Taylor Blake

Degreed

Helping lead an initiative called Degreed Experiments where we evaluate emerging technologies through prototyping and research.

SVP New Initiatives

Degreed acquired Learn In and I became SVP of Product for Degreed Academies and Content Marketplace.

SVP Product

Learn In

Attract, develop, and retain your talent with a Talent Academy that: 
1) gives employees access to best external skill-building courses and programs through stipends, education benefits, or scholarships 
2) allows you to build your own programs that are cohort-based, hands-on, and collaborative

Easily meet every key learning moment and drive business performance.

Co-founder and Chief Product Officer

University Impact

University Impact sprung out of a desire to embrace a more sustainable way of creating large-scale, positive, social impact (while generating a financial return at the same time). Our mission is to find and fund ventures and businesses that are solving complex, vexing social problems with strong management teams, passion for change, and innovative business models.

Product Advisor

•  Researched, validated, and launched a suite of skill measurement products (Skill Rating, Skill Review, and Skill Certification) to measure any skill at any level. Skill measurement allows individuals and companies to identify gaps, measure progress, and get matched to career opportunities.

Product, Skills

•  Started when team was < 5 people chasing a crazy dream
•  Researched, prototyped, and built product offerings for consumers and enterprise clients
•  Oversaw client success, email marketing, content marketing, user acquisition, customer support

Founding Team / Product Manager

Kaplan EdTech Accelerator powered by TechStars

The Kaplan/TechStars Accelerator is a three month intensive, mentor-driven, deep immersion program for startups.  TechStars was ranked by Forbes as the #2 tech incubator in the world.

TechStars

The RBL Group

The RBL Group is a leadership and strategic HR consulting firm co-founded by Dave Ulrich.

Product Manager

Various

Microsoft - User experience design and research
LinkedIn - Product management for learning products
Innosight - Innovation and strategy consulting
Bloomreach - Market research

Student Intern

I help lead Degreed Experiments to explore how emerging technology (AI) can be leveraged in workplace learning. Feel free to connect or message me.

We’re here to make sure education and skills stay the key to economic opportunity in an AI-driven world—because the future shouldn’t just work for those who own all the capital or compute.

We aim to do this by:
- Helping people handle the changes AI brings to work and life.
- Teaching people how to use and get the most out of AI tools.
- Finding ways to use AI for more than just cutting costs—so we can invest back into people.

Our AI-related experiments help position L&D be at the forefront of navigating this change. Follow along, and let’s ensure human expertise continues to drive progress and opportunity.

Why Degreed? We started Degreed with a passion for lifelong learning and have since seen what works (and what doesn’t) across hundreds of the most innovative learning organizations. After we established the category of Learning Experience Platforms (LXP) at Degreed, I left to tackle a new set of ambitious challenges and cofounded Learn In.  In 2022, through acquisition, we combined the latest innovations from Learn In with Degreed’s market-leading platform to build the next chapter of products to support lifelong learning.

GE Aerospace

- Provide global leadership of technical and operations capability development for GE Aerospace including all design, manufacturing, and quality engineers and operations across both commercial and military product lines
- Provide oversight, leadership, and drive performance of global personnel within the Technical and Operations Capability Development Organization
- Develop the strategic vision, roadmap, and ROI for attracting top collegiate talent, developing the next generation of leaders, and retaining global technical and operations talent
- Elevate employees’ experiential learning culture with contemporary delivery of technical and operations capability development
- Deliver globally scaled technical and operations skills development, knowledge acceleration, and career development opportunities
- Execute foundational and cross-functional experiences within the Edison Engineering Development Program, Operations Management Leadership Program, and Manufacturing Engineering Development Program
- Advance knowledge management, transfer, and acceleration from day one through retirement
- Drive value though technical communities’ structure, influence, and engagement
- Execute the University Engagement Plan, Technical Capability Reviews, and Strategic Workforce Planning
- Define Technical & Operations career paths and measured expectations for each path
- Applying Flight Deck Principles to make GE Aerospace Technical and Operations Capability Development best-in-class

Technical & Operations Capability Development Leader

Crown Castle

- Implemented new organizational design and job architecture for the Talent Development & Learning department
- Updated enterprise competencies to reflect new company core values and created a new Leadership competency
- Leading the L&D department to shift towards a human-centered design approach utilizing 5Di
- Lead a team to design, develop, and deploy a company-wide Inclusion experience (Values in Action) through a series of conversations and exercises that combine core values with inclusive practices.

-Team Accomplishments under my leadership:
•	Towers Foundations Program - Project Manager version - helping PMs drive greater value by strengthening critical skills, exploring strategies to own the customer relationship, and building customer confidence and trust while working with internal partners to drive results.
•	Company AI Enablement Strategy - support AI policy rollout and develop ethical and responsible AI use
•	People Leader Hub redesign - enabling leaders to easily find critical information that helps them lead our people with excellence
•	Leadership Development Site creation - created site with resources on critical leadership capability areas - supporting leaders at all levels 
•	Onboarding Process and Experience Redesign
•	Talent Management Platform (CSOD) - Rolled out Performance Conversations, Goal Setting, Succession Planning
•	Managed Solutions Growth Initiative Foundations (MSGI) program – increase opening of more sales opportunities, more services sold
•	Fiber Sales Foundations program - accelerating speed to competency and reducing time to first opportunity for new sales teammates
•	Drive all required Compliance/Safety/Legal/Audit training for the company

Director, Talent Development and Learning

As Global Learning & Career Growth Consultant, I play an instrumental role in defining and rolling-out the next phase of digital transformation around learning and internal mobility in the company while serving as a strategic thought partner, advisor, and key contributor. 
I prepare philosophy documents around learning and career growth strategies, policies, and procedures. 
Highlights of accomplishment in this role include:
•	I spearheaded the design of the company vision and strategy for the Modernizing Workforce Capabilities program (MWC - a multi-year global upskilling and learning tech ecosystem upgrade program), and created a value scorecard to measure ROI of the program. 
•	I influenced senior leadership to transform the company into a skills-based organization, conceptualizing and communicating a strategy for an enterprise-wide upskilling program and talent supply chain.
•	I partnered with leadership across multiple functions to utilize LinkedIn Learning resources to train 1.5k engineers and designers on new engineering design software instead of contracting a vendor, which resulted in saving $2.8 million in vendor training fees.
•	I defined the MWC vision, the high-level, multi-year strategy, and Program Value Scorecard, as well as influenced corporate executives to support and fund the MWC program, researched modern learning technology ecosystems, and determined what was needed in Dow to support strategic objectives around digital acceleration.
•	I envisioned and designed virtual reality simulations for over +3.5k leaders to drive behavioral change on leadership and ID&E topics; provided strategic input and direction for teams designing live webinars and practicing difficult conversations in VR related to inclusion and race, which resulted in positively impacting leadership behaviors within a short period of time as well as achieving higher employee engagement scores.

Director, Global Learning & Career Growth Consultant

I spearheaded the management and execution of Global Employee Development and Learning Strategy areas, while negotiating contracts with global vendors and supporting all L&D decisions. 
I developed and led a learning leadership team of 15 senior learning leaders representing the various functions across the company. I oversaw the responsibility of managing corporate governance associated with Employee Development and Learning Programs, work processes, systems, and tools. 
I acted as the Subject Matter Expert for the learning field while developing a broad understanding of industry best practices and benchmarks and contributing towards meeting the existing and potential needs of clients. I developed Corporate Learning Vision and Vision Elements. 
Highlights of accomplishments in this role include:
•	I planned and executed research on career navigation, developed and delivered an internal TED talk presentation to thousands of employees titled “Letting Your Strengths Guide Your Career Choices", focused on helping employees navigate their career journeys with confidence using their core skills - successfully eliminating functional silos when navigating career choices.
•	I developed technical requirements to upgrade LMS to SAP SuccessFactors.
•	I directed the development and implementation of a new enterprise-wide learning strategy highlighting future technology and skills needed in the future. 
•	I coordinated Dow’s Learning Leadership Team (a governance body and Center of Expertise for Learning at Dow) to drive focus on strategic learning initiatives and accelerate the execution of key strategies.
•	I provided expert leadership and technical advising to enable the successful execution of high-profile HR projects such as LMS upgrade, HR Systems Upgrade - Workday, Performance Management Redesign, and Job Architecture Redesign.
•	I demonstrated leadership expertise as a Master coach, designer, and facilitator for Dow’s premier leadership development program in Operations.

Director, Global Employee Development & Learning Strategy

In this role, I supervised two departments simultaneously at the Houston Engineering Center - Instrument Engineering and Project Administration - with 102 direct reports. I identified, developed, and allocated instrument engineering and project administration resources to support successful execution of global large capital projects worth $25 million to $500 million as well as multibillion-dollar programs (Sadara). 
I optimized technical and professional development of team members by delivering effective coaching, developing robust learning resources, and setting department goals and performance metrics. 
Highlights of accomplishments in these roles include:
•	I improved engineering department performance by 27% over a two-year period by defining and communicating clear performance expectations via a custom designed performance management scorecard. Scorecard framework was adopted and adapted by other engineering department directors. I elevated transparency in evaluating team member performance and eliminated unconscious bias in ascertaining individual performance ratings.
•	I developed an engineering qualification and certification program; reduced development ramp-up time for new engineers from 3 years to 1.5 years on average – a 50% reduction in time to reach fully independent contributor status. 
•	I managed Instrument Engineering staffing and monitored project metrics for a $21 billion program (Sadara) to construct a world-scale chemical complex in Saudi Arabia, deployed and coached 26 instrument engineers to lead project teams and ensure successful execution of the program.
•	I improved accuracy of project duration estimates, ensuring high level of accuracy as early as the 10-25% complete point of projects through the creation of an earned value project management tool for use in design engineering, thereby improving quality of project cost estimates.

Director, Engineering - Instrument Engineering and Project Administration

I led the Demand Driven Business Operations (DDBO) S&OP process for the North America Ethylene envelope.
Successfully executed both strategic and tactical planning activities in support of 10 Dow businesses that have assets located at 7 sites across the US Gulf Coast and Canada. 
Secured and supplied over 1.2B lbs of Ethylene/mo (valued at $500-$700MM/mo) to support Dow Business operations.
Directly affected the profitability of the downstream Dow businesses by over $210MM each month.
Directly influenced many external industry partners as well as Dow manufacturing, logistics, customer service, and planning positions in the development and execution of the monthly and annual ethylene supply plans.
Directly affected, monitored, and optimized the total and unit costs of storing and transporting ethylene inventories worth $190MM in Cost to Serve each year.
Managed and executed contract exchanges with multiple Dow suppliers and co-producers in the industry.
Increased the Ethylene Exchanges, Swaps, and Tolls (EST) revenue stream from $15 MM to $35 MM/month.
Actively led improvement efforts and utilized Six Sigma to capture more than $15 MM savings across 2008 and 2009.
Successfully led ethylene supply chain recovery efforts within Dow and with industry partners during the aftermath of hurricanes Gustav and Ike.

Sr. Supply Chain Planner - North America Ethylene 

I coordinated and managed campus interviews for our interview team, ensuring that the experience was optimized for both our interviewers and the candidates.

UT Campus Recruiting Coordinator

Accountable for all Instrumentation design engineering tasks on global capital projects ranging in size from $15MM - $3Bln.
Project Highlight: Led Instrument design team on Dow's NOx Abatement projects - resulted in 15% reduction in overall greenhouse gas emissions for Dow.

Experienced in working virtually with multi-cultural design teams on projects located in Germany, Brazil, Oman, Kuwait, and India.

Experienced with executing a wide range of project activities (Front End Loading through plant start-up) including: scope definition, resource planning, cost estimating, scheduling, risk analysis, procurement, team development, project plan execution, and project closeout.

Managed work assignments and drove performance efforts for the project Instrument Design team.
Communicated project performance progress to multiple levels of management.

Ensured design compliance with applicable Global Design Practices, Global Design Tools, Most Effective Technology, local codes/standards, and Global Supply Strategies.

Researched and developed a Progress Tracking tool, utilizing Earned Value Project Management concepts, which enables the Instrument Discipline to estimate physical progress and at-completion costs (in hours) more accurately during the design phase of a project. These estimates are extremely accurate as early as the 15-20% project completion point.

Researched, developed, and implemented a Balanced Scorecard for the Instrument Engineering Department.

Created an Instrument Outsourced Project Execution Plan which included a scope and responsibility matrix and a tool for accurately estimating the Instrument work hours required for Outsourced Mega Projects.

Served as the ES Learning Curriculum Leader for the Instrument Engineering Discipline globally and was an active member on the India-China Training Team.

Sr. Instrument Engineer

US Navy

Served in the US Navy (Submarines) as a Nuclear Electrician's Mate EM1/SS
Honorably Discharged
Last Duty Station - USS Norfolk SSN-714 (Los Angeles-Class Fast Attack Submarine), Norfolk, VA
Highest security clearance level obtained: Top Secret
Experienced with working in a Highly Reliable Organization

Roles & Responsibilities
Shutdown Reactor Operator
- Ensured proper operation of the nuclear reactor plant  for a $2.5 Bln dollar submarine 
- Supervised all engineering watch-standers during shutdown periods

Electrical Operator
- Monitored and controlled the Ship's Service Power Distribution System
- Performed maintenance on electrical equipment in the engineering spaces to ensure a high level of operational readiness

Basic Radiological Worker Instructor
- Trained and evaluated nuclear operators in radiological controls and safety 

Production Training Group Staff Instructor
- Taught Electrical Systems to students in a classroom setting at a DOD/DOE nuclear prototype training facility
- Prepared Electrical Systems lesson plans and exams
- Managed the personal/professional development and the work assignments of hundreds of sailors

Electrician's Mate E-6 (EM1/SS)

Technology & Operations Capability Development Leader | Strategic Business Partner | Developing Leaders | Improving Organizational Performance | Delivering Business Results

“Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence.”– Abigail Adams 

Hello, my name is Mitchel MacNair, and I am a highly accomplished, resourceful, and results-driven individual with 20+ years’ experience in leadership and demonstrated success in orchestrating and implementing effective learning and talent management strategies to achieve and exceed business performance targets influenced by employee engagement, productivity, and skill development.  I possess expertise in developing corporate learning and career growth strategies, designing a skills framework, designing talent management workflows in Workday, designing and delivering leadership development programs, and designing VR leadership simulations for successfully improving leadership performance and transforming learning culture.

Following are some of the highlights of my career: 

☛ Successfully transforming a company into a skills-based organization, conceptualizing and communicating an enterprise-wide upskilling program and talent supply chain, designing a new corporate people strategy and general requirements for supporting global initiatives, and leading diverse teams.
☛ Designed company vision documentation and strategy for Modernizing Workforce Capabilities (a global upskilling program), created a value scorecard to measure ROI of the program, and influenced executives to fund the program. Assessing the impact of employee experience, developing a skills heat map for strategic workforce planning, and exploring the skills needed to accomplish company goals.
☛ Partnered with leadership across multiple functions to gain approval to utilize LinkedIn Learning resources to train 1.5k engineers and designers across the globe on new engineering design software instead of contracting a vendor, which resulted in saving $2.8 million in vendor training fees.
☛ Master coach, designer, and facilitator for Dow’s premier leadership development program in Operations

I am an expert presenter, negotiator, and businessperson; able to collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams and other stakeholders for achieving performance excellence. 

Want to know more about my experience, passion, areas of expertise, or the value I can create for your organization? Connect with me at mlmacnair@comcast.net.

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The Battle

Taylor Blake

Mitchel MacNair

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