Blue Slate’s leaders have already been leaders elsewhere.

With employers like GE, Ernst & Young and Blue Cross Blue Shield they have led teams to overcome the most complex problems of complex organizations. This equipped them perfectly to do the same at Blue Slate for many companies in the Fortune 50. You can get acquainted with these leaders by reading their stories here.

Richard Barnett Chief Executive Officer

Richard Barnett leads the team at Blue Slate, and also spearheads Board and Investor Relations. Since co-founding the company in June of 2000, he has guided the growth and success of our team. Drawing on his operational expertise, he has been the driving force behind sustainable, profitable development at Blue Slate. During his tenure as CEO, he has successfully secured outside investment to lead the team to double digit year-over-year growth and exponential team expansion. Rick also expanded the Board of Directors to ensure outside control of the executive team.

Rick's dedication to operational excellence and customer success has served as a model for many areas at Blue Slate. He draws on broad leadership experiences in finance, operations, mergers and acquisitions, business planning, business measurement and business development in order to design high quality, measurable business processes. Rick utilizes a quantitative approach and emphasizes communication to drive positive change in both Blue Slate and client engagements. Clients rely on Rick for his decisiveness, negotiation skills and ability to build and lead teams in high-demand, high-performance environments.

Prior to joining Blue Slate, Rick worked for 13 years in management spanning Fortune 10 companies, public accounting, and start-up firms. At GE Energy, Rick progressed through increasingly responsible positions culminating with leading a $400 million dollar global business as the Manager of Finance. His other experiences included cost accounting for a multi-billion dollar manufacturing division, process integration of a $2 billion foreign acquisition, financial leadership for a $300 million manufacturing and engineering division, and multiple special assignments including purchasing two competitive businesses. Rick began his career as an auditor, and subsequently a Senior Auditor with Ernst & Young. There he was engaged with manufacturing, banking, healthcare and public sector industries.

Rick is a Cum Laude graduate of Siena College with a BS in Business Administration, and is a Certified Public Accountant in New York State.

At A Glance

Skills

  • Leadership
  • Finance and Operations
  • Mergers and Acquisitions
  • Opportunity Analysis and Identification
  • Strategy Planning and Design
  • Contract Negotiation
  • Organizational Design
  • Change Management

Degrees / Certifications

  • Bachelor of Science, Business Administration, Siena College
  • Certified Public Accountant in New York State
Mary Kay Hayes Chief Financial Officer

Mary Kay Hayes joined Blue Slate Solutions in February 2003, bringing more than 10 years of progressive accounting, financial modeling and analysis experience. Mary Kay has a proven track record of successfully managing multiple projects and responsibilities while consistently delivering value to Blue Slate's bottom line. Her performance has led her through progressively senior roles starting first as a Senior Consultant, then to Controller, and eventually to the CFO position she holds today.

Mary Kay is currently responsible for Blue Slate's internal financial oversight, reporting and analysis, while also lending her expertise to client engagements. Most recently, Mary Kay worked with a multinational manufacturing company to create consistent operational definitions and processes in order for the company to properly measure its manufacturing, engineering and installation operations on operating activities rather than accounting practices.

Prior to Blue Slate, Mary Kay worked for Integrail, a start-up healthcare informatics company where she performed financial analysis. For FedEx, Mary Kay conducted financial analysis in support of major capital expenditures. Her financial skills were also leveraged while she was with the Promus Hotel Corporation where she supported business development decisions surrounding new hotels and joint ventures with buy/sell analysis. Mary Kay also managed the receivables portfolio for GE Plastics' South East Region. She began her career at Coopers & Lybrand LLP as an auditor.

Mary Kay is a Certified Public Accountant in New York State. She earned her Master of Business Administration from Union College, and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the State University of New York at Albany.

At A Glance

Skills

  • Financial Information Systems
  • Financial Modeling and Analysis
  • Auditing
  • Accounting
  • Strategy Design
  • Project Leadership
  • Process Management and Reengineering

Degrees / Certifications

  • Master of Business Adminstration, Union College
  • Bachelor of Science, State University of New York at Albany
  • Certified Public Accountant, New York State
David S. Read Chief Technology Officer

As Blue Slate's Chief Technology Officer since its inception in 2000, Dave leads the technology consulting team as an advisor for each project. He helps evaluate and determine functional requirements, platforms, products, integration approaches, architectures, QA procedures and implementation processes. He also coordinates with the teams to identify, evaluate and adopt new products, tools and techniques that strengthen Blue Slate's security and technology capabilities. A major component of his success is his participation in client projects, primarily within healthcare and financial services. This allows him to maintain his skills, understand industry trends and real-world application requirements as he evaluates new tools and techniques.

Dave’s work is focused on leading teams in the integration and construction of secure and reliable object oriented-based solutions through the appropriate leveraging of client’s existing architecture and previous investments. Examples of his work include the design of a secure high-performance Web-service application for processing sensitive high-volume financial transactions by incorporating a rules and workflow engine with diverse backend systems. Dave also provides leadership surrounding data security including encryption, protocols, policies and processes for multiple healthcare and insurance clients. He has significant data mining experience including data pre-processing, attribute identification, classifier training and ensemble classifier design.

For a large healthcare payer he led data services design and implementation, bringing his data masking expertise to bear to help protect PHI and enable the client to be compliant with federal regulations, This included the design and implementation as well as the planning, testing, and installation of a new software program. He has also developed and utilized a proprietary query analysis tool that improves the performance of a Sybase-based backend.

For a regional insurance company, Dave reviewed an initial implementation and assisted in re-architecting a system for creating and maintaining commercial and personal line policies. He resolved several architectural challenges such as utilizing the industry standard ACORD XML schema and integrating the solutions into the client’s existing policy system. He has also helped clients as an instructor, conducting training programs on secure web development or Java Application Development for a variety of clients.

Prior to joining Blue Slate, Dave had 15 years of IT leadership experience. A significant portion of that experience included various positions within GE, where he was a lead architect for many diverse Web-based applications focusing on a scalable and standards-based infrastructure. His work allowed GE to deploy a large number of applications to their world-wide workforce and vendor network. The success of these applications led to his receiving GE’s Internet Pioneer of the Year award. Dave is a popular speaker at industry events. He has delivered seminars or presentations at the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA), the Business Rules Forum, Property and Casualty Insurance (PCI) Information Technology Conferences, and presented at Sun Microsystems’ JaveOne developer conferences. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Information Systems from the College of Saint Rose.

At A Glance

Skills

  • Project Leadership
  • Architecture Design
  • Mentoring
  • Expertise in all phases of the software engineering life cycle
  • Expertise in a broad range of technologies
  • Linux/UNIX Administration
  • Java/J2EE
  • Web Services/XML/XSL
  • PegaRULES
  • ILOG JRules
  • C++
  • Shell Scripting

Degrees / Certifications

  • Bachelor of Science, College of Saint Rose
  • GIAC Security Essentials Certification (GSEC)
  • Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE)
  • Sun Certified Programmer for the Java 2 Platform
  • Certified Engineer on Pega's PegaRULES Platform
  • ILOG JRules 6 Bronze Level Certification

Projects

  • Designing a secure high-performance web-service application for processing sensitive high-volume financial transactions by incorporating a rules and workflow engine with diverse backend systems.
  • Developing a query analysis tool that improves the performance of a Sybase-based backend.
  • Reviewing an initial implementation and assisting in re-architecting a system for creating and maintaining commercial and personal line policies for a regional insurance company.
Shawn P. Firehock Managing Director

Shawn joined Blue Slate in 2003 and has since taken on many leadership roles at Blue Slate. He has been instrumental in executing Blue Slate’s strategic growth plan and he has been a major driving force behind our client delivery team’s continued success and excellence.

Shawn’s experiences in wealth management, insurance and banking provide a broad view into delivering agile and strategic solutions for our clients. Shawn leads teams in taking a strategic approach to assisting our clients solve their complex business problems. His deep understanding of the benefits and hurdles of change within an organization facilitates a successful execution of the change strategy.

Throughout his career, Shawn has actively assisted many Fortune 500 organizations in identifying and implementing agile, strategic solutions. His capabilities span the continuum of business performance management. Shawn thrives on collaborating with colleagues, clients and partners to improve business performance in activities from front to back office operations.

At Blue Slate, Shawn cultivated multiple partnership alliances that allowed Blue Slate to significantly grow its expertise and footprint in Financial Service and Healthcare organizations. Additionally he has orchestrated an outsourced business process management service for several healthcare payers and a Web-based insurance quoting platform.

Shawn graduated from Northeastern University with a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering.

At A Glance

Skills

  • Leadership
  • Change Management
  • Business Process Management
  • Business Development
  • Partner Management
  • Opportunity Analysis and Identification
  • Project/Program Management
  • Startegic Planning

Degrees / Certifications

  • Bachelor of Science, Northeastern University
  • Project Management Mastery, Stanford University
  • Leadership Development Program, Center for Creative Leadership

Projects

  • Growing a partnership alliance that has allowed Blue Slate to implement solutions at over 30 Financial Service and Healthcare organizations
  • Providing an outsourced business process management (BPM) service for several healthcare payers to enable them to maximize the return of their technology investments
  • Creating and evolving a Web-based insurance quoting platform that enabled a division of a global insurance firm to grow by over 300%
  • Establishing a strategic partnership with a leading investment management solutions company to help clients improve their customer service and optimize processes.
Amy Kiernan Managing Director

Amy joined Blue Slate just after its inception in June 2000 and shortly thereafter joined the leadership team as Managing Director. She leads Blue Slate's core business development activities, account and partnership management. Consistently driving toward strategy for immediate business impact by synthesizing numerous information points with collaborative project management techniques, Amy's initiatives for clients have delivered bottom line results. She uses creative tools to bring results including sales and marketing program development, business strategy, competitive analysis and sales force training.

Amy is also the leader of Blue Slate's market intelligence function, a team dedicated to helping Blue Slate and its clients develop market-driven strategy positions that steer effective go-to-market, remarket, and growth initiatives. Since joining Blue Slate Solutions, Amy has successfully led numerous client engagements including the strategy and design of an organizational structure to transition a high-tech, engineering-focused manufacturer to a market-driven, customer-focused solutions provider. She has facilitated the planning and execution for a major division of a global power generation firm and developed sales and marketing strategy for a software company and a regional ISP.

Prior to joining Blue Slate, Amy worked for 15 years in industries spanning banking, media, and technology. As part of Home Box Office's nationally deployed sales team, Amy contributed to the creation and scripting of multimedia training programs and concurrent sales incentive programs to generate growth at the point of sale. At The Bank of New York, Amy started in the management training program, where she rapidly progressed to Lending Officer in private banking.

Amy serves on the Board of Directors of Trans Tech Systems, Inc, the Associate Board of Siena College and formerly on the Board of Trustees at The Saint Gregory's School. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Education, Psychology and Child Development from Connecticut College.

At A Glance 

Skills

  • Leadership
  • Market Intelligence
  • Sales and Marketing Strategies
  • Opportunity Analysis and Identification
  • Strategy Planning and Design
  • Process Reengineering
  • Organizational Design
  • Change Management

Degrees / Certifications

  • BA, Education, Psychology and Child Development, Connecticut College
  • Certified in Elementary Education

Projects

  • Strategy and design of an organizational structure to transition a high-tech, engineering-focused manufacturer to a market-driven, customer-focused solutions provider
  • Facilitated strategic planning for a major division of a global power generation firm
  • Led a strategic operational overhaul of the HR lifecycle for a global cosmetics firm
  • Developed the go-to-market strategy for a software company that provides population based decision support solutions to healthcare providers
  • Developed a sales and marketing strategy for a regional ISP
Joseph Raiti Managing Director

Joe and several colleagues joined together with CEO Richard Barnett to found Blue Slate Solutions in 2000. Since Blue Slate’s start, Joe has been the leader of the information technology team. He is an enterprise system architect with over 20 years experience in designing, implementing and maintaining financial control applications and decision support systems.

As Managing Director for Blue Slate, Joe combines his leadership skills with his technical acumen to ensure success with client solutions in healthcare, financial services and higher education. He often works as a part of project teams while also leading development efforts. His greatest strength lies in his talent for communicating even the most complex technical strategies in a simple, concise way to clients and team members alike.

Joe has led many projects at Blue Slate, with a particular focus on data management solutions. For an enterprise data warehouse, he led a team engaged in designing a complex metadata repository for a Fortune 10 company. His solution included a Web-based multi-layer information mapping tool to centralize, reuse, and support data and intellectual property assets. Joe has also served clients in development and design of desktop-based business process management solutions and countless data-intensive business intelligence solutions.

With another client, Joe developed a knowledge management strategy that incorporated business rules, document management, workflow and reporting components to provide powerful end user applications under a set of common master files. Joe has been a technical search report analyst and designer in the migration of a major PegaWorks application, including the transparent retirement of the PegaSEARCH archive, for a large financial services organization. His responsibilities included requirements analysis, solution design, build and test, and defect management along with performance analysis and optimization of both the PegaWorks application and Java SOAP services.

Joe’s background prior to Blue Slate includes entrepreneurial start-ups like Integrated Partners- and large, international conglomerates such as Phillip Morris. As an Enterprise Data Manager for GE Energy and GE Corporate, he correlated, centralized, and disseminated business and technical data. Joe started his career as a lead developer for a venture capitalist backed PC software company.

Joe earned his Master’s in the Mathematical Component of Computer Science at Binghamton University and his Bachelor’s in Computer Science and Math at the State University of New York at Potsdam.

At A Glance

Skills

  • Project Leadership
  • Expertise in all phases of the software engineering life cycle
  • Expertise in a broad range of technologies
  • Data Management
    • Data Integration
    • Business Intelligence
    • Data Transformation
    • Reporting
  • PegaRULES Process Commander application knowledge

Degrees / Certifications

  • Bachelor of Arts, State University of New York at Potsdam
  • Master of Arts, State University of New York at Binghamton

Projects

  • Creation of an entity management data model for an international Fortune 10 company.
  • Development of a knowledge management strategy for a client.
  • Led a data warehouse team to provide a Web-based multi-layer information mapping tool.
  • Development of functional requirements for Web-based wellness team challenge applications that promote nutrition, body mass reduction and exercise.
  • The lead systems analysis for a system designed to support the management and control of intellectual property assets.
  • Migration of a major PegaWORKS application, including the transparent retirement of the PegaSEARCH archive, for a large financial services organization.
Elizabeth F. Gaudet Director

Since joining Blue Slate in November of 2004, Elizabeth Gaudet has worked with a number of clients in designing and implementing a variety of solutions. She brings over 15 years of knowledge and expertise to Blue Slate's leadership, business development and client delivery teams. Her experience and knowledge in the healthcare industry has enabled Blue Slate to broaden its offerings with rich, industry-specific strategic planning, process analysis and IT solution design.

From 2006 to 2008, Liz led the Human Resources team at Blue Slate. In addition to ongoing recruitment efforts, Liz managed the creation of a goal-based program for employee development. The program supports Blue Slate's uniquely passionate team in growing skills and increasing the value that is passed along to clients.

Liz specializes in business rules harvesting, and requirements gathering for customer management within healthcare payers. For a major healthcare payer she has implemented an inquiry tracking and customer service system. For a multi-national organization Liz has helped with the process optimization of a complex and critical business function. She has also helped in the development and delivery of a training program to make these changes operational.

Prior to her work at Blue Slate, Liz worked in an array of companies in the healthcare industry. She has worked with large staffs ranging from clerical to professional in both union and non-union venues. She has gained a deep understanding of the diverse complexities faced by managers in today's healthcare service industries.

Her responsibilities at Prudential included management of commercial and ASO claims and service plans. While at Group Health Inc, Liz's operational responsibilities expanded to include management of five regional sites for claims processing, call center, correspondence and account recovery for both commercial and government plans. She also worked for a regional HMO, where she focused on corporate level project management and process improvement initiatives and HIPAA transaction set implementation.

Liz has earned both her Master of Business Administration and her New York State Mediation Certificate in Conflict Resolution and Multi-cultural Conflict Resolution at the Sage Graduate School. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Economics from the Empire State College division of the State University of New York and an Associate in Applied Science degree in Business Administration from Hudson Valley Community College. Additionally, she has a certification in Process Mapping from Michigan State University.

At A Glance

Skills

  • Operations Management
  • HIPAA Transaction Sets
  • Process Improvement using Six Sigma
  • Project Management
  • Business Process Analysis
  • Team Building, Facilitations, Core Values Development

Degrees / Certifications

  • MBA, Business Strategy, Sage Graduate School
  • NYS Mediation Certification (Conflict Resolution and Multi-Cultural Conflict Resolution), Sage Graduate School of Management
  • Process Mapping: Michigan State University
  • Bachelor of Science, Business Administration and Economics, ESC Division of S.U.N.Y.
  • Associate in Applied Science, Hudson Valley Community College

Projects

  • Business rules harvesting and requirements gathering for customer management
  • Inquiry tracking and customer service for a major healthcare payer
  • Market research and business strategy development for a cosmetics company
  • Process optimization for a complex and critical business function within a multi-national organization as well as the development and delivery of training to make changes operational
David S Scholl Director

Since joining Blue Slate Solutions in 2004, David has been highly effective in helping clients focus on the roots of their critical business issues. Apart from designing creative business and IT solutions, he has implemented high quality, long-term measurement controls and highly effective program and project governance. With over 20 years of operations and business management experience, David has led teams of professionals through all stages of growth and change. Using his mastery of quality and business process management tools he has helped clients from a variety of industries like healthcare, insurance, manufacturing, and finance.

David draws on his technical abilities and business skills to successfully lead numerous client engagements. He is highly proficient in working with business rules engines and business process management systems. David has optimized and implemented a paperless workflow system by incorporating a business rules engine to significantly increase productivity in all key business areas for a Medicare administrator. He has lead teams utilizing BRE and BPM tools for designing and implementing an automated solution to re-platform an online loan application underwriting and feedback system of a mortgage financing provider.

Prior to Blue Slate, David spent 15 years with General Electric in the areas of operations and business management. There, he led teams of professionals through all stages of growth and change. As a Certified Master Black Belt in Six Sigma at GE, David trained and mentored over 300 Green Belts - resulting in significant changes throughout the organization and decreases in operating costs of 14-35% at each of three business units.

David is also experienced and skilled in value analysis, design, and project management. David graduated with Distinction from the Concordia University in Montreal, Canada with a Bachelor of Engineering, majoring in Mechanical Engineering.

At A Glance

Skills

  • Business and Operations Leadership
  • Strategic Planning / Implementation
  • Six Sigma Process Quality
  • Organizational Change
  • Project Governance
  • Account Management
  • Process Engineering and Improvement
  • Business Acquisition and Integration
  • Team Building / Group Facilitation
  • Pega PRPC project implementation leadership
  • Fully Bilingual: English and French

Degrees / Certifications

  • Bachelor of Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal
  • PRPC Technical Training course, BSS
  • Certified Master Black Belt (MBB), GE
  • ISO 9000 Internal and Supplier Quality Auditor Certification

Projects

  • Executed process optimization and implementation of a new paperless workflow system for a Medicare administrator built on a service-oriented architecture.
  • Re-platform of an on-line loan application underwriting and feedback system for a mortgage financing provider.
  • Evaluation of the applicability of Pegasystems’ PRPC tool and authoring the future functionality definition for the automation and workflow system of a beneficiary call center.
  • Provided functional specifications for an automated underwriting system of the Canadian division of a top five international insurance company.
  • Implemented a fully automated call center workflow solution using the CPM module of Pegasystems’ PRPC tool and integrating it with the computer-telephony integration (CTI) capabilities from the company’s interactive voice response (IVR) system.
  • Provided business process optimization for the automation of an inter-business financial transaction process for a top five Fortune 500 corporation
  • Performed value analysis of an ERP maintenance and service contract being offered by an academic foundation
  • Re-engineered the end-to-end strategic planning process for a top 25 Fortune 500 distribution company
  • Designed a balanced scorecard, associated business metrics and a rigorous management review methodology for a top 50 Fortune 500 manufacturing company
Michael J. Strianese Director

Mike Strianese brings over 15 years of experience in strategy and process consulting, along with management of information technology projects, to Blue Slate Solutions. He provides leadership for the practice of business analysis to ensure quality in delivery of solutions to clients. Mike is also a key member of Blue Slate's market intelligence function, a team dedicated to developing market-driven strategy focused on Blue Slate's continued growth.

Since joining Blue Slate in September of 2001, Mike has developed strong relationships with Blue Slate clients as a trusted advisor through the effective leadership of complex, collaborative projects to deliver results-based solutions. Much of his consulting experience has been working with clients in the healthcare and financial services industries. Recent projects led by Mike include business process analysis and requirements definition to improve operational efficiencies through the use of business process management (BPM), business rule engine (BRE), and data management (DM) tools within the Provider Audit and Reimbursement department of a large healthcare payer, Medicare Administrative Contractor. He has also performed complex business rules definition, data modeling, and exception identification to facilitate potential recoverable claims payments for a market-leading, dual-eligible Medicare Advantage Organization Special Needs Plan, as well as developed a workflow- and rule-based system to improve the UB-04/CMS 1500 claims processing functionality for a national service center for multiple health insurance plans.

Prior to joining Blue Slate, Mike worked as a consultant with the business strategy practice at Harvard Computing Group. In this role, he worked with high-technology companies, in particular those in the semiconductor industry, to align strategy and operations with markets. Prior to attending business school, Mike worked as an analyst for North American Capital Timing. Mike performed technical analysis to make portfolio allocation recommendations on $280 million in assets and maintained a database that provided daily and on-demand analytical reporting. Mike began his career leading Six Sigma improvement projects at General Electric Corporate Benefits Delivery, where he developed valuable project management skills and experience while leading the resource planning, goal setting, and measurement for a 50-person, cross-functional call center handling health benefits inquiries.

Mike received an Master of Business Administration, Magna Cum Laude, from the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College where he, and a team of three others, won 1st Place at the National Business School Network Inner-City Field Study Competition in 2000. Mike graduated from Siena College with a Bachelor of Science, Magna Cum Laude, in Marketing and Management. Mike is active in the community and serves as the President of the Board of Trustees for the Albany Community Charter School and is on the Board of Trustees of the Brighter Choice Foundation in Albany. He is a 2005 graduate of Albany-Colonie Chamber's Capitol Leadership Program.

At A Glance

Skills

  • Business Process Engineering
  • Requirements Analysis and Definition
  • Strategy Analysis and Planning
  • Project Management and Program Management
  • Technology Selection
  • Facilitation

Degrees / Certifications

  • Master of Business Administration, Babson College
  • Bachelor of Science, Siena College

Presentations / Publications

  • "Security of Services: Controlling the Risks associated with a BRE/SOA Architecture" Business Rules Forum, October 30 2008
  • "Expressing Security in Requirements" SANS Institute Webcast, June 23 2005

Projects

  • Led the process analysis and requirements definition to improve operational efficiencies through the use of BPM, BRE, and DM tools for the Provider Audit and Reimbursement department of a large healthcare payer Medicare Administrative Contractor
  • Led the rules definition, data modeling, and exception identification to identify potential recoverable claims payments for a market-leading, dual-eligible Medicare Advantage Organization Special Needs Plan
  • Led the definition and analysis to improve and standardize processes for the Investment Management department at a fund of hedge funds
  • Led the requirements-driven tool selection for enterprise content management, workflow, and rules systems for a major mutual fund company
  • Managed the development of a workflow- and rule-based system to improve the UB-04/CMS 1500 claims processing functionality to a national service center for multiple health insurance plans
  • Led the requirements definition for the development of a workflow- and rule-based system to automate the routing of work items within the Medical Management and Pharmacy Benefits departments of a healthcare payer
  • Designed Six Sigma processes to facilitate operation of a special purpose entity charged with the management and control of the IP assets of a R&D focused energy products division
  • Project managed the development and implementation of Oracle ERP in a multi-national oil and gas division of a conglomerate
  • Designed the organization structure to transition a high-tech, engineering-focused fuel cell products division to a market driven, customer focused distributed generation solutions provider
  • Led the development of a business plan and financial model for a real estate management company focused on the clean room and nanotechnology markets