Theron — Business Owner

Built a great team. Increased training sales and EBIT 12-14% year after year.

Created and maintained global PM procedures for liquid food filling machines and downstream equipment.

Trained customers, Integrators, Distributors, Solution Partners, and internal personell.

2016-Present HICKORY HILL SOLUTIONS, LLC Cumming, GA President - Created technical training materials, PLC programming projects, labs, and test banks for classroom delivery. - Delivered PLC training for programming, diagnostics and troubleshooting, and HMIs using Siemens software. - Tripled gross sales and personally created four new training products over two years. - Managed three contractors as subject matter experts to create three additional training products. - Partnered with both privately-held and non-profit corporations

2014 - 2016 SIEMENS INDUSTRY, INC. Norcross, GA Senior Technical Training Manager - Factory Automation & Drives - Built a motivated & cohesive team of up to 18 direct reports, 11 indirect reports, and 9 contractors to develop and deliver training courses for onsite/offsite national/international class locations in the food and beverage, aerospace, steel, energy, and automotive industries; in both union and non-union facilities. - Specified learning paths to facilitate cross-training; projected 3- and 5-year succession plans based on expected growth and attrition; maximized efficiency. Defined on-boarding procedures; conducted talent assessments. - Scheduled up to 750 standard, custom, solution partner, and distributor classes per year including roughly 470 associated equipment sets and accompanying classroom curricula. - Contributed to profitability of Training Department-12 of 14 years; achieved 12% annual P&L profit; doubled revenue during the last 6 years. - Secured training agreements with internal and external companies; spearheaded numerous development and certification projects to synchronize with product launches. Result: 11 new courses added to the portfolio of offerings and an additional 150+ cash flow-generating classes delivered per annum. - Served as Captain of Building Emergency Response Team and Building Safety Liaison; conducted monthly building safety inspections, quarterly fire/tornado drills, and worked with HR to conduct Workplace Violence and Active Shooter classes

2011 - 2014 SIEMENS INDUSTRY, INC. Technical Training Manager - Factory Automation & Drives Norcross, GA - Managed a national team of up to 18 instructors, six company, and 14 partner training delivery locations. - Coordinated the IACET accreditation process; became an IACET Provider of CEU credits. - Defined specifications for web-accessible time tracking tools to record time against projects for more accurate development planning, time, costs, and pricing. - Created annual budgets for the training delivery segment of the Training Department with quarterly reviews to determine purchase postponements or accelerations to facilitate cash flow. - Monitored weekly course critiques for customer satisfaction; created instructor feedback procedures to address potential problems as they arose; used results to improve curriculum and coach instructors. - Created web-based curricula as an alternative training delivery tool. - Evaluated the viability of smartphone applications as an additional method of delivery

2008 - 2011 SIEMENS INDUSTRY, INC. Training Manager, Drives & Emerging Technologies Norcross, GA - Managed a national team of 12 instructors in 3 locations. - Introduced and developed training for emerging automation and drives products; coordinated product launches with Market Managers using needs assessment, time and cost estimations, and ROI. - Spearheaded Certification programs for distributors, channel partners, system integrators, and field engineers; certified 40+ people during a 2-year period; increased productivity by 60; reduced field issues by roughly 30%. - Instituted an Instructor Certification program; qualified U.S. instructors for global certification by establishing stringent standards based on core criteria; certified instructors in technical competencies, biennially. - Collaborated with Operations to identify, optimize, and transition to a customized LMS for tracking scheduling, enrollments, history, satisfaction surveys, employee utilization & competencies, invoicing & payments, logistics, certifications, and online testing. - Certified Six Sigma Green Belt. - Improved employee satisfaction rating by 50%

2005 - 2008 SIEMENS ENERGY & AUTOMATION, INC. Training Manager, Curriculum Development Norcross, GA - Managed a local team of 8 instructors/developers and 1 Technical Writer. - Established partnership with corporate headquarters; used Dr. Robert Mager's principles and methodologies for instructional design and delivery; became the only training division to co-develop courses for global use. - Directed creation and updates for 150+ course titles. - Defined style guide parameters; established document control, software requirements, and computer image libraries

2002 - 2005 SIEMENS ENERGY & AUTOMATION, INC. Training Manager, Automation & Drives Alpharetta/Norcross, GA - Managed a local team of 5 instructors. - Led a curriculum project team to develop and deliver training to a Nuclear Power Plant, using INPO standards. - Edited courseware and delivered classes, as needed

1999 - 2002 SIEMENS ENERGY & AUTOMATION, INC. Senior Technical Instructor Alpharetta, GA - Taught PLC courses (Level I/II Programming & Maintenance), Advanced Programming Languages, Sales Training for industrial software, HMI, and SCADA courses, locally and abroad, with 60% face time. - Collaborated with SMEs; created training materials and labs for new products. - Specified content for and assisted in the production of CBT and web-based materials and training videos; expanded course offerings; integrated additional learning styles. - Served as Team Leader to write descriptions for the HR Broadband Job Restructuring Initiative, allowing greater latitude for employees to gain experience for advancement