1. Sara Ruiz
sara_ruiz5@hotmail.com Cell: (602) 510-2698 11731 W Daley Ln Sun City, AZ 85373
QUALITY, HOUSING AND STUDENT LOAN COUNSELING DIRECTOR
Demonstrated ability to provide effective leadership in educating and coaching managers and executives on continuous
improvement and how to conduct root cause analysis. Solutions-focused leader providing creative, low cost, high ROI
improvement ideas that maximize existing strengths and new technology. Effective use of careful, open minded listening,
diplomatic responses and clear, articulate communication to promote culture of continual process improvement. Committed to
achieving business objectives by leveraging quality tools and concepts. Creatively identify client and business opportunities. Team
player focused on company mission. Self motivated and driven. Strives to meet and exceed company expectations.
Strengths
Communication Facilitation Quantitative Analytical Aptitude Quality Minded Team Player
Solutions Focused Organized Timely Self Motivated Problem Solver Positive
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
TAKE CHARGE AMERICA – Phoenix, AZ
Non-profit debt management, financial education and credit counseling organization.
Quality, Housing and Student Loan Counseling Director 2013 to Present
Implement, manage and maintain ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management System (QMS). Oversee and direct Housing
Counseling Program and Student Loan Counseling Program. Identify opportunities for and deliver quality training. Identify
and implement improvement initiatives based on analysis of data within programs. Support business objectives and improve
client satisfaction through continual improvement ideas. Manage department employees (10 FTEs), budget and resources.
Successfully transformed Housing Counseling team within 2 months.
o Previous 5 year $25,000 / month negative budget became breakeven.
o Stripped all non-value added steps from processes.
o Updated client communications to create a sense of urgency.
o Created counselor and team goals.
o Improved National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling Level 2 ratio to 60% from 7.65%.
Improved Student Loan Counseling capacity.
o Decreased average talk time without impacting outcomes from 3.5 hours / client to 65 minutes / client.
o Created action plan templates that reduced creation time from 45 minutes / client to 15 minutes / client.
Created Student Loan Counseling outcome tracking.
o Enhanced student loan service offering with enrollment assistance and servicer conference calls which increased
counseling session conversion by 13%.
o New service offering enabled tracking of outcomes which led to pilot project opportunities with large public
universities and school districts in Arizona.
Leading Council on Accreditation Performance and Quality Improvement (PQI) company implementation which includes
promoting a culture of improvement; development of a PQI Plan; development of outcome measurements; and,
establishing analyses and reporting procedures.
ISO Quality Manager 2005 to 2013
Implement, manage and maintain ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management System (QMS) to include document and records
control, audit functions, and corrective and preventive action programs. Responsible for achieving ISO 9001:2008
recertification in accordance with statutory, regulatory and AICCCA requirements. Identify opportunities for and deliver

2. Sara Ruiz ▪ Page 2 sara_ruiz5@hotmail.com Cell: (602) 510-2698
quality training. Support business objectives and improve client satisfaction through continual improvement ideas. Manage
ISO Quality Department employees (1 FTE & 4 Part Time Auditors), budget and resources.
Successfully achieved annual ISO 9001 recertification each year. Garnered strong praise and compliments from external
ISO auditors due to audit results exhibiting improvement each year. Presented results to Executive Committee and TCA
Audit Committee.
Participated in changing existing QA form from task oriented to objective based for NICE conversion.
Identified and recommended improvements in organizational effectiveness:
o Transitioned QMS documents from a complex and burdensome system into a streamlined system with the right
level of detail and business value. Quality forms reduced from 244 to 86 (68%) and process instructions reduced
from 157 to 108 (32%) with no negative impact to QMS.
o Introduced process approach audits and reduced the number of audits conducted from 42 to 13 per year while
increasing the audit scope to yield more in-depth audits that produced impactful corrective actions.
o Introduced risk management approach to QMS that moved corrective action program from a catch all, punitive
program to a meaningful, improvement oriented system with defined characteristics. Year prior to new approach
158 corrective actions issued. Year after new approach 45 corrective actions issued resulting in administrative
savings of approximately $33K.
o Uncovered automation opportunity for contact center collections efforts. Leveraged existing electronic
communication management system to identify and send emails to past due clients. Clients paid and dollars
collected averages remained steady after implementation equaling approximately 8 FTEs.
Provided training and/or mentoring to contact center management to implement recommended change via root cause
analysis, process mapping, reporting analysis and the documentation of corrective actions.
Led and facilitated annual QMS review with Executive Committee that includes review of all company audits, client
feedback, service conformity, company resources and external environment factors. Developed system to record and
monitor the completion of improvement opportunities identified during these reviews.
Effectively communicate with all levels of employees within organization to convey audit results, build inter-departmental
relationships and promote the benefits of quality programs and tools. Led projects and process change that created a
positive culture around ISO and resulted in a better employee understanding of how ISO benefits employees, the company
and clients.
Created annual budgets, reviewed and analyzed monthly financials and generated variance reports.
Contact Center Supervisor 2003 to 2005
Directed day-to-day activities of up to 15 New Accounts Counselors. Identified training opportunities and coached to contact
center best practices to yield a high performing team in debt management, service knowledge, customer service skills and
performance areas.
Transformed each team assigned to me into the top performing team by identifying and implementing best practices.
Motivated team to exceed company expectations through competitive performance management that served as the
foundation to reward and acknowledge high performing counselors, identify areas of additional training and meet client
customer service expectations.
EDUCATION
ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY, WEST – Phoenix, AZ MAY 2002
B.S., Global Business Administration
GLADHILL ASSOCIATES INTERNATIONAL – Glendale, AZ May 2006
Lead Auditor Course ISO 9001:2000
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
SENIOR MEMBER, ASQ – AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR QUALITY (2003 to Present): ASQ membership has provided me with
learning opportunities through formal trainings and kept me abreast of the latest quality trends through ASQ website materials
and resources.