Michael Wishnick

“Global Customer Support leader exceeding virtual customer expectations”

33 Clover Hill Drive | Jackson, NJ | 08527 | H. 732-961.1989 | C. 732.963.7090 | Michael.wishnick@yahoo.com
Seeking position as:

Director Customer Service | Call Center Director | Director Technical Support

Dynamic executive leader with 16+ years of unsurpassed success and experience in customer service,
technical support and customer relationship management and technology with leading Fortune 500 companies.
Global leadership and operational excellence are renowned trademarks. Innovative problem-solving skills,
project management and team development. Exceptional track record of driving results and leading teams with
world-class “customer first approach” through voice of the customer initiative. Collaboration with internal
marketing and sales teams produce progressive and effective virtual marketing methods.

Core leadership competencies include:

Motivating Others ▪ Organizational Agility ▪ Virtual Leadership ▪ Strategic Agility ▪ Customer Focus
Developing Direct Reports and Others ▪ Conflict Resolution ▪ Business Acumen ▪ Dealing with Ambiguity

Areas of Expertise
SAAS Support ▪ Distributed Call Center ▪ Sales Consulting ▪ CRM Implementations ▪ Interviewing ▪ Hiring
Training ▪ Off Shoring ▪ Home Shoring ▪ Technical Support ▪ Service Level Agreements ▪ Website Development
Customer Service ▪ Outsourcing ▪ Vendor Relations ▪ ACD | PBX and IVR System Support
Social Networking for Business

Career Highlights
Start-up and turnaround successes for domestic and international call centers for:
Associated Press and Dow Jones & Company

Cost Saving Recruiting | Hiring. Decreased cost per hire by eliminating advertising for job candidates.
Sourced, networked and identified top talent through social media avenues; Linkedin, Twitter and Facebook.

Social Media Task Force. (AP) Selected to participate in social media initiative tracking trends and researching
patterns of customer service responsiveness to maintain a competitive edge with competing early adopters of
social media. Established and defined Associated Press’ role and public credibility in the social media arena.
Results led to internal policy and procedure for social media usage company-wide.

Start-up Leadership. (AP) Successfully built a world class customer support center in 7-months with fully
staffed and trained customer support team. Strategically recruited, selectively hired and trained all staff
members while concurrently leading support | platform specialists and entitlement teams. Instilled a progressive
culture of offering all customers with savvy service. Achieved team member buy-in through individualized on-
the-job development and sharing of company goals.

Technical Support. Development and execution of self-service support to Global Customers. This resulted in
Developer Portal accessibility to obtain answers to Frequently Asked Questions, password resets, best
practices, sample code and white papers. Portal was available for internal and external users. Hands-on
troubleshooting support for HTML | XML and customized technical solutions.

Infrastructure Innovation and Support. Implement, support and train internal CRM | CMS | Contact Center
Software ACD and IVR systems.
Innovative Solutions. Increased productivity and employee morale as a result of effectively leading virtual
teams during “work from home” initiatives; department transition (Dow) and for disaster recovery and inclement
weather (AP).
Executive Experience
Associated Press | New York, NY | 2007 - 2010
Deputy Director, Global Customer Service | Technical Support

Provided executive leadership for:

▪ Level 1 support specialist team, Level 2 platform specialist and entitlement team.
▪ Development of a new team of 4 Level 2 support representatives responsible for issue escalation,
product and service roll-out, training and specialized customer support.
▪ Implementation of quality assurance program in customer support.
▪ Transition suite of AP Broadcast Products to AP Customer Support. These products included
graphics, photographs & images, money & markets, editorial resends and online video network
support. This included migration of AP online video network customers from Microsoft Video Platform
to Comcast Video platform with minimal performance issues or outages.
 Provided leadership, daily management, and oversight of call center operations including:
forecasting and staff planning, scheduling, quality performance monitoring, ongoing performance
improvement processes, recruiting, training, supervision and development of call center staff.
 Managed call center technology and service vendor relationships and contracts, as well as new
business opportunities to enhance working relationships and revenue opportunities.
 Identified, implemented and established precise standards of performance for management and
development programs and mechanisms to ensure that call center departments met given
standards.
 Led strategic planning, oversight and development of ongoing call center service strategies,
including daily, weekly and monthly call center performance targets, sales productivity, cross sales,
and measurement of efficiency.
 Oversaw selection and deployment of new call center technologies and processes, including that of
frontline performance to achieve maximum agent utilization and to meet client service level
commitments.
 Provided tracking, analysis and reporting of call center performance goals to executive
management and staff.

Metrics resulted in:

▪ Service 90% of calls answered with 18 second or less.

▪ 5% or less of total calls abandoned.
▪ All emails responded within 15 minutes or less.
Dow Jones & Company | Princeton, NJ | 1999 - 2007
Director, Global Technical Support and Customer Service | 2000 - 2007
(Manager Customer Service | 1999 - 2000)

Provided executive leadership for:

▪ Global Call Center Operations in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia for Level 1 and
Level 2 technical support, Level 3 developer support for external and internal customers.
 Level 1 and Level 2 customer service for Wall Street Journal Online, Barron’s Online and Market
 Watch suite of products.
 Held primary responsibility for the Technical Delivery, Technical Support, Developer Support and
Research Support Departments providing customer guidance, customer support, and advanced
troubleshooting for the suite of Factiva products and solutions supported.
 Pioneered client support structure, across multiple product lines, based on revenue tier, while
transitioning global support to a home shoring model with zero interruption to service, staff
productivity, and customer loyalty. Project completed on time and within budget.
 Set strategic direction to focus on in-house products and solutions, reduce abandon rates and com-
plaints, best practices with regards to design, development and integration of XML in a suite of API
products and solutions, and support customer service, technical support, and sales channels.
 Pioneered client support structure, across multiple product lines, based on revenue tier, while
transitioning global support to a home shoring model with zero interruption to service, staff
productivity, and customer loyalty. Project completed on time and within budget.
  Set strategic direction to focus on in-house products and solutions, reduce abandon rates and com-
plaints, best practices with regards to design, development and integration of XML in a suite of API
products and solutions, and support customer service, technical support, and sales channels.
 Managed network, infrastructure systems, CRM software, telephone switching, ACD, call tracking,
call monitoring and reporting systems functions, with regular monthly reporting to the Executive
Leadership Team.
 Developed profit utilizing progressive management techniques for self-service support to global
customers while tracking and implementing global contact volumes, service levels, abandon rates,
and customer satisfaction surveys.

Related Experience
System Support Specialist | Schenker International | Jersey City, NJ | 1998 - 1999
Technical Support Consultant | Computer Associates Inc. | Princeton, NJ | 1998
Customer Service Technical Support Representative | Prophet 21 | Yardley, PA | 1995 - 1998

Education
Rowan University of New Jersey | Glassboro, NJ
Bachelor of Arts, Liberal Arts

“I worked with Michael as he rebuilt the Tech Support team almost from scratch after a period of staff
attrition. Not only did he have an ability to identify and develop individuals with 'the right stuff', I remain
impressed at the team spirit he built within his group. Michael is well suited to any role where technical team
leadership is an important requirement.” Chris Willimer, Technical Services Manager

www.linkedin.com/in/michaelwishnick