Rivershark Inc

Keeping the company funded, staffed and serviced.

Senior Vice President of Product Development

Cox Media Group

Gerard McLean joined the NIE Department at the Dayton Daily News in 1998 when newspapers were just considering the transition to digital spaces. In addition to revamping the workflow of the various ediucational products for K-12 including a bi-weekly page targeted to the Ohio Proficiency Test, he was responsible for bringing the department and all its content online, building a community and maintaining outreach with educators and students. His contributions over the 4 1/2 yrs at the DDN included various original editorial on a variety of topics from the environment to pizza, in additional to external and internal marketing that promoted the editorial-focused NIE of the DDN. His signature contribution to the DDN was piloting the fledgling daytondailynews.com through Sept 11, 2001.

- Successful implementation of a materials design and production workflow for a Newspapers In Education department.
- Create graphics and support materials to illustrate and facilitate understanding of original reporting by education specialists
- Write, copyedit and develop curriculum-based reporting for NIE pages

Newspapers in Education

SPAR Group

Develop and support programs that integrated technology and human resources for a field-based IC labor force as well as all general staffing needs for the main office.

VP, HR/Technology

Huffy

Create training programs that increased the efficiency and quality of a field-based, decentralized employee workforce.

Training Manager

Target

Sporting goods, Stock Team Supervisor, Housewares, Mensware/Shoes/Luggage/Boys

Area Specialist

If you're doing it right, somebody is talking about you and your company right now on a social network you probably haven't heard about yet. You need a guide. Hire me.

https://rivershark.com

Go there. Have a look around. Drop us a line. We’ll get stuff done.

What?! You want to know more? 

I like you already as you are not one to be content hanging out on the shore, peering at the ocean. You want to dive in, feel the cold splash of life on your skin as your face cranes toward the warmth of the sun. 

Here’s stuff about me. If I’m the kind of person you think would be fun business, then we really should be talking.

This profile space has been left intentionally blank as I ponder a re-write, re-brand and re-launch from the ground up. I promise it will be pithy, almost truthful and mostly, memorable.

You are invited to be connected to me via the LinkedIn algorithms by following me (I don't know how you do that) or requesting a connection (I DO know how you do that!) Every request will be scrutinized thoroughly for the tracking code IFIWEREARICHMAN and the hashtag #TeamYellowPeanutMM to determine your sanity in wanting this dubious honor. No generic requests will be granted; you must personalize the message .... the selection process will be brutal.

You still want more? Are you kidding right now? What do you think I do all day, poop out words? 

Ok, I do kinda do that... sometimes I can even control which end they come out, though there is no guarantee. No, I will not make a car video or a parody of a client call video. I know, I know, they are all the rage but you probably guessed by now that I roll just a little bit to the left and uphill.

Hey, you asked ... Oh, what's that? You DIDN'T ask? Well, now you know. TMI is my game and I know I have already gone on one sentence longer than you can tolerate. Yet, you kept reading. Who is the crazy one now?

Who stole my Wite-out? Just bring it back, no questions asked.

Hey, if you got this far, condolences... but also here is my original headline before LinkedIn decided that 4 characters was enough for everyone... they are wrong, right? 

Author, Copywriter, Word Slinger, Digital Hobo, Roustabout, Publisher. I also CEO at Rivershark Inc and TourneyCentral in my spare time.

In case you are wondering, the hair in my profile photo is the best it is ever going to look. If you want to know more about my hair, I suggest you buy my book, Monkey with a Loaded Typewriter on Amazon. Just do it... go there now... really, wallet out; I need coffee and a haircut.

Gerard McLean

NCS Group Australia

• Working with a leading Superannuation fund to implement a modern data platform. As a stream lead within the delivery team leading a team of 5 people, my role included the uplift their Data Governance maturity through process development, implementing an enterprise data governance application, leading the curation activities of various newly built data products.
• Led an Information Protection project introducing the use of Sensitivity Labels and Data Loss Prevention controls that affected over 1500 staff with zero down time, controlled minimal productivity impacts and minimal additional ongoing support. Clear, consistent, and effective change management maximised adoption through a mixture of online training module and communication channels including through a Change Champion network established by the Organisation Change Manager. SharePoint pages were used to provide detailed information on the individual labels and associated controls. ISMS policy documentation updated to align with what has been implemented,

Principle Consultant

Arq Group

Arq Group is now part of NCS Australia Group

Principal Consultant - Data Governance

University of Melbourne

Working in the Advancement (Alumni) Stream within a complex multi-year Transformation Program, responsibilities include:
- Lead a team to perform a complex data migration from legacy CRM into the target CRM that is in use by othe business functions.
- Lead the design and implementation of integrations from multiple data supply systems for students, staff, and organisations
- Consult on in-situ data model changes to create/modify tables to hold Advancement data alongside data from other business functions.
- Guide the data migration release process into Production
- Support the data security and data governance required for data migration.
- Knowlege transfer to other teams on the data structures and sets within the target CRM as they apply to Advancement, working predominantly with Central Marketing and Central Reporting teams.
- Work with multiple vendors to understand their software as it influences application integrations and data migration.
- Work with, and support, multiple teams within the Transformation Program consulting on data modelling, integrations, and functionality for data use.
- Lead data stewards, and work with the enterprise data architect, to obtain data governance  approvals.
- Guide duplicate data resolution where data in source and target CRM applications overlap.

Data/Solution Lead

PwC Australia

For national health insurance company transformation program:
- Data mapping governance. 
- Data migration liaison
- Formulate data migration test strategy
- Formulate release governance process supporting data migration

Technology Consultant - Senior Manager

Involved in teaching foundation data analytics to help increase the firm's digital and data literacy. (https://www.afr.com/companies/professional-services/pwc-teaches-more-than-6000-partners-staff-how-to-wrangle-data-20201203-p56k88)

I'm involved implementing Salesforce locally and globally in FMCG, Health, Education, Government, and Manufacturing industries, amongst others. The ultimate goal is always to help clients manage the fitness of the data within their CRM to enable them to derive actionable insights from that data.

Some of the roles I've undertaken include: 
- project manager
- solution architect
- functional consultant
- business analyst
- data lead/analyst

Technology Consultant - Manager

Telstra

Consulting Cloud Solution architect engaged to implement a Product MDM solution into AWS inclusive of overall solution design, infrastructure deployment and standardization, and targeted user training.
Program Solution Architect for 15 concurrent Enterprise Mobility initiatives designing for complementary required business capabilities and variances across Sales, Product Management, Billing, Service Management, Asset Management, and partner integrations.

Cloud System Design Lead

Sensis

Sensis is transitioning to become a digital focused company and revamping some of the underlying technology. As part of this transition program I have been responsible for defining and governing the solutions for Self Service, E-Commerce, Net Promoter Score (NPS), and Customer Migration.

As a Solution Architect, I have been involved in diverse variety of projects including:
- solution definition for the re-platforming of White Pages digital site.
- solution definition for the new public facing corporate website
- solution definition and governing the migration of Customers to new technology platforms
- solution definition and governing the replacement of the Self Service site
- solution definition and governing the replacement of the NPS replacement platform
- overseeing the implementation of an e-commerce solution for Sensis products
- extension and enhancements to the Self Service capability available to Sensis Advertisers on the legacy platforms
- advising on the extension to the NPS program for telephony survey integration
- propose a solution for Customer metered telephone number integration
- assisting on the architecture for an Enterprise Analytics platform
- consulting on Identity Management platform architecture for staff and customers/consumers

Additional to these activities, I am a IT Customer Advocacy champion with the goal to ensure our Customers are at the fore of solutions being designed and delivered.

I am also a corporate social media champion with the goal to spread the importance of corporate communication and knowledge sharing throughout the enterprise.

Solution Architect

Worked on multiple project initiatives including:
-  extending integration with Telstra to support data feeds into the White Pages for Telstra NBN customers. 
- Assist the business analysis for the implementation of Net Promoter Score (NPS) customer advocacy measurement tool within the organisation. Additionally architected and designed the high level solution to integrate with a third party assisting in survey generation, capture, and measurement.
- Design and oversee multiple implementations with third party companies to share and exchange directories listing data.
As part of my role I regularly participated in Change Requests to provide data governance and advice. Through the implementation of multiple projects, I was able to develop and implement new governance practices for the exchange of data between Sensis and various partners.

Data Services Architect

SP AusNet

Data Analyst

Leica Microsystems

Data Architect

SecureMe2

Solution Developer (Part Time)

Schneider Electric

Senior Software Engineer

I'm an Information Management and Technology professional using my breadth of business acumen and technical skills for competitive advantage. I've amassed a wealth of experience throughout my career, I'm ever curious, and I share my passion for continuous learning.

#Catalyst
Having worked with data in a career spanning many data roles, in many organisations, enabling many business functions, I know the benefit of an organisational culture that focus on leveraging data and information assets. I’ve been able to bring data producers, data consumers, and technologists together to extract great business value from those assets. I understand business capabilities and their alignment with operating models and how that can be influenced for competitive advantage through data utilisation.

#Strategist
I bring leadership, accountability, and critical thinking to data management. I have a holistic focus on the benefit not only for departments but simultaneously for the enterprise in how data can be used. I see how data silo’s exist, why they exist, and not only analyse why they persist but synthesize when they should be either torn down or bridges built. I’m a business partner, across all business functions, for both strategic and tactical use of data. 

#Technologist
I’ve been involved in delivery a variety of data related services, whether that be data quality management, data governance, database administration/development, analytics trainer, story teller with data, and technology implementer. As a result of these experiences I am familiar with many technologies and methods for implementation. Software implementations include financial systems, asset management systems, customer relationship management systems, directory systems, resourcing systems, analytics, reporting systems, and the integration between them. 

#Operator
I’ve always had a strong affinity for DAMA and the DAMA wheel, leveraging the knowledge contained in each facet of the wheel. That knowledge has been foundational for my career. How data is used in each system supporting a business function changes the language used to refer to the data, and knowing that language has helped build strong stakeholder relationships and enable me to speak in the language of my business colleagues. This knowledge and approach facilitates an positive disruptive influence whilst still adhering to fundamentals of business, technology, and data management.

taplio

The Battle

Gerard McLean

Winston S.

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?