Helping to transform the utility industry with smart grid technology, cutting edge customer service, and environmentally focused zero carbon emissions goals.Working to deploy AOM (Advance Outage Management) technology over the next 5 years: Upgrading the Schneider ADMS, deploying a new outage management solution, enabling DERMS, and transforming the customer outage and notification experience.Program Manager for Schneider Electric ADMS and SCADA package.

Teaching graduate and undergraduate classes in Project Management and Operations Management.

Program Manager - Collaborator - Business ArchitectI envisioned, architected, and led an enterprise wide payroll rejuvenation project. This project touched all company remote sites and business units over a 6-year rollout. We migrated over 7000 hourly employees at over 200 field locations from local systems into a cloud solution: ADP eTime/Kronos. Over the 6-year effort there were 40+ individual projects to run, each with a separate budget, schedule, and set of requirements. At any given time we had as many as 5 projects running simultaneously as part of the overall program.System Rationalization to Simplify and SaveThis 6-year program changed the strategic direction of non-exempt payroll. Payroll functions were moved from general admins at individual sites, with little or no audit or compliance mechanisms, to a central system administered by a small team of experts. Over 15 legacy systems were replaced and migrated into a single SaaS solution with cloud access and three redundant environments. New system configurations ensured compliance with federal, state, local regulations and union contracts. Moving the platform to a vendor hosted cloud solution reduced costs and provided true cost transparency to a per employee level.Comprehensive Change ManagementA truly successful IT renewal effort needs more than just software. This project was funded by supply chain but touched finance, HR, Benefits, Legal, and IT. To be successful it was clear at the outset we needed full executive support across all functions. I assembled and chaired a steering committee to ensure top-down support for the new system and the new processes. Post rollout, this team transitioned to be the ongoing change control board for enhancements and upgrades.Additional BenefitsWith all labor costing in a central location, there is a rich data source that can be leveraged. I worked with the business analysts in the production and costing departments to create real time labor costing data.

MBA Student and ResearcherTo augment my graduate studies I took a paid position as an academic researcher.I collaborated with professors in the Graduate School of Business on various research projects and data analysis efforts regarding the disciplines of project management, change management and best practices. I had the opportunity to participate in a white paper presentation at an academic conference.I led special projects, reporting directly to the Dean, to improve the university’s research infrastructure.

Manager and Billing SME in the Electric Utility marketI managed a vendor selection project to replace a legacy mainframe application serving 3.5 million customers and 10,000 employees with a Service Oriented Architecture approach.In the course of this engagement I built and maintained a coalition between operations, IT, audit, compliance, and external vendors. I developed methodologies for auditing controls and monitoring of Sarbanes/Oxley compliance.Internally, I Introduced SharePoint to centralize the knowledge capital and increase companywide awareness of sales opportunities and delivery initiatives.

Project ManagerI was the liaison between IT and Compliance Office at a national property and casualty insurance company. I developed processes to identify and migrate homegrown, business critical desktop applications (i.e., Excel spreadsheets, Access databases) into a central, sustainable application suite -- Charles River.

Pickup Truck Driver, Wearer of Work Boots, ICC certified contractorI took a sabbatical from constant travel as a consultant to pursue a unique opportunity in residential construction. My working assumption was building a house is similar to building software: you have design, execution, contingencies, and a final user acceptance test. I knew if I applied sound methodology I could succeed. But I also needed credibility: I passed the International Code Council (ICC) exam for residential construction. I bought an old Ford truck and a pair of Red Wings. Then I applied project management principles to building homes. In less than two years I built 28 condominiums and 17 homes with a $7.2 million market value. I coordinated budgets and schedules involving 25 different stakeholders (subcontractors, agents, inspectors, buyers) while dealing with adverse weather, resource shortages, and labor issues. To save time and reduce waste without sacrificing quality I needed to bring more than project management skills to bear: I needed to leverage new technology. Prefabricated house panels were a new concept at the time (but are widely used today). They save time, reduce material waste, and have the benefit of providing a more rigid structure than traditional 'stick built' frames. Once I got everything rolling I was able to complete a quality house from start to finish in less than 45 days. This was a critical target timeline. Most vendors were on net 30 terms; if a new build finished at 45 days or less I was borrowing vendor money at zero interest to finance the next build.The business maintained positive cash-flow and I was able to close in good standing.

Programmer - Designer - Business Analyst - ManagerI was truly fortunate to have my first professional job provide so many opportunities and exposure to talented managers and mentors who taught me how to collaborate with people and manage projects.I started as a client/server programmer using C++ and Cobol to develop graphical user interfaces for customer care and billing systems in the utility industry. After two years I progressed to designer and business analyst. I became a SME in both billing and bill rendering (print and online) functions and served on a product delivery team that developed processes and standards for future development teams.I was promoted to manager and led project teams consisting of vendor and client resources. I managed a transformational change project for a regulated utility that needed to create a competitive customer service subsidiary to participate in the deregulated Texas market. To facilitate that massive change initiative, we needed new processes and technology.One custom built solution was a web-based intranet application that processed 90,000 inbound and 10,000 outbound EDI transactions per day, the first system of its kind in the newly deregulated market. This was built on object oriented design principles leveraging open source software.