Michael Plunkett
About Me
I'm a Director of Analytics with 10+ years leading data, marketing analytics, and business intelligence — and 4+ years building the SYW Analytics practice at Transformco (Shop Your Way / Sears Home Services) from the ground up into one of the company's most technically advanced, AI-native analytics organizations.
I joined Shop Your Way at a pivotal moment: Sears retail stores were winding down and the business was repositioning SYW as a standalone modern loyalty platform. I led analytics for the SYW MAX app launch — a flagship move into digital-first member engagement — and built the measurement foundation that everything since has been built on. My career has mirrored the evolution of the field itself: from app analytics and Adobe migration, through BigQuery data lake architecture, to building MCP servers that let Claude AI query live production databases in natural language. I use Claude Code and Cowork as core daily workflow tools — not experiments.
At Transformco I've simultaneously led two of the company's most complex measurement challenges: the complete redesign of SYW.com and the migration of the flagship 5321 Visa card program from Citi to a new issuer — maintaining analytics continuity across both without a gap. My team's AI transformation — 14 milestones in 110 days — was presented to the Board of Directors in February 2026.
AI & Agentic Tools
Analytics & Measurement
Engineering & Cloud
Marketing Tech & Strategy
The Analytics Evolution
Five phases. Five compounding layers of capability. One team, built from scratch.
Joined Shop Your Way at a pivotal inflection point — as Sears retail stores were winding down and the business was repositioning SYW as a standalone modern loyalty platform. Led analytics for the SYW MAX app launch, a flagship move to bring the brand into a new era of digital-first member engagement. Established the foundational measurement layer across web and app properties and built early reporting infrastructure as the team took shape.
Formalized the analytics practice with the launch of the SYW Analytics Jira project (SA-1) and a structured team operating model. Migrated from Adobe Analytics to GA4 across SYW.com, the SYW MAX app, and PYW app. Stood up GCP BigQuery as the team's analytics data warehouse with Composer-managed ETL. Architected the Sailthru purchase API integration and UTM auto-tracking framework still powering behavioral email personalization today.
Scaled BigQuery reporting across SYW.com, app, and financial services data. Built member transaction dashboards segmenting Members vs. Card Members. Integrated Sears Home Services (AHM) as the analytics team's first formal partner business unit — building weekly Salesforce-to-BigQuery pipelines that have run consistently for 15+ sprint cycles.
Led analytics for two simultaneous major initiatives: the Citi → Aress LCCAAS 5321 Visa card migration, and the complete SYW.com redesign (Lovable.ai + Builder.io architecture). Architected GTM tagging strategy for the new site, designed UTM persistence across non-linear multi-platform user paths, and launched EMOB next-best-action attribution for early card member onboarding.
In 110 days: first Claude AI access to a production-grade AI analytics platform recognized in a Board of Directors update. Deployed 3 MCP servers connecting Claude to live BigQuery and Snowflake. Eliminated manual PGP/SFTP workflows through end-to-end automation. Built the LCCAAS Command Center dashboard and integrated Dataplex + Gemini for self-documenting data infrastructure.
What Changed
110 days. 14 milestones. One AI-native analytics platform.
"The analytics team now operates at AI speed — from weeks to minutes for cross-source analysis."
— Board of Directors Update · February 2026
What I've Built
Key initiatives from 4+ years at Shop Your Way
5321 Visa Card Migration (Loyalty Card as a Service)
Full Analytics Rebuild · Citi → Aress
Led the complete rebuild of measurement infrastructure for SYW's flagship credit card as it transitioned issuers. Designed the GA4 acquisition funnel dataset tracking the full customer journey from web visit to card approval. Built cohort segmentation tables powering winback, ECM, and spend-threshold targeting. Identified a critical fraud vulnerability in the application endpoint — documented and escalated with query-backed analysis. Replaced manual PGP-encrypted SFTP delivery with zero-touch automation.
SYW.com Complete Redesign
GTM & GA4 Measurement Leadership
Partnered with engineering to maintain measurement continuity across a full site overhaul — from monolithic codebase to multi-platform architecture (Lovable.ai + Builder.io + SYW app webviews). Led GTM auditing and resolved tag-firing-too-early bugs with delayed triggers. Designed UTM persistence for non-linear user paths. Stood up waitlist GA4 tracking within 24 hours of launch.
AI-Native Analytics Platform
MCP Architecture · Enterprise AI Infrastructure
Among the earliest enterprise analytics practitioners to build a production MCP server stack. Designed 3 MCP connections giving Claude AI real-time, read-only access to live BigQuery and Snowflake — replacing manual query-paste-analyze cycles with natural-language agentic data access. Directed credential security migration from legacy service account JSON to trusted MCP connections. 14 milestones delivered in 110 days.
America's Home Manager / Sears Home Services Analytics
First Strategic Partner Integration
Established Sears Home Services as the analytics team's first formal partner business unit. Built weekly Snowflake-to-BigQuery marketing pipelines running consistently for 15+ sprint cycles. Deployed two dedicated MCP connections (BigQuery + Snowflake) making AHM the first partner fully integrated into the AI analytics stack — enabling real-time cross-sell analytics without manual reporting. Leading dataset strategy for a predictive Member Engagement Score (MES) model.
Career History
20 years across media, agencies, enterprise, and fintech
Built SYW Analytics from scratch → AI-native data platform
KPI frameworks, reporting automation, Tableau standardization
Built Snowflake DW; supported $22M national media buy
SEO, media & creative analytics for major brand accounts
GA360 migration across 1,400 affiliates; 2x eComm growth via A/B testing
Earlier Agency & Media Experience
BBA, Advertising & Promotions
Western Michigan University
Google Analytics (GAIQ) · Google Tag Manager · DePaul CIMA · Python for Data Science
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Open to conversations about analytics leadership, AI-native data infrastructure, MCP architecture, or building measurement systems for complex platform transformations.