Catherine Baird, Ph.D. is a Technology and Operations Consultant with 360 Ventures, Inc.. With extensive experience in business process improvement, software development, implementations and technological advancements, she is responsible for building and managing the Development Practice for our company.
Before joining 360 Ventures, Catherine was Project Director of 180Commerce Inc. where she established Professional Services as the company’s first profit center. She also contributed to the product requirements for the 180Returns Management Platform‘, and managed the development of the first general available software release. At 180Commerce, Catherine applied standard methodologies such as the Rational Unified Process, but also introduced more streamlined approaches like eXtreme Programming, Scrum, and Agile Development.
Her broad understanding of methodologies, policies, and procedures comes from more than eight years in project management and consulting. At BellSouth, Catherine enabled supply chain systems integration between Ryder, Verizon and CTDI in an intense 6-week project that delivered an ROI of $1.28 million in the first year. She implemented a company-wide Solutions Life Cycle program throughout Glenayre Electronics that ensured consistent product management and engineering practices throughout the company’s 5 North American divisions, including recent acquisitions. At Eltrax Systems Inc., Catherine resolved a loss of more than $2,500,000 per month in open orders in less than 2 months while performing a wholesale ERP implementation recovery. Dr. Baird successfully filed R&D tax credits totaling more than $14 million for a variety of Canadian manufacturers. She established a record 99.9% success rate defending these claims in audits with Federal and Provincial government representatives.
Before embarking on her consulting career, Catherine was a Professor of Russian and European History. She obtained her Ph.D. from McGill University in Montreal where she held the Max E. Binz Scholarship. In 1997, she was winner of the Graduate Essay Competition at the Canadian Journal of History. She has published 3 other academic papers in addition to her Masters and Doctoral Theses. Dr. Baird earned her B.Sc. in Biological Sciences from the University of Toronto. She is active in the Institute of Management Consultants, the Project Management Institute, the Southeastern Regional Internet Society and the Centre International de Formation Européene.
Catherine can be reached at 404.966.2225 or cbaird@360ventures.Net.