GRANT SIMMONS
PROVEN RECORD OF LEADERSHIP, CUSTOMER FOCUS, AND INNOVATION
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About Me
Diligent, self-motivated, results-oriented professional with 18+ years of achievement in leveraging technology and managing projects and has a rare combination of technical acumen and intrapersonal ability.
Cloud Based Tools
Awesome cloud-based tools that your small business might not be using
Mobile Automation
Use tablets to eliminate paperwork struggles and increase visibility of data across your organization.
Small Business Intelligence
As a small business, you can't afford to overdo technology
GRANT SIMMONS
Diligent, self-motivated, and results-oriented IT professional
Oso Innovative, LLC
Owner - Current
Provides cloud-based solutions to clients seeking to optimize business processes, and incubates new brands and business ideas.
- Created database to quickly analyze years of accounting data and provide details for $14 million in errors
- Improves and maintains cloud-based tool that assists with operating and accounting for two NGL processing facilities
- Internet Marketing and Social Media management for Local and Web-Based Businesses
- Created, Owns, and Operates a successful and profitable local food business
Diligent, self-motivated, results-oriented professional with 22+ years of achievement in leveraging technology and managing projects with a rare combination of technical acumen and intrapersonal ability. Proven record of performance, excellence, business perception, customer focus, and innovative problem-solving.
Vice President of Logistics and IT - October 2009 to February 2017
Murphy Energy Corporation / Connect Transport LLC
Provided vision, strategy, and leadership in the development and implementation of the company-wide logistics and information technology programs for a business that grew from 10 to more than 300 employees, from 0 to over 200 trucks, and from 0 to over 100 rail cars.
Designed and implemented scalable systems and processes to accommodate the rapid growth of an oil and gas marketing company.
Photo: We moved a fleet of 100 NGL rail cars through Tennessee, Mississippi, Lousiana, and Arkansas
- Reduced cost by designing processes for Touchstar, Express LP, Qv21 and Welltrax and integrating data from these systems into our Teamdesk cloud database as well as Wolfepak and Entero accounting systems, which reduced redundant data entry
Photo: Welltrax is a cloud-based bulk commodity trucking application. We operated a fleet of 20 crude hauling trucks on Welltrax in Texas. We had plans to expand this system fleet wide.
- Custom designed the Teamdesk cloud-based database to allow the analysis team to work in a collaborative environment and to efficiently perform freight rate calculation, freight invoicing, and driver settlement calculation as well as track basic maintenance cost, complete expense reports, monitor truck mileage, track inspections, medical card renewals, VINs, tags, and other detailed asset information.
Photo: Teamdesk is a cloud-based online database that makes it easy to allow any employees to collaborate and work faster with the same set of data. We developed a custom database on Teamdesk to bridge the gap between our freight logistics systems and our accounting.
- Created cloud-based tools used by multiple facilities to eliminate data entry errors, monitor gains and losses of volumes, generate bills of lading, log all incoming and outgoing volumes, monitor inventory levels, and visualize NGL chromatograph analysis trends.
- Evaluated and collaborated with industry-leading logistics system providers in order to determine and implement the most optimal solutions for our operations.
Photo: Our tools made it easy to spot changes in product analysis so that billing errors could be avoided and product specifications could be tracked.
- Managed multiple systems deployment projects to our fleet, including a $400k+ Peoplenet system, $800k+ Touchstar system, Qv21, and Welltrax. Pioneered the use of these systems to simplify paperwork processes and optimize both crude hauling and NGL hauling operations with quick access to data from the field.
Photo: Simple charts allow analysis changes to be quickly identified
- Designed a low-cost tablet based document capture system for remote trucks that eliminated paper documents and saved considerable staff-hours spent handling paper documents
- Lead initiatives to identify and develop reports around critical metrics: such as fleet and driver utilization, revenue per truck, cost per hour, and cost per barrel.
Photo: Tablets are a disruptive technology in logistics that have changed the landscape allowing for tremendous savings in hardware cost and custom field applications. We used simple apps from the app store to allow paperwork to be captured and sent back to the office instantly. Logistics, Electronic Driver Logs, and other field data can all be automated for a fraction of the previous costs.
Formed and expanded the teams that supported truck logistics, rail logistics, business analysis, and information technology.
- Developed the employee performance review process for my organization using self-appraisals and a “good-to-great” review system to grade performance and engagement levels, encourage strengths, identify areas of improvement, and ensure alignment of management and personal goals.
- Executed evaluations of new employees for many positions for specific technical skills and overall technical aptitude.
- Assembled and managed a rail logistics team that ensured the efficient daily operations of the rail fleet as it grew from 0 to over 100 tank cars.
- Built tools for managing rail cars and estimating rail car need based on NGL blending models.
Photo: We used a good-to-great model for our performance review process inside the logistics and technology group
- Negotiated rail freight rates with UP and NS to minimize cost increases.
- Developed processes for determining how much of each product stream to blend together to hit the right vapor pressure for tank cars at our new rail terminal.
Photo: We assembled a team that successfully managed our rail fleet with no prior experience in rail transportation.
- Created a planning and forecasting tool that ensured that an NGL gathering system would not shut down due to insufficient availability of empty tank cars to load.
Photo: A collaborative spreadsheet that helped us determine how much low vapor pressure product needed to be brought into our rail terminal based on forecasts of other incoming volumes.
Director of Technology and Logistics - June 2008 to October 2009
Murphy Energy Corporation / Connect Transport LLC
- Developed scalable collaborative processes using Google spreadsheets for managing a property database, freight, driver schedules, and driver pay
- Modeled freight rates to ensure profitability of every truck movement
- Scheduled and verified oil barge movements, meter proving, and third-party verification of transferred volumes. Verified that product volumes were accurate and invoiced correctly.
- Migrated from legacy email system to G Suite (formerly Google Apps).
- Negotiated contracts with internet, telephones, and security providers.
- Evaluated, priced, and set up laptops, desktops, tablets, servers, printers, and networking equipment. Provided troubleshooting for all technical issues, including computer failures, security and camera systems, networks, phones, and tablets.
- Managed the configuration, deployment, and installation of the Peoplenet fleet management system for the initial fleet of nine crude hauling trucks.
- Designed and deployed external and internal websites for Murphy Energy Corporation and Connect Transport LLC as well as logos and branding.
Photo: When our team was small, collaborative spreadsheets were key to keeping track of driver schedules, freight, pay, and property information. Instead of burying ourselves in emails, we had the information always at our fingertips.
Performance Assurance Consultant - January 2004 - June 2008
TAC - acquired by Schneider Electric
- Managed commissioning, training, tuning of HVAC controls and software with the goal of generating savings on electricity bills sufficient enough to cover the cost of new equipment
- Managed relations and customers’ perceived value on a daily basis
- Researched and established an out-of-the-box method to analyze and collect energy consumption data in a central database that reduced the time required for consultants to develop value-added solutions for customers.
Photo: Example first page of status report of School District's energy usage which was produced by the tool I developed to send out a nightly or weekly overview without requiring consultants to log in. This allowed consultants to identify problems very early before costs mounted.
Education
Baylor University - May 2001
Bachelor of Science in Engineering
Electrical and Computer Engineering Major, Mathematics Minor
AWARDS
Cash reward for designing weld verification process that potentially saved millions of dollars in lost production time at General Motors
Quarterly merit award nominee at TAC - awarded to two professionals per quarter
