What was your background before joining Stroud?

Before joining Stroud, I attended Rochester Institute of Technology and studied Electrical Engineering. Throughout my time at RIT, I built a broad engineering background spanning robotics deployment at Retiina Automation, power grid planning at Idaho Power, semiconductor manufacturing at Infineon, and wireless communications research partnering with Army Research Labs. Those experiences taught me that I love taking a multidisciplinary perspective and applying it to solve real world operational challenges.

What is a typical day for an Associate?

Every morning begins with setting daily goals tied to the overall project goals. Then, tackling the day’s challenge, anchoring myself in Stroud’s core problem-solving tools, and building a plan to drive tangible progress.

On any given day, I might be reviewing high-level strategy with plant leadership, head down to the floor to work directly alongside operators collecting and analyzing data after running trials or digging into the line's biggest loss using variable analysis with the maintenance team. As an Associate, you're bridging the gap between floor-level execution and leadership-driven strategy, quantifying opportunities along the way. You get to see results stick and change happen fast. What I love most about the role is the level of ownership and responsibility I have for my results and collaborating across every level of an organization, on so many different problems.

After work, I love to work out when I can (running is my favorite), watch whatever TV show I am on at that time, call my girlfriend, family or friends and find a place that I like to go for dinner and stick with it.

In what ways have you developed professionally since joining?

Since joining, my confidence walking into a room full of senior leaders and guiding the conversation to drive change has grown exponentially. I can now communicate my thoughts clearly and concisely to people with completely different backgrounds and roles, and I've learned how to take complex data and detailed processes and frame them in a way that lands with both colleagues and site personnel. Stroud has instilled the mindset that with the right tools and approach, you can step into virtually any unfamiliar environment and make an immediate, positive impact.

What have been your favorite moments on the job so far?

My favorite experience so far was taking full ownership of results on my first project, focusing on increasing production volumes at a protein bar facility.

On site, I coached plant teams across every shift, zeroing in on how to increase efficiency in their mixing steps and eliminate the equipment failures on packaging lines that were limiting their output. By the end of the project, my work directly contributed to doubling the site's throughput. The best part of it all was watching the genuine excitement on the client team's faces every time we hit a new shift production record, and helping an area that had been struggling get the visibility, tools, and confidence to succeed on its own.