Verkia is a versatile operational and transformational leader who is a passionate problem solver in challenging situations with expertise in Healthcare, Pharmaceutical, and Technology companies. She is a strategic thinker with a demonstrated track record of driving company growth and profitability through talent development, implementation of operational excellence programs, and outstanding relationship management. As a highly engaged business partner and trusted advisor, Verkia excels at building and leading high performing teams, while creating environments of empowerment, engagement, collaboration, and retention.

STRATEGIC ACHIEVEMENTS

Strategic Planning – Verkia drove strategy creation for newly created global HERE Quality Management organization. She aligned strategy with all functional groups. Subsequently, she conducted overall governance and performance reporting of Quality strategic imperatives. Global Team Realignment – Verkia rebranded the global team around a new strategy, executed change management and communication plan, determined capabilities, and retrained to new roles.

Operational Excellence – She established companywide Systemic Issue Correction process and tool set to enable effective resolution of customer issues, leveraging structured problem-solving methodologies to trend and resolve key issues across business functions and processes.

Lean Six Sigma Training – Verkia deployed in-house Lean Six Sigma training and mentoring to certify 10 Green Belts with a total savings of €2,7MM.

Regulatory Compliance – Verkia was instrumental in HERE achieving zero Non-Conformances and several best practices in quality audits including ISO 9001:2015 recertification. This was achieved by providing the QMS framework to all functions, developing global audit plans for internal, external and supplier audits, and seamless audit prep.

ABOUT VERKIA

Early Career: General Electric – Verkia began her career as an Electronics Technician IV at GE Transportation Systems Global Signaling hired in her Junior year of college, working full-time while completing Bachelor of Science in Electronics Engineering Technology and a Master of Science in Industrial Management from the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg, Missouri.

Intense Leadership Training – She completed the Operations Management Leadership Program at GE Healthcare. This two-year program accelerates professional development in Global Supply Chain Organization through a minimum of four career experiences and intense leadership training laid the foundation for Verkia’s ability to rapidly learn new concepts and deliver results.

Lean Transformation – She continued her career as the Senior Business Operations Analyst with Baxter Healthcare leading the Lean Transformation of the Incentive Compensation team with Commercial Operations. After Baxter Healthcare, Verkia joined CVS Health as a Senior Advisor Process Optimization as an internal Lean Six Sigma consultant to lead cross-functional projects in multiple business segments.

Building Quality Operations – In 2014, Verkia joined HERE Technologies as the Manager, Quality Improvement and a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt. She was rapidly promoted upward to Senior Manager Quality Systems, then hand selected as Head of Quality Strategy, Planning, & Operations to establish the first strategy, planning and operations function within the Quality organization.

High Impact Transformation – In 2020, Verkia was promoted to lead global team of process improvement professionals in driving high impact transformation and continuous improvement initiatives as the Director of Continuous Improvement – Technical Support and Customer Success.

Verkia is married and mother of two. She currently resides in Chicago but is originally from Cameroon, West Central Africa.