Shama Patel – Founder
Shama Patel is the Founder of Drive Change with over 20 years experience advising executives at Fortune 500, midsize and non-profit organizations bringing a broad range of experiences and methodologies that are tailored to fit the situation. Her philosophy for driving change is grounded in values driven and motivational leadership and she takes great pride in helping teams identify and develop their potential to own their future.
Her counsel is both philosophical and pragmatic, providing access to a broad range of strategic frameworks, templates, roadmaps and situational advice tailored to meet diverse conditions and create learnings that last a lifetime.
Shama maintains a professional presence in the United States and Europe and is authorized to work at either location. She is a native English speaker with a basic knowledge of German, which she continues to improve.
Shama is an avid traveller and an amateur photographer. You can view her photo stories at My Photo Stories.
Professional Experience
Managing Director and Founder at Drive Change, February 2009 – Present
Help business leaders drive large scale transformation from ideation through implementation, using structured methods and frameworks. Engagements range from strategy definition and cross-functional alignment; governance and organization design; facilitation and conflict resolution; leadership and team development; and executive coaching and mentoring across a wide variety of industries and business processes. Clients included Aon, American Family Insurance, Sears, Persado, IES Abroad and Kavi Global.
Managing Director Corporate Strategy and Planning at United Airlines, June 2005 – June 2008
Led business integration and alignment for a major change initiative to develop a common platform that would allow United, Lufthansa and other Star Alliance partners deliver a cohesive and integrated customer experience enabling hassle free international travel. The team drove customer facing, business process consistency and managed change across major international airlines.
Founder and Principal at CommerceLoop, November 2001 – June 2005
Assisted start-ups and entrepreneurs develop strategic and operational plans and setup for success including market analysis, new business development and investor messaging. Clients included IES Abroad, National Opinion Research, Ruan Transportation, CNA Insurance, 8to18, James Jordan Foundation.
Associate Partner, Travel and Transportation at Accenture, January 2000 – October 2001
Served as the aviation industry global Customer Relationship Management (CRM) practice leader and led the creation of industry wide CRM blueprints, roadmaps, and scorecards that positioned Accenture as a leader in the airline industry for solving complex business problems. Built a rich and varied practice by developing new business, identifying industry trends, evaluating innovative technologies and coaching and mentoring young managers.
Principal at PricewaterhouseCoopers, March 1994 – January 2000
Build the Business Intelligence practice for the aviation industry. Evolved data warehouse projects into analytical solutions to solve complex business problems and, managed large scale, multi-year, multi-million-dollar engagements across multiple industries.
Senior Manager at Software Architects, March 1991 – March 1994
Managed multiple business and technology integration projects primarily in the area of human resources. Led the digitization of HR records, at a time when digital technology was in its infancy. Developed and implemented change plans for the shut down of a popular and renowned catalog service.
Education
PhD, Digitalization, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark
Masters, Computer Science Northern Illinois University, USA
Bachelors, Geology, Delhi University, India