Experience

Westmark Enterprises - Dubuque, IA

• United States
• Book and Periodical Publishing
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Project Manager

  • May 2016 - Present



IBM

• United States
• IT Services and IT Consulting
• 700 & Above Employee

• Project Manager, PMP

  • Nov 2013 - May 2016

  Lead projects to establish application monitoring for customers. This includes documenting requirements, preparing cost proposals, and ensure solution is implemented timely to meet customer expectations. Obtained PMP certification in November 2014. Lead projects to establish application monitoring for customers. This includes documenting requirements, preparing cost proposals, and ensure solution is implemented timely to meet customer expectations. Obtained PMP certification in November 2014.



Prudential Financial

• United States
• Financial Services
• 700 & Above Employee

• Business Analyst

  • 2010 - Jun 2013

  Manage system projects impacting client’s timely and accurate service. Led projects to lower cost and reduce client transaction timing. Managed prioritization of system enhancements, creation of business requirements, cost/benefit analysis, and made presentations to Finance and Senior Leadership for funding approval.• Completed business requirements for eight enhancements to benefit multiple departments as part of the PEGA Remediation Project. o Led multiple departments to complete business requirements, cost/benefit analysis, presented information to Finance and received approval; continued with leading the business through creation and execution of test plans along with organization readiness. Two of the enhancements have been successfully implemented.•Urgently led the project teams to identify and resolve root cause of system problems impacting customer transactions. o In leading one project was able to identify root cause of OMNI system code change and correct 400 participant transactions valued at $2.6 million in two days. This quick resolution limited exposure and enabled the redeployment of system code in the next monthly release.•Led project that shifted research of participant and plan sponsor website concerns to the business unit as first responders; then if unresolved, a technology request was submitted. o Implemented a process improvement that resulted in reduction of timing to complete client’s website questions from 30 days to three days. •Selected by Vice President of Dubuque site as project manager of records vendor relationship to resolve concerns with the compliance audit of record management standards. o Created and implemented an audit project plan that addressed 19 issues and resulted in a 100% no failure compliance audit in 2012. o Led a cross-functional team, from legal, risk management, and vendor governance, creating a new contract and negotiating pricing that resulted in a $13,000 annual savings. Show less

• Contributions Manager

  • 2006 - 2010

  Responsible for 15 employees that completed the investment transactions for $1.8 billion in payroll contributions with an operating budget of $516,000 annually. • Saved approximately $510,000 by initiating process improvements to workflows and implementing a technology enhancement to the payroll confirmation report.o Streamlined contributions and loan repayments workflow by shifting processing responsibility to specialists communicating directly with clients reducing the number of handoffs and eliminating seven full time equivalent (FTE) positions. o Led staff of specialists that persuaded clients to accept an automated process to key and submit their own company’s 401K contributions payroll data. Forty-five percent of the clients adopted the new method which reduced the data entry processor staff by four. o Championed a cost saving enhancement that resulted in more detailed data being provided to clients and eliminated the need to review internal reports reducing staff by six. o Resolved an ongoing backlog of enrollment and beneficiary requests by redefining expectations, implementing a plan staffed to meet daily demand and designating overtime specifically to complete backlog. Finished the backlog of five months worth of requests within 30 days, discontinuing the need for ongoing overtime. Show less

• Disbursements Manager

  • 2002 - 2006

  Managed 34 associates responsible for accurately processing 148,600 distribution requests annually. • Assigned the large market book of business as a new manager by the VP of Operations. • Addressed client concerns during conversion by partnering with Relationship Managers, located in Hartford, CT, and hosting a weekly video conference to identify, clarify and resolve service issues. • Maintained service levels during the transition from Cigna to Prudential’s platform and ensured associates were properly trained leading to a successful integration. Show less

• New Business Consultant

  • 2000 - 2002

  Project managed onboarding of client’s investments and records to Cigna Retirement. This included preparation and delivering of onsite presentations to clients on the transition process along with the proposing an implementation timeline. Also partnered with the Sales Team by participating in prospective client visits at remote locations as well as onsite.

• Quality Assurance Specialist

  • 1997 - 2000

  Partnered with the DC Disbursements Dept. to review their quality results to identify trends along with proposing solutions to improve results.

• Research Analyst

  • 1994 - 1997

  Completed corrections to processing of investments and disbursements.

• Plan Analyst

  • 1991 - 1994

  Responsible for preparing client submissions of contributions and disbursements for technicians to process. Completed plan year and 5500 reporting at year-end. In addition, prepared client billing and calculated corrective distributions.