Case Studies

G. Joel Hager — Portfolio Case Studies & Key Projects

Key Performance Indicators

MetricAchievement
Regional Operations Scope6-state footprint (VA, WV, TN, NC, SC, GA)
International Committee Scope18 regions worldwide — global organized play
Convention Growth183% increase in table participation
Community Growth300% table count growth from baseline
Cancellation Rate Reduction30.41% → 20.92% (Atlanta operations)
Latest Convention Achievement41% table count increase; first post-pandemic Tier 1 status
Enterprise Applications Supported400+ mission-critical applications
Employees Served20,000+ nationwide workforce
Community Platform400+ member Discord; 13-applet automation network
Thought Leadership Reach59,000+ LinkedIn impressions within 30 days
System Availability24/7 mission-critical operations support
Compliance RecordClean outcomes across all regulated environments
Infrastructure BudgetZero incremental cost — all free-tier delivery

Progression highlights

  • 1
    Regional Operations Director (Regional Venture-Coordinator) — Current
    Top authority across 6-state organized play region; 18-region global committee chair
  • 2
    Senior Product Delivery Associate — JPMorgan Chase (2022–2025)
    Financial technology product delivery; cross-functional compliance operations
  • 3
    Technical Systems Consultant — Teladoc Health (2021–2022)
    Healthcare platform operations; HIPAA/GDPR compliance; international incident coordination
  • 4
    Venture-Captain, Atlanta — Organized Play Foundation (2021–2025)
    Built Atlanta operational dashboard; 30.41% → 20.92% cancellation rate reduction
  • 5
    Lead Service Management Analyst — Amtrak (2016–2020)
    Tier 2 support lead; ServiceNow migration service catalog workstream
  • 6
    Earlier Career — Manufacturing & Telecommunications
    ISO 9001 zero-nonconformity transition (Rodel/Rohm & Haas); international customer service (DuPont, Comcast)

Strategic Leadership & Program Management

Regional Program Transformation & Large-Scale Event Operations

Role: Regional Operations Director & Venture-Captain, Atlanta  |  2021–Present  |  Community Operations

Challenge
  • Post-pandemic program decline across multi-state region
  • Insufficient operational visibility — existing reporting was 7 aggregate numbers with no health context
  • High cancellation rates degrading player and GM experience
  • Complex multi-system convention operations with no consolidated management view
Actions Taken
  • Built custom Google Forms/Sheets/Apps Script dashboard as VC — commended by Paizo OP leadership
  • Advanced to Regional Operations Director; expanded dashboard concept to production platform
  • Directed product specification and deployment of Appalachian Regional Health Dashboard
  • Implemented systematic scheduling and engagement strategies across all venues
  • Sole planner for Paizo Organized Play at DragonCon (Atlanta)
  • Established municipal partnership with City of Marietta — annual since 2022
Results
  • 183% increase in convention table participation
  • 300% growth in table count from baseline
  • 41% table count increase at latest major convention
  • 30.41% → 20.92% cancellation rate reduction
  • First post-pandemic Tier 1 convention in Appalachian Region
  • Zero major operational failures across multi-day events
Strategic Planning Multi-State Operations Event Management Data-Driven Leadership Dashboard Development Stakeholder Relations
Operational Intelligence & Technology

Appalachian Regional Health Dashboard — Production Platform Development

Role: Product Owner, Requirements Author, QA Lead  |  2025–Present  |  React / Supabase / Vercel

Challenge
  • No unified operational health view across a multi-venue 6-state region
  • Data scattered across multiple platforms with no aggregation layer
  • NDA constraints requiring public/private output separation by design
  • Zero incremental budget — required free-tier production stack
  • Needed to be replicable by other regional coordinators
Actions Taken
  • Authored full product specification with 40+ defined metrics and calculation logic
  • Designed role-based access architecture — VO-only dashboard, public regional hub
  • Directed development on React/JSX frontend with Supabase PostgreSQL backend
  • Configured Vercel deployment, Cloudflare CDN/security, GitHub version control
  • Led QA cycles from requirements through production — ongoing iterative improvement
  • Built for replication — architecture documented for other RVC adoption
Results
  • Production deployment at zero incremental budget
  • NDA-compliant data architecture from requirements stage
  • Role-based access — dashboard invisible to non-credentialed users
  • Multi-source ingestion — Warhorn GraphQL, MeetUp iCal, custom scrapers
  • Replicable platform — designed for adoption by other RVCs
  • Active QA — continuous improvement cycle in progress
Product Ownership Requirements Authorship QA Leadership React / Supabase / Node.js Vercel / Cloudflare / GitHub NDA Compliance Zero-Budget Delivery
Global Governance & Organizational Leadership

Paizo Organized Play Onboarding Committee — Global Governance Leadership

Role: Committee Chair  |  2023–Present  |  Global — 18 International Regions

Challenge
  • Fragmented onboarding experience across 18 international regions
  • VO Handbook Task Force and Onboarding Committee operating with overlapping mandates
  • Documentation pipeline lacking accessibility compliance standards
  • International committee coordination spanning US, Australia, UK, and online regions
Actions Taken
  • Accepted chair role — structured quarterly meetings and project-specific sessions
  • Co-authored the VO Handbook — foundational governance document for VOs globally
  • Implemented accessibility compliance pipeline using PAVE checker and Affinity design tools
  • Managed multi-tool project infrastructure: Google Drive, Freedcamp, design assets
  • Petitioned successfully to merge VO Handbook Task Force into Onboarding Committee
Results
  • VO Handbook publicly available — foundational global governance document
  • Task force consolidation — organizational redundancy eliminated
  • Accessibility-compliant documentation pipeline established
  • International membership — US, Australia, UK, online regions represented
  • Sustained cadence — quarterly meetings plus project sessions maintained
Global Committee Leadership Policy Development Change Management Accessibility Compliance International Coordination Document Governance
Financial Technology

Financial Technology Product Delivery — JPMorgan Chase

Role: Senior Product Delivery Associate  |  July 2022–October 2025  |  Banking / Fintech

Challenge
  • Stable delivery of complex financial technology products under regulatory scrutiny
  • Cross-functional dependencies across product, engineering, and business stakeholders
  • Evolving compliance requirements requiring consistent delivery outcomes
Actions Taken
  • Collaborated across product managers, engineers, and business leaders for stable delivery
  • Identified and resolved delivery blockers; managed complex cross-team dependencies
  • Participated in UAT cycles; provided structured product feedback to address issues
  • Built strategic relationships across all organizational levels
Results
  • Clean compliance outcomes maintained throughout tenure
  • Consistent delivery timelines across complex product initiatives
  • Improved stakeholder satisfaction through proactive communication
Product Delivery Regulatory Compliance Cross-Functional Collaboration UAT Participation Risk Management
Healthcare Technology

Healthcare Technology Systems Operations — Teladoc Health

Role: Technical Systems Consultant  |  March 2021–July 2022  |  Healthcare Technology

Challenge
  • Platform documentation and process standardization across HIPAA/GDPR environments
  • International incident coordination including direct responsibility for Denmark office issues
  • Unresolved video codec issue affecting physician call quality — initially deprioritized by IT
Actions Taken
  • Documented processes in Jira/Confluence for TeamSupport platform and Sales Demo environment
  • Collaborated directly with TeamSupport team to surface and address system issues
  • Served as primary international incident coordinator for Denmark office
  • Identified video codec issue in Denmark affecting physician calls; escalated and coordinated resolution
  • Participated in QA testing initiatives for system stability and product demonstrations
Results
  • Codec issue resolved — codec change prevented broader physician service disruption
  • HIPAA/GDPR compliant documentation and operations throughout
  • International coordination — Denmark office issues managed end-to-end
  • Stable platform supported successful customer onboarding
HIPAA / GDPR Compliance Jira / Confluence International Coordination QA Participation Technical Escalation
Enterprise Service Management

Enterprise Service Management & Technology Transformation — Amtrak

Role: Lead Service Management Analyst  |  May 2016–September 2020  |  Transportation

Challenge
  • 24/7 Tier 2 support for 400+ mission-critical applications serving 20,000+ employees
  • Legacy ticket management workflows requiring modernization
  • Enterprise-wide migration to ServiceNow ITSM platform
Actions Taken
  • Served as one of six Tier 2 support leads — maintained 24/7 operational availability
  • Contributed to ServiceNow migration — team owned service catalog workstream
  • Participated in requirements gathering, testing, and IBM implementation discussions
  • Partnered with service owners to redesign onboarding and operational processes
  • Mentored junior analysts; coordinated cross-team service delivery initiatives
Results
  • 24/7 availability maintained for 400+ critical applications
  • 20,000+ employees supported nationwide
  • ServiceNow migration completed — service catalog workstream delivered
  • Improved service desk performance metrics through process redesign
ITIL Service Management ServiceNow Enterprise Operations Team Leadership Process Improvement
Community Platform & Communications Operations

Multi-Platform Community Communications Infrastructure

Role: Architect & Operator  |  2021–Present  |  WordPress / IFTTT / Discord

Challenge
  • Community spread across multiple platforms with no unified information distribution
  • Manual posting to each channel was unsustainable at regional scale
  • Game scheduling announcements needed automated distribution to players
  • Regional hub required immediate web and social presence upon RVC promotion
Actions Taken
  • Built atlantapfs.org on WordPress — architecture, plugins, content — since 2022
  • Launched appaopregion.org regional hub in September 2025 within weeks of RVC promotion
  • Designed 13-applet IFTTT automation network for multi-channel content distribution
  • Automated Warhorn game scheduling → socials and Discord for Atlanta (deliberate decision not to replicate at regional scale due to volume)
  • Embedded Paizo RSS feeds on both sites; piped Paizo blog to Discord via IFTTT
  • Designed and implemented GeorgiaPFS Discord role-based architecture for 400+ members
Results
  • 13 active applets — single-input, multi-channel distribution
  • 400+ member Discord with role-based access across Georgia lodges
  • Zero manual duplication — content updates propagate automatically
  • Paizo content aggregation — community stays current without leaving Discord
  • Zero incremental budget — all free-tier infrastructure
WordPress IFTTT Automation Discord Architecture Community Operations Content Strategy RSS Integration

Competencies demonstrated

Product Ownership & Direction

  • Full product specification authorship
  • Requirements gathering and definition
  • QA leadership through production
  • Vendor/developer direction
  • React/JSX, Supabase, Node.js stack

Web & Automation

  • WordPress (architecture, plugins, content)
  • IFTTT (13-applet production network)
  • RSS feed integration and aggregation
  • Cross-platform content distribution
  • Warhorn GraphQL data ingestion

Service & Project Management

  • ServiceNow ITSM
  • Jira, Jira Align, Confluence
  • Maximo
  • ITIL V3 Foundations
  • Agile methodologies

Compliance & Risk

  • HIPAA / GDPR
  • ISO 9001 (1994 & 2000)
  • Financial services regulations
  • NDA-compliant data architecture
  • Audit preparation
© 2026 G. Joel Hager · Mableton, GA · your-next-hire.me