Open To Work
Declan Cooper
Chicago,IL
Summary
SBA with over 20 years of experience translating complex, technical logic and system dependencies into clear, operational requirements and functional documentation. Proven expertise across regulated industries including banking, insurance, and pharmaceuticals. Specialize in end-to-end mapping, data processing pipelines, tracking structural constraints, and designing rigorous workflow boundaries. Adept at deconstructing the "black box" and identifying and addressing enterprise ambiguity and knowledge silos.
Overview
25
25
years of professional experience
Work History
Productivity and Innovation
Options Clearing Corporation
02.2025 - 03.2026
- Evaluated vendor and platform AI solutions from Microsoft, Anthropic and AWS (including LLM-based and non-LLM approaches) to indicate where deterministic preprocessing was sufficient versus where probabilistic execution was required, forming enforceable cost boundaries for AI use.
- Designed and tested RAG and advanced RAG architectures to study the effects of segmentation strategy, context expansion, and retrieval frequency on token growth, reprocessing, and downstream review amplification.
- Developed non-AI deterministic ingestion and classification paths to reduce unnecessary AI invocation, using pre-LLM controls to stabilize execution cost and improve fidelity measurement.
- Defined execution gates, retry conditions, and lifecycle constraints to limit recursive processing and observe cost behavior under different invocation patterns.
- Produced repeatable analytical structures to compare AI technologies on marginal cost, scalability, and controllability, enabling enterprise level aggregation of AI spend across use cases and vendors.
Mergers & Acquisitions
Pfizer
01.2024 - 02.2025
- Analyzed acquisition driven document populations to establish baseline relationships between document volume, document structure, and AI processing behavior, with a focus on reprocessing frequency and revision volatility.
- Using Copilot/Studio/Builder, evaluated segmentation (chunking) strategies for long-form SOPs and policies to understand impacts on execution cost, context expansion, and downstream review amplification.
- Designed power “aups” (App + Automate) comparative (A/B) analysis of AI-assisted versus non-AI methods for policy comparison, isolating variables related to marginal processing cost, semantic depth, and human review thresholds.
- Used Power Platform execution controls (manual triggers, conditional paths) to explicitly bound probabilistic execution, enabling observation of cost behavior under different invocation and retry conditions.
Regulatory and Quality
Seagen, Inc
02.2022 - 12.2023
- Studied internal SOP and policy populations against FDA CFR structures to determine where semantic classification was required versus where deterministic mapping was sufficient, forming early cost boundaries for AI use in regulated documentation.
- Built AI-based (Builder + Copilot) classification and characterization models to evaluate classification depth against processing overhead, identifying inflection points where additional semantic resolution no longer justified marginal cost.
- Defined classification granularity, confidence thresholds, and rerun conditions with regulatory and quality stakeholders to constrain recursive processing and uncontrolled cost growth.
- Applied document lifecycle states (draft, effective, superseded) as execution gates, limiting AI processing to stages where semantic analysis materially affected regulatory interpretation.
Business Analyst
Freelance
08.2022 - 01.2023
- Developed business intelligence dashboards using APIs and Tableau or Power BI for business clients.
Assistant VP, Compute Engineering
Wells Fargo
09.2019 - 05.2021
- Identified automation candidates via business intelligence analyses (Tableau, Power BI dashboards).
- Developed automated engineering projects in agile/lean environments.
- Coordinated stakeholder meetings for process adoption using KPIs and metrics as go/no go decision points.
- Created Python-based proofs of concept.
Business Analyst
Wells Fargo
01.2019 - 06.2019
- Provided business intelligence for remediation efforts using Python, Excel, and Power BI.
- Designed vulnerability risk profiles for senior leadership using Power Query and Power BI.
- Managed SharePoint sites for data dissemination and document management.
- Developed Python-based applications for ETL of data from enterprise systems to analytics systems.
Business Systems Consultant
Wells Fargo
06.2017 - 12.2018
- Led daily project management meetings including “standup,” sprint review and escalation meetings.
- Coordinated SDLC for offshore teams.
- Managed report system development and deployment (SharePoint, Power BI).
- Authored instructional documents.
Technical Analyst
Allstate Insurance
11.2014 - 06.2017
- Quantified knowledge silos on SharePoint sites.
- Developed and administered SharePoint sites for document consolidation.
- Co-developed content migration plans.
Consulting Business Advisor
JC Movers, Inc
06.2014 - 11.2014
- Provided audit response and obtained early sign-off.
- Developed CAPAs documentation.
Consulting Process Analyst
Astellas Pharma
10.2013 - 01.2014
- End to end process restructuring within the contracts domain
Consulting Business Advisor
Mindful Evolution, Inc
04.2013 - 10.2013
- Integration of customer data with with artifacts (images, text) for universal lookup in flat files.
Consulting General Manager
Online Directories, LLC
05.2011 - 03.2013
- Assisted CEO with digital growth strategy using Google analytics
Consulting Business Analyst
Saint Mary's
01.2010 - 11.2010
Quality Assurance Consultant
IXICO, LLC
03.2009 - 06.2009
Consulting Senior Systems Engineer
M2S, Inc
06.2008 - 11.2008
Consulting Manager
Invia, LLC
05.2007 - 05.2008
Information Services Consulting Specialist
American Proficiency Institute
05.2006 - 05.2007
Vice President of Technology
Insight Sciences, LLC
09.2001 - 05.2006
Consultant, Quality Assurance and Data Management
Beacon Biosciences
05.2004 - 02.2005
Co-Founder, Vice President of Technology
MIICRO, Inc
05.1995 - 09.2001
Technical Sales Specialist
MedImage, Inc
05.1994 - 05.1995
Applications Training Instructor
Siemens Medical Systems
09.1991 - 05.1994
Frank Center for Image Analysis, Research Assistant
University of Chicago
09.1988 - 09.1991
Education
Bachelor of Arts - Journalism
Columbia College
Chicago, ILSkills
- Data-driven decision making
- Impact analysis
- Cost control expertise
- Innovation to MVP
Timeline
Productivity and Innovation
Options Clearing Corporation
02.2025 - 03.2026
Mergers & Acquisitions
Pfizer
01.2024 - 02.2025
Business Analyst
Freelance
08.2022 - 01.2023
Regulatory and Quality
Seagen, Inc
02.2022 - 12.2023
Assistant VP, Compute Engineering
Wells Fargo
09.2019 - 05.2021
Business Analyst
Wells Fargo
01.2019 - 06.2019
Business Systems Consultant
Wells Fargo
06.2017 - 12.2018
Technical Analyst
Allstate Insurance
11.2014 - 06.2017
Consulting Business Advisor
JC Movers, Inc
06.2014 - 11.2014
Consulting Process Analyst
Astellas Pharma
10.2013 - 01.2014
Consulting Business Advisor
Mindful Evolution, Inc
04.2013 - 10.2013
Consulting General Manager
Online Directories, LLC
05.2011 - 03.2013
Consulting Business Analyst
Saint Mary's
01.2010 - 11.2010
Quality Assurance Consultant
IXICO, LLC
03.2009 - 06.2009
Consulting Senior Systems Engineer
M2S, Inc
06.2008 - 11.2008
Consulting Manager
Invia, LLC
05.2007 - 05.2008
Information Services Consulting Specialist
American Proficiency Institute
05.2006 - 05.2007
Consultant, Quality Assurance and Data Management
Beacon Biosciences
05.2004 - 02.2005
Vice President of Technology
Insight Sciences, LLC
09.2001 - 05.2006
Co-Founder, Vice President of Technology
MIICRO, Inc
05.1995 - 09.2001
Technical Sales Specialist
MedImage, Inc
05.1994 - 05.1995
Applications Training Instructor
Siemens Medical Systems
09.1991 - 05.1994
Frank Center for Image Analysis, Research Assistant
University of Chicago
09.1988 - 09.1991
Bachelor of Arts - Journalism
Columbia College