OBJECTIVE STATEMENT:

Provide leadership to plan, direct and coordinate management of key projects and program activities.

SUMMARY:

Project/Program Manager with extensive record (16 + years) of successful launching, directing, execution, management and delivery of mission - critical, strategic projects/initiatives (multiple, concurrent, software and infrastructure) across various vertical industries by performing management functions such as, planning, scheduling, organizing, and tracking processes, ensuring the feasibility of each project. Deliver solutions as a catalyst and forward thinker - Capable of critically evaluating and responding to personnel, business process, and issues; Capable of synthesizing/integrating disparate information, to establish order from confusion and develop workable solutions with optimistic personality enabling interaction with diverse work and personal styles.

KEY SKILLS & STRENGTHS INCLUDE:

• Leadership - Adept at leading/managing cross-functional projects (Software and Infrastructure)
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills (verbal and written)
• Problem solver - Creativity and forethought in solving complex project issues
• Organizational ability and multi-tasking skills
• Service orientation - "People person" and a team player
• Work effectively across cultural, language and time zone boundaries
• Strategic and Tactical Planning/Business Process Improvement
• Possess both Software and Infrastructure project management competencies.

SPECIALTIES:

Strategic and Tactical Planning, Project/Program Management, Client and Vendor Relationship Management, Data Center Consolidation, Budgeting & Resource Planning, ITIL Service Management, Business Process Improvement, Technology Integration & Execution, Cross-functional Team Leadership, Business Process & Operations Management, Online Banking Solutions, System Design and Delivery, Governance, Legacy Modernization, Infrastructure/Technology Refresh, Mergers & Acquisition, Alliance and Partnerships, Tier 3 Support Transition and knowledge Transfer, Commission/Decommission 1000's of Devices (Servers, Databases, Network devices and the like), Project Planning, Scheduling and Estimating, Business Analysis, SDLC, Agile, Change Management, Systems Integration, Capacity Planning, System SW/HW Upgrades/Enhancements, Cloud Management Services, .

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY:

Confidential, Houston, TX

Sr. Project/Program Manager

Responsibilities:

• Organized, lead and managed delivery of global projects and teams across geographies, remotely.
• Managed cross-functional teams of 3-5 resources per SR (IBM) concurrently, enforced established project governance process for customer compliance while building a collaborative team mentality for success
• Evaluated project requirements, identified and resolved ambiguities and ensured all project related artifacts are created, updated and saved for future reference and audit compliance including but not limited to - project schedules, risk mitigation plans, issue logs, status.
• Planned, directed and coordinated project activities to ensure that project goals or objectives are accomplished within time, budget parameters and in line with business objectives
• Strong customer focus, expertise in setting and managing customer expectations, possess the ability to communicate needs and schedules to IT and clients as well as to ensure that plans are in place and standards are adhered to.
• Collaboratively contributed to continuous business process improvements and efficiency throughout, as and where necessary.
• Applied Agile, IBM or PMI SDLC methodology (as the case may be) to manage projects.
• Applied due diligence as and when necessary for reviewing and contributing to contracts such as Document of Understanding or Statement of Work; formal changes (PCR) to a project, including documentation, tracking, obtaining formal approvals, and managing the impact to existing project plans to execute the changes; monitoring/controlling, testing/QA, deployment planning and the like.
• Ensured all project documentation/artifacts are maintained and stored in line with IBM Process and in a manner that will support internal and external Audit requirements
• Prepared regular periodic (daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, quarterly) project status reports to keep stakeholders/executive- level leadership abreast of progress on deliverables and taking corrective action(s) as necessary.
• Facilitated the Customer Acceptance Testing, Go/No-Go decisions, collaborated/coordinated with the release management, support & project team members to monitor/address any post-deployment warranty, performance issues and related DR planning /scheduling.
• Coordinated, developed & executed application deployment plans for production collectively with project team commitments.
• Managed all day-to-day operational aspects of the delivery life cycle for project and scope, schedule, change requests, priorities, budget, quality, resources, lessons learned, gap analysis.
• Identified, analyzed and monitored potential risks, issues, roadblocks for an early resolution; also identified, executed mitigation plans and escalated as necessary.
• Managed day-to-day vendor interaction; Reviewed deliverables prepared by team and vendors.
• Organized, managed and lead an application development team, provided guidance, direction, leadership, coaching, mentoring, motivation and ensuring team adheres to Client expectations and standard practices.
• Collaboratively identified key process synergies, improvements and best practices' standardization opportunities (tailored processes, as needed); performed gap analysis, as necessary with program management.
• Continuously assess and improve business process and efficiency throughout, as necessary.
• Managed budget planning, forecasting, and actual status for as many as 36 shared resources, including their allocation and time approvals
• Managed interdependencies and integrated activities with other business units and projects, as necessary
• Promoted cooperative, collaborative team environment and team cohesiveness

Confidential

Project/Program Manager

Responsibilities:

• Strategically managed and coordinated teams for the migration effort from the current VPN to MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching) solution in two Data Centers to include application flow information for FW configurations/rules updates.
• Established order from confusion and develop workable solutions in just two (2) months into the project.
• Ensured the Primary and Secondary MPLS Circuit implementation, delivery, testing, H/W and IBM/Vendor Site Readiness (Power, Cable Extensions & H/W Device Installations) for final cut over is completed successfully and timely.
• Managed Project Managers, Vendors (Verizon, CenturyLink), identified, addressed and cleared roadblocks, issues to meet customer expectations.
• Facilitated daily PMO calls with Project Executive (PE), Delivery PE, SDM (Service Delivery Managers)
• Strategic planning, monitoring, reporting and timely delivery of contractual services to customer as per contract
• Manage relationships internally and with business customers.
• Performed due diligence impact assessment as it related to changes in the contractual services for project/program scope, time and budget.
• Provided necessary guidance, direction, decision, coaching and mentoring for projects and program as appropriate
• Developed integrated project plan/roadmap collaboratively across multiple towers (CMS, AMS, GBS, T&T, SO, DR, NW, MSS, Server Build Team) showing roadmap of milestones and timelines for accomplishing customers' strategic goals and objectives.
• Managed/Coordinated with multiple tower leads for respective project milestones of moderate to high complexity
• Managed planning, organization, and implementation of project activities
• Provided direction and control of work performed in the framework of project, including monitoring the critical path and implementation of appropriate corrective actions
• Ensured adherence to current project management standard processes and compliance to quality assurance policies
• Provided overall project communication periodically to stakeholders and program management of stakeholder expectations
• Managed day-to-day project activities using Agile methodology, such as issue tracking and risk mitigation, request for changes (RFCs), facilitating project/program team meetings (with various groups) and preparing/disseminating status
• Proactively identify and solve project issues through negotiation and/or escalation processes
• Developed a culture of documentation, process and communication to bring project transparency, producing quality deliverables on time and on budget
• Managed development, support, modifications, enhancements and troubleshooting as directed by the Project Executive
• Worked independently within various Tower technology, applied lessons learned to improve processes
• Managed resources' on/off boarding process across multiple towers for PMO for this project

Confidential, Houston, TX

Sr. Project Manager

Responsibilities:

• Project Completed ahead of Schedule; Exceeded Savings Target; No Interruption to Business; Identified Business risks & recommended solutions; 15 Legacy Sites Network Simplified.
• Managed all day-to-day operational aspects of the delivery Toll Gates for project scope, schedule, change requests and priorities.
• Managed mid to upper level client delivery relationships.
• Prepared regular weekly status reports to keep delivery leadership team abreast of progress on deliverables, provided transparency and took corrective action(s) as necessary from the daily pulse calls with Clients.
• Collaborated with management and cross-functional project teams, planned and developed timelines, assessed/identified potential bottlenecks, issues to deliver milestones on time.
• Directed and managed the discovery, assessment and reporting outcome by optimizing cost, resources and work effort.
• Directed team activities and collective decision making process.
• Established goals and milestones as per desired results expected from the Client.
• Managed distributed resources and possible conflict.
• Evaluated the timely performance of different Resources working on the project and documented the progress accordingly.
• Assisted/guided in documenting all discovery & design report(s), other project artifacts and making any necessary changes as per needs into SharePoint.
• Ensured that all deliverables were executed within established time period and complied with the defined Confidential Toll Gate standards/processes.
• Managed internal scrums, sprint planning and reviews; cleared roadblocks/impediments as and when necessary; kept customers abreast of daily scrum updates and customer SharePoint current. Ensured proper documentation.

Confidential, Houston, TX

Program/Project Manager

Responsibilities:

• Managed server forklift migrations of approx. 950 servers in phases within the Austin Data Centers as part of the strategic tech refresh program to clear the whitespace for new servers/ storage arrays installations.
• Provided Governance roadmap to ITIO CS - i.e. support, guidance, direction and creation of standard PMO templates. Managed cross-functional/cross-business teams of 14 resources
• Collaborated with SME to assess the status quo; developed a consolidated go-forward roadmap with high level milestones, timelines and approach.
• Identified process, compliance and standards gaps. Established and enforced project governance process/standards for customer compliance while building a collaborative team mentality for success.
• Developed detailed work plans, schedules, project estimates, resource plan, status reports to meet the short- and long-term program/project objectives, goals and metrics of ITIO CS organization, including their internal/external partners.
• Provided analytical guidance to the project team. Recommended and directed the analysis of solution to problems for PMO Manager. Managed the integration of vendor tasks, tracked and reviewed vendor deliverables.
• Leveraged industry best practices in establishing a repeatable HP data center tech refresh play book process & practices; developed method of procedure (MOP) for servers batched by mission-critical, entity essential and normal criteria groups for move.
• Under limited supervision lead the definition, planning, cross-organizational team management, execution and delivery of server move project in alignment with the overall program strategy.
• Identified, monitored, assigned and facilitated potential risks, issues, roadblocks for an early and timely collective resolution(s) that meet the LOE, quality and satisfaction goals of our difficult customers.
• Maintained strong communication links and notified PMO Manager of any significant changes regarding Tech Refresh initiatives and client feedback. Provided input regarding any needed process and/or procedure changes specific to STR.
• Developed team goals, roles, processes and all other templates necessary to effectively execute/implement project.
• Collaborated with all cross-functional project teams/managers (i.e. all HP L2 Organizations) to strategize end-to-end server forklift move details, optimize forklift process, identify required LOE, develop project plan (work breakdown structure), assign resources, track time against tasks and generate necessary KEY status reports to executives and stakeholders
• Developed/maintained business critical reports, key KPI's, insights/intelligence that enabled Business managers/executives make better strategic and operational decisions timely.
• Conducted project meetings, communicated project status, risks, issues, execution plan - concisely and broadly across all functions and levels of the organization for transparency.
• Monitored progress from initiation through delivery relative to schedules, budgets, and quality.
• Provided leadership and input to project teams throughout all phases of the project implementation to delivery.
• Contributed to continuous business process improvement by identifying gaps, implementing roadmaps, supporting efficiency and applying lessons learned throughout ITIO CS functions/process, as necessary.
• Ensured all current project documentations, artifacts (processes/procedures), reports and templates are updated, maintained and stored for on demand review in the SharePoint/Team Room as per audit & compliance requirements.