Gennaro Bruno

Senior strategist and operator with 13+ years of experience adept at driving digital transformation, scaling operations, and delivering executive-level strategy to unlock growth in dynamic environments

Senior Manager, Consumer Strategy - Verizon - New York, NY

(2025-01)

Drive high-impact & executive-facing strategic engagements for $106B+ Verizon Consumer Group (VCG) business unit

• Spearheaded delivery assurance for AMPLIFI, a scalable AI marketing platform unlocking ~$1B in annual value; established cross-functional governance to prioritize requirements, define the digital roadmap, and ensure value realization
• Engineered & led "0 to 1" strategy series for Sales Org SVP leadership to operationalize core strategic pillars; translated frontline pain points into 14 "Big Rock" initiatives & executive action plans leveraged to augment the VCG Strategy project pipeline
• Bolstered Transformation workstream PMO across 40 initiatives supporting L-stage gate processes, resolving cross-workstream dependencies & initiative mapping, & drafting monthly executive review materials for the CEO & ESVP program sponsors
• Launched & operated Prepaid-to-Postpaid migration pod as Scrum Master; led cross-functional team of Directors across Agile sprints to execute E2E marketing campaigns, accelerating 100K+ incremental migrations via microsegmented comms strategies
• Orchestrated Prepaid-to-Postpaid migration strategy and data-backed analysis, securing cross-org VP alignment and CEO-level sponsorship; unlocked projected 200M+ annual incremental impact
• Facilitated development of and hosted multiple 3-day 100-person National Consumer Leadership Retreats

Junior Engagement Manager - McKinsey & Company - Summit, NJ

(2023-01 - 2024-12)

Lead cross-functional teams to deliver complex digital and operational transformations for Fortune 500 clients across North America

• Led IT/Digital workstream of 1B cost transformation including product op. model, data architecture, and AI enabled initiatives requiring direct SVP and VP level client coaching and management; identified ~50M in IT OpEx and CapEx savings
• Hosted future state of gas workshop for 20 senior level clients to provide "art of possible" vision for holistic IT enabled gas org; finalized business opportunity to support enabling ~200M in IT org value via digital road mapping
• Implemented major regional utility player transformation managing 40+ executive level clients across multiple operating companies and workstreams; captured ~300M of the 550M in overall program level OpEx savings
• Advised a global energy CEO on international exit strategy to enable NA portfolio optimization; directed commercial diligence of the Mexican renewables market, validating a project pipeline requiring ~1.2B investment over 10 years

Associate - McKinsey & Company - Summit, NJ

(2021-09 - 2023-12)

Advise clients by supporting digital, performance, & transformation initiatives for large, international firms, often within the S+P 500

• Designed and deployed custom call center digital product for major Midwest healthcare payor; coached business product owner to host all agile ceremonies (e.g., daily standups, sprint planning sessions)
• Upskilled 30+ Product Owners across multi-national life sciences org to successfully transition from project (i.e., waterfall) ways of working to product operating model centered around agile methodology and user centricity
• Enabled operating model transformation for global pharmaceutical by coaching and aligning executive level clients across 5 global R&D teams on necessary product and engineering role governance; led to 80% completion of R&D org redesign
• Drove performance improvements for large beverage manufacture through the implementation of leader standard work, performance huddle boards, and revised analytics inspired scheduling engine; increased output from 1M to 3M units / week

Head of Strategy and Operations - Palermo Bakery - Little Ferry, NJ

(2015-01 - 2019-12)

Led business development strategy and corresponding operational transformation for ~$10M revenue generating wholesale LoB

• Managed 15 member cross-functional R&D and product team through competitive market analysis, market mapping, and internal capabilities review to launch 4 new frozen product lines; increased annual production capacity by 20M+
• Re-engineered manufacturing process to scale wholesale distribution nationally through grassroots acquisition of 100+ client, vendor, and broker partners such as Ahold, Key Foods, and Wakefern (ShopRite Group); resulted in $4M+ annual sales growth
• Launched organizational change program institutionalizing food safety best practices for end-to-end production traceability through employee education programs in English and Spanish; secured food safety certification SQF Level 2
• Implemented raw material, recipe, and finished goods enterprise resource planning software system to manage 1000+ inventory and product SKUs; synthesized procurement and purveyor data and reduced COGS by 20%
• Negotiated pricing, promotion, & distribution dealings for $4M in sales with purchasing directors and category managers

Technology and Data Analytics Manager - Palermo Bakery - Little Ferry, NJ

(2012-01 - 2019-12)

Responsible for developing and executing digital transformation efforts across 3 lines of business: retail, food-service, and wholesale

• Redesigned manual system of custom order processing through development of Salesforce software solution to increase productivity, order accuracy, and scalability of catering line of business; reduced administrative costs by 75%
• Led digital infrastructure overhaul and directed implementation and integration of POS, Telecom, and IT cloud systems for commissary and satellite facilities; resulted in unified corporate data and communication system

Sales and Operations Manager for Palermo's Custom Cakes - Palermo Bakery - Little Ferry, NJ

(2012-01 - 2015-12)

Oversaw ~20 person sales & custom cake operation; managed E2E customer journey from prospect to post-consumer satisfaction

• Generated $4M in annual revenue for the custom cake, retail, and food-service divisions; increased gross sales by 33%
• Negotiated and approved pricing for thousands of custom orders on a yearly basis ranging from $50-10,000+ in retail value
• Strategized with principals on a full-scope expansion venture, including a multimillion-dollar headquarter relocation project

MBA - Strategy and Management - Columbia Business School (2021-05) New York, NY

BS - Finance and Accounting - New York University: Leonard N. Stern School of Business (2012-05) New York, NY