Kate Stephens Email & Phone Number

• Build and direct product management team assigned to all enabling functions, including HR, Finance, Legal and Technology.• Lead organizational shift from project management to product management.• Perform current state assessments of pain points and opportunities.• Create product roadmaps to evolve platforms while supporting new initiatives.

• Led company’s technical transition to remote working in March 2020 for 600+ employees across 10 offices in 7 countries. • Aligned policies, processes, training, and tools, reducing administrative overhead and costs. • Designed secure collaboration solutions in Microsoft TEAMS to replace in-person meetings for 500+ CFA Exam writing and grading consultants.

• Led technology division’s Agile transformation (KANBAN).• Product Owner for digital transformation epics, including Account Dashboard, Events Management, Membership Renewal and Applications.• Designed and led user story writing and management workshops.• Created simple feature template to abstract problems from proposed solutions speeding feature transitions to development teams.• Forged relationships with key executives and demonstrated value of relationship management by… Show more • Led technology division’s Agile transformation (KANBAN).• Product Owner for digital transformation epics, including Account Dashboard, Events Management, Membership Renewal and Applications.• Designed and led user story writing and management workshops.• Created simple feature template to abstract problems from proposed solutions speeding feature transitions to development teams.• Forged relationships with key executives and demonstrated value of relationship management by connecting business and technology strategies.• Negotiated simplification of processes and policies resulting in fewer exceptions and simpler, more maintainable solutions. United multiple groups with divergent agendas to support these simplified processes.• Coached business partners on the value and techniques of prioritization.• Created a cross-functional prioritization group and instituted scoring system to prioritize disparate enhancement requests consistently and rationally.• Aligned team goals and expectations by creating standardized on-boarding materials and activities for new business epics/projects.• Designed and led multi-day, multi-session Lean Process Workshop for Professional Conduct resulting in 50% faster processing of misconduct cases and clearing multi-year backlog.• Led team of 4 full time employees (Business Analysts). Oversaw and directed contractors and vendors in staff augmentation and outsourcing models. Show less

• Pioneered Agile development (Scrum) at CFA Institute.• Fostered adoption of project management and Agile concepts.• Instituted automated builds, unit testing, on-demand testing data, and a stable business testing environment while increasing speed of delivery.• Negotiated and monitored schedule, scope, and resources for IT projects.• Led development team of 1 BA, 2-4 Developers, 1-2 QA, and 1 SysAdmin.• Reduced time to perform key business process from 40+ hours to several… Show more • Pioneered Agile development (Scrum) at CFA Institute.• Fostered adoption of project management and Agile concepts.• Instituted automated builds, unit testing, on-demand testing data, and a stable business testing environment while increasing speed of delivery.• Negotiated and monitored schedule, scope, and resources for IT projects.• Led development team of 1 BA, 2-4 Developers, 1-2 QA, and 1 SysAdmin.• Reduced time to perform key business process from 40+ hours to several minutes. Show less

• Executed secure printing, shipping, grading and results delivery for semi-annual global CFA Exam including managing $12M budget.• Led team of 3-5 full time employees and 200+ seasonal temporary employees.• Overhauled exam results creation/quality control achieving 100% accuracy.

• Contracted and organized hotels, food & beverage, transportation, and event sites for 1000+ graders at annual Grading event.• Supervised 2 full time employees and 3-4 temporary employees.• Cut expenses by 15-20% by consolidating event management in house.

• Coordinated communications, including mailings, to 1000+ CFA graders.• Supervised 3-6 temporary employees.• Assumed Team Leader responsibilities just prior to and during annual Grading event.

• Responsible for day-to-day communication with and support of 1000+ CFA graders.• Accurate data entry of payments and registrations, including quality control for others’ work.