Leading operations through ownership and systems change at Newpark Solutions.
From 2023 to 2026, I worked at Newpark Solutions in senior business operations roles, including a period as interim CEO.
The work followed Trust App's acquisition of Newpark in March 2023 and focused on turning new priorities into workable systems, management routines and coordinated delivery.
A completed transaction still leaves an operational transition to deliver.
Newpark develops parking technology spanning software, equipment, manufacturing and ongoing customer support. After the acquisition, the immediate task was not simply to write a new strategy. It was to keep day-to-day delivery moving while strengthening the management routines, systems and plans needed for the next phase.
That meant working across connected functions and time horizons: immediate operational priorities, clearer information for leaders, more joined-up systems and longer-term product, technology and people decisions.
Sources: Newpark Solutions public company profile · RWK Goodman acquisition announcement
A cross-functional operating role, not an advisory position.
My role sat across the operation rather than inside one department. As Business Operations Director, and during a period as interim CEO, I was responsible for coordinating priorities, improving how information moved through the business and leading changes that had to work in practice.
The job combined diagnosis, decision-making and delivery: understanding what was getting in the way, agreeing a workable route forward and then managing the work alongside the team.
The work connected systems, management information and day-to-day delivery.
These examples show the breadth of the role and the operational work I led.
- ERP-supported workflows
I led work to bring finance and core workflows across sales, invoicing, production, inventory and CRM into a more connected ERP environment. This included agreeing how information should move, who owned it and how the system should support the operation.
- Management rhythm
I established a regular senior-leadership rhythm supported by departmental plans, clearer priorities and more consistent reporting, giving leaders a practical structure for reviewing progress, risks and dependencies.
- Reporting and targeted automation
I developed reporting and automation around operational data, including customer-support and software-delivery information, to reduce avoidable manual work and make patterns easier to see.
- Longer-term foundations
I developed a five-year product and software vision and supporting business case, alongside work on role clarity, job descriptions and performance arrangements. This connected longer-term technology decisions with the people and operating model needed to deliver them.
Four practical lessons that now shape how I work.
- The deal is not the transition
A transaction can set a new direction, but responsibilities, management information and operating routines still have to make that direction deliverable.
- Software cannot settle an undecided process
A system only helps when the workflow, ownership and information around it are clear enough for people to use it consistently.
- Reporting is a working discipline
Useful management information depends on clear definitions, reliable inputs, named owners and a regular rhythm for acting on what it shows.
- Delivery has two time horizons
Immediate stability and longer-term change often have to be managed together. Neglect either one and the other becomes harder to sustain.
Facing a transition that is complete on paper but not yet working in practice?
I can help establish what the operation now needs, then lead the work required to put it in place.