Niclas Nordensved

SUMMARY:

I make complex matters simple to understand. Synthesizing information to create conceptual models, crafting messages that resonate with audiences and designing presentation and other communication materials.

Also, the natural extension of this, design and development of alignment (learning) programs, to enable the full workforce to draw their own conclusions and thereby internalize concepts and behaviors around change, and strategic priorities. To align people to pull in the same direction.

PROFILE:

Senior communications designer, with eighteen years of hands-on experience in US and Europe designing and producing strategic communication and alignment solutions for international companies across a variety of industries.

Solutions include workforce mobilization, enterprise communication, executive communication, strategy design and definition, conceptual modeling, strategy alignment, employee engagement, learning programs, classroom training, business simulations, corporate events, keynote presentations and award-winning elearning programs.

EXPERIENCE:

Iron Mountain - Boston, MA … March 2010 – Aug 2011
Senior communications designer.

• Enterprise strategy definition, communication. Defined and designed official model of enterprise strategy
• Developed and delivered interactive, collaborative exercises for Senior Leadership Team
• Identified, conceptualized, designed and communicated concepts for future enterprise priorities
• Lead designer for elearning projects responsible for overall conceptual design and methodology, interactive design, user experience and engagement, interface design and more
• Introduced and recommended business simulation learning program for executive leadership training
• Designed and created multiple presentations for CEO and other top executives
• Designed communication message, story, structure, design for multiple internal stakeholders - legal, analyst relations, executive strategy, L&OD and more
• Member of innovation enablement team
• Hand-picked by EVP for HR communication team

Freelance - Boston, MA … 2009 – 2010
Senior Learning Consultant.

Produced learning programs for clients;

Babson College;

• Developed an online course on the topic "ethics" for their MBA program

InterSystems;

• Developed an online elearning overview tutorial for end-users and implementation team members, for the software application TrakCare

amazon.com;

• Consulted on the development of the Kindle simulator

Collective Next - Boston, MA … 2007 – 2008
Senior Learning Specialist.

Produced learning programs for clients;

Fidelity;

• Leadership development architecture—definition of a new architecture and path for how to develop leaders within Fidelity
• The 5-year strategy conference for top leaders—aligning and getting buy-in from the 200 top executives around the overall strategy for the next 5 years
• Optimization of HR functions—for stakeholders to learn about the restructuring of the HR department
• Learning about the new IT product ‘Wealth Central’—understanding of the features, benefits, customer usage and value of this new product
• Enterprise-wide IT-transformation—alignment of all stakeholders and process improvements for this major initiative
• Produced keynote presentations and communication materials for top executives including Abby Johnson, Pat Goeble and Ellen Wilson.
  

Premier Healthcare Alliance;

• Produced program for participants to learn about the interactions between key elements of Premier’s value chain, business goals, corporate values and core competences.
  

Mastercard Europe;

• Wrote and produced the president’s keynote presentation for the 2008 sales conference.
  

TrueLearn - Boston, MA … 2002 – 2007.
Principal Learning Specialist / Creative Director.

Produced learning programs for clients;

BlueCross BlueShield;

• Created “Blue System Primer”, an elearning program for Plan Board Members to learn about BCBSA history, structure, vision and mission.
  

Monitor Group;

• Produced content and creative direction for the online learning program “World Class Marketing Strategy”, based on Michael Porter’s “Growth path”.
  

Cytyc;

• Created “Operating the Review Scope—A virtual training program”, an elearning course for users of the Cytyc Review Scope to detect cervical cancer. After learning about parts, features, functionality, maintenace and workflow users work on cases in a simulation replicating real life usage.
• Developed “Implementing breast cancer risk assessment practices”, part of a series of CME seminars. Participants learn benefits and implications of what it means to implement breast cancer risk assessment routines in their practices. Participants received CME credits.
• Created an experiential learning tool for a road show for the launch of the new ThinPrep Imager. Lab directors and cytologists were invited to learn about features and benefits of the new device, and about issues concerning the implementation of the Imager. Two Imagers were sold within 2 months, directly attributed to the learning program.
  

Fidelity, Fresenius Medical Care and Lockheed Martin

• Produced customized strategy alignment programs for numerous clients. Participants discover the reasons for the paradigm shift and how each of the elements of the new strategy support each of the objectives in their mission. Exercises include interactions with internal and external customers in line with new behaviors, and how it supports their vision. More than 25,000 participants.
  

Medtronic, MeadWestvaco, Farm Bureau Financial Services and Mary Greely Medical Center,

• Created “Maximizing Performance Through Diversity” — an alignment program to help employees focus on the opportunities inherent in behaving in an inclusive manner. Created to focus employees on growth through untapped market opportunities and a global perspective. Participants explored the depth and breadth of the true meaning of diversity to understand its impact on a fundamental level. They identified ways to leverage the diversity currently in the company and to explore new ways to share ideas and develop high performing teams. More than 20,000 participants.
  

Symantec;

• Produced a customized Sarbanes-Oxley learning program, to help Symantec resellers understand the implications of compliance related issues and to help them develop more effective compliance related software sales strategies. Participants learned about the complexities of the Sarbanes-Oxley act and the far reaching areas of impact at their customer’s organizations. Key product information linked to SOX requirements and introduced a variety of real world selling situations where they used their knowledge to improve their selling strategies and elevate their sales conversations to key decision makers.
  

Chicago United;

• Produced all content and materials for the “Changing Color of Leadership” conference on behalf of the non-profit organization Chicago-United.
  

TrueLearn;

• Initiated and developed the “Maximizing Performance” series of alignment tools for TrueLearn — a series of 11 off-the-shelf learning programs. Subjects include: Customer Experience, Diversity, Strategy Alignment, Change Management, Performance Management, Living the Brand, Sarbanes-Oxley, Cultural Integration and Compliance.

Celemi - Boston, MA & Malmö, Sweden … 1993 – 2002.
Learning Specialist / Instructional Designer / Art Director

Integral contributor on founder and chief designer Klas Mellander’s team. Developing all Celemi’s business simulations, customized learning programs and e-learning solutions. Chief learning consultant and instructional designer on all US projects and programs, responsible for project design, development and delivery.
Client programs include:


Gap Inc.;

• Customer service / new employee orientation program for 160,000 of Gap Inc.’s employees worldwide, delivered in seven languages. The result was an increase of $487,000 over a 3-week period of time, measured in 35 test store locations. Based on the statistics of the study, the conservative projected increase was a $379 million global gain over the first year.
• Compliance program for 160,000 of Gap Inc.’s employees worldwide.
  

Abbott Laboratories;

• Produced learning program for 50,000 employees. A competency-based performance management program to help employees understand and internalize the Core Competencies. Created to incorporate behaviors and actions into the different work roles and situations. Participants saw how these competencies supported the vision, and how living by these, the vision for the future could be realized.
  

The Worldbank;

• New employee program aimed at integration of the Bank’s history, goals, values and performance; developed as integral part of new employee training. A big picture understanding of the bank’s history, why certain decisions were made at that time, and the consequences they had, what their values and guiding principles meant, and how they support the realization of their vision. This showed how immaterial characteristics such as values can support a realistic, material goal. Participants — 500 new employees annually.

Supervalu;

• Customer service program for Supervalu and its 11 subsidiaries. A program to align store employees around the customer service vision. To provide a consistent understanding of the need to focus on customer service and the overall experience. Employees work with real-life situations to understand the best behaviors. Final component allows for ongoing measurement of customer service. 24,000 participants.
  

SPEAKING:

• DevLearn conference - elearning guild, November 2010
• Virtual conference - the Executive Network, July 2010
• Learning Solutions - elearning guild, March 2011

SKILLS:

Learning Design / alignment / internalization
Strategy visualization / model creation
Thought leadership
Presentations / story, structure creation / communication / design
Graphic design / interactive design / web design / UI / user experience

Software skills: Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Flash, Dreamweaver, Acrobat Pro, Articulate, Captivate, Lectora, WebEx, Sketchup, Cinema4D, Poser, DAZ, Swift3D, Aperture, Final Cut, Logic Pro, Cubase, Pages, Keynote, Numbers, Outlook, Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Visio, and everything else.

EDUCATION:

• Växjö University, Växjö, Sweden, 1989-1993, Bachelor of Science, (Fil. Kand.) Information Systems. Awarded the ITT Flygt award for best essay, 1992; “An introduction to Multimedia”.
• Central Missouri State University, Warrensburg, MO, 1992-1993, - graphic design, television production, mass media advertising. Dean’s list.
• RMI-Berghs, Stockholm, Sweden, 1991-1992, Mastercourse in graphic design.
  

AWARDS:

• Awarded the ITT Flygt award for best essay, 1992; “An introduction to Multimedia”.
• Designed Graphical User Interface and Information Architecture for TangoNet, which received Macromedia’s eLearning Innovation Award for best training application. “TangoNet is innovative eLearning - a business simulation that is multidimensional, challenging and highly interactive.”