"Having spent over a year at Norbridge, I have had the opportunity to participate in many diverse assignments -- from helping a railroad improve its disability management practices, to conducting due diligence for a pharmaceutical company considering an M&A, to developing an economic forecast for a Canadian Port Authority.

"I recently worked directly with a Partner to complete a two-month project assessing an Atlantic Coast Port Authority's competitive position. It was my responsibility to obtain market data via internet searches and interviews with industry experts. After collecting and inputting the data into several Excel spreadsheets that I developed, I devised numerous summary charts as a means of analyzing the information. The analysis revealed that structural changes in the industry had altered the competitive landscape of several ports, giving them economic advantages that previously did not exist. I worked closely with the Partner to create a presentation which incorporated all of our findings and the implications for the client. Together we met with the client to present the first draft of our report and share with them our recommendations for possible capital improvements to the port's infrastructure. I am currently following through on several additional client requests and am making minor revisions to the final document. We have scheduled an upcoming meeting at the client site to walk them through the final report."

One thing about Norbridge is that assignments are rarely "typical" - I have worked on a variety of projects in a broad spectrum of functions and scope. On a recent project, I worked with a Partner and a Principal to analyze a major Class I railroad's terminal network and identify opportunities for reducing costs and improving performance. We worked closely with the client's project manager to create a cross-functional project team of senior managers and to establish the project work plan and schedule. I was heavily involved in organizing an industrial engineering study that gathered a large amount of data on terminal operations. Using spreadsheets, databases, and presentation tools, I created the analysis used to identify significant performance improvement opportunities. We then developed recommendations to address these opportunities and presented them to the senior managers on the project team and to all of the terminal superintendents in the terminal network. In addition, I regularly held meetings with senior managers from the client to develop analyses and presentations on other cost reduction and performance improvement opportunities.

The project will soon move to the second phase, where the recommendations for improvement will be implemented. With help from a Principal, I will be the primary project manager for this phase, responsible for implementation work plans, schedules, presentations, and other project deliverables.