SUMMARY

• Action - oriented Director of Project Management (PMO) | Program Manager | Sr IT Project Manager leader with extensive demonstrated success in guiding and delivering technology initiatives that align with the organization’s mission and objectives.
• Expertise in technology portfolio and prioritization management, full-lifecycle program / project planning, budgeting, implementation, and transition to operations.
• Passion to coach, mentor and provide guidance to resources on best practices to ensure project and operational success.

TECHNICAL SKILLS

• Strategic IT Planning & Execution
• PMO, Portfolio, Program & Project Delivery
• Customer Experience, Training & Support
• Business Relationship Management
• Technology Governance, Analytics, Metrics
• Supplier & Vendor Management
• Innovation, Digital Transformation
• Agile: Scrum, XP, Kanban, SAFe 5
• Budget & Forecast Financials Management
• Requirements analysis, user stories
• Coaching, Mentoring & Team Building

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Confidential, Chicago, IL

Director of Project Management Office (PMO), Technology

Responsibilities:

• Developed and implemented a Lean Continuous Improvement Program with baseline scorecards which modernized enterprise-level practices and management methodologies, leading to streamlining processes and/or using new technology for an overall 30-50% improvement on time efficiency for 8+ programs, while meeting budgetary objectives and making adjustments to project constraints based on financial analysis
• Galvanized and coached diverse teams through implementation of new IT systems and Lean/Agile processes consisting of requirements gathering, persona creation, user stories, taxonomy design, UX, content strategy, information architecture, vendor management, implementation, governance and maintenance of maturity models with metrics and KPIs to identify gaps and recommend improvements. These process modifications lead to an initial 90% customer satisfaction and internal employee productivity of 30%+.
• Trained 20 plus web and learning team members in Agile (Scrum/Kanban) development also served as Scrum Master facilitating events: Sprint backlog/planning/review/retrospective to deliver 97% of the MVP in accordance with the business roadmap in a 3-week Sprint.
• Oversaw IT deliverables of the Access and Inclusion Task Force which was entrusted with guiding the implementation of accessibility throughout the facility (e.g. Beam Robot, sensory friendly facilities, audio described tours, virtual camps, sensory friendly app and website compliance to WCAG 2.0 AAA and Section 503). Shedd was awarded The Kennedy Center Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disability (LEAD®) because of the Access and Inclusion Task Force efforts.
• Guided implementation of Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) Compliance (P2PE) and contributed to the improvement of security processes, policies, and technologies in support of the organization’s business strategies and objectives. Ensuring ability to validate 100% compliance by performing the Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) on an annual basis.

Confidential, Glenview, IL

Program Manager

Responsibilities:

• Directed K12 e-Commerce storefront of over $2M in direct annual revenue and over $50M in indirect revenue thru state adoptions. Leading a team of 15 plus resources comprising of Business Analysts, Content & Web Operations, Designers and Developers.
• Coached team on Agile principles and processes performing Scrum Master/Product owner roles facilitating requirements gathering, user story creation, sprint planning, grooming sessions for product backlog which resulted in reducing delivery time by 20% in a single quarter.
• Collaborated with leadership to determine needs and implement new collaboration technology adoption (i.e. SharePoint, Jira, WebEx) throughout the company by leveraging Lean Agile approaches to managing projects and processes increasing efficiencies by 30%.
• Implemented Communication and Change Management, resistance strategies and training through company initiatives. Lead a team of 5 program manager professionals which saw a 25% annual improvement in employee performance.

Project Manager

Confidential

Responsibilities:

• Oversaw a cross-functional team of 5 plus resources to build and launch Pearsonschool.com across US, CA, and UK markets providing an eCommerce experience to a unified product catalog, search capability, student-centric product discovery, payment process and end-to-end integration with all core enterprise systems (ERP, CRM, CMS). Achieving an online business growth of 75% in the first 2 years delivering year-on-year growth of 30%.
• Spearheaded the design and launch of Online Sampling program that resulted in an estimated cost savings of 10% of a $25M yearly budget.
• Orchestrated the consolidation of various acquired companies’ offerings into one corporate website, launching a B2C digital marketplace for Pearson K12 with 4k+ product portfolio and a 112% increase of monthly unique visitors while offering an omnichannel experience to customers.
• Created online strategy and roadmap by leading requirements gathering and design thinking workshops to elicit business needs covering eCommerce, analytics, SEO, and social media. Partnered with internal teams (Dev, Mktg, Sales, Legal, Support) to drive successful execution based on an Agile sprint release 2-week cadence.

Confidential, Elk Grove Village, IL

IT Project Manager

Responsibilities:

• Championed with leadership on direction of concurrent technical projects—ranging from $500k to $1m—to understand business objectives and plan execution, including training workforce.
• Developed and reviewed validation protocols, process, procedures, and SOPs for each project: Operational and Performance Qualifications (IQ, OQ, PQ), compliance with current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP), Good Automated Manufacturing Process (GAMP 4) and Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
• Managed the administration of IT licensing and technical service contracts while supporting 200+ end-users in a fast-paced FDA-regulated environment.
• Designed, implemented, and maintained a network policy to comply with FDA 21 CFR Part II compliance and a Disaster Recovery Plan for local network resources.