Danielle Geyer
Chardon,Ohio
Summary
Accomplished I&T Program Manager with a proven track record at the Department of Defense – DFAS, enhancing strategic alignment and program performance through expert project management and cross-functional team leadership. Skilled in leveraging critical thinking for organizational performance, demonstrated by saving over $1.5M through innovative procurement strategies. Exceptional in fostering customer service excellence and effective communication.
Overview
15
15
years of professional experience
Work History
I&T Program Manager
Department of Defense – DFAS
03.2023 - Current
- Strategic Program Manager supporting c-suite executive mission goals and deliverables while successfully aligning the Department of Defense (DoD) CIO, and Comptroller’s strategic plans.
- Managed alignment of coalitions to meet policy, mandates, and legal requirements from the DoD, and develop master schedules to ensure strategic projects are properly aligned
- Oversee program managers within the Enterprise Architecture program, including initiatives such as ServiceNow, Power Platform, system migrations, system authority to operate, enterprise software assets, and unidentified I&T systems
- My experience in leveraging AI to enhance decision-making and problem-solving has been crucial in integrating AI-powered tools, automating workflows, and analyzing AI-driven insights to improve work processes and outcomes
- I work collaboratively with product management, product marketing and communication partners, and professional services, sharing best practices and re-usable assets to enhance team efficiency
- As Strategic Program Manager, I monitor program risks, ensuring leadership is informed, and proactively address issues before they escalate
- Deliver comprehensive updates to senior leadership, maintaining slides that provide an overview of project status, while ensuring that critical information is shared with senior executives, IT directorates, and ESS partners
- I also oversee Risk Management Framework internal controls to ensure the necessary Authority to Operate approvals are secured
- Additionally, I support marketing events such as team roadshows at multiple sites, conferences, and user groups to showcase program solutions to expand the ecosystem
- Assisted in developing training materials for new hires involved in the program activities.
- Utilized project management tools and methodologies to track program progress, identify variances, and implement corrective actions as necessary.
I&T Project Manager
Department of Defense – DFAS
04.2019 - 03.2023
- Organizes and maintains Knowledge Management repository such as SharePoint and provides program templates, processes, and standards for the Enterprise Architecture program
- Examples include, lessons learned, program roadmap, project plan, test scripts, and risk templates
- Performs business analysis on overall Enterprise Architecture program and identifies key goals and milestones for the program
- Created a roadmap to align DFAS agency strategies with Enterprise Architecture program
- Defined metrics to show program success and identify cost savings through automated processes such as DFAS Enterprise Architecture Toolset
- Developed and fully rolled out a comprehensive Service Catalog leveraging the ServiceNow platform
- Worked closely with developers, project leads, product owns, amongst other stakeholder group to build a compressive User Platform leveraging the IT Service Management module
- The program I led successfully allowed DFAS to save over $1.5M during the first two years of implementation
- Provides insight into business modeling processes (BPA) for Enterprise Architecture to assist ESS with modeling the DEAT toolset
- Sat through multiple vendor training sessions and led communications to help ESS understand where to start with business mapping
- Defined high level process to include top down approach within DFAS org structure
- Attended Gartner Program Portfolio Management (PPM) conference June, 2019
- Gained insight into alignment of strategic priorities with Enterprise Architecture Program and how to successfully prioritize projects through IT demand
- Understanding in alignment of business plan and strategic outcomes to eliminate and minimize program risk
- Attention to detail reviewing technology related work such as DEAT project milestones and deliverables
- Ensures data mapping and imports are properly hitting the database by testing functionality within the toolset
- Verifies accuracy, validity, and completeness through understanding Enterprise Architecture program goals and visions
- Developed and maintained relationships with customers through providing guidance on SID replacement and Micro-application data call
- Provided data to customers to incorporate into building out business case analysis for SID replacement
Agile Branch Chief
Department of Defense – DFAS
04.2018 - 04.2019
- Held weekly staff meetings with employees to promote communication and collaboration
- Team engaged by providing high level summaries of work and shared information with team members
- Provided Senior Leadership monthly program updates for teams in the Agile two year bootcamp program
- Provided Senior Leadership bi-monthly update for the Strategic Council initiative Agency Operational Health (AOH) to address specific Agile program metrics and success criteria
- Organized candidates for interviews and reviewed qualified individuals for job selection
- Created weighted average scores for candidate criteria in order to qualify candidates for specified positions posted
- Engaged teammates to excel by providing effective communication and allowing individuals to provide transparency with all aspects of work
- Prepared vacancies and staffing actions in ITAAA
- Prepared position classification actions and position descent to Human Resources
- Briefed management on monthly budget and data reports, provides cost estimates and explained inconsistencies as needed
- Transformed Agile program by developing processes and standards for employees to follow
- Developed Agile Portal site and maintained content monthly
System Manager
Department of Defense – DFAS
09.2013 - 10.2017
- Provided management oversight to Information Technology (IT) Java developers by assisting with daily guidance on Mid-Tier applications
- Coordinated with teams by conducting daily stand-up calls
- Overseen team that supports Information Technology Infrastructure catering to over 2,000 users in Retired Pay, Garnishment, Civilian Pay, Disbursing, and Accounts Receivable
- Supervised HP and Halvik Java and Oracle based contractors to ensure work actives such as System Development Lifecycle is being met, as well as analysis and design techniques
- Reviewed work to verify quantitative and qualitative measures are fully satisfied according to contract needs
- Worked closely with development team to design systems and requirements
- Approved system design before coding began
- Worked closely with Senior Management to make changes to existing legacy applications to meet DFAS strategies and goals
- Eliminated contracts to save the agency $1.2 million over five years
- Led Projects with 15 plus employees developing process improvements based on the operational areas throughout DFAS
- Created project plans with executable milestones to adequately achieve the Senior Management goals
- Managed and provided effective communication to representatives of work units that affect work outside of Payroll Services
- Coordinates with Operations and ESS staff to implement effective working relationships
- Worked as a liaison to the Navy and other branches of services supporting communications efforts with management officials
- Worked as a liaison for HP and Halvik contractors to ensure I&T efforts were being met timely
- Ensured information technology requirements were being met with changes required in planned operations
- Led and reviewed Java programmers work upon completion for accuracy to ensure work requirements were meeting customer needs according to their business rules
- Created annual system spend plans including both operations and capital funding for use by Financial Analysts and IT Management to support the budget estimating process
- Managed system OEP budget for annual capital dollar execution, submitted timely execution plan to carry forward money obligated in FY15
- Monitored available unfunded requests on a monthly basis by approving capital funded MIPRs for government civilian labor hours (OP24 funds)
- Worked with Executive level staff to coordinate written responses for project initiative goDocs
- Communicated completed milestones and current status related to development efforts
- Informed employees of Strategic objectives to align with organizational goals set forth by the agency
- Discussed long term goals and expectations with Senior Executive Staff, and coordinated risk management and hosting environments
- By doing so, this allowed the system to meet expectations and ensure there were not any road blocks in the way of success
- Managed on-going operational mission needs by implementing innovative system solutions in the Payroll Services Directorate
- By combining three imaging system solutions, Payroll Services is supporting the DFAS target business system initiative
- Identified system risks and documented the likelihood of each occurring and level of impact on system success
- Created Magic Quadrant chart to show the risks and challenges the goDocs system may encounter throughout the system lifecycle
- Plans work and sets priorities to development staff to be accomplished by setting standards on a monthly basis to ensure tasks are accomplished in an appropriate timeframe
- Prepared contract packages for new software tools to meet branch needs
- Responsible for communicating with internal and external customers to assist with business needs
- As a result, communications with customers were easily maintained
- Worked as a functional IT System Manager that applies technical authority to all aspects of complex, high level, or visible IT software and systems, through providing guidance to development staff by discussing known issues that may arise
Senior Consultant
Ernst & Young LLP
08.2012 - 09.2013
- Served as an IT Professional in the Risk Advisory Practice at Ernst & Young
- Held key roles for multiple IT Audit Readiness engagement teams, including roles testing & advising on IT General and Application controls, knowledge management and capacity building, and project management
- Led and supervised staff of 5 IT consultants
- Provided oversight of Information Technology (IT) audits to ensure efficient and effective production of all key personnel
- Provided expert interpretation of IT regulations, policies, administrative guidelines, and legislative changes as they relate to DOD standards
- Managed staff on IT Audit Readiness engagement for DoD DFAS SSAE16 assertions
- Team utilized the FISCAM in testing the design & operating effectiveness of 163 IT Application Level security control techniques
- During testing, the team applied NIST SP 800-53 rev 3 security controls & DoD 8500.2 (DIACAP) to related FISCAM control technique(s), & Information Assurance to provide a detailed analysis & recommendations for control enhancements & potential audit artifacts
- Worked with clients to provide functional direction in development enhancements by reviewing work portfolios and providing direction with new system capability
- Through audit reviews, modifications to systems were necessary based on results provided to the client
- Planned work and set priorities for consultants, and interns to accomplish
- Standards were set based on performance principles put in place at the beginning of the year
- Quarterly reviews were performed to baseline how well employees were performing tasks
- Led and advised team and employees on administrative and technical matters that arose
- Provided guidance to staff during daily meetings to ensure employees understood technical questions being asked by the customer
- Managed staff to ensure the day-to-day work was performed with quality and proficiency standards
- Provided daily, in the trenches, team leadership skills, and coaching and mentoring in order to build a team of direct and indirect reports capable of performing IT compliance and risk analysis and technology implementation required to fulfill client requirements for performance excellence
- Worked on Strategy Planning design and build efforts for client engagements and created materials to market the IT department at one of the largest financial institutions in the world to ensure IT Audit-Readiness throughout the agency
- Analyzed system reports to determine the impact functions, data security, feasibility, and interaction/interrelationship with sub-systems to ensure Information Assurance within policies and procedures specific to DFAS
- Ensured DFAS is following the DIACAP process and validating the Information Assurance Requirements, Architecture, Policies, and Procedures relating to system specific programs
- Developed FISCAM Methodologies and Principles for team understanding and knowledge
- Worked exclusively with an InfoSec Exec
- Director and a fellow ITRA Senior Consultant on mappings of security control standards & audit manuals
- Including determining the most relevant FISCAM IT Application security control techniques for Financial Reporting, & mapping those control techniques to NIST SP 800-53 rev 3 security controls, leading to a mapping of FISCAM IT Application security control techniques considered to be Internal Controls over Financial Reporting (ICOFR) to related NIST SP 800-53 rev 3 security controls
- Worked to optimize Information Technology security control framework for a large government agency with over 50 systems
- Based on NIST SP 800-53 rev 3 guidance for common, hybrid and system-specific controls, the team developed recommendations for the design & implementation of a program to standardize the agency’s IT security control framework
- Provided summary status updates for Director Level management and held meetings to include all client work is up-to-date and timely
- Knowledge in Information Assurance key principles and methodologies pertaining to accuracy, reliance, confidentiality, availability and integrity
- Applied the Information Assurance (IA) concepts to DFAS by utilizing the FISCAM, FISMA and DIACAP process
- Performed review on 49 of the DoD Audit Readiness (AuR) DFAS Financial Management Systems to ensure the federal laws such as FISCAM, FISMA, and (8500.2) DIACAP are being follow adequately
- Ensure DFAS is managing systems appropriately to be aware of any problems that may arise
- Review policies, procedure and validate the data accuracy of these systems by performing IT Control Reviews in the MICP database
- Served as and Information Assurance FISCAM professional providing daily support to internal and external audit organizations such as Deloitte and DFAS
- Provide support on IT & Operations Controls to validate the requirements are being met by both parties
Financial Management Analyst
Department of Defense – DFAS
01.2010 - 07.2012
- Supported SSAE-16 internal audit-readiness preparation services to major DFAS areas such as Military Pay, Civilian Pay, Vendor Pay, Disbursing and Retired & Annuity Pay
- Created and provided documents such as policy, procedure, technical guidelines, technology controls templates, configuration support, internal control grids, compliance assessments, corrective action plans, service delivery kits, change management procedures and training
- Developed Internal Controls for operational areas in preparation for SSAE-16
- Also created strategic scorecards to score the proficiency of audit-readiness for each area within the agency
- Linked IT inherited controls with the FISMA and NIST documents
- Also identified baseline security controls, provide a GAP and CAP analysis with supporting metrics to Executive Directorates
- Provided support for baseline security controls Identified through registration questionnaire that was created
- Supported materiality, financial metrics, and inheritance of NIST 800-53 controls, FISCAM, FISMA, FIPS, DIACAP, and providing Information Assurance into supporting documents
- Developed business policies and procedures for improved effectiveness and efficacies for the Department of Defense, Defense Finance & Accounting Services (DFAS)
- This allowed for effective improvement for employee knowledge through training and education for their career advancement
- Created and developed four training courses for Audit support that walked operations through controls that are not in place at the time of execution and have been identified through a GAP analysis
- Proper training actions were taken in order to complete the remaining controls within the defined areas
- Developed a web-based Knowledge Center for customer’s agency wide to accelerate development of knowledge engineering and train all DFAS personnel over a period of time to develop skill sets and enable cost savings across the agency
- SSAE-16 IT controls also developed within the web-based knowledge center for support with training each operational area
- Knowledge Center development based on Rapid Application Development with 60 to 90 day processes in place for execution
- Developed six phase RAD/Agile model, provided input to all phases within the development of the created RAD guide
- Included samplings for the RAD guide with project plans, project templates, project samples, and video training for additional knowledge sharing
- Developed project plans to monitor the day-to-day activities of Debts and Claims
- Monitored the software changes were accurate and working effectively
- Developed system requirements for the Debts and Claims team, functional descriptions, data dictionary inputs and system training manuals
- Presented training materials to enhance the learning of the Debts and Claims team to provide additional team support and leverage resources as needed
- Used state of the art training material to conduct training session
- Responsible for Leveraging COTS Oracle Policy Automation tool and development within DFAS
- Coaching and mentoring skills with 2 plus years of experience training and teaching functional areas product sufficient details
- Leveraged Oracle Policy Modeling to create rules for Retired and Annuitant Pay and Debts and Claims Processing for the functional areas
- Designed service delivery kits for operational areas with Charters, Structure, Strategic Plans, Flow Charts, and Roles/Responsibilities to hand off to areas once automation efforts have occurred
- Saved 120 work-years for the organization in Retired and Annuitant Pay over a two year time span from 2010 – 2012
Education
Master of Business Administration -
Lake Erie College
Painesville, OH08-2014
Bachelor of Technical Management - Minor in Marketing
DeVry University
Columbus, OH08-2013
Associates of Art -
Lakeland Community College
Mentor, OH12.2009
Skills
- Program performance analysis
- Contract development
- Cross-functional team leadership
- Project management
- Procurement
- Organizational performance
- Critical thinking
- Strategic alignment
- Program leadership
- Product development
- Team leadership and direction
- Business acumen
- Verbal and written communication
- Customer service
Accomplishments
· Presented with Directors Coin for combining three systems into one 2015
· Presented with Directors Coin for development of Customer Care Center tool 2010
· Presented with Site Directors Coin for support in 120 work-year reduction count for automation efforts 2011
· Specific course-work in Project Management, Software Development, Access, and Accounting
· Certified Lean Six Sigma Green Belt
· Completed all requirements for Financial Management Certification – November, 2015
· Presented with On the Spot award for Acting as the Branch Chief in ZTBDC – October, 2016
· Presented with On the Spot award for deploying new system - goDocs – February, 2017
· Presented with On the Spot award for assisting with the Enterprise Architecture Program – February, 2019
PMP Certification (in progress)
Timeline
I&T Program Manager
Department of Defense – DFAS
03.2023 - Current
I&T Project Manager
Department of Defense – DFAS
04.2019 - 03.2023
Agile Branch Chief
Department of Defense – DFAS
04.2018 - 04.2019
System Manager
Department of Defense – DFAS
09.2013 - 10.2017
Senior Consultant
Ernst & Young LLP
08.2012 - 09.2013
Financial Management Analyst
Department of Defense – DFAS
01.2010 - 07.2012
Master of Business Administration -
Lake Erie College
Bachelor of Technical Management - Minor in Marketing
DeVry University
Associates of Art -
Lakeland Community College
Similar Profiles
Kent PhairKent Phair
Lead Accountant at Department Of Defense: DFASLead Accountant at Department Of Defense: DFAS
Jody EilarJody Eilar
Deputy Cybersecurity Workforce Program Manager (Series 2210) at Department of the NavyDeputy Cybersecurity Workforce Program Manager (Series 2210) at Department of the Navy
Michael Jarvis, CPA, CFEMichael Jarvis, CPA, CFE
Deputy Director (GS-511-15) at Defense Finance and Accounting Services (DFAS)Deputy Director (GS-511-15) at Defense Finance and Accounting Services (DFAS)
Deborah RobieDeborah Robie
Speech Language Pathologist at Educational Service Center of the Western ReserveSpeech Language Pathologist at Educational Service Center of the Western Reserve
Richard A. LamboRichard A. Lambo
Independent Real Estate Agent at Keller Williams Real EstateIndependent Real Estate Agent at Keller Williams Real Estate