Amy Rood, M.A.

Knowledge Management & Information Architecture | Product Strategy & Roadmapping | User Research & Data-Driven Decisions | KCS® v6 Practices Certified | AI Curious | Systems Thinker | Librarian | Maker

Chicago, Illinois, United States

About

With 10+ years across strategic planning, knowledge management, customer support operations, and online community management, I've been using the gigantic skill set that helped me develop to help organizations break down information silos, democratize knowledge, and build collaborative problem solving structures. I can implement or grow Knowledge-Centered Service (KCS) programs, build knowledge bases ready to meet the AI moment, convert skeptics into cheerleaders, and bring people together around shared goals. I am passionate about making systems work better and more efficiently for internal teams and customers alike, through human-centered, technology-enabled solutions. Whenever you happen to be reading this, chances are I'm looking for a new problem to solve & you should get in touch if you've got one.

Experience

  • Online Community Strategist and Knowledge Manager at Start Early
    Apr 2019 - Aug 2025 · 6 yrs 5 mos

    Built and owned the full operational lifecycle and technical infrastructure for a national network online community (EducareShare), driving 600% membership increase through scalable process and system design. Key Contributions: ★ Owned end-to-end lifecycle of EducareShare, scaling membership from 150 at launch to 1,000+ through a robust community strategy and roadmap aligned to strategic initiatives. ★ Led the search and procurement of a new software platform for EducareShare, including engaging external partners, recruiting/onboarding a selection team, writing an RFP, conducting vendor demos, and negotiating the contract. ★ Conducted user research, including member interviews and surveys, using insights to inform strategy, roadmap, and platform requirements. ★ Developed and maintained a detailed online community playbook documenting knowledge management practices, content lifecycle processes, taxonomy revisions, and decision-making structures. ★ Established taxonomy, tagging, and metadata standards that improved findability and member experience. ★ Created and implemented a comprehensive measurement framework aligned to organizational goals; analyzed quantitative and qualitative data to deliver actionable insights for roadmap and decision-making. ★ Cultivated cross-functional partnerships across IT, Marketing & Communications, Knowledge Sharing, and third-party vendors to drive change management and digital adoption initiatives. ★ Maintained content quality and relevance through regular audits, proactively updating materials to reflect process and platform changes.

  • Ex Libris (On-site)
    • Support Team Lead & KCS® Program Lead
      Sep 2015 - Apr 2019 · 3 yrs 8 mos

      Over nine years of progressively responsible experience leading operational excellence and self-service outcomes within a global SaaS software company. Led a global support team and Knowledge-Centered Service (KCS) program. Key Contributions: ★ Championed Knowledge-Centered Service (KCS) adoption as program lead, maintaining the global content standard, recruiting, training, and coaching new analysts, and ensuring the support knowledge base was positioned for future machine-learning and AI-enabled self-service tools. ★ Maintained the KCS content standard for the global organization, ensuring consistency and quality in knowledge article creation and accessibility. ★ Collaborated with the global Center of Excellence (CoE) lead to address critical issues, drive new initiatives, and ensure ongoing development of global knowledge management strategy. ★ Designed metadata tagging conventions, article templates, and workflows ensuring accurate, consistent, and findable content across thousands of articles. ★ Structured and governed content to support machine-learning and AI-enabled retrieval tools—ensuring metadata schemas were clean, normalized, and AI-ready ahead of the organization's technology roadmap. ★ Led a global technical support team serving 800+ customer institutions across multiple time zones, designing staffing and routing workflows that maintained response time SLA compliance and earned top CSAT scores. ★ Developed and delivered technical training for a global customer base (product adoption and functionality) and internal staff (onboarding, support processes, KM practices). ★ Delivered global KCS training to diverse staff across Ex Libris and parent company, adapting content and approach with sensitivity to local perspectives.

    • Senior Voyager Support Analyst
      Feb 2010 - Sep 2015 · 5 yrs 8 mos

      Solutions-focused customer support professional managing support cases and creating high-quality, scalable technical knowledge resources. ★ Met and exceeded response times outlined in Service Level Agreements (SLAs), bridged communication between customers and engineering, and supported customer self-service opportunities as a KCS early adopter. ★ Led new version release process, including field testing, new feature training, and collaboration with Product, Documentation, QA, and Engineering.

  • Archivist at Chicago Tribune
    Sep 2007 - Feb 2009 · 1 yr 6 mos

    ★ Performed version control, quality assurance, and tagging for daily news stories in preparation for distribution to news databases.

  • Database Maintenance Assistant at South Central Library System
    Sep 2006 - Aug 2007 · 1 yr

    ★ Maintained and updated library catalog records for consortium of 50+ public libraries

  • Intern at Capital Newspapers, Inc.
    Jan 2007 - May 2007 · 5 mos

    Digital archiving projects, primarily working on adding physical photo archive to digital archiving system.