Product Leader
John Cornelius McCaskill
Building digital products that simplify complex customer experiences.
Product leader with 10+ years leading strategy across banking, lending, customer communications, AI initiatives, and enterprise digital platforms.
Core Strengths
What I Do
I lead product strategy, build customer-centric experiences, modernize enterprise platforms, and align cross-functional teams around measurable business outcomes.
Customer Communications
Built and modernized enterprise communication platforms supporting more than 80 million customer interactions.
Platforms
Led digital lending experiences spanning origination, servicing, repayment, and self-service capabilities.
AI Modernization
Applied AI and automation to improve operational efficiency, reduce errors, and accelerate product delivery.
Customer Decisioning
Developed data-driven decisioning capabilities that personalize experiences and improve customer outcomes.
Enterprise Leadership
Led cross-functional teams across Engineering, UX, Operations, Compliance, Marketing, and Executive Leadership.
Experience Highlights
Selected Experience
Highlights from product leadership roles across banking, lending, enterprise customer communications, and digital products.
Modernizing Enterprise Customer Communications
Led modernization of an enterprise customer communications platform, introducing AI capabilities, real-time data integration, and operational visibility across 80+ million annual customer interactions.
Transforming Digital Lending Experiences
Led digital servicing initiatives, Adobe Experience Manager migration, and Salesforce integration efforts that generated $1.7 million in annual savings.
Scaling Student Lending Products
Improved enterprise lending platforms, modernized internal tooling, and supported a business responsible for $1.5 billion in lending.
Building a Customer Loyalty Platform
Built and launched a loyalty platform that increased customer lifetime value by 30% while improving customer retention through personalized engagement.
Career Journey
Professional Experience
Over the past decade I've led products across banking, lending, enterprise communications, digital servicing, and customer experience.
VP, Product
Citizens Bank • 2025 – Present
- Owned product strategy for an enterprise customer communications platform supporting more than 80 million customer interactions.
- Led AI modernization initiatives that reduced campaign deployment time by 30% while improving operational accuracy.
- Partnered across Engineering, Marketing, Operations, Risk, and Executive Leadership to deliver enterprise-scale capabilities.
Senior Manager, Digital Product Management
Sallie Mae • 2022 – 2025
- Led digital servicing products across the customer lending lifecycle.
- Integrated Salesforce Marketing Cloud with Zeta, producing $1.7 million in annual savings.
- Reduced customer service call volume by 50% through improved self-service experiences.
Senior Digital Product Manager
Nelnet • 2021 – 2022
- Directed product strategy supporting a $1.5 billion student lending portfolio.
- Built internal dashboards used across more than 40 enterprise teams.
- Reduced storage costs by approximately $2 million through enterprise search optimization.
Founder & Product Manager
Rewardance • 2016 – 2020
- Designed and launched a customer loyalty platform from concept through release.
- Increased Customer Lifetime Value by 30% through personalized engagement.
- Improved customer retention to approximately 70% year over year.
Leadership Philosophy
How I Lead
My approach to product leadership is grounded in clarity, measurable outcomes, customer empathy, and cross-functional alignment.
Start with the Customer
Great products begin with a deep understanding of customer problems, not assumptions.
Measure Outcomes
Success isn't measured by features shipped. It's measured by customer and business impact.
Simplify Complexity
The best products hide complexity and create intuitive experiences for customers and internal teams.
Lead Through Alignment
Product leaders succeed by bringing engineering, design, operations, and business partners together.
Never Stop Learning
Every launch creates new insights. The best teams continuously learn, adapt, and improve.
Credentials
Education & Certifications
Continuous learning has been a constant throughout my career, combining formal education with agile and product leadership certifications.
Master of Business Administration
Information Technology Management
Western Governors University
Professional Scrum Product Owner II
PSPO II
SAFe Agile Product Manager
APM
SAFe Product Owner / Product Manager
POPM
Crystal Training
Advanced Product Management