Case Studies

My work has always been about more than projects, titles, or transactions. It’s about choosing to lead when clarity is missing, when miscommunication erodes trust, and when the stakes are high. In my Forbes article, I shared why I believe communication is freedom — and why silence or misinformation robs people of their power.

That’s my “why.” I lead because I’ve seen what happens when leaders avoid the hard truths. I’ve seen teams fall apart when direction is unclear, and I’ve seen how unity, trust, and accountability transform organizations. The case studies below aren’t just outcomes — they’re proof of what happens when you refuse to let miscommunication win.

Forbes feature: Unite and Lead — The Power of Clear Communication, 2024

Proof in Practice

Results show up when leaders face reality, shed unhelpful habits, and make space for the right conversations. I give teams clear tools and an operating rhythm — then we measure what moves. The aim is always win–win: the moment it isn’t, we pause. ROI compounds when clarity, trust, and ownership rise together.

“This isn’t the usual ‘invest in your people’ pitch. Some people won’t be a fit — and that’s OK. Find out sooner, align values you can see in weekly behavior, and build the right team for this moment. That’s how performance compounds.”

Leadership Outcomes — Highlight Reel

Cross-company impact delivered in high-pressure transformations: private↔public shifts, M&A, and large-scale operating changes.

Scaled engineering allocation from 75% maintenance → 15%, unlocking innovation capacity.
Increased deployment frequency from quarterly → multiple releases per week.
Improved delivery predictability to 98% forecast accuracy within one year.
Reduced client issue arrival rate from 72 per week → 5 per week.
Cut crisis response time from 24+ hours → under 30 minutes via a redesigned incident process.
Designed acquisition onboarding playbooks cited internally as the “gold standard.”
Built cross-functional alignment across Engineering, Product, and Operations leaders.
Reduced customer time-to-value from six weeks → immediate deployment in under one quarter.
Established SLT scorecards and initiative reporting for C-suite and board-level metrics.
Created scalable leadership development programs and a PMO University for org maturity.

“I worked directly with Kinga on a day-to-day basis for several years supporting a global Software Engineering team serving non-profit organizations. Over that time I saw her modernize our entire Engineering team by implementing Agile processes, keeping us all disciplined with our metrics and reporting, and sharing her tremendous project management expertise to keep our teams aligned and working towards our goals. Despite our different backgrounds/expertise, I could always count on Kinga to speak the truth, ask good questions, and communicate the value of Agile to anyone regardless of their role. She is shrewd and sharp as a tack, and still manages to lift the spirits of everyone around her. She makes work fun. I can't recommend her enough and would love to work together again in the future.”

— Senior Director of CloudOps

Blackbaud — From 0 to 1,900 Organizations

When Blackbaud set out to build Altru for arts and cultural nonprofits, I served as Lead Program Manager and helped organize a new cross-team delivery system developed using Agile methodology. We created shared ways of working, navigated complexity together, and delivered value quickly. The people who shipped Altru remain a community that supports one another to this day.

What made this different:

Built a cross-functional delivery system leaders could run week to week.
Created a climate where people could take smart risks, speak up, and innovate.
Relationships and practices that outlasted a single release cycle.

Blackbaud’s Altru press release (PDF)

Voices

“We built a 0–1 product and released it in 18 months — an accomplishment for any first management project.”
— Engineering Lead

“If there's one thing I can say about Kinga, it's that she gets things done! … She elevates her direct reports and does what needs to be done in an organization.”
— Technology Leader

Connect with me on LinkedIn

Social Solutions, Ballmer Group, and the Power of ‘&’

During the Ballmer Group’s investment in Social Solutions, I built—and later led—the PMO as the bridge across Product, Engineering, Marketing, and Professional Services. The role wasn’t a lane; it was the ampersand: connect strategy to delivery, launches to roadmaps, promises to the work.

Scope extended beyond delivery into crisis management and incident triage, coordinating Support and Technical Account Management so escalation, communication, and recovery followed one rhythm. The operating cadence and reporting structures we installed were adopted across launches and remained standard practice for years.

What I Did:

PDS Launch Programs (Pitch → Deploy → Support):
- Pitch: Orchestrated executive alignment and a single story across Product, Engineering, Marketing, and Services.
- Deploy: Designed repeatable launch playbooks so approved work shipped on schedule.
- Support: Handed off cleanly to Support/TAM with incident paths and feedback loops into roadmaps.
Initiatives Reporting: Built executive/board-facing reporting tied directly to roadmaps and capacity signals.
Roadmap Alignment: Linked team backlogs to cascading goals; removed decision bottlenecks via weekly forums that stuck.
Crisis Response & Triage: Redesigned escalation logic, comms tree, and on-call routines; cut time-to-truth and recovery drag.
Mergers & Acquisitions: During the 2021 Athena acquisition, coordinated leadership onboarding plans for Product & Technology.
Subsequent Integration: The rhythms carried forward into the period preceding the Bonterra merger.

Read the Bonterra ROI Case Study (PDF)

Recommendations From My Tenure (available on LinkedIn)

“I joined Kinga’s team after my company was acquired by SSG. She happily jumped right in to onboard me into absolutely everything she knows — how to manage workflows, how to think holistically about getting a product from early conception into the customer’s hands, and how to communicate far and wide in order to Win As One…”
— Senior Program Manager

“People say insects will inherit the world. Obviously that is wrong — it will be the industrious project managers, with Kinga at the head of the line.”
— Marketing Agency Partner

Receipts & Results

Verified Executive Profile (ExecAtlas / Equilar)

Conceptual example of M&A onboarding rollout structure

Above: conceptual example of a “Win Together” M&A rollout. IKINGAI™ IP — my reconstruction of cadence, backlogs, and alignment so priorities cascaded and rolled up to leadership.