Heather Rafferty joined Firefly Consulting in 2014 after earning her MBA in Entrepreneurship. Her work focuses on helping clients strengthen their process orientation and fostering a collaborative environment for organizational improvement.
As a certified Green Belt, Heather has partnered with clients across various sectors, including waste management services, aviation, manufacturing, healthcare, insurance, consumer product goods, private equity, and banking and finance.
Beyond her client work, Heather has shared her expertise as a speaker at the Lean Six Sigma World Conference and has authored several articles. Recent titles include “How HR Execs can use Operational Excellence to Compete on Hiring” published by HR Executive, and a 2024 primer on customer journey mapping titled “On the Right Path,” published by the American Society for Quality.
Heather holds a BA from the University of Virginia and an MBA from the Acton School of Business.
Heather's Publications and Insights
Education
- Acton School of Business
MBA - University of Virginia
BA Drama - Certified Green Belt
Notable Achievements
- Assisted a fast-growing healthcare and education business in documenting existing processes, diagnosing growth barriers, and supporting a new technology rollout with plans for greater system integration.
- Partnered in developing a comprehensive market launch playbook for a $2.8B consumer packaged goods company undergoing rapid growth, aligning siloed teams to support strategic objectives.
- Created multiple customer journey maps for a $600M HVAC manufacturer, helping the company better meet customer needs and support business growth during rapid expansion.
- Worked with cross-functional teams on redesign of the renewal process for a private equity-backed SaaS company, mapping current and future-state workflows, identifying quick wins, and aligning roles, metrics, and documentation to support automation and reduce operational friction.
- Supported an aviation firm in streamlining internal systems, enhancing processes, and establishing a repository for process documentation as the company prepared to double in size. Provided input on a technology blueprint to help integrate existing, disparate systems.
- Collaborated on discovery and development of high-level process documentation for a $1.8B national distribution company renegotiating a key supplier contract.
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On the Right Path – A Quick Guide to Creating Customer Journey Maps
Published by ASQ, 2024.
AI Meets Quality – A Practical Approach
Presented to ASQ Austin, 2024.