Amber DeForest
Springfield,TN
Summary
A process-oriented, data-driven Agile leader delivering new capabilities in product development and systems integration through project management. Effectively partnering with all levels within an organization to achieve strategic and tactical alignment across programs, initiatives, budgets, resources, and timelines. Providing robust, best-in-class solutions while continuously seeking to improve client satisfaction and creating a growth culture inspiring employees that drive results.
Overview
24
24
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Technical Agile Project Manager
Change Healthcare/Optum
08.2021 - Current
- Accountable for the agile delivery of IT projects within the Core Technology and Delivery team
- Manage to completion large complex infrastructure projects for the storage and database teams
- Led cross-functional project and scrum teams to leverage agile practices and ceremonies to continuously deliver value and demonstrate superior organization and project management
- Partner with analytics teams to migrate Cloud 2.0 applications to ILZ environment
- I was nominated and accepted to become a cloud guru where I learned AWS migration skills and attended workshops and trainings.
Agile Project Manager and Scrum Master
STR
08.2016 - 08.2021
- Lead and deliver multiple projects with distributed teams simultaneously using waterfall and scrum development methodologies
- Led the data integration of a third-party software acquisition rebranding the pre-existing website, expanding invoicing into new markets which recognized an immediate $2.5M increase upon product deployment
- Developed and implemented a project lifecycle methodology that was used to successfully close over 62 projects in 36 months
- Disseminated detailed updates and ad hoc reports to the project sponsors and stakeholders on current and pending milestones, communication plans, resource management, and financial status throughout the planning, execution, and closeout phases of every project
- Managed third-party vendors and internal employees that analyze data, gather requirements, and build enhanced products for implementation
- Partnered with the strategic governance team to formulate, explore, and vet ideas, opportunities, and strategies in anticipation of customer needs
- Developed and implemented a deployment checklist to be used by all technical and business project team members during a deployment
- This gave greater visibility into deployment activities such as outage windows, communication plans, systems impacted, testing, training, and support
- Lead development sprint reviews and demos with executive leadership, senior staff, and stakeholders
- A key member of the portfolio governance team, meeting with executive and senior leadership to present project charters, status reports, and closeout project updates.
Project Manager
Ingenuity Associates
04.2014 - 07.2016
- Led project planning, client management, risk management, and solution delivery, partnering with implementation and development teams to plan, create issue resolution guidelines, risk tracking, scheduling, and creation and management of SOWs
- Cross-functionally led the implementation of large-scale hospital infrastructure projects, coordinating the outage management for 130 hospitals without critical incidents
- Spearheaded the integration of active directory data for one of the nation's largest hospital firms to merge new hospital acquisition data into the enterprise in concert with senior leadership, hospital facilities, corporate entities, and third-party vendors
- Planned and executed a full system migration from a legacy source system to a new hardware target including legacy system analysis, new system configuration, and data migration.
Implementation Consultant
McKesson Corporation
07.2011 - 04.2014
- Technology lead supporting the ARRA upgrade involving project implementation and customer training
- Ensured the software in the customer's environment was configured to provide the desired functionality pre and post-upgrade, patch, and install
- Partnered with the customer to identify existing application opportunities, provide constructive solutions, and recommendations for future product releases
- Cross-functionally communicated with IT management, clinicians, consultants, and administrators to capture current pain points and strategic planning, for future project initiatives.
Bartender/Server
Puleos Grille
10.2002 - 05.2004
- Obtained cash bank and stocked service bar to prepare for operation.
- Organized bar inventory and storage procedures to keep stock within optimal levels and meet expected customer demands.
- Kept bar presentable and well-stocked to meet customer needs.
- Performed opening and closing duties, printing sales reports, setting up for incoming shift, preparing cash drawers, and taking inventory.
- Handled simultaneous customer, team, and business needs while avoiding unnecessary delays or errors.
- Followed strict recipes and drink measurements to minimize product used.
- Followed alcohol awareness procedures for preventing excessive guest intoxication.
Server
Outback Steakhouse
05.2001 - 10.2002
- Worked with POS system to place orders, manage bills, and handle complimentary items.
- Arranged and prepared tables for customers to offer memorable experiences to guests and foster repeat business.
- Bussed and reset tables to keep dining room and work areas clean.
- Upsold high-profit items such as appetizers and mixed drinks to enhance sales numbers.
Bartender/Server
The Cooker
08.2000 - 05.2001
- Served high customer volumes during special events, nights, and weekends.
- Organized bar inventory and storage procedures to keep stock within optimal levels and meet expected customer demands.
- Adhered to state laws regarding alcoholic beverage services and customer regulations.
- Explained daily specials and beverage promotions to exceed daily sales goals.
Education
Bachelor of Arts in Music Education -
Middle Tennessee State University
Murfreesboro, TNSkills
- Implementations
- Acquisitions
- Outage Management
- Data Center Conversions
- Voice of the Customer
- Program Management
- Requirements Gathering
- User Experience
- Project Estimation, Planning, and Implementation
- Vendor Management
- Customer Engagement
- Innovative
- Collaborative
- Problem Solver
- Client Advisor
- Cool Under Pressure
- Proactive
Websites
Certification
- Project Management Professional (PMP) (Project Management)
- Certified Scrum Master
- CHIA Certification (Certification in Hotel Industry Analytics)
Technical Acumen
- Confluence
- JIRA
- Slack
- Horizon Physician Portal (HPP)
- Horizon Surgical Manager (HSM)
- Pathways Health Summary (PHS)
- Horizon Business Intelligence (HBI)
- Microsoft Teams
- Cloud-Based Product APIs
- WorkflowGen
- Web and Mobile Applications
- HTML
- Matterport
- MS Visio
- MS Office 365
Previous Work Experience
Community Health Systems
Timeline
Technical Agile Project Manager
Change Healthcare/Optum
08.2021 - Current
Agile Project Manager and Scrum Master
STR
08.2016 - 08.2021
Project Manager
Ingenuity Associates
04.2014 - 07.2016
Implementation Consultant
McKesson Corporation
07.2011 - 04.2014
Bartender/Server
Puleos Grille
10.2002 - 05.2004
Server
Outback Steakhouse
05.2001 - 10.2002
Bartender/Server
The Cooker
08.2000 - 05.2001
Bachelor of Arts in Music Education -
Middle Tennessee State University