10 Minutes with Danny Chirku: RedCloud Alumni

Danny is back with us today! We were excited to track him down for a special Alumni Q&A session so we could share his career path and his whereabouts since his time working at RedCloud. Before Danny came to us, he had extensive consulting experience with some of the Pacific Northwest’s biggest brands including Microsoft, Accenture and Premera Blue Cross. To no surprise, he brought his expertise and nailed his client projects here at RedCloud. After his time with us, he’s moved on to impressive projects with two more large companies and is here to share some reflections with us today. Thanks for taking the time to chat with us, Danny.

RC: What position did you hold at RedCloud, and what position do you hold now, and with what company?
DC: During my time at RedCloud from 2018-2019, I was a Senior Associate of Enterprise Solutions, working as an advisor. After my time with RedCloud, I headed to Twitter for almost 3 years as a Lead Program Manager. I recently joined Rivian as a Sr. Digital Program Manager focused on partner integrations within the commercial business unit. I'll be helping the team to deliver on the massive order of 100K EV vehicles for Amazon! I'm super excited to dive deep into the automotive and EV industry and apply the program management frameworks and best practices I learned during my consulting career to add tangible impact while growing personally and professionally!

RC: What kind of projects did you work on at RedCloud?
DC: At RedCloud, I had the chance to help CTO's leadership team at F5 evaluate the best 3rd party solutions to effectively manage their global engineering workforce. I delivered on multiple strategic products for the company. I also partnered with the chief medical officer at Premera Blue Cross and his leadership team to build out a 3-year strategy to help the company leapfrog their impact while staying competitive in the market.

RC: Did you have any experiences with RedCloud's community partners/charitable giving?
DC: I did. I actually had the honor of attending the 2018 Christmas fundraising gala for Toys for Kids in Bellevue. RedCloud’s dedication to helping their community and committing time to support those around them has always stuck out to me.

RC: Your favorite part about the RedCloud team members?
DC: At RedCloud, everyone is approachable and willing to help. The leadership team is super accessible and open to new ideas. That makes a big difference in doing your best work and delivering top-notch results.

RC: What were some skills you learned at RedCloud that you took with you to your next job?
DC: I learned about the capability maturity model [CMMI] and how to use that when developing a growth strategy focused on high performance. CMMI helps businesses and organizations understand their existing capabilities so they can optimize business results.

RC: What would you say to someone who was thinking about working for RedCloud?
DC: I would say it's an opportunity to truly accelerate your professional growth since each project is very unique in terms of the problems you'll be helping solve, the people you will work with and the frameworks you will use to build a solution.  If you love variety, creativity, intensity and learning on the job, this is definitely a great place to give it a shot!
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RC: The one thing you miss or look back fondly on the most about RedCloud?
DC: The autonomy to operate independently and deliver creative solutions with management support rather than inefficient process red tape.