SUMMARY:

Senior - level leader with over 12 years of IT experience with a heavy focus on project management and business analysis primarily in the SDLC space. I have a strong passion for partnering with customers in developing and implementing high-standard, dynamic, and practical business and technical solutions that align with their road map and growth strategy.

SPECIALTIES:

Business Consulting |Strategic Planning |Project Management | Program Management | Business Analysis | Cost Analysis | Process Engineering | Process Improvement | Process Mapping | Integration | Collaboration | Team Building | Mentoring | Problem Management | Systems/Software Development Life Cycle

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

Confidential, Akron, OH

IT Project Manager / Business Analyst

Responsibilities:

• Managed the Integration workstream for a $16M SAP CRM Customer Care technology transformation project; managed several tactical projects for the Confidential IT Solution Delivery Team
• Worked closely with business functional areas/management, technical teams, and vendors in defining and documenting systems/project priorities, charter, scope, approach, resource requirements, timing deliverables, and funding
• Developed project plans specifying goals, strategy, dependencies, staffing, scheduling, identification of risks, contingency plans, and allocation of available resources; assisted with the selection of project team members
• Effectively drove the requirements definition process, working closely with the business owner and/or a business analyst
• Effectively drove standards and procedures for project reporting and documentation; tracked and maintained project and technical documentation
• Provided leadership, direction and set expectations for the project team; provided ongoing feedback to team members and presented performance feedback at the completion of a project
• Identified and scheduled project deliverables, milestones, and required tasks; assigned tasks and responsibilities, and drove accountability to project team members; directed and coordinated activities of project resources to ensure project progresses on schedule and within budget
• Identified internal and external risk areas as part of the project plan; performed risk management throughout the project lifecycle and created contingency plans as appropriate
• Coordinated vendor activities by monitoring and tracking vendor deliverables and commitments where relevant
• Managed scope and the change request process, coordinating decision process of scope and budgetary impact of changes from original specifications; tracked project-related costs and expenditures
• Aggregated statuses delivered by project team; prepared project status reports and kept the project team, business stakeholders and management informed of project status and related issues, escalating as necessary
• Coordinated testing and Quality Assurance processes and ensured traceability to original requirements

Confidential, Strongsville, OH

Project Manager / Business Analyst

Responsibilities:

• Managed all projects and initiatives associated with the Firm’s Global Command Center.
• Worked closely with senior management/directors to identify process improvement and automation opportunities.
• Designed and developed technology-based workflows and solutions and assembled and managed cross-functional teams to implement solutions.

Confidential, Cleveland, OH

IT Project Manager / Business Analyst

Responsibilities:

• Collaborated with senior partners/management, project sponsors, functional directors and managers, SMEs, developers and engineers, and business partners and vendors to drive business capabilities and execute business and technical solutions using Agile and waterfall SDLC methodologies.
• Co-chaired the Legal Project Management committee; revived the Firm’s Legal Project Management program, working closely with Firm senior partners and management; designed and implemented a Firm-wide Legal Project Management training program.
• Designed and implemented an enterprise-wide Legal Project Management software solution for matter planning, pricing, budgeting and forecasting; project results included improved revenue realization ($500K+ annually), improved client communication and satisfaction ratings, robust reporting and data mining capabilities, and increased new client activity.
• Designed and implemented an enterprise-wide, web-based software solution for new business intake processes; this solution replaced paper-based, labor-intensive processes and resulted in 75% cost savings, significantly improved cycle times (from days to minutes), added a high degree of visibility and allowed for robust reporting and data mining.

Confidential, Cleveland, OH

Business Analyst/Sr. Consultant

Responsibilities:

• Conducted requirements gathering interviews with stakeholders and SMEs; documented existing processes and requirements.
• Performed comprehensive analysis of business and systems processes to determine where automation, standardization, and/or re-engineering opportunities existed.
• Validated technical designs to functional specifications and requirements.
• Created business and technical process workflows, test plans and test scripts, and implementation plans.

Confidential, Cleveland, OH

IT Service Delivery Manager / IT Project Manager

Responsibilities:

• Served as senior escalation point of contact for production support/incidents, and design and improvement initiatives.
• Managed numerous SDLC projects and implementations
• Collaborated with managing partners, LOB managers, and department directors to establish SOP’s and SLA’s, and to ensure all application rollouts and changes were seamless for clients and end-users.
• Designed and implemented a comprehensive 24/7/365 incident management process; coordinated and directed root-cause analysis teams for system/process failures.
• Continuously evaluated business and IT process workflows; initiated and managed process improvement projects resulting in significant improvement in communication and responding to escalation matters, mitigating impact to customers.
• Re-engineered service desk process workflows resulting in near-perfect delivery of service and support to 1,375 users across 10 sites; spearheaded creating and implementing SOP’s and SLA’s resulting in improving customer experience.
• Completely re-engineered off-hours production systems schedules resulting in elimination of schedule-related failures, the retirement of the Cleveland IT facility, and an annual operating cost savings of $350K.
• Collaborated with application development managers and their teams to implement 700+ Control-M business and production scheduling processes resulting in a single data reference point for system failures/incidents.
• Designed and implemented a structured approach to change management and IT service desk governance and added numerous layers of process and control where none existed before.
• Designed and implemented an ITIL-based change management program; authored change management policies, procedures, and training materials; designed and implemented monthly change management metrics for senior management review.
• Collaborated to obtain SAS 70 Level II compliance starting with a blank slate with no documented processes and building up to a formidable array of controls and ways to monitor and test controls.
• Developed and implemented a desktop hardening reconcilement process, resulting in 100% compliance to hardening standards and requirements for all clients; achieved grade “A” results on subsequent client and internal audits.

Confidential, Cleveland, OH

Bankruptcy Services Operations Manager

Responsibilities:

• Launched and directed an initiative to centralize the Bankruptcy Services Department to the Cleveland site resulting in increased client satisfaction, productivity, and employee morale.
• Re-engineered and implemented department processes and controls resulting in cost reduction and increased productivity by 75%.
• Developed and implemented a department document management system and process resulting in increased productivity and the elimination of cost associated with housing files in an off-site facility.
• Directed the implementation of Electronic Case Filing ( Confidential ) and the creation and automation of pleading merges/templates for each district court resulting in increased productivity.
• Simplified and standardized department invoicing resulting in fewer errors, 100% on-time forwarding to clients, and faster turnaround of receivables from clients.
• Significantly reduced filing errors and increased accountability through the creation and development of key performance indicators, productivity reports, and file audit reports.

Confidential, Cleveland, OH

Assistant Vice President and Operations Manager

Responsibilities:

• Renegotiated and standardized key vendor contracts resulting in significant cost reduction and simplified invoice reconciliation.
• Recognized for successfully directing a turnaround effort of annual employee survey results.