Kara Ford Email & Phone Number

Charlotte, Nc, Us

Charlotte, North Carolina, United States

Charlotte Metro

Responsible for spearheading outreach initiatives targeting key payments stakeholders in the industry to advance the strategic objectives of Federal Reserve Financial Services (FRFS). I orchestrate comprehensive strategies to propel payment improvement endeavors and elevate industry awareness, effectively capturing valuable industry insights and fostering robust industry backing for these initiatives. Orchestrated and facilitated industry-specific forums in person and virtually, providing a platform for candid discussions and soliciting critical input to shape the trajectory of financial services strategies and programs. Manage a team of professionals who are responsible for a portfolio of payment improvement initiatives, industry relationship management and FRFS c-suite executives industry engagement.

With a focus on enhancing the US payment landscape, I was responsible for developing and implementing innovative strategies that drive tangible improvements. I was responsible for leading projects centered around the seamless integration of FedNow, propelling industry knowledge on the payment type, integration requirements, standards and adoption. I nurtured and led a dynamic industry community, fostering education, collaboration, and robust engagement to drive the adoption of FedNow. Through meticulously crafted programs and strategic initiatives, I facilitated a thriving ecosystem that united stakeholders, enabling the seamless exchange of knowledge and insights critical to successful implementation and integration of FedNow within the broader financial landscape.Drawing on comprehensive insights, I was responsible for providing strategic guidance to product and technology teams to influence the trajectory of Federal Reserve programs, contributing to an increasingly efficient, secure and inclusive payment ecosystem.2021: President's Award for Excellence Award winner

Charlotte, North Carolina Area

A results-oriented payments and banking industry consultant with a track record of assessing market dynamics, shaping strategic roadmaps, and overseeing seamless implementations. I was responsible for leading cross functional consulting teams to guide clients in the design and execution of transformative payment strategies, leveraging my expertise in Card, Tokenization, ACH, Zelle, instant and Mobile wallet payments. By meticulously assessing market demands, I was responsible for providing strategic insights to customers, developing product roadmaps and crafting comprehensive project documentation. As a catalyst for innovation, I have played a pivotal role in enabling Zelle and Real-time payments within financial institutions of all sizes and seamlessly integrating digital technologies into the retail payment system, empowering clients to thrive in an evolving financial landscape.

Charlotte, North Carolina Area

Digital Payments Product Manager spearheading Ally’s Payments Platforms’ strategic product development and management. I was responsible for crafting and executing impactful road map initiatives by adeptly analyzing payment trends, defining precise business requirements, and actively contributing to the design and evolution of cutting-edge digital platforms and backend processing systems. Responsible for applying regulatory knowledge to create seamless compliance, with platform enhancements and digital designs consistently aligned with NACHA and Reg E mandates. Managed the consumer-oriented product messaging and oversaw design as it related to transferring funds in the account opening process, between customer accounts internally and externally as well as to pay other people.

Pittsburgh Pa / Charlotte Nc

Responsible for analyzing user needs, market trends and customer feedback to assist in making informed decisions on product enhancements for ACH and Wire payment systems. Develop business requirements for projects and enhancements to support Treasury Management initiatives. Consulting and UAT testing support for the assigned initiatives through effective collaboration with Product Managers, Systems Analysts, Service Partners, Project Managers and Testers.

Greater Pittsburgh Area

Participate in all aspects of the quality assurance process for assigned components by documenting and posting scripts to ALM and executing testing. Lead daily defect calls for MCA projects. Participate in the BA on call schedule by monitoring the BA mailbox, researching and escalating production issues. Create training documentation of new functionality and deliver effective training to the operations and BSA teams. Develop business requirements for items in the 2013/2014 roadmap.

Greater Pittsburgh Area

Provide support for the initiatives of PNC while delivering excellent service quality at all times. Maintain strong risk governance practices for all activities and drive continuous improvement in productivity and efficiency of operations.Rotation 1: Multicurrency Operations; Business AnalystAnalyze and recommend a business resiliency solution for a web portal outage that impacts client ability to execute transactions. Examine the completeness and feasibility of the Multicurrency operations business resiliency plans. Develop test scripts for testing the Multicurrency transaction portal. Assist in the development of policies and procedures for the Multicurrency Operations unit. Participate in user interface testing to ensure readiness of the portal for the go-live initiative. Rotation 2: Centralized Customer Assistance Team; SupervisorDevelop supervisory skills by participating in staffing analysis and planning, establish a work prioritization plan for processors, organize, schedule and conduct department meetings. Assess employee growth and progress by working with individual employees and providing input to management. Assist in the creation of business strategies for the group that focus on incorporating the PNC Brand with everyday activities and all customer interactions. Rotation 3: Process Excellence and Engagement/Procedures, Procedures AnalystCapitalize on technical writing skills to update or create standard operating procedures for Commercial Client Services, complete change control requests for consumer and default operations that align to internal and external audit requests.Rotation 4: Bank Operations Project and Production Services- Multicurrency, Business Systems AnalystDeveloped and wrote requirements for Canadian Tax Process, Europe Express and MCA statements. Participated in testing for upcoming releases of the multicurrency platform and responsible for mapping the path of transactions through interfacing applications.

Bachelors, Healthcare Supply Chain Management, International Business

Education record