University of South Florida

CEO Engineering Solutions Inc, PMP - Executive Technical IT Consulting, Federal & State Contracts, Program Management

West Linn, Oregon, United States

Founder of consulting firm providing technical solutions, people and process solutions, as well as advisory services for corporations (program / project management, product management, strategy, oversight, risk assessment / mitigation,  government regulations compliance).Technology Solutions & Tools: IT Consulting including Enterprise level ERP cloud & hybrid tool selection (Expert Tier 1 & 2, Cloud, Hybrid, SaaS, PaaS, OTS, SAP, Oracle, MS Dynamics, Azure, Salesforce, SharePoint), ERP implementation, migrations / upgrades, fit-gap analysis,  IT roadmaps, BI analytics, databases SQL / NoSQL, ETL, metadata, big data, machine learning, infrastructure, and architecture.  Design & Testing including API microservices design, development, de-monolith strategy, comprehensive test plans, system and functional testing, user acceptance testing, Pilot and go-live, security compliance, SDLC, release management. Manufacturing solutions include Six Sigma lean manufacturing, material / production forecast, tooling, version control, remote control and automation solutions.  Process & People Solutions: Agile Scrum coaching, Kaizen Kanban methodologies, PROSCI change management, PMO improvement, business process improvement, best practices, creative brainstorming, problem solving, team building for engineers, staff mentoring, ethical leadership, diversity, hostility & conflict resolution workshops, and training.  Corporate Solutions: Advisory services on technical programs, projects, products, organizational change, mergers & acquisitions, Federal and State regulation compliance (FNS,CMS, HIPPA, SOX), Continuity of Operation Plans, oversight, vendor SLAs and contract law.    Sampling of recent contracts listed below:

Engineering Solutions Inc

CEO, Director of Engineering  & Technology, Consulting & Contract Management

Serving as an executive level consultant and project advisor on multiple projects for the State.•	Projects: integrated ONE Eligibility ($350 Million Budget), CAM, CALM, PTC. •	Monitor projects for risks and advise project managers on mitigation strategies. Work with OSCIO to achieve StageGate compliance. Attend high level stakeholder meetings, review QA IV&V oversight reports delivered to legislators, review state / vendor deliverables, assist with vendor selection / proposal reviews, vendor contracts, SLAs, and amendments. Assess project health and trend. •	Identify and provide compliance for Federal (CMS Medicare, Medicaid, USDA FNS SNAP) go-live requirements on State eligibility system. Requirements included Complete and Final Test Plan, S.I.R.T., security documents (SSP, POAM), HIPPA, MITA Concept of Operations, Continuity of Operations, Training Plans, Reporting, Disaster Recovery, Testing Results (Performance, Capacity, Data Conversion, Functional, System, UAT, Pilot),  Contingency, Escalation, and Communication Plans per NIST requirements.•	Liaison with CMS and FNS in official capacity. Present information and lead software demos.•	Coordinate State go/no-go approval with Executive Steering Committee and Joint Governance Board. •	Risks & Issues – manage project risks and issues, facilitate meeting, mitigate risks with response pan and closure criteria, address issues in independent auditor (IV&V) monthly and quarterly reports.•	Staff Mentoring – assist with PMO team development, identify new business processes.

Engineering Solutions Inc / State of Oregon

ESI/State of OR Contract, Project Advisor, Senior Proj Manager IV / Program Manager, Federal FNS CM

Served as a transition manager, project manager, and scrum master on program evolving 7 projects from a rigid sequel-based server to a more flexible UI based system with Teradata data warehousing and Tableau dashboards. ·        Transition Management - identification of stakeholders, communication, training and guidance to successfully transition the seven projects to new process, tool, and procedure.·        Project Management - organization, SOW, business gathering requirements (BRDs), MS Project plan, work plan, milestones, program budget and resources (actual and forecast), PMO reporting, custom Sharepoint project site creation for team collaboration.·        Scrum Master-  Agile methodology coach, backlog grooming, work plans, sprints and epics, team of 15 engineers.Toolset: Sql, Database, Teradata, ETL Upload, Tableau

Nike

ESI/NIKE CONTRACT: Senior Transition Manager, Project Manager, Scrum Master

Helped corporation transition to new ownership (ongoing consulting) by development of new procedures, business processes and tools. ·        Assisted in corporate sale, devised personnel plan and transitioned team members / PMO to new locale.·        Developed new business procedures, policies, tools and roadmap. Trained offshore and regional teams.·        Performed ERP implementation and data migration, including digital assets, project data, CRM data. ·        Transitioned custom API toolset to new business (modification, documentation & training).·        Added SCADA remote control & automation to manufacturing systems.·        Provided security solutions, successfully cleaned up malware and fixed resulting SEO issues.·        Advised on digital asset and copyright retention, CRM ownership and legal issues.

MegaGroup Inc

ESI/ MegaGroup Inc, Organizational Change Manager,  Merger & Acquisition

Served as a transition manager expert to define and complete the work on a terminated Microsoft ERP implementation contract.  ·        Analyzed business requirements and procedures, team pain points and structure. Created new project milestones for remainder of contract and led two team members to complete projects and successfully transition departments to new Microsoft Sharepoint.·        Proposed and negotiated new multi-department team structure and business procedures for US and global offices to align teams to vision and technology change. Participated in Steering Committee.·        Sharepoint Site administration and implementation of upgrade, data migration and custom workflow creation. Created sandbox sites in Sharepoint utilizing Nike digital assets in custom GUI.

ESI/NIKE CONTRACT: Senior Transition Manager / IT ERP Upgrade

Longevity of 20 years from startup of corporation in 1995 to successful sale of corporation in 2015. Began in individual contributor positions (Dev Ops Engineer, Custom Software Programmer), and rose to senior level management positions (Director of Technology, Senior Technical Program Manager, PMO Director). Assisted in sale and transition of corporation and retained in on-call consulting capacity.

Director Of Technology

Developed corporate strategy vision, implemented technical programs increasing profit and performance. Oversaw cross functional teams in multiple regional and offshore locations and global PMO office. Led Engineering teams and created custom API solution tool set. Provided technical expertise on IT & engineering contracts.·         Supervised and mentored a matrixed staff of approx. 50 personnel with full hiring, performance review, and promotion responsibility. Core teams consisted of 12-15 people each (members might include engineering team developers/designers/testers, IT Manager, Project Manager, Finance Director, Sales/Bus. Development, Legal Dept., Marketing, Graphics, Manufacturing Staff, Clean Room Assembly, Technicians, or Distribution) and be located onsite in regional or remote offices. ·         Created 5-year program to overhaul technology tools used for PMO, data management and procedures. Selected hybrid cloud ERP system and developed custom API to connect technical aspects not fulfilled by OTS system. API integrated sales (Salesforce), marketing, SEO and analytics, finance, HR, project management, manufacturing materials and forecast, version control, and distribution. Acted as Team Leader and Product Owner for the engineering team with Agile, continuous release methodology.·         Implemented new business process procedures and methodologies including Agile methodology, Scrum sprints, Kanban workflow, Kaizen influence, and Lean methodology. Scrum meets and 2 weeks sprints. ·         Advised on IT strategy contracts, ERP selection, SDLC, dev ops / operations, engineering hardware & software design, manufacturing process improvement, and Agile coaching.

Senior Technical Program Manager / Cross Functional Team Leader

Directed PMO and created project business cases. Defined product requirements and acted as scrum master for engineering teams. Provided consulting services for external clients and training seminars.·         PMO Management: Directed PMO office overseeing 20-30 projects concurrently, duration range 1 month to 2 years, budget responsibility for contracts up to $5M.  Management of approx. 7 – 9 project managers, multiple offices and offshore vendors. Administered budget with full pnl responsibility from contract bidding / RFP to PO closeout and payroll.·         Project Management:  Development of business case, business procedure deep dives, transition management plan, organizational readiness plan, ROI justification and determining KPI Metric Parameters. BI Analytics / KPI Generation metrics and dashboards to create graphs and visuals of performance, trends, and monitor success of projects. PMBOK methodology used for ERP implementations and consulting projects. Agile or Waterfall methodology depending on product.·         Product Owner: Defined product requirements and definitions for both internal and external clients. Negotiated with business owners on priority.  Relayed product needs to scrum team.·          Agile: Scrum Product Owner, Scrum Master, User Stories, Use Cases, 2-3-week sprints, as well as Kanban & Kaizen methodologies.·         Technical Project IT Consulting & Contracts (external clients):  ERP selection and project planning, inventory of current systems, prioritizing change, IT applications strategy, IT Roadmap, Business process management, technical fit assessment, vendor analysis and negotiation, organizational and business readiness, implementation planning, business case justification and benefits realization plan.  SDLC Change Release Management.·         Presentations: Client & Stakeholder Presentations, Staff Workshops, Training Seminars.

PMO Management / Senior Project Manager / Product Owner, IT & Engineering Consulting

Increased company revenue by 65% by obtaining government contracts, wrote NIST standards, trained NAFTA staff and vendors on special procedures and regulations. Created a special line of eco-friendly products. Provided technical consulting on projects. ·         Portfolio Management: Managed Government Contracts, Federal and State. Secured GSA contract and government clientele increasing revenue 65% and was government (federal and local) client liaison. Duties included reviewing RFPs, risk, creating estimates and schedule, providing project management on contracts to ensure in scope, on time, on cost. Contributed ISO specifications  for NIST. Created profit and loss statements. ·         Plant Management: Selected global vendors and negotiated pricing contracts, managed plant schedules, reviewed estimates and proofing, approved deliverables and invoices. Procurement SAP Ariba, supplier management, PO source / procure to pay, legal contracts. Managed BOM materials (SAP modules), machinery upgrades, downtime, schedules, and supply chain logistics to reduce bottlenecks and accommodate sales forecast. Used Lean Methodology and Six Sigma to manufacture items including electronics, optical media, usb, video cards, custom molds & dies, printing and packaging.·         Product Manager: Created recycled material initiative to switch to green packaging and manufacturing practices, source material life cycle availability, sales, marketing, SEO, distribution. Successfully introduced fiberboard products into Starbucks and green community.  ·         CRM, Customer Service, Sales & Marketing: Worked with sales staff to create tools and procedures to enhance sales and customer service, transmit information to accounting and project managers, connect sales to marketing. Provided training, set policies and procedures.

Government Contract Portfolio Manager / Product Owner / Plant Manager

Created custom software, managed digital assets and data, performed site creation and SEO in conjunction with sales and marketing BI,  implemented new hardware and IT, managed IT for multiple offices.·         Custom Programming: Created custom programs and databases, including customer user interface UX GUI design for data upload and artwork proofing version management, online shopping ecommerce, custom Adobe PDF conversion product and subsequent releases. SDLC continuous and annual releases.  C++ ·         Dev Ops & IT Manager: Oversaw operations of all IT services including service desk and staff of 10  IT engineers. Responsible for multiple offices and start ups of new office locations. ·         Digital Asset Management: creation of over 2million digital assets including photography, SEO metadata tagging, batch script writing for managing intellectual property rights and watermarking, creation of custom script for product zooms and rollovers, creation of video. Database management of digital assets. Video processing and streaming.·         BI Analytics & Data Management, Sales & Marketing: Managed data warehousing & migration. Performed data profiling, cleansing, enrichment and BI analysis with product data, customer data, sales data, and web site analytics. Created / managed 40 sites concurrently with SEO. BI generation and sales & marketing analytics, kpi’s and dashboards.

DevOps Engineer / Custom Programming / IT Manager / SEO / BI Analytics

Worked in defense engineering doing semiconductor design and systems testing. Promoted to government contract liaison after very successful technical presentation. ·         Gov. Contract Liaison: Presented chip design in very large client & stakeholder briefing. Personally congratulated by the President of Honeywell and asked to be the technical liaison contact to the DoD.·         Systems Testing:  Creating scripts to test integrated circuit functionality on motherboard. Performed reverse engineering before SMT fabrication, including simulated system analysis, failsafe, race conditions, space hard conditions. Systems troubleshooting & streamlining.

Honeywell Aerospace

Senior System Engineer (Aerospace Industry)

- ASIC Design: Designed integrated circuit semiconductors for satellite systems. VHDL, Mentor Graphics Unix Workstations. SDLC from spec design, implementation, testing, maintenance and multiple software releases with documentation until fabrication.·         Technical Documentation: Wrote technical manual detailing functionality and specification of satellite system dual bi directional chip that I designed.

ASIC Design Engineer (Aerospace Industry)

Worked in Materials, R&D Medical Instruments design, on-site equipment testing and troubleshooting in surgery, and as a technical liaison between departments.·         R&D Medical Instruments Engineer:   Created algorithms for medical equipment, blood pressure and heart rate devices. Analyzed data collected from monitors. Installed company’s first Mentor Graphics workstation for VHDL asic design fabrication. ·         Hospital Field Engineer:  Provided equipment and IT Troubleshooting on-site in hospital surgeries. On-call pager for troubleshooting. Made recommendations to R&D for design improvement.·         Materials Engineer: Studied catheters and material integrity after exposure with electron microscope. ·         Engineer Liaison to Nursing Dept.:  Provided  technical expertise and communication feedback between R&D Engineering Dept., Nursing Dept., Sales & Marketing, and Client (hospital staff).

Karen Mercer