steve's international expertise is continually in demand. For example, he has conducted feasibility studies regarding data and telecommunications systems and costs for regional service centers in India and South America, as well as completed a project implementation plan for a regional service center in Dubai, UAE. He has opened a reservations center in Singapore offering toll free service to seven Asian countries, implemented new telecom systems and networks in Brussels, London, Toronto, Mexico City, Singapore and Sydney, as well as developed North American and International Disaster Recovery plans for a major Hotel and Hospitality Company's Reservation Sales Offices.

Steve has completed studies in Cultural Anthropology at University of Northern Colorado, International Relations and Philosophy at Arizona State University, and African Political and Cultural Development at University of East Africa, Nairobi, Kenya. Steve's pastimes include reading, travel, and having a great dinner with a few close friends.

Lori is an enthusiastic contact center leader. She is certified with CIAC as a Contact Center Management Consultant (CCMC) and with Prosci in Change Management methodologies and tools. She brings a unique blend of strategy, team development and focus on customer experience with revenue generation. She understands and is able to show clients how technology is an enabler to help achieve results. Her primary focus is on contact center people, processes and the training needed to help them accomplish their strategic goals with the help of technology and sound business processes.

Lori has over 20 years experience in leading sales, customer service and technical support teams in both the USA and in Europe. She has experience in the publishing, healthcare, training, retail, manufacturing and high-tech industries, which is applicable to clients in all industries. She takes over mediocre or new teams and puts into place the people, processes and technology to make those teams great within their company and industry. Lori has experience in identifying and developing third party vendor results and in outsourcing domestically and offshore. She thrives on leading teams to greatness in customer experience and revenue generation. Lori combines process streamlining with technology implementation, training and staff career development.

Lori's results in team change management and converting a service team to a profit center are available in ÒA Cut Above the RestÓ an article that can be found in CCMR, February 2006. At ACCE 2006, she presented ÒA Service to Sales Success StoryÓ a case study on leading team change and revenue development. She is a yearly speaker at NWSP on topics such as Offshore Outsourcing, Performance Optimization and Team Development.

She graduated from Oregon State University with a Bachelor of Science in Horticulture. She lives in Oregon where she tries to keep up with her family's school activities while being an active member of World Vision's Portland Women of Vision chapter, Board member of NW Support Professionals and OSU Library Advisory Council and an active volunteer at Haystack Rock Marine Garden in Cannon Beach, Oregon.

Maren is a proven strategist and consultant with over 25 years of contact center and telecommunications experience. Prior to joining Strategic Contact, she served clients in private practice and as a consultant with a global management consulting firm. She also held sales, marketing, and product development positions in start-up and multi-million dollar corporations.

Representative end user client engagements include: Developing operations and technology strategies consistent with business objectives and budgetary considerations; Building business cases for new centers with associated operations and technology plans; Assessing the impact of Web-based services on contact center operations; Managing technology acquisition from RFP through vendor selection, contract negotiation, and implementation; Conducting contact center audits to assess strategy, operations, use of technology, and organizational effectiveness. Representative vendor engagements include: Assessing industry trends and the competitive landscape to identify attractive market opportunities; Setting product development priorities consistent with business strategy and customer requirements; Crafting marketing, sales, channel support, and promotional plans for new product launch; Authoring white papers, technical references, marketing collateral, and press releases.

Maren has an MBA from Stanford University, an MDiv from Duke University, and a BA in management science from the University of California at San Diego. She lives in Beaverton, OR with her husband and serves as an Oregon State University Extension Service Master Gardening Volunteer. She also designs and develops web sites for non-profits.