The Connecticut Oral Health Initiative, Inc. 

Newly recruited to lead our fundraising efforts to support the mission of advancing oral health equity in Connecticut. I take a relational approach to development, building genuine connections with donors, partners, and community members.

Development Manager

Journaling for Growth

Chief Journaling Officer

CT Library Consortium

Community builder for librarians. First to fill the role of Events & Special Projects Manager for statewide membership collaborative serving ~1,000 Connecticut libraries. 

Known for my personal brand of magic - creating spaces where members felt safe to learn and grow, turning nebulous ideas into concrete programs and services, and planning and executing events so fun they didn't feel like work - I helped members of our community feel seen, heard, and valued, and provided opportunities for them to build skills to better serve their communities. 

Known for being an innovative thinker who imagines creative solutions to problems, often anticipating needs before they arose, I instigated moving our Roundtable program virtual in early 2020, teaching members to use Zoom and modeled how to run an effective meeting. (Librarians went on to use what they learned here to put on programs for their own communities.)

I partnered with the Connecticut Storytelling Center to launch a storytelling training workshop series for librarians. I conceptualized and executed three different vendor expo models, all of which were wildly successful. And I established a new Program Directory to connect libraries with performers and workshop providers. 

I led the national Take Your Child to the Library Day initiative, serving as project manager, growing the program in visibility through projects such as the creation of both community-centric and librarian-centric websites, speaking at the Public Library Association Conference in April 2024, and publishing an article in Public Libraries Magazine in Summer 2024. I partnered with EveryLibrary to create Advocacy Training webinar series to build capacity among children's librarians, and established State Ambassador program to build support and visibility nationwide. I partnered with Demco to create a line of promotional products for TYCLD 2025.

Events and Special Projects Manager

Northwest Village School

I was selected as the first certified library media specialist at this therapeutic day school for special education students ages 4-21.  

Tasked with creating our library media program, I transformed a humble bookroom into a vibrant library ecosystem welcoming and accessible to students of all ages and our teachers and support staff. 

I implemented a new library automation software system, replacing the traditional card catalog, revamped our entire collection of materials, assessing gaps for each section and curating age-appropriate resources, and established new collections of both print and digital resources. 

As the designer of library, information and research, and technology skills curricula that I delivered to students, I was part of our teaching team, delivering instruction to students, facilitating professional development for teachers and support staff, and collaborated with teachers on technology integration and co-teaching classes. 

I created safe and welcoming spaces for all of our students, differentiating instruction, employing de-escalation strategies as needed, and building strong relationships with our learners and instructors. 

I had the joy of surprising and delighting students and staff by instituting school literacy events including annual Read Across America celebrations, coordinated external speakers, and introduced graphic novel collection (our most popular and widely circulated school collection).

Library Media Specialist

Avon Free Public Library

As part of our children's services team, I had the amazing privilege of supporting children and families who came to the library.

While on desk, I assisted children and families with navigation of library materials, equipment and resources; provided readers’ advisory services, connecting readers with engaging materials.

I executed original programming for children including reader’s theater workshops, family thank you letter writing, and thematic creative programs connected to the Amazing Castle™ installation. 

I partnered with Teen Librarian on Book Buddies program pairing elementary school students with middle and high school students to foster reading skills.

And I brought my skills from my experience at Northwest Village School to tactfully manage challenging patrons (i.e. high energy and or poor in-library behavior) resulting in reduction of risk behaviors in the library.

Children's Library Specialist

Self-Employed

Family Sabbatical

Ketchum

At Ketchum (formerly Capital Strategies), I worked with associations such as the North Carolina Economic Developers' Association and NC Go! on events (meetings, conferences, legislative days), editing newsletters, and providing member support. I helped develop communications plans for organizations such as Junior League of Raleigh.

Project Coordinator

Journaling is one of the simplest, most beneficial habits you can use to create the life you want to live. 

And yet something is keeping you from it. 

Whether you’re completely new to journaling and don’t know where to start, you’ve journaled some but not found what works for you yet, or you’re a seasoned journaler looking for new ways to infuse your journaling with energy to get the results you want, I can help. 

✍️Why work with me?
If you were going to do it on your own, you would have by now. The information is out there. But you haven’t figured out how to make it work for you yet. And that’s okay. I love getting to help folks just like you create journaling practices that help you reach your goals. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach here. We start with you, what you want to achieve, and find simple, sustainable ways to make it happen. 

✍️How to work together
If you need:
🌱A LITTLE BIT OF SUPPORT, check out my curated journal prompt collections through my Substack newsletter. At just $8/month, you’ll receive a daily journal prompt designed to help you get to know and love yourself a little bit better AND solve the problem of not knowing what to write about. (journalingforgrowth.substack.com)

🍀MORE SUPPORT, we'll work together to create your bespoke journaling practice that aligns with your personal growth journey. It’s all about you and what you need to grow. And it starts with a conversation. (tidycal.com/amandastern/strategy-call)

✨ Beyond Journaling—Event Planning & Community Building
Along with my passion for journaling, I bring years of experience as a community builder, event planner, and facilitator. I thrive on creating spaces where people can show up as their true, authentic selves and have real conversations that spark connection, growth, and impact. Whether it’s a small gathering or a large-scale event, I specialize in curating experiences that foster meaningful connections and create positive change. If your organization or mission-driven nonprofit needs someone to plan and facilitate events or build a thriving community, let's talk about how we can make it happen.

✍️ About Me
I’ve been journaling since I was an angsty teenager, and it's my go-to tool for learning and growth. I've used it to uncover what I truly want, make plans to go after it, hold myself accountable, and celebrate success, all while creating a life I don’t want a vacation from. When I’m not journaling, you can find me with my nose in a book, puttering in my garden, laughing with my family, and trying to decide what to make for dinner again tonight.

Amanda Stern ✍️

Ikiquest

Inspiration isn’t just a one-time thing; we need it regularly.

Each day David Marlow, The Ikigai Guy, shares ideas, insights, and stories that inspire. These powerful messages encourage, empower and enable you to live out your Ikigai.

Millions have read David’s life-changing messages on LinkedIn.

Now Daily Ikigai brings that inspiration fully into your life through quick and easy-to-read messages that energize the start of your day.

The Ikigai Guy

VLURU LLC

We at VLURU, Encourage, Empower and Enable people to be all they were meant to be in their lives, their leadership, and their companies.

President and Chief Encouragement Officer

Northwestern Mutual

Developed and manage the Continuous Learning & Improvement (CL&I) Lean Transformation and practice development implementation program across the entire NM corporate chain.  Identify needs, value stream opportunities, secure stakeholder engagement to roll out and manage a robust continuous improvement strategy touching primary areas of company. Manage integration of programs with technology, strategy, innovation and customer experience departments.
• Created and led CL&I program from concept to pilot team to fully operational program inside NM, improving business operations unit, delivering 28% more in volume of customers served with 35% less staffing, while improving service quality ratings by 10%
• Delivered $20M in improvements for $2M investment from first two years of program with second phase of program resulting in double digit savings across company
• Spearheaded long-term roll-out of CL&I Lean Transformation Plan Development, accountable for team development, leadership buy-in and execution to roll out to entire organization. Developed business system and executed improvements in operations, IT and product development
• Created Customer Experience (CX) capability and practice to support the CLI practice, increasing customer service levels and satisfaction scores across organizational lines

Director of Transformation:  Innovation

As Director of IT Innovation for Service Management Strategy, led creation of Information Technology Operation and Infrastructure (ITOI) Matrix Organization. Directed design, process development and implementation strategy. Provided ongoing leadership for Enterprise Service Management strategy, support, process, infrastructure and  governance
• Directed priorities, spend and ITOI management team guidance of $40M ITOI Fixed and Flex budgets, including prioritization and execution
• Led two-year productivity effort that identified opportunities for improvement, resulting in a 37% reduction in support costs while raising Service Level Agreement adherence (92% to 98%)
• Successfully led ITOI in creating and executing the project reorganization of ITOI leadership and organizations. Designed and managed ongoing success metrics for evaluation of the strategy and execution of the organizational realignment. The realignment resulted in increased support capability as demonstrated by a 22% reduction in Priority 1 support incidents and a 37% reduction in project delivery time and cost. Change related incidents dropped by 11%
• Led major innovations in Enterprise Security resulting in three successive years of increased support volume and services delivery (avg. 20% each year) while reducing staffing costs and improving quality. Audit showed quality accuracy increased from 60% to 98.2% in first year
• Held prior roles of Deputy Director, then Assistant Director, leading development of a Continuous Improvement pilot in Enterprise Solutions, adopted into a corporate-wide program

Director Of IT Innovation

RF Technologies

Recruited to privately-owned maker of medical Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and Radio Frequency Tracking System (RFTS) as Vice President- Installation and Technical Support (later promoted to VP-Customer Solutions (CST) and VP-Emerging Business. 
• Created multi-discipline product development program positioning RFT to be first to market in newly created $350M market. Developed product design plan, implementation plan, business readiness, ‘to market’ plan and vendor relationships. Led manufacturing planning and execution. Revenue from new service exceeded combined existing product sales in three years
• Utilizing Lean Six Sigma, ITIL and network automation processes, transformed a 100% reactive team into a proactive support group, transforming free support offering from a negative cost center into a self-funding service team that eventually represented 33% of revenue. 
• Reduced support costs from 12% of sales in 2002 (prior to arrival) to 8% in 2003 (first year in position) to less than 5% for 2004, while doubling available customer support contact time
• Improvements to service delivery and warranty costs decreased costs by 50%

Vice President- Emerging Business

Metavante

Recruited from GE Medical Systems to role responsible for creating a Network Operations Center, supporting $70M in network products and services revenue with a team of 85 engineers, designers and support staff in a NOC, Voice/LAN, VOIP and engineering support environment.
• TSS revenue support capability grew from $70M to $175M in three years, produced by a team originally scheduled to be outsourced for lack of productivity in 2000
• Was able to double the TSS revenue support capability while reducing team from 85 to 68 
• Implemented products and offerings to remotely monitor networks and networked systems automatically which resulted in 99.97% network uptime. Nationally recognized for this work by Network World Magazine and the AT&T Global Customer Conference in 2003
• Implemented a Six Sigma quality program in the TSS Network Operations Center resulting in a double digit increase in measured productivity while decreasing customer support complaints 95% during first 12 months; complaints remained at zero through 2003

Vice President - Technical Support Services (TSS)

As Global Manager for GE Medical Systems Global Network Operations Center, led creation of GEMS On-Line Center Network Support Team, developing the first GEMS IIS Network Operation Center (IIS NOC). Customer network design and WAN support were added to the NOC product lines. This resulted in revenue produced by the IIS NOC reaching $40M in 2000. Over course of 5 years the NOC expanded into support of all GEMS product lines for network connectivity; this facilitated indirect support for hundreds of millions in service revenue.
• Led development of a “Follow the Sun” program to accommodate 24/7 support and executed with the NOC in Buc, France where responsible for leading two teams in developing an around the clock support plan that included all product lines and facilitated multilingual support

Global Manager-Customer Network Operations Center

United States Marine Corps

E-5 Sergeant - Stationed at Kaneohe Bay US Marine Corps Air Station - Kaneohe, Hawaii

Sergeant

The Ikigai Guy ☕️ • Author & Ikigai Coach 🧭 • Ikiquest+ 🌀

After a 30-year career as a senior leader and executive in Fortune 500 companies, I grabbed an opportunity to take early retirement and do what I had always wanted to do. I support people living to their purpose, and companies bringing their purpose to their products and their people. 

I started VLURU to do just that.

VLURU means versatile guru. Every person and every company is different. Bringing your purpose into all you do takes several different disciplines and skills. VLURU brings an extraordinary variety of tools and techniques to help you achieve your personal and or business goals. 

My journey:

I’ve helped hundreds of people and businesses find fulfillment in their lives, careers, and products throughout my career through coaching, consulting, and mentoring. In the midst of my career transition, I was able to put a name to the practice of helping people find their purpose, Ikigai (ee-key-guy). 

I’m not the first to talk about Ikigai and I’m certainly not the most talented writer. I am, however the first to explain how Authenticity, Purpose, and Harmony work individually and together to cultivate a complete understanding of Ikigai. And maybe more importantly, I am the first person to come at these topics from the perspective of someone who has spent decades studying personal transformation.

I've created a process and framework to help people find fulfillment by uncovering and living into, their Ikigai.

►A globally recognized keynote speaker and transformation expert
►Coined the term 'mono-tasking' for single-focused effort.
► Coined the term Existential Futurist: An existential futurist is concerned with creating the best possible future for individual purpose, freedom, and choice.
► Coined the phrase: Saying I’m mid-century modern sounds so much cooler than 60 
►Coined the term...Humans being Humane to other Human beings (it's what it is all about)
►Coined the term Purpose over Profession
►Trust is the currency of leadership

David Marlow

Next, we need a team to see if we have too many teams.
You see the absurdity here.
But you live this every day, don't you? 
This post isn't about meetings.

#ikigai

The Ikigai Guy ☕️ • Author of 'The Ikigai Way'

People often respond to the puns I share with a sigh. That, of course, is why the quality of dad jokes is measured on a sighsmograph. 📉

Puns aside...

We all carry reactions we've learned to have. Automatic responses. Expected sighs. The "here we go again" moments.

What if you could step back from the pattern? See it. Name it. Choose differently.

That's the power of awareness. When you get the noise down, you start noticing what's habit and what's real. What's yours and what you inherited.

The Ikigai Way (now available as an audiobook) helps you find the signal through the static. You can start today; the choice is yours.

Quest well 
♦️(Bonus points if you can locate the hidden Uzumaki swirl in today's photo)

All my clocks are off since the time change. Last year Bob Dylan came to my house the day after Daylight Saving Time and adjusted all of them. He said the times they were a-changin'.

Not sure if he is dropping by this year or not. Heard he might be on a Slow Train coming. 🕰️🎵

Puns aside...

Change happens whether we're ready or not. The question isn't if things will shift. It's whether you'll resist or flow with it.

Living your Ikigai means moving in harmony with what life brings. Not fighting against the current. Not stuck in how things used to be.  Present. Adaptable. Alive.

The Ikigai Way (now available as an audiobook) teaches you to live this way.

🌀 You can start today; the choice is yours.

Quest well

#ikigai

A fellow author reached out this morning because she was struggling with citations in her manuscript. Too many sources to list. I told her it should be no problem et al. 

Puns aside...

We try to list every reason. Account for all the voices that shaped us. Eventually, you realize some sources don't need to be cited. 

Some noise doesn't need acknowledgment.

Your purpose doesn't require a bibliography. It needs to be lived!

That's the Language of Purpose.

The Ikigai Way (now available as an audiobook) helps you separate what's essential from what's just borrowed noise.

🌀 You can start today; the choice is yours.

Quest well

(Can you find the swirl today?)

Ikigai is not life hacks dressed up in a kimono.

#ikigai

taplio

The Battle

Amanda Stern ✍️

David Marlow

Followers

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taplio

The Battle

Amanda Stern ✍️

David Marlow

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}David Marlow's LinkedIn Performance

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Performance ScoreDavid Marlow's LinkedIn Performance