Stefan Hench

About Stefan Hench

I build and run the operational infrastructure for professional services organizations—spanning finance operations, IT systems, compliance, and vendor management. At Next Street, a 65-person consulting firm, I\'ve built out operational capabilities across multiple domains: managing a $500K+ portfolio of vendors, technology platforms, and corporate insurance, leading SOC 2 audit coordination, redesigning contractor approval workflows, and developing staffing and utilization models that inform firm-wide capacity decisions. My approach: treat operations as a strategic function, not overhead. That means building systems that scale, making data-driven resource decisions, and ensuring compliance without creating bureaucratic drag. Core areas: Financial operations · IT oversight · SOC compliance · Vendor and contract management · Process improvement · Staffing and utilization analysis · Salesforce administration

Experience

1. Operations Manager

   Next Street

   May 2024 — Present · Charlottesville, VA, US

   Lead cross-functional operations for a 65-person professional services consulting firm, reporting to the Head of Operations and partnering with Finance, IT, and Delivery leadership.• Manage a $500K+ operational portfolio spanning IT platforms ($260K), corporate insurance ($62K), and equipment procurement ($88K), including vendor selection, contract negotiation, and renewal decisions• Led SOC 2 Type II audit coordination across three cycles, managing evidence gathering, staff compliance training, and auditor relationships—resulting in clean audit opinions• Designed and implemented contractor taxonomy and approval workflow improvements, creating decision frameworks adopted across the delivery organization• Built staffing demand models aggregating data across 15-25 active and pipeline projects to inform capacity planning and hiring decisions• Administer Salesforce platform including reporting, dashboards, and process automations; evaluate and recommend platform improvements• Own vendor management program including MSP oversight, security policy compliance, and platform selection decisions (SharePoint, Egnyte, Zoom, etc.)

Education

• University of Virginia

  Bachelor of the Arts, Economics and East-Asian Studies

• Cornell University

  Master of Management in Hospitality (MMH), Operations Management and Supervision

  2019 — 2020

Skills

• Financial Modeling
• Market Research
• Editing
• Microsoft Word
• Financial Analysis
• Microsoft Office
• Coaching
• Higher Education
• Qualitative Research
• Event Planning
• Event Management
• Access
• Customer Service
• Financial Advisory
• Program Evaluation
• Blogging
• Marketing
• Research
• Project Management
• Training
• Volunteer Management
• Strategic Financial Planning
• Financial Services
• Public Relations
• Fundraising
• Personal Finance
• Public Policy
• Social Media
• Policy Analysis
• Outlook
• Social Networking
• Program Development
• Management
• Social Media Marketing
• Powerpoint
• Microsoft Excel
• Photoshop
• Teaching
• Entrepreneurship
• Analysis