John Blackledge Email & Phone Number

Member of the IT Infrastructure and Telecom Project Management Team.Manage cross-functional teams across a 4-state service area successfully completing multiple projects within scope and schedule, and less than 1% budget variance with an aggregate budget up to $7 Million.Direct Enterprise-wide deployment of network equipment including but not limited to: switches, routers, voice gateways and servers, Cisco Emergency Responder (CER), and IP phones and headsets.Reduce Telephony costs by $5 Million per year by managing telecommunications effort converting circuits from TDM/PRI to SIP.Develop, manage, and maintain schedules, scopes, and budgets through all phases of Software Development Life cycle (SDLC) for application development and upgrade projects, while adhering to strict PMO Gate Reviews and Change Advisory Board (CAB) processes using Waterfall and Agile methodologies.

Led development of the PMO and managed operational projects.Setup internal governance team for project approval, review and change board decision making.Defined, developed, and documented project lifecycle from demand management through project closing with appropriate stage gates.Managed scope and schedule for infrastructure build outs, LMS System implementation and remote facility acquisition.

Responsible for all aspects of Project Management Lifecycle.Developed, managed, and maintained schedules, scopes, and budgets for large/complex projects.Provided strategic direction and day-to-day management for network infrastructure projects including installations, upgrades, deployment of products and desktop operating systems in an enterprise/multi-location environment.Managed Software Development Life Cycle for custom developed applications creating an end-to-end solution beginning at conceptualization, through requirements, development, testing phases, deployment and support team transition using both Waterfall and Agile/Scrum Methodologies.Internal consultant tasked with developing a framework for day-to-day operations of the Managed Services Practice including creation of systems run book for service and maintenance records tracking.

Developed, managed, and maintained schedules, scopes and budgets for large/complex projects. Provided strategic direction and day-to-day management of IT projects.Responsible for infrastructure buildouts, building restacks, employee relocations and decommissions across the United States.Managed projects of both network equipment and server hardware upgrades and refreshes.Managed diverse teams (company employees, vendors and offshore resources) to integrate technologies for acquisition organizations into corporate systems.

Responsible for scope, schedule, and cost responsibilities for all aspects of complex monetary and non-monetary projects in Financial Services organization. Provide strategic direction and day-to-day management of IT projects.Managed MasterCard’s mandate for merchants to support partial approval authorizations, full and partial reversals and supply account balances for all MasterCard debit cards at the POS device.Lead cross-functional teams in a matrix environment through SDLC to provide a fully functional GUI interface for healthcare clients to manage their card accounts on the First Data Platform.Managed Visa’s output project which mandates change to embossing format of cardholder plastics.

Efficiently managed Access Verification, Treasury, and Legal Department systems. Maintained hardware and software, created and managed projects related to the “BillTrak Pro” system, established and managed project teams for updates, upgrades, and improvements. Managed developers, vendors and deployment teams to achieve milestones set within scope of projects. Maintained forecasts and budget accounting for full-time employees, vendors and offshore development resources.Updated BillTrak Pro System to ensure accurate billing, resulting in recovery of $700K from outdated system’s billing errors.Determined the Oracle platform was several versions out of date, which cost the company hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. Led team to create the necessary business justification to purchase the newest version of Oracle and proceed with the upgrade projects, saving the company hundreds of thousands of dollars of support per year.Effectively established data collections and extractions for a more efficient and consolidated Executive Level Management Team reporting.

Managed identification, analysis, development, and deployment of infrastructure projects in support of Embarq build out requirements for successful spin-off from Sprint/Nextel. Projects contained strict budgetary guidelines and time frame of deployment based on regulations set by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for telecommunications company separation.Developed Project Tracking Workbook that improved process flow for the Embarq ES/IS team and ensured rapid delivery of infrastructure and business systems.Received Appreciation Award from Embarq for efficiency of completing projects on time and within budget, adhering to strict FCC Regulations.

Point of contact for strategic accounts. Provided consulting, aligned business goals with technology, and led the implementation of solutions for customers in local and city government, radio broadcasting, banking and commodities trading. Developed project scopes, selected project team members, facilitated project kick-off meetings, managed day-to-day duties of teams to ensure product and service deliverables within allocated time frame and budgetary guidelines. Performed end-user training, facilitated knowledge transfer and project close out duties, vendor and staff management, business and technology consulting.Created a new service offering and new IT Managed Services department that allowed company to offer a wider spectrum of technical services to current customers and expanded the customer base.Efficiently managed migration of customer systems into corporate data center. Migrations consisted of physical co-location of hardware and software, stand-up of virtual environments, hosted applications installation, hardware and network installation, and monitoring.

Bachelor'S Degree, Management

Project Management Professional (Pmp), Project Management

B.A., Management And Human Relations