ALEXANDRA JACOB
Senior Program Manager - Data Governance
Westminster,CO
Summary
Seasoned Senior Program Data Governance Lead with over 15 years of experience in steering data governance initiatives within the finance sector. Demonstrated expertise in collaborating with business partners and vendors to drive data integrity, compliance, and strategic decision-making. Adept at developing and implementing data governance frameworks, policies, and procedures that align with organizational objectives. Proven ability to lead cross-functional teams, manage large-scale projects, and foster a culture of data-driven excellence. Committed to leveraging analytical skills and industry best practices to optimize data quality and ensure regulatory adherence. Skilled in stakeholder management, risk mitigation, and continuous process improvement.
Overview
25
25
years of professional experience
Work History
Senior Program Manager-Technology PMO Governance
NIQ
1 2022 - Current
- Manage the Global PMO Technology business operation processes and systems from conceptualization to implementation, aligning with the company’s strategic goals.
- Promote continual process improvement, consistency, and quality of execution of IT controls through governance processes.
- Develop solid, collaborative relationships with business partners and key stakeholders through continued engagement, pulse checks, and retrospectives.
- Spearheaded data health cleanup for the legacy CapEx forecasting system, which improved data quality and user compliance to 95%.
- Serve as the single point of contact for CapEx validation and accuracy for the NIQ Technology Resource Capacity and Time Tracking (Saviom) system implementation.
- Accountable for ongoing Saviom CapEx data accuracy, including data quality management of $100M CapEx financial forecast and monthly CapEx actuals.
- Coordinated with the system vendor to develop, test, and validate proper financial forecasting calculations for multiple rate effective dates for 3000+ user lists across multiple regions and resource types.
- Established IT system governance processes, leveraging Scrum practices and tools (Jira), for time tracking and capacity planning tool enhancements, defect resolution, and production support.
- Developed a Data Governance support model detailing full-scope and limited-scope support for ongoing Saviom implementations and best practices.
- Served as Senior Governance Lead for Data Governance standards for ongoing Saviom system implementations with various business partners.
- Established an improved annual CapEx planning process to leverage existing systems while coordinating with the vendor for additional enhancements to improve the process for all stakeholders (PMO, Finance, and Governance).
- Built a new requirements template for Saviom implementation to effectively capture system data field mappings, system configurations, business needs, and reporting needs.
- Managed cross-functional teams to gather technical, functional, and business process requirements for capacity planning and time tracking system implementation.
- Developed financial and capacity planning KPIs with actionable insights for senior leaders.
- Provided ongoing end-user support for PMO and Finance for Saviom.
- Coordinated with business stakeholders in IT, Product, and Finance to elicit end-to-end requirements and needs for resource capacity planning and time tracking tools.
- Provided training to end users on governance data quality standards.
- Ensured compliance with industry regulations and organizational policies throughout the program lifecycle, mitigating potential risks or liabilities for the company
- Cultivated strong relationships with external partners, ensuring effective collaboration on joint projects and initiatives
Corporate Financial Advisor, Healthcare Market & Technology
TransUnion Healthcare
01.2018 - 01.2022
- Advise senior leadership and Scrum teams on strategic and portfolio business initiatives for the Healthcare Market and Technology business.
- Identify financial and Agile key performance indicators (KPIs), trends, and events impacting the business.
- Manage the budget and forecast for the Healthcare Market and Technology business to ensure it achieves annual EBITA and working capital targets.
- Own the financial planning for Healthcare Agile projects during PI Planning.
- Acted as the R&D tax credit liaison for Healthcare IT.
- Reduced operating expenses by $450K (total budget $19M) by managing capital forecast and hiring planning expenses, ultimately protecting people costs.
- Increased capitalization from 65% to 85-90% by training team members on capitalization rules, reviewing capitalization plans with leadership monthly, and providing support for all team members.
- Kept operating expenses within the budget each year.
- Developed training for Scrum Masters, Product Owners, and Finance as the Agile Capitalization SME.
Business Operations Lead, Digital Marketing & Sales
Cabela’s
01.2015 - 01.2016
- Led sprint planning, including backlog management, task management, requirements planning, and documenting sessions with all stakeholders.
- Developed and implemented an Executive Project Status Assessment Scorecard.
- Improved the requirements gathering process for IT by implementing Application Lifecycle Management requirements module standardization, end-to-end requirements management, and communication processes.
- Mentored junior business analysts on meeting facilitation, conflict management, and requirements documentation.
Financial Operations and Process Lead, Corporate Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A)
Digital First Media
01.2014 - 01.2015
- Responsible for implementing Budget and Forecasting process optimizations within the Corporate Finance organization.
- Documented integration points between Salesforce and SAP BPC, data normalization criteria, and reporting requirements.
- Established a reporting matrix to audit monthly reports, ensuring all reports are updated with a consistent hierarchy structure from SAP BPC and provide value to the business.
- Conducted 'lessons learned' sessions to identify process improvements for the subsequent fiscal year's budget process, from planning phases through to the budget board deck submission.
- Selected as Project Manager/Corporate Finance Sponsor for the National Revenue SAP BPC instance implementation.
- Documented metadata hierarchy structures and data inputs for over 10 Adbase Advertising systems.
Financial Business Operations Manager
Time Warner Cable (now Spectrum)
01.2013 - 01.2014
- Led business operations process improvements.
- Served as a Quality Analyst and Business Process SME for the Clarity Project, overseeing implementation for the Technology and Network Operations organization.
- Gathered and documented business and reporting requirements, including metadata design and development (program and project hierarchy).
- Created new processes for budget and spend tracking, as well as new purchase order intake and tracking systems.
- Developed business operational processes, metrics, and reviews to effectively manage multiple annual operating expense budgets ($5M) and capital budgets ($55M and $89M).
Senior Business Operations Analyst, Healthcare IT
McKesson Provider Technologies
01.2007 - 01.2013
- Managed and developed business operational processes, metrics, and reviews to oversee a $148M annual operating expense budget and a $5M capital expense budget.
- Led the staffing capacity reporting model.
- Served as Project Manager for the Clarity Project, gathering requirements, providing design and documentation to IT, developing data integrity processes, and testing and validating backend processes (Clarity to SAP Interface).
- Led the "Proof of Concept" project for the workflow/Phase-Gate tool “iLattice,” including coordinating tool demonstrations, gathering requirements for tool enhancements, and acting as the data governance owner for the POC.
Lead Financial Systems Analyst, Corporate Finance
AIMCO
01.2005 - 01.2007
- Led project management for a critical corporate process improvement initiative.
- Provided ad hoc reports and developed standard templates for Finance to review and load forecast, budget, and actual data.
- Managed and ensured data integrity for multiple Hyperion Essbase financial databases.
- Delivered production support for Hyperion, including Essbase and HFM.
- Collaborated as Project Manager on the upgrade of the Hyperion Essbase system from version 7.1.3 to 9.2.0.
- Developed end-user training materials, including contributing to training manuals and courses.
Financial Systems Analyst, Corporate Finance Systems
Level 3 Communications (now Century Link)
01.2003 - 01.2005
- Oversaw the preparation of monthly, quarterly, and annual reports for senior management.
- Ensured data integrity and provided ongoing support for Hyperion databases.
- Developed process flow documents, training guides, and quality control procedures.
Data Analyst, Global Technology
Arrow Electronics
01.2000 - 01.2003
- Managed planning, development, implementation, and support for database quality assurance and data analysis for over 100,000 electronic component products.
Education
Bachelor of Arts - German History
University of Vermont
Burlington, VTSustainable Business Strategy -
Harvard Business School (Online)
Skills
Data Management
Data Governance
Data Stewardship
Best Practices Implementation
Strong analytical skills
Teamwork and Collaboration
Change Management
Issue Resolution
Training and mentoring
Complex Problem-Solving
Process Improvement
Websites
Timeline
Corporate Financial Advisor, Healthcare Market & Technology
TransUnion Healthcare
01.2018 - 01.2022
Business Operations Lead, Digital Marketing & Sales
Cabela’s
01.2015 - 01.2016
Financial Operations and Process Lead, Corporate Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A)
Digital First Media
01.2014 - 01.2015
Financial Business Operations Manager
Time Warner Cable (now Spectrum)
01.2013 - 01.2014
Senior Business Operations Analyst, Healthcare IT
McKesson Provider Technologies
01.2007 - 01.2013
Lead Financial Systems Analyst, Corporate Finance
AIMCO
01.2005 - 01.2007
Financial Systems Analyst, Corporate Finance Systems
Level 3 Communications (now Century Link)
01.2003 - 01.2005
Data Analyst, Global Technology
Arrow Electronics
01.2000 - 01.2003
Senior Program Manager-Technology PMO Governance
NIQ
1 2022 - Current
Bachelor of Arts - German History
University of Vermont
Sustainable Business Strategy -
Harvard Business School (Online)