KRISTEN GUTIERREZ
3100 Wagner Ct    Aurora, Illinois  60502
63 [Send email to request phone number] 82.2208 home    [Send email using form at bottom]
PROFESSIONAL PROFILE
Results-driven candidate seeking a position in an empowering organization that
capitalizes on my project management, communication and team development skills. 

	Strong project manager with expertise in developing and streamlining
processes and workflow to improve efficiency and ensure brand and quality
consistency.
	Solid leadership skills; able to build and guide top-performing teams.

	Adept at communicating with senior management, vendors, and internal
departments.
	Flexible and easily adaptable to constantly changing circumstances and
priorities.
	Level-headed decision maker who focuses on strategic initiatives in a
high-performance environment.



	PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE	




Zurich North America – Schaumburg, Illinois
 NORTH AMERICAN TRAVEL, FLEET, MEETING MANAGER, 2002 – Present

NORTH AMERICAN TRAVEL, FLEET, MEETING MANAGER:
	Led high performances teams in Schaumburg, Kansas City, and New York in
managing the centralized procurement platforms for travel, meetings, and fleet in
accordance with Zurich’s objectives and strategy.
	Represented North America on a Global commodity team and successfully
executed the Global business plan.  
	Partnered with executive management to understand business objectives
and budget constraints and provided spend and activity reporting and analysis to
initiatives.  
	Negotiated long-term contracts with preferred vendors including
airlines, hotels, car rental agencies, and fleet management companies.
	Established and managed the department budget in excess of $3M,
allocating spend according to priority, workload requirements and project size. 
Focused the team on effective expense management practices.
	Engaged, developed and motivated my team through a continuous
improvement process (coach sessions, performance reviews, team meetings,
training, team-building offsites and recognition programs), focusing on growth
and development opportunities.
	Received both Bronze and Silver awards.
Selected Contributions:
	Led team through exceptional challenges (including workforce
reductions, cost-efficiency exercises, senior leadership changes and transition
for UUG and Farmers into Zurich) by providing transparent communication,
encouraging and modeling flexibility and adaptiveness.
	Launched an on-line travel booking tool with a 90% adoption rate and an
annual $2.4M return in savings on $35 million in air spend.
	Implement new Fleet Management Company to realize an annual $700K
savings on $6M in spend.
	Initiated and created Meeting Management Policies and Procedures to
centralize meeting and event production, increase efficiencies, consolidate
spending, document savings of an annual $1.9M savings on $13M in spend.
	As a contributor of the Global team created and launched Global Travel
Policy, Travel and Meeting Metric Scorecards and exception reporting, travel
security reporting, and implemented saving/efficiency technologies.
	Maintained vendor relationships and negotiated vendor contracts.
	Developed and maintained Travel, Fleet, and Meeting WebPages on the
company Intranet.
	Contributed $6M to annual Global savings goals.


AMERICAN EXPRESS– Schaumburg, Illinois
OPERATIONS MANAGER FOR ZURICH ACCOUNT, 1999 – 2002 

	Led high performance team of 40 in Schaumburg, Kansas City, Virtual
offices, and New York in managing the corporate travel needs of Zurich North
America.
	Engaged, developed and motivated my team through a continuous
improvement process (coach sessions, performance reviews, team meetings,
training, team-building offsites and recognition programs), focusing on growth
and development opportunities.
	Configured, implemented, and managed the Zurich Travel Department.
	Coordinated teams and lead de-implementations and implementations as
Zurich lost and gained business divisions.
	Managed budget and controlled write-offs.
	Recognized as Star Performer.

OMEGA WORLD TRAVEL – Schaumburg, Illinois
BRANCH MANAGER FOR ZURICH ACCOUNT, 1997-1999

EXECUTIVE MEETING AND TRAVEL – Northbrook, Illinois
SUPERVISOR FOR ALLSTATE ACCOUNT, 1994-1997

ARRINGTON TRAVEL – Lombard, Illinois
QUALITY ASSURANCE FOR WASTE MANGEMENT ACCOUNT, 1992-1994

ALPHA TRAVEL – Addison, Illinois
TRAVEL CONSULTANT, 1988-1991





  




	EDUCATION 	




CERTIFIED CORPORATE TRAVEL EXECUTIVE 
NBTA Program at Cornell University    Ithaca, New York 

TRAVEL AND TOURISM CERTIFICATION 
College of Dupage    Wheaton, Illinois