Adam
Operations Research Associate Consultant, Chicago Office
Education
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA–CHAMPAIGN
M.S. in Aerospace Engineering, 2004
Activities at Illinois: ION satellite power system manager, Falling Illini club, Underwater hockey team
WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE
B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, 2003
Activities at Worcester: Internship at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD; swimming team and water polo team
Hometown
Bethesda, MD
ZS Career Path
Operations Research Analyst, 2004
Operations Research Associate Consultant, 2006
On the work
"My first major project was in the transportation industry. We were working to restructure and size an inbound call center that took calls for the client's major customers. My role was to analyze the call volume and length trends, and to forecast those metrics based on prior trends as well as additional call volume due to numerous factors. We worked with the center through implementation of our recommendations, and it is now functioning with a new structure and with new procedures. I worked on site (a Chicago suburb) half of the time, and in the office the other half.
"I remained with the same client for the following project, which was to design a standardized selling presentation that the sales representatives could use to sell their products. A value-based selling tool was created to customize the presentation to each of their customers by allowing the reps to select products to include in their offering. This tool saves the reps time each time they go to their customers with a market offering by quickly creating a professional and consistent presentation customized to their customers. I have already received a lot of feedback from the reps themselves saying how valuable the tool is; not only does the tool save time for the reps, it allows them to more dynamically illustrate the full value of the products that they offer to their customers."
On ZS values
Get It Right: "It is nice that clients always acknowledge the quality of our work. Often, on multiple projects with multiple clients, our work has given our clients insight into their business in ways they have never seen before. It is very gratifying to hear that the clients appreciate our work and have more confidence in our work than in their own internal divisions."
On life outside work
"I love the outdoors, especially mountains. Camping, hiking, skiing, biking – I'm always interested in doing something outside, year-round. I also try to travel often – it's nice to get away for long weekends to visit friends, or for even longer vacations to visit new places. I try not to have the typical tourist vacations; instead I try to go to places I don't normally go and do things that people don't normally do."
On the Chicago office
"Downtown Chicago is a fantastic office. It is obviously in a great location, it's near a lot of good places for lunch and everything you need after work. Everyone in the Chicago office gets along well, and we often go out after work to grab some beers. I prefer the work in the downtown office because of the expansion industry focus. The work that we do is often innovative and new to ZS, and because of that, everyone on all levels learns together."