Our Commitment Is to Your Strategic Success
We’re a capable team of entrepreneurs at a privately-held company that have developed amazing software and planning processes to clarify your KPIs, generate the plan and track the results you need to be successful, we’re Mass Ingenuity.
Mass Ingenuity, based in Portland OR, has been helping large and small enterprises capture and implement strategic plans and change management for over 11 years. That success is the backbone of the Results Software platform.
Mass Ingenuity is led by Aaron Howard, a forward-thinking CEO, whose professional experience reaches back to the early days of desktop publishing and graphic design software. His future vision of Data Analytics is clear and focused on ease of use and clarity of results for the user. The team at Mass Ingenuity is made up of industry veterans that have not only helped clients achieve exceptional results, but have also produced success at every step of their careers. As entrepreneurs, CEOs and Department Heads, the MI team is experienced in planning, executing and reporting at a consistently high level.
When you work with Mass Ingenuity, deploy Results Software or read our blog, you get the collective strategy, implementation and tracking practices from a professional team that cares about your outcomes and will support your vision with their best practices. Ask for a few references or contact one of your peers at one of our satisfied clients https://www.massingenuity.com/customers/.
Meet The Team
Aaron Howard, Chief Executive Officer
Aaron is an industry leader in designing and installing visual business solutions. He has developed these solutions over the last 20 years and applied them to numerous areas across the enterprise, including strategy development and implementation, board governance, process improvement, risk management, audit and internal controls, leadership development, organizational transformation, and project management.
Through these visual business solutions, Aaron has enabled leaders and employees to achieve outstanding results by providing a quicker and greater understanding of complex business functions, processes, and problems. In addition, his work has enabled a better grasp of cross-organizational connections and dependencies, increased individual accountability, and team collaboration.
The tools also provide stronger prioritization, more concise and relevant communication (which remains more readily remembered), faster and more effective planning and execution efforts, more reliable decisions, and reduced waste.
Aaron is certified in Total Quality Management (TQM) from the Crosby Quality College. In addition, he is Lean and Six Sigma certified. He has successfully implemented Crosby TQM, Lean and Six Sigma at a division of Squibb Pharmaceuticals and Aldus (the PageMaker company and ninth largest software company at the time).
Aaron has held senior executive positions within publicly traded enterprises and venture funded companies ranging from $5-100+ million in annual sales. Aaron has managed teams from startups to over 1,000 people. He grew U.S. sales of Aldus PageMaker software to over $100 million and brought to market the first all-digital diagnostic ultrasound scanner (now owned by Philips Medical Systems).
At StanCorp Financial Group, Aaron was Vice President, Retirement Plan Services. This business unit provided retirement plan administrative services for plans totaling in excess of $20 billion in assets. The business unit served approximately 5,000 plans and more than 400,000 plan participants and offered plans for 401(k), 403(b) and 457 customers. Both defined benefit and defined contribution plans were administered by Aaron’s organization.
Aaron and his organization interacted directly with retirement plan sponsors, retirement plan participants, internal and external pension consultants, and other external channel partners who sold and serviced the customer. He also managed organization development and process improvements within this business unit. This work included aligning retirement plan services processes with the evolving needs of both retirement plan sponsors and retirement plan participants.
Aaron’s consulting clients include Oregon Department of Administrative Services, Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services, Oregon Department of Human Services, Oregon Health Authority, Paccess Global, American Electronics Association, Washington Software Association, University of Washington, Michael G. Foster School of Business Entrepreneur Center, Portland State University Entrepreneur Center, Sony Electronics, Disney Interactive and Feature Film, Microsoft, Philips Interactive Media, Nike, Kodak, McGraw-Hill Home Interactive, The Washington Post, Toshiba, National Geographic, Apple Computer, NeXT Computers, REI, and HarperCollins. Aaron has a MSEE and BSEE in Electrical Engineering with a focus on computer science and bioengineering from the University of Washington.
Kelly Ferguson, Chief Operating Officer
Kelly has 28 years as an entrepreneur, sales and marketing leader, OD manager for a Fortune 1000 company, senior OD consultant, and process improvement facilitator. She has over 15 years in relationship-based sales, successfully closing and implementing large-scale projects at Microsoft, Nike, Starbucks, Nordstrom, StanCorp Financial Group, Coinstar and REI.
Kelly is responsible for company-wide marketing strategy, as well as channel development and support. She is committed to supporting clients improve business results, employee engagement and ultimately a high-quality customer experience. As a leader, Kelly is recognized for her drive to grow companies from start-ups to large enterprises by focusing on top-line growth, the introduction of innovative products and services while developing diverse relationships. She consistently makes the customer experience and results the highest priority.
Kelly has a BA from the University of Washington in Liberal Studies and a MS in Organization Development from Central Washington University.
Kate Sterner, Chief Financial Officer
Kathryn “Kate” Sterner brings 30+ years of experience in finance, business strategy, operations, M&A, strategic partnerships and financial services. Her experience spans private and public companies across various industries. Holding roles of CFO, Vice President of Marketing, Operations, Finance, Banking has provided extensive, real-world experience in both strategic visioning and tactical execution of finance and operational strategies that achieved tangible and lasting results. This broad-based background brings a high level of acumen, beyond finance, to the team.
Kate has been continually recognized for delivering results, managing change, and driving complex decisions through an achievement oriented approach. She is energetic, analytical, a broad and creative thinker who enjoys collaborating with others. She thrives in bringing integrity, trust and purpose to her work.
Prior to moving to Portland, Oregon in the Fall 2016, Kate was a partner in a national firm providing CFO services to privately-held clients. From 2002 – 2012, Kate held senior level positions in Finance and Operations at Korn/Ferry Leadership & Talent Consulting and Lominger International, both global companies specializing in talent recruitment and talent assessment, respectively. In addition to the above Kate co-owned a broker/dealer and consulting firm, spent six years in banking, was VP Product Management and Consulting Manager with one a premier firm.
Some of her prior responsibilities include:
- VP Operations for Korn / Ferry Leadership and Talent Consulting
- Vice President, Finance Lominger International
- CFO Lominger (prior to the acquisition by Korn / Ferry)
- Participating on the thought leadership team that developed market strategy, globalization, customer segmentation planning, and growth strategies that doubled revenue in three years
- Finance representative on major pre- and post-acquisition teams
- Business process improvement, change management, and team development
- Marketing and product management background for a business re-engineering technology company
Kate’s responsibilities at Mass Ingenuity include Finance, Human Resources, IT, Investor Relations, Strategic Partnerships and M&A.
Kate holds an MBA in Finance from the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota and a BS in Accounting from St. Cloud University. Although lapsed, she held NASD Series 7, Series 66 and Series 24.
Scott Harra, Executive Vice President of Marketing and Government Relations
Scott is an Executive Vice President with Mass Ingenuity. He is an economist with 30 years of management experience in state government. His career in state government started in Oregon’s Budget and Management Division, the Governor’s budget building office. He also has served with the state’s Legislative Fiscal Office. The bulk of Scott’s career has been with the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services, the state’s largest regulatory agency with oversight of the insurance, banking, credit union, workers’ compensation, and building codes arenas. In his nearly 20 years at the agency, he has served as the budget director, chief financial officer, deputy director, and director.
He was appointed to head the Oregon Department of Administrative Services by then Governor Kulongoski, a role he served in during the final three years of that administration. Later in his career, Scott was appointment by State Treasurer Ted Wheeler and Deputy Treasurer Darren Bond to serve as Chief Administrative Officer and Executive Advisor where he played a key role in developing Oregon State Treasury’s shared services functions and modernizing the investment operations of the state.
Tom Moore, Regional Vice President
Tom has been working with the Management System for over 12 years. He worked closely with Mass Ingenuity’s founder, John Bernard, while he worked at StanCorp Financial Group as an internal consultant. He has over 15 years in the financial services and telecommunications industries covering B2B and B2C. He was a leader in Operations and Engineering at Electric Lightwave LLC, a subsidiary of Citizens Utilities.
Tom has rolled up his sleeves with businesses and teams to achieve industry and product leadership, creating the most efficient and effective organization, and winning customers and their loyalty. He has worked in business development, marketing, operations, engineering, organization development, and has led enterprise-wide multi-million dollar initiatives. Prior to joining the firm, Tom was the Director of Organization Development at The Standard and a Business Development Consultant and a member of the leadership team for Adaptu LLC, a cloud-based personal finance social media site.
As part of Mass Ingenuity’s Professional Services team, he is responsible for delivering services and products that deliver high client value. He believes that success is shaped by developing inspired objectives, blending the right expertise, building strong relationships, and setting the bar extremely high for himself and others. He has delivered leadership and entrepreneurship programs.
He is the lead consultant for the Oregon Health Authority and Oregon Dept. of Human Services in building their NOW Management System. Tom is certified in project management (PMP) and received certificates in change management, business process management and improvement.
Tom has a BA in Business and an MBA from the University of Portland.
Jim Clark, Vice President, Professional Services
Jim has over 20 years of diverse industry experience in leadership roles in small and large corporations and portfolio companies with strong brand focus in the Outdoor Recreation market. Industry categories of experience include highly engineered hard goods (Yakima Products), paddle sports and accessories (Perception, Dagger), family camping (The Coleman Company), fishing and hunting products (Flambeau) and outdoor media services. In his role as President and CEO, Jim has led the strategic planning process for a complex multi-site, multi-brand businesses, as well entrepreneurial organizations seeking to grow.
He has a strong sales and marketing background and is adept at building brands and developing effective growth strategies. Jim also has a well-rounded organization development and operations background. He has overseen several acquisitions and divestitures, restructured management teams and led process improvements in sales operations, product planning and operations. Jim holds an MBA from Southern Illinois University and a BA from Middle Tennessee State University.
He is the past Vice Chair of the Outdoor Industry Association Board of Directors, past President of the Outdoor Industry Foundation, and is a Board Director for Leupold and Stevens and Big Brothers Big Sisters Columbia Northwest.
Jim has an MBA in Economics and Finance from the Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.
Emanuel Rose, B2B Digital Marketing Specialist | Manufacturing Lead Generation Expert | Social Media Strategist | Fly Fisherman
Lisa Blank, Digital | Social | Event Marketing, Branding | Account Management and Project Management
Gillian Ettwein, Remote Office Manager
Winter Faulk, Principal Software Engineer
Joram Mwangi, LinkedIn Lead Generation Specialist & Email Marketing
Casey Marenge, Digital Strategy | Social Media Management | Business & Brand Development | Web Development
Donna Bentley, Digital Designer
Elaine Kane, Graphic Design | Creative Direction| Print Production
Iftakhar Afzal, Presentation & Graphics | Designer
Brian Njenga, Content Writer | Copywriter & Prolific Academic Writer
Emanuel Rose and Team
Chris Barker,Senior Consultant and Results Software Product Manager
Chris Barker joined Mass Ingenuity as an administrative assistant in August 2011. Her background includes seven years working in a variety of administration roles at Northern Trust Company in Chicago and Northern Trust of California. While there, she participated in a two-year officer training trust program and completed rotations in marketing, trust administration, tax, and operations. At Northern, Christine was the recipient of the Chairman’s Signature Service award for her efforts serving on a statewide quality improvement task force aimed at improving operational procedures.
Christine and her husband relocated to Portland, Oregon in 1996 and have three children. She spends the weekends cheering her children on at their sporting and theater activities, plus she and her husband have played coed softball for the past 19 years.
Christine has a BS in Business Administration from University of Illinois in Urbana, Campaign and an associated degree in paralegal studies from Pioneer Pacific College.
Kelly Johnston, Senior Consultant
Kelly serves as a senior consultant. She is an organizational development professional specializing in strategy creation, executive consulting, and workforce planning. She has extensive experience addressing strategic enterprise needs in various settings. She has demonstrated ability to improve organizational effectiveness by designing and implementing large-scale change, innovative, non-traditional learning approaches, and talent development programs. She has the ability to apply analytical skills to learning programs, and is an excellent consultant able to partner with all levels internally and externally.
Kelly has led senior government executive teams and frontline employees in the customized development of the Results Management System, including goals, performance measures, defined processes, scorecards, progress reviews, strategic plans, initiative roadmap, breakthroughs, problem solving, process improvement, employee engagement, change management, and communication efforts. Kelly led the installation of the Results Management System at Washington Health Care Authority, Washington Department of Licensing, Washington’s Commerce Department, and Washington’s Lottery. She has also facilitated the development of the agency’s management System with its goals, core processes, measures, and owners.
At the Oregon Department of Education, Kelly led review of talent management practices and HR function to identify improvement opportunities within the department. She aligned improvement opportunities to support the organizational strategic goal to become an employer of choice. She identified core processes and key process measures for HR functions and created a regular review process partnering the executive level with the HR team to ensure shared accountability.
Kelly provided solutions to enterprise-level challenges, including strategy design, employee driven research and development, and large-scale change. She has provided organizational development consultation to executive team, helping to stabilize team, and reduce team turnover from 14 membership changes in 3.5 years to zero changes for 12 months. Her employee engagement initiative won the National Transit Institute Model Program Award in 2009.
Kelly has provided programming to over 4,500 participants and 152 groups annually. She analyzed a five-year span on trends in both program participation and fiscal management which led to an increase in profits by 30 percent. Further, she researched and developed policies and procedures relating to staff, risk management, and program use.
Paul Aljets, Data Analyst
Paul Aljets has worked with the Mass Ingenuity team for five years. He first served as an Assistant to the Chairman and later as a freelance researcher and data analyst. Paul has helped develop the user experience for the Results software as well as provided support for its data and visual analytics. He also provides internal research for Mass Ingenuity including market and product analysis.
Paul has nine years of experience as a researcher and analyst. He has worked on projects for multinational corporations, state agencies, and local governments. He prefers a jack-of-all-trades approach to research; using both quantitative and qualitative methods to solve client problems. He has experience in everything from surveys to agent-based modelling.
Paul received a Masters degree from Oregon State University in 2010 in Public Policy. He is currently working towards a PhD in Systems Science at Portland State University.
Jennifer Cordon, Accounting
Jennifer Cordon is an accounting professional with 20+ years of experience in all levels of accounting. She began her financial career within the Marine Corps, dedicating 15 years to the service of her country. As a prior Accounting Consultant, she has had the opportunity to work within a multitude of different industries and is familiar with the finances for both Profit and Not-for-Profit Businesses, as well as State and Federal agencies. Besides providing an array of superior financial values and services, her background has focused on insuring companies are set up for internal audits and are GAAP Compliant. She is very detail-oriented and a strong multi-tasker with excellent communication skills.
Tim Dexter, Cloud Computing
Tim is an IT professional with over 20 years of experience providing system design and support for organizations ranging from small business to multinational enterprises. In 2007 he founded Dexter Network Engineering, LLC a consulting firm focused on supporting small professional services companies with desktop, server and cloud solutions in the Portland Oregon area. Tim is a Microsoft Certified Network Engineer.
Bobbi Benson, Creative Director, Marketing Communications Designer
Bobbi Benson, a seasoned Creative Director, has over 30 years of experience implementing conceptual design, devising branding strategies, creating innovative marketing materials, and supporting an environment that fosters collaboration. Creative services include analytical design problem-solving and synthesizing communication messaging and challenges with inspired visual solutions. While operating a Creative Services/Marketing Firm in the Denver/Boulder area for over 20 years, she brought a range of strategic business experiences and creative implementation to corporations, small business ventures and entrepreneurs to help them grow their passion and vision. She now lives on the Oregon coast working remotely with innovative corporations, visionary non-profits and individual entrepreneurial authors, coaches and consultants around the country.
Angela DeSantis, Affiliate Partner
Angela DeSantis is an outcome and performance-driven leader with over 20 years of experience developing and directing successful operations to increase efficiencies, performance, accountability, and productivity.
While leading an executive team at Machine Sciences Corporation in Wilsonville, Oregon and Viper Northwest in Albany, Oregon, she evaluated and enhanced underperforming processes and implementing strategic initiatives. Manufacturing expertise was gained by implementing ERP, training personnel on problem resolution with both customers and suppliers, improving processes and on time delivery, process optimization for consistent throughput, financial analysis and forecasting, vendor qualification and performance evaluation for materials and services, and software standardization for project management and procurement. As an AS9100 Management Representative and over 15 years of experience in lean manufacturing and leadership, she developed a world class quality management system.
She received her Bachelor of Science in Biology and Chemistry from Oregon State University and lives in Silverton, Oregon.
Beth Doolittle, Vice President, Organization Development
Beth’s Lean journey began shortly after graduating from the University of Washington with her BA in Sociology. Throughout her career she has applied Lean thinking to organization development, strategy development, business process improvement and team effectiveness. Her deep understanding of organization development has been applied to Lean projects across manufacturing and administrative settings. Beth understands the importance of training, coaching and mentoring leaders and managers so that their Lean transformation work is successful and sustainable.
Her work in the 1990’s focused on process improvement across a global organization. The work associated with change management and leadership development reinforced the importance of these disciplines as the organization applies Lean thinking, tools and methods. An example was the big organization change project in Singapore for Levi’s. It was called a Customer Service Initiative and was based on the customer saying “if there was another Levi’s, we would give our business to them” (voice of the customer in today’s language). This 18 month project was focused on adding value for the customer and removing all activities that were not customer value add – from product creation to sales to distribution and final packaging. Beth coordinated a second Levi’s project for Levi Strauss Canada that was specifically focused on bringing the Toyota Manufacturing Process principles into the sewing facilities in Canada.
In late 1990’s and early 2000’s Beth used her organization development skills and experience to help many organizations achieve significant improvements in revenue, cost reduction, strategic initiatives (eg: growth) and employee engagement. All of these transformations utilized Lean thinking, tools and methods to achieve their outcomes. An example was a project for Sun Microsystems Software Operations that involved collaborative organization transformation with the goal of removing non-value added steps in the work stream. Beth then worked on a project for Financial Engines which was faced with needing to turn itself around to focus on a completely different market and customer – the basic product stayed the same, but delivery mechanisms changed and the customer itself changed. This was followed by two projects for Nike, also totally Lean in terms of defining the internal customers, untangling processes, removing all non-value added work. All the above were done in a high involvement, participative and collaborative way.
CAPABILITIES
- Change management
- Communication effectiveness
- Decision making
- Employee participation and engagement
- Executive development
- HR development
- Learning design, development and delivery
- Organization design and assessment
- Organization transformation
- People leadership
- Process redesign
- Productive and difficult conversations
- Project and program management
- Stakeholder and sponsor engagement
- Strategy creation, alignment and execution
- Team development and effectiveness
Our strategic, operational, and financial management services give your company the firepower it needs to accelerate key initiatives, improve competitive positioning, and reduce risk. Providing executive and board services to help you realize your vision, cascading value from the highest levels of your organization.
Next Level
Online is a digital transformation and cybersecurity consultancy. Since 1986 we have been using technology to deliver dramatic business results for companies throughout North America.
Our capabilities across the transformation cycle enable our Clients to move confidently into their secure digital future. Today we have over 350 business, technology, and security professionals working with Clients throughout our 7 locations or virtual offices in North America.
Online Business Systems
Mass Ingenuity is focused on enterprise performance management,
from strategy to execution.
Our Results Management System™ and Software is a SaaS-based solution that drives results through the lens of enterprise performance data, visual analytics, and actionable insights. Our products and services transform how people use data to achieve results and make critical business decisions. We make managing enterprise performance easy, fast, accessible, and valuable.
Our software is designed for everyone in the organization. Start with Team or Pro versions to be up and running in just a few minutes. Choose our Enterprise version for larger and more complex organizations. You can also purchase our Visual Analytics packages to add collaborative, custom dashboards, and reports to your performance management system.