Sarah Dressel

linkedin profile
linkedin profile

I believe clarity drives better decisions and faster results.

With over 23 years of experience in project and program management, I build high-performing teams and the operating systems that enable them to deliver. I establish PMO structures, governance models, stage-gate frameworks, and the tools that support scalable execution.

As a Process Excellence Black Belt, I help leaders and teams turn complexity into simplicity, accelerate decision-making, and bring products to market faster. Strategic, hands-on, and collaborative, I build systems that support growth yet remain intuitive for the teams who rely on them.

Areas of Expertise

  • Establish product development stage gates, leadership decision forums, and standardized tools to align priorities as organizations grow, without slowing innovation.

    • Impact: Faster decisions, clearer priorities, fewer scope shifts, and improved on-time delivery.

  • Define responsibilities and decision rights, streamline cross-functional workflows and embed practical risk management and lessons-learned frameworks.

    • Impact: Reduced ambiguity, faster issue resolution, shorter development cycles, and measurable accountability for results.

  • Design right-sized project management cadences, communication forums, and performance metrics that provide leaders with real-time visibility into progress and risks.

    • Impact: Greater predictability, faster risk mitigation, reduced rework and cost, and more confident, data-driven decision-making.

  • Lead structured project management change initiatives that ensure new systems are integrated and evolve as the organization grows.

    • Impact: Higher adoption, sustained performance gains, and scalable operational discipline.

Results

Led cross-functional teams to deliver over $650M in revenue across 400+ SKUs (including NPD, promotions & merchandise).

Streamlined communication with external manufacturers to implement an FDA-required packaging change for 232 SKUs worth $500M.

Accelerated executive reporting by 75% through real-time dashboards, enabling smoother meetings and faster, data-driven decisions.

Reduced artwork errors from 38% to 4% in under four months by identifying and eliminating root causes.

Standardized project timelines and clarified roles for 100+ SKUs, cutting development time and improving on-time delivery.

Why I Started LumenWay

Aligned & empowered teams will turn complexity into predictable performance.

I help organizations to identify where product development projects, processes, or teams are stuck, uncover the root causes, and implement solutions. My approach is hands-on: I work alongside teams, fix the underlying issues, build the structure, and set them up for success.

Transformation, not maintenance, is what excites me. I want to continue to help teams and individuals reach their full potential.

That is the work LumenWay Partners was built for.

meet our founders
meet our founders