Executive Director Product Owner, Technical Discovery

• May 2022 - Present

BlueCross BlueShield of Arizona (BCBSAZ) - Product Ownership Velocity Connect Digital Product Leader, skilled at setting a vision/strategy for products and building high-performing cross-functional teams focused on solving customer problems and creating amazing customer experiences across multiple lines of businesses and technology platforms. Recognized for exceptional leadership, collaboration, inspiring others and delivering outstanding product results. BlueCross BlueShield of Arizona (BCBSAZ) - Product Ownership Velocity Connect Digital Product Leader, skilled at setting a vision/strategy for products and building high-performing cross-functional teams focused on solving customer problems and creating amazing customer experiences across multiple lines of businesses and technology platforms. Recognized for exceptional leadership, collaboration, inspiring others and delivering outstanding product results.

Director, Program Management (Payer Portfolio)

• Oct 2020 - May 2022

Spearheaded multiple high profile and complex concurrent SaaS/PaaS program implementations • Built, strengthened, and lead program management teams for entire Professional Services Payer Division [multiple sites: US, Ukraine, & London] • Management of multiple Sr PM/Program Managers as direct reports, each with one or more client implementation or upgrade projects [multiple sites : US, Ukraine, & London]. • Staff growth and development including coaching, mentoring, and ensure team adherence to the Professional Services delivery methodologies, processes, and procedures • Worked with assigned Program Managers to lead the development and management of a detailed Project Schedule and Project Plan (using MS Project, SalesForce/FinancialForce and Jira), including resourcing and external as well as internal dependencies and expectations • Responsible for ultimate project successes, including CSAT, budget, time, scope and risk management • Successfully navigated program portfolio timelines, risks and issues in tight collaboration and partnership with the Account Management, Product Development and Support teams, as well as senior executives • Responsible for coordinating all program resources & matrixed team members to achieve on-time deliverables. • Effectively demonstrated proactive leadership while anticipating and addressing risks, issues, concerns, and roadblocks [forward thinking with great attention to detail] • Defined, trained and demonstrated practical, solution driven approaches with outstanding communication • Oversaw, training and managing of numerous Professional Services team • Developed and maintained comprehensive program documentation aligned. • Owned the primary client-escalation point for all client-projects in your program portfolio

Director Program Management/Sales Account Management

• Jan 2015 - Oct 2020

Led program management teams across five states, implemented and integrated multiple IT / software applications & vendor integrations, impacting over 12,000,000 users.• Successfully bid & won the RFP for Employees Retirement System of Texas and Teachers Retirement Systemaccounts. Both account for 25% of membership for the corporation.• Lead RFP proposal teams with winning bids resulting in over $5.2B in savings for American Airlines,Boeing, HEB, Halliburton, Texas Instruments, University of Texas Systems, AT&T, State Farm,Walgreens, Federal Reserve Bank, and the Berkshire Hathaway Companies.• Created/designed Innovation Lab in Richardson & redesigned call center in Abilene.• Managed and oversaw hiring & onboarding of 2,000 employees.• Directed a team of 200 multidisciplinary personnel, enforcing performance measurements to ensure delivery ofmulti-million dollar implementations on various work streams.• Established relationships with external vendors to integrate with customers & BCBSTX applications.• Contributed to business strategy, including 3 - 5 year plan and client roadmaps.

Sr Manager Product Management - Enterprise Implementation Office

• 2011 - 2015

Created products from ideation through development, growth, maturity and to retirement.• Oversaw business units in developing more complex products that addressed customer needs, operational re-quirements and exceeded profitability goals.• Provided leadership and consulting services to internal areas in defining product and scope, including benefits,services, pricing targets, platform, and vendor relationships.• Served as implementation subject matter expert to internal and external customers and maintained key partner-ships with BCBSTX business areas.• Communicated proactively with C-Suite, Leadership team and key stakeholders, offering multiple resolutions toknown issues and/or real-time situation updates on sensitive project deliverables.

Sr Program Manager - Enterprise Project Management Office

• 2006 - 2011

Headed program teams in applying project methodology and organizational knowledge for deployment of strategic Tier 1 enterprise wide programs. Directed and coordinated efforts of systems developers, software engineers, busi- ness users, and enterprise testers to successfully deploy within budgetary and scheduling guidelines. Chaired weekly meetings and presentations for Leadership team.• Spearheaded large scale implementations on medical management platforms, decreasing costs to customer andincreased profitability for BCBSTX.• Led implementations including integration of multiple software applications across five statesproviding enterprise driven business processes profiting over 10M users.

Sr Program Manager - Project Management Office

• 2002 - 2006

• Deployed successful Subscribed ID project nine months before BCBS mandate. • Directed multiple corporate wide projects from inception to post implementation, using successful project methodologies. • Conducted weekly meetings with c-level management to discuss, prioritize, and resolve business process issues and project related risks. • Facilitated development of each team member to ensure continual training, periodic reviews, and career management. • Oversaw portfolio plan development, for scope planning definition, execution, and change control. • Developed and refined ability of project members to estimate and maintain completion times for tasks.

Executive Director Call Center Customer Service

• 1999 - 2002

• Oversaw customer service and call center teams of 175 employees. • Lead and supervised a team of managers; focused on staffing levels, problem prediction, detection, and timely resolution of customer- impacting events. • Served as liaison between support and HR, IT, Operations, and Finance functions. Managed #800 lines and IVR. • Created, developed, and implemented training/auditing program with scorecards and coaching strategies. • Implemented KPI's with agent scorecards and coaching strategy; reduced average call duration by 60 seconds and call wait times from nine minutes to >30 seconds within first 30 days.

Adjunct Professor

• 1996 - 2002

• Taught computer application courses including desktop applications, project management theory, web site design, database applications and networking. • Taught computer application courses including desktop applications, project management theory, web site design, database applications and networking.

Senior Product Manager

• 1996 - 1999

• Served as product manager for various high-end interactive eLearning projects for external and internal clients from Fortune 500 companies. • Led staff, contractors, and vendors in application development and graphic design. • Developed printed and online documentation to support pricing interfaces and content management application. • Implemented web-based project management tracking and reporting to inform clients of progress. • Honed development team into highly motivated, self-managed unit. • Wrote descriptive data sheets on items of computer-aided medical equipment and installation requirements.

Senior Manager Customer Service / Senior Project Manager

• 1990 - 1996

• Oversaw call center team of 125 employees. • Led and developing trained staff to operate / maintain database system, including data entry, report generation, queries, and data archives. • Directed training, computer customization, and troubleshooting for customer service team that serviced Eastern Canada / US region (in two languages). • Supervised staff in provision of exemplary customer service. • Spearheaded all new recruit interviewing, hiring, training, mentoring, and evaluation. • Performed cost evaluation on customer service training programs, saving over $1,500,000.

Canadian Armed Forces : 1 Lt - Royal 22e Régiment

• Aug 1983 - Dec 1994