James Drager Email & Phone Number

Cary, Nc, Us

Raleigh, Nc, Us

* Led cross-functional initiatives across all LexisNexis platforms, focused on enhancing system stability and technical resilience.* Assigned as Project Manager for the "at-risk" migration of StateNet legislative tracking service amidst a significant release. Existing team faced tight deadlines and complex data conversion issues. Provided coaching and guidance to the team, resulting in a successful completion within the prescribed timeline.* Took over leadership responsibilities from previous project manager during a crucial phase of integrating an existing application with a recent corporate acquisition. The integrated solution had a fixed contractual end date, as well as a pilot customer implementation underway.

Round Rock, Texas, Us

* Executed NPI/NSI (new product initiatives / new service initiatives) projects related to Dell’s APEX Cloud Services. APEX has various “as-a-service”offerings for public cloud, private cloud, hybrid cloud, and multicloud which provides interfaces to VMware, AWS, and Azure stacks. * Lead Converged/Hyper-Converged Infrastructure “Tiger Team” to identify, track, and drive to close issues relating to testing environments. * Redesigned process for Proof-of-Concept testing using Six-Sigma processes to create a lean and repeatable process including standardizing project artifacts and communications. Drove creation and management of cross-functional technology teams to deliver customer Proof-of-Concept testing as well as internal key business programs. * Led overall alignment and execution of strategic initiatives within Infrastructure Engineering and Operations. Presented and communicated project status to business leadership. * Directed hardware procurement, coordination of builds, identification of rack space, power requirements, portmaps, and IP space. * Made strategic decisions regarding allocation of development and testing environments including procurement of gear, build-out of infrastructure, and team assignments. * Implemented and directed standardized request process using Agile methodologies. Liaised between platform/software engineers covering Durham, Franklin, and Bangalore labs. * Architected, implemented, and administered multi-node VMware clusters, isolation networks, and simulated customer environments to support program development and testing. * Drove logistics for transit, setup, and breakdown of trade show gear. Attended trade shows as booth staff and interface with customers in attendance.

Boston, Ma, Us

* Collaborated with Planning and Guidance business partners to understand the product vision and concepts. Defined and documented business requirements and project scope. Translated requirements into system specifications that technology can implement. * Managed a team of cross-functional resources to support quality and timeliness of deliverables in Agile environment to deliver second generation of Income Strategy Evaluator (ISE)* Guided scrum team on story creation, backlog grooming, and spring planning. Worked with product owner and stake holders to prioritize requirements for sprints.* Investigated and resolved application functionality related issues and provided first level support and troubleshooting of financial planning applications.* Partnered with relevant functional managers to identify and develop process improvement recommendations that created more effective and efficient future implementations.

San Jose, Ca, Us

* Led Agile development project to provide Smart Support API (SSAPI) web services for use by Cisco partners to obtain product information using automated techniques. SSAPI was launched as a Proof of Concept (PoC) and became the standard by which web services are deployed within Cisco.* Managed day to day operations for enhancements to and support of SSAPI. Developed scope and obtained stakeholder support for incremental releases of the SSAPI web service.* Established project expectations for team of software developers, technical architects, and system analysts in disparate geographic locations. Communicated project status to stakeholders and ensured adherence to established scope and deliverables.

San Diego, California, Us

* Managed overall development relationship between SAS Institute and Teradata (previously Aster Data). Aster’s nCluster provides high-performance storage and deployment for Business Intelligence solutions. The SAS partnership accounted for over half of Aster’s revenue in 2009.* Managed development project to provide Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) analytic platform for use by the North Carolina Department of Corrections (DOC). This system aggregated data from multiple state DOC data sources.* Collaborated with product management and system architects to define system design of first-of-kind in-database scoring and analytic processing system. In-Database processing increased analytic processing an average of 500%.* Managed development project to create Real-Time On-Line Analytic Processing (OLAP) system that provided on-demand analytics and business intelligence across large amounts of data that changed daily.* Directed six simultaneous development projects while optimizing resource usage and minimizing risks across projects.

Cary, Nc, Us

* Managed project to create a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) for use in web-deployment of SAS models. Mitigated risk associated with re-assignment of project team during execution and closed project 3% under budget and on time resulting in expansion of licensed SAS software at a major U.S. insurance company.* Managed implementation projects of development, test, and production environments for major retailer. Identified additional consulting opportunity and implemented change control that effectively doubled recognized revenue for SAS.* Served as sales support for mid-market financial customers. Prepared complex price quotations and formulated responses to Request for Information (RFI) and Request for Proposal (RFP) documents. Accountable for forecasting SAS Professional Services revenue and tracking progress against plan for these revenue targets.* Maintained all fiscal responsibility for projects including budget, expense approval, customer invoicing, and receivables. Regularly communicated with customer and project team to ensure prompt resolution of scope, relationship, or project issues. Ensured project tracked against goals and deliverables defined in project charter.* Consulted with clients to identify key requirements, establish project charter, define project scope, develop project plan and schedule, and track against financial and business milestones.

Linköping, Se

* Conducted needs analysis for customers and provided oversight and direction on all aspects of the implementation process. When necessary, completed data analysis, data mapping, and data transformation of existing customer systems into IFS Applications.* Assumed project management for complex, multi-environment enterprise implementation while still completing all necessary technical tasks, business analysis, and user training.* Maintained regular and effective communication with the customer and project team to ensure prompt and effective resolution of scope, relationship, or project issues.* Installed and configured IFS Applications including Oracle Database and Java Web Servers. Provided first-level support using technical and functional analysis to diagnose and resolve customer issues.

Us

* Developed and managed disaster recovery project to implement emergency fail-over plan allowing business to continue remotely in the event of major catastrophe. Initiated successful end-to-end test of fail-over and fail-back procedures.* Established and maintained project procedures, processes, organization, tools, documentation, and standards when none had previously existed. Maintained overall vision of projects and assigned activities to appropriate team personnel as required.* Developed project schedules and identified key milestones. Identified critical-path and devised risk mitigation plan for critical tasks. Provided weekly project status reports and statistics to all stakeholders identifying potential risks and established mitigation plans.* Completed periodic data updates utilizing data analysis and mapping techniques. Analyzed disparate data to consolidate data sets into unified data model for use by proprietary systems. Designed and built customized tools to facilitate these activities.

New York, Ny, Us

* Sole contributor for automated reporting project to create and distribute key business reports used by Capital Markets to set daily pricing strategies.* Analyzed and tracked open issues, coordinated validation, defined acceptance criteria, and obtained acceptance for changes to Product and Pricing elements of the Optis Loan Origination System.* Worked closely with business sponsor to document final project scope and specifications and communicated these specifications to external vendor for implementation and managed delivery of monthly changes.

* Spearheaded creation of first-ever SaaS financial analysis tool to assist financial advisors in determining optimal mix of equities and insurance. Worked with senior departmental executives to develop the vision and roadmap of the product and transformed the sales process for a major U.S. Property & Casualty company.* Managed a team of 15-20 analysts, developers, and testers to define, prototype, and deliver products within tight timelines.* Simultaneously managed several complex projects. Each project required facilitation of full needs analysis, deriving and documenting business requirements and detailed feature specifications, and maintaining detailed project plans.

Los Angeles, Us

* Launched the first SaaS model for telecommunications fraud by leading the engineering team to select final architecture, recommend hardware, and complete the system integration. Developed all system documentation including support documents, database maintenance, implementation plans, and Service Level Agreements (SLA).* Created a standardized, repeatable implementation process for 4Score product including all supporting documentation.* Improved the efficiency of process for execution of client requests for changes by defining, documenting, and implementing a new process and reducing the time required to produce documents for client signature from several weeks to a maximum of five business days.* Co-Managed automated reporting project that reduced the task of generating system reports from a sixty man-hour manual process to a three-hour automated process.* Provided on-site implementation services for multiple simultaneous international and domestic projects including setup and configuration of Oracle databases, installation of UNIX and Windows-based applications, and ensuring all necessary connectivity. When necessary, analyzed and mapped customer data feeds into HNC proprietary data format.