James Farea Email & Phone Number

Los Angeles, California, United States

After growing my team, I separated them into two autonomous Agile teams so communication during the regular team meetings was streamlined. I also provided redundancy within the team, allowing people to collaborate on work and plan time off, without stopping the team's productivity.Released the new compensation platform for Oaktree. The platform automated previous manual processes and integrated with HR and other internal accounting systems. The platform also provides better visibility throughout the compensation processes allowing managers and HR to have conversations seamlessly. This was a complex project that required working with multiple implementation partners. We also introduced a Digital Adoption Platform to provide a guided walk through for new people using the system.Co-Chaired the Summer Internship program for Oaktree IT. We had a successful ten week program with three summer interns. Our goal was to make sure the interns had a support structure in place, giving them the best opportunity for success.Daily responsibilities involved managing the IT teams that support HR, Corporate Actions, and the Tax/Legal application.

Los Angeles, California, United States

Managed a team of ten people with skillsets mixed of software development and testing. Converted the team from Waterfall to Agile. Built training materials and taught the team the ceremonies for practicing Agile, while using Jira instead Sharepoint lists for backlog management.Released a S&P platform for managing Corporate Actions. The project was deadline driven and released within four month of receiving the projects. The platform was released a week ahead schedule, helping the company avoid daily fees and the potential expense of negotiating an extension on the legacy platform.Released a new room management platform to help with the return to office and the new hybrid work model. Part of this project included the selection process for choosing the correct new vendors, evaluating seven different products, as well the installation of digital signs throughout the office, so people can easily find each other.Implemented a new Contract Lifecycle Management platform to help the legal department manage the contracts within Oaktree. The new software gives them better visibility to search across contracts, understand when due dates are on the horizon and the ability to show differences in clauses.Worked on the Summer Internship Program to help shape how the program was organized, and was a mentor as well.

Los Angeles, California, United States

Contracted by Pricewaterhousecoopers to release a platform enabling the organization to begin client engagements faster, reduce costs through standardizing their approach, and provide their consultants with the appropriate tools throughout the engagement. My focus was on Reporting and Dashboarding needs where I created roadmaps and backlogs, that included designs with workflows for corresponding user stories.

Greater Los Angeles Area

I was the Product Manager for the research and collaboration platform used by the investment group to increase communication globally, making the investment decision process to manage $1.7T in assets more efficient and targeted. In addition to working with a variety business units to ensure that we were building the correct solution, I also partnered with our Design, UX, Architecture, Development, QM, and Training teams to see the product come to life and make the necessary trade-offs so we could release on time. After a successful release I built two additional internal teams that consisted of onshore and offshore staff to support both the day-to-day usage of the platform and the research & prototyping for future enhancements.

Los Angeles

I was the Product Manager and Business Systems Analyst for a variety projects that impacted the investment group. I led Product Development for a custom calendaring application where important company meetings were communicated globally, retired 3 existing applications previously used to capture this information, and were able to give the Marketing Department the important data that they need when creating external materials. We created a standardized coversheet for all research, giving the portfolio managers a quick and easy way to evaluate if the attached research report is relevant to them. After a failed attempt to upgrade our conference call system, I represented the voice of the investment group to configure the system in an intuitive way that allowed them to join calls with less hurdles, while working with the vendor to resolve stability issues. Tactically led an effort that allowed an aging Portfolio system to work with modern web browsers giving the investment group the information they need to do their work and allowing IT time to plan for a complete upgrade of the entire system.

When I joined the Capital Group Companies I was a dedicated Desktop Support Associate for the senior leaders of the organization and the investment group on the mutual fund side of the business. In this role I led a project where we evaluated remote access solutions that ultimately gave the company more connectivity options globally and saved the company $20k/month. Additionally we piloted a variety of new technologies such as mobile devices and dual monitors which impacted over 200 investment group associates and increased productivity.