$2M+
Diagnosed a systemic worker classification exposure and built the framework to fix it. $2M+ realized and tracked in the first year; roughly $5M projected as the review extended across the enterprise. Daikin Applied Americas
Alex Adams
Adams Advisory LLC, Shorewood, Minnesota
Twelve years in operations and people strategy at UPS, Amazon, and Daikin Applied. I take interim and project work in workforce planning, change management, AI-enabled transformation, and organizational effectiveness.
Workforce planning isn't about the spreadsheet, it is about the human impact and the design of work. Knowing what work is actually being done, where that work needs to be, and then identifying where the gaps and redundancies are is the work I do. I work this design with the people that own the work, then build the plan to get there, from mobility to succession to process improvement, so the design holds beyond the planner.
A change holds or it doesn't based on things that never make the project plan: the order you tell people in, what a manager says when someone asks, whether anyone checks the numbers before the first cycle runs. That is the work I do.
Succession that hasn't been touched in years. Classification nobody wants to open. A mobility program that exists on paper. I build these with coherence so they run without me; a system that still needs me is not finished.
Diagnosed a systemic worker classification exposure and built the framework to fix it. $2M+ realized and tracked in the first year; roughly $5M projected as the review extended across the enterprise. Daikin Applied Americas
Succession planning had been dormant for more than five years. I rebuilt the process from nothing to 80% coverage of critical roles. Daikin Applied Americas
Moved 700+ employees from pay-current to pay-in-arrears while the business kept running. Listening sessions first, then training every people leader on what to say, then a check on the numbers and invisible operations before each cycle. 99.82% payroll accuracy. Daikin Applied Americas
I start from a conviction that people want to contribute. When they stop, it is usually the conditions and the incentives, not the people. So I work from purpose down: what the organization is for, what the work has to become, what structure follows from that, and what its leaders need in order to keep it running after I leave.
My philosophy degree is for finding the real problem under the presenting one. My years on loading docks and in fulfillment centers are for knowing what it costs when the implementation looked good on the whiteboard, but didn't factor in the complexity of the workforce from office to frontline.
I write about this at Level 1 Human. The short version of the framework is PVC: purpose, values, compassion. They are the conditions a business can actually set for meaning at work, and the rest of my work rests on them.
Daikin Applied Americas, 2022 to 2026. Strategic Initiatives Manager and Chief of Staff to the VP of HR; Talent Mobility Program Manager; Talent Development Partner; HR Manager. HR's strategic partner on a five-year organizational design and workforce planning engagement; talent workstream lead for the Workday implementation; designed an AI-ready knowledge repository for talent with Copilot automation through Power Apps.
Amazon, 2020 to 2022. HR Business Partner across fulfillment operations in California and New York. Launched three fulfillment centers; six months of interim regional HR leadership; built attrition analytics adopted across the California network.
UPS, 2014 to 2020. From frontline operations management to HR leader of the district's largest HR team, five professionals covering half of Minnesota: 1,200 employees, three unions, statewide recruiting and retention.
Education. MBA, Eastern University. BA in Philosophy, University of Minnesota.
I take interim and project engagements, directly or through placement firms. Twin Cities based; on site or remote. References available on request.