Karen Sickels
Sociology at University of Connecticut
United States
ETS Anywherepro Badge
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Hi, I'm Karen Sickels!
Sr Business Process Transformation Lead at Educational Testing Service (ETS)
Decade-long experience leading process design and improvement initiatives in Global Education, adept at elevating both internal and external customer experiences through data-driven insights, addressing customer pain points, and thorough process analysis.
Experience
Educational Testing Service (ETS)
Sr Business Process Transformation Lead
February 2018 - December 2024
Promoted to Senior Lead based on my performance delivering stellar results and willingness to embrace challenges. As a key member of Operations Shared Services, partnered with teams across the business to develop and implement improved processes, procedures, and technological enhancements to drive efficiency and improve customer experience. • Virtually facilitated the Customer Interactions improvement project with a cross-functional team of experts, diligently mapping customer interactions from registration to post-administration. Identified pain points, bottlenecks, and improvement opportunities, leading to actionable insights that significantly enhanced the customer journey for a key product. • Led comprehensive process analysis sessions for global product operations and security teams, identifying improvement opportunities and supporting solution development. This initiative resulted in a 75% reduction in customer security hold cycle time. • Actively monitored incident management dashboards and delivered key performance indicator (KPI) and process metric insights to leadership, driving informed decision-making. • Managed a project to streamline the Headcount Request process using MS Power Apps with automated workflows and conditional prompts, enhancing business justification clarity and improving overall efficiency for internal customers.
Educational Testing Service (ETS)
Senior Business Process Transformation Lead
January 2018 - December 2024
Virtually facilitated the Customer Interactions improvement project with a cross-functional team of experts, mapping customer interactions and identifying improvement opportunities. Led comprehensive process analysis sessions for global product operations and security teams. Monitored incident management dashboards and delivered KPI and process metric insights. Managed a project to streamline the Headcount Request process using MS Power Apps.
Educational Testing Service (ETS)
Business Process Consultant
February 2015 - February 2018
Promoted to Business Process Consultant after completing an ETS Six Sigma Green Belt Project and demonstrating an elevated level of competency in process management skills. Tasked with documenting and presenting findings, recommendations, and proposed solutions to problems across the organization. • Led a complex root cause analysis with technical and operational teams that addressed over fifteen issues and identified solutions that prevented errors from reaching our customers. • Analyzed a large set of data and provided insights that helped focus process improvement efforts for a highly visible customer communication initiative. • Collaborated with Program Operations, Supply Chain, and Client Management to develop detailed process maps, RACI, and risk analysis (FMEA) to enhance clarity of roles and responsibilities for year-to-year activities and support operational readiness

Business Process Consultant
January 2015 - December 2018
Led a complex root cause analysis with technical and operational teams. Analyzed data to provide insights for a customer communication initiative. Collaborated with Program Operations, Supply Chain, and Client Management to develop process maps, RACI, and risk analysis.
Educational Testing Service (ETS)
Program Coordinator, Office of Quality
April 2007 - January 2015
Coordinated the internal Six Sigma Green Belt Training Program. Managed the team book of work, monthly performance metrics, and prepared accurate and timely status reports for executive leadership. • Reduced the percentage of score report image defects by 22% by leading an improvement project for TOEFL iBT® and as a result earned an ETS Six Sigma Green Belt certification. • Created a dedicated SharePoint site that housed internal training materials, tracked progress of projects, and completed certifications.
Education
Certificates & Badges
ETS Anywherepro Badge
This unique assessment tests real-life work scenarios and provides employers seeking professionals ready to work in a remote, hybrid, or digital environment an easy way to validate their skills.
Issue date: Oct 2, 2024
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Credential ID: dcb015d1572baca1acfa7ba5a4a831d8
Projects
No projects added
Languages
No languages added
Skills
Certified Six Sigma Green Belt
Team Problem Solving
Lean Methodology
Root Cause Analysis
Process Mapping
Project Management
Data Analysis
Risk Analysis and Management
Collaborative Planning
Process Analysis
Business Process Improvement
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