Experience

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  Transit

  • Portland, Oregon, United States

  • Partnerships

    • Jun 2023 - Present
    • Portland, Oregon, United States

    As part of the Partnerships Team at Transit, I help transit agencies understand and serve their riders better, through Transit's unique insights, data, features, and communication tools.

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  Alta Planning + Design

  • Principal, Practice Area Lead

    • Sep 2006 - May 2023

    Managed two teams (Programs and Creative Services), totaling 18 team members. Was responsible for all aspects of these teams’ performance, including business development and sales, client satisfaction, profitable project delivery, professional development, and performance management. Was responsible for all hiring decisions, including defining needs, promotion and recruitment, interviewing and evaluation, and negotiating offers. Brought in over $2M in annual sales. Excellent client satisfaction ratings and team/peer/manager feedback. Served on corporate Board of Directors.

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  Bicycle Transportation Alliance

  • Membership Director and Metro-Area Advocate

    • Jun 2001 - Sep 2006

    As Membership Director, was responsible for sourcing new members and securing renewals. Twice-yearly major gift solicitations exceeded industry standard response rate. Hired staff and recruited volunteers to streamline and grow membership program. As Metro-Area Advocate, participated in setting advocacy priorities. Developed and executed campaign plans. Served on projects committees and led grassroots organizing to ensure that projects in the Portland Metro Area resulted in good facilities for bicycling. Demonstrated strong public speaking and persuasive writing skills.

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  Tranxition Software

  • Portland, Oregon Metropolitan Area

  • Engineering Team Lead

    • Sep 1999 - May 2001
    • Portland, Oregon Metropolitan Area

    Hired as quality assurance technician, testing enterprise personality extraction software. Was promoted to lead a team of software engineers. Managed build and testing schedules. Responsible for team development and communication. Was asked to return after funding-related layoffs, demonstrating value to the organization.

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  Freightliner

  • Portland, Oregon, United States

  • Executive Assistant

    • Jan 1999 - Jun 1999
    • Portland, Oregon, United States

    Bilingual Executive Assistant to the team at Daimler Chrysler/Freightliner responsible for introducing the Sprinter van to the American market. Managed correspondence, created documentation, and organized meetings and travel in both German and English. Received stellar manager feedback on follow-through, quality of work, and strategic thinking.

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  viaLanguage, Inc.

  • Portland, Oregon, United States

  • Administrative Assistant

    • Jun 1998 - Jan 1999
    • Portland, Oregon, United States

    Served as administrative generalist for all staff at viaLanguage, supporting translation administration. Attended client meetings, responded to correspondence, handled scheduling, and reviewed translation project documentation.

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  Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen. Seminar für Sprachwissenschaft

  • Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

  • Machine Translation Research Associate

    • Feb 1998 - Dec 1998
    • Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

    Funded by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF), Verbmobil was a long-term project for the development of a mobile translation system for the translation of spontaneous speech in face-to-face situations. Jessica was a translation research specialist, working as the English native speaker paired with a German native speaker. Research pairs used transcripts of real-world conversations in business contexts to test verb machine translation rules, identify errors and imprecise results, and refine the rules in response.