Gary Ropers
Omaha,NE
Summary
Seasoned Agile Coach with comprehensive experience serving as a Team Member, Scrum Master, and Product Owner, fostering strong rapport and credibility across all levels of an organization. Proven ability to support Scrum Masters, Product Owners, team leaders, and senior executives in aligning strategic objectives with team-level execution. Recognized for a pragmatic and adaptable coaching style, applying appropriate frameworks to meet organizations where they are in their Agile transformation journey. Demonstrates a leadership approach grounded in humility, active listening, and a commitment to continuous, incremental improvement. Brings prior experience leading large, high-performing teams in complex and mission-critical environments.
Overview
44
44
years of professional experience
6
6
Certification
Work History
Agile Coach
Various Organizations
09.2016 - Current
- Agility Enterprise and Team Coach. Helped stand up and transform 50 teams and over 500 team members.
- Instrumental in providing coaching and mentoring sessions to Product Owners, Scrum Masters, and Team Members. In addition, I offer on-site coaching and training to ensure the successful adoption and execution of Agile practices of Scrum and Kanban.
- Facilitate Agile and Leadership training, along with Agility Health Assessments.
- Helped set up a Community of Practice for the Agile Scrum Masters.
- Worked with C-Level Executives, HR, Finance, and Shared Services areas on implementing Agile practices in a non-IT area.
- Provide Agile practices and SAFe coaching, mentoring, and training at the Teams, Agile Release Trains, and Programs level.
- Helped launch 5 Agile Release Trains (ART) at Mutual of Omaha.
- Team coach, mentor, and train 16 teams on the five Agile Release Trains (ARTs) as they transition from a waterfall or some form of Agile / Scrum.
- Developed training materials to support agile transformation initiatives across various organizations.
TADS Product Owner
SAIC
09.2024 - Current
- Collaborates with Air Force Weather to deliver high-performance computing environments, providing automated and human-interface weather information for worldwide operations.
- Manage an $8 Million dollar project
- Collaborate with Weather Wing to transition on-premises computing to a cloud environment.
- Delivery of Software in the cloud environment using Agile and Scaled methodology.
Owner
Ropers Consulting, LLC.
09.2016 - Current
- Agile Team, Program, and Enterprise Coach
Brigadier General
Army National Guard
06.1981 - Current
- Assistant Adjutant General - Army advises and assists The Adjutant General in preparing over 3,200 Nebraska Army National Guard units for Homeland Defense and the mobilization of Guard soldiers. Advise The Adjutant General concerning any issue or matter that affects the Nebraska Army National Guard, its citizen Soldiers, and their families.
- Dual-hat position with 1st Infantry Division as Deputy Commanding General – Mobilization at Fort Riley, KS
- Attended the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, PA. I received a Master's degree in Strategic Studies.
- Served for over 44 years as an enlisted soldier and commissioned officer. Have led, trained, assessed, mentored, and counseled soldiers. Additionally, I have commanded and worked as a staff member at Brigade, Battalion, and Regimental levels.
Corporate Travel Management
01.2022 - 12.2023
- Coached and mentored teams in Agile and Kanban methodology.
- Worked with the Chief Information Officer, Chief Operations Officer, Chief Technology Officer, and Chief Financial Officer to bring Business Agility to the Corporation.
- I helped lead the DevOps and Infrastructure teams in adopting Agile methodologies and implementing their new products and projects.
- Provided on-site/virtual coaching and training to ensure the successful adoption and execution of Agile practices of Scrum and Kanban methodology.
- Worked with the business and service desk groups to develop JIRA Dashboards. Allowing Executives an overview of the work the teams are working on.
National Indemnity
09.2019 - 01.2022
- Coached and mentored their Customization Teams using Agile and Kanban methodology.
- I worked as the Product Owner for the Quote Data Store team. Provided coaching and mentoring to Product Owners, Scrum Masters, and Team Members.
- Helping lead DevOps and Cloud Enablement teams as they adopted Agile and their new Products/Projects.
- Provide on-site coaching and training to ensure the successful adoption and execution of Agile practices, including Scrum and Kanban methodologies. I facilitated Agile and Leadership training, along with Agility Health Assessments. Additionally, I participated in the Community of Practice for Scrum Masters and Product Owners.
Mutual of Omaha
04.2018 - 08.2019
- Provide Agile practices and SAFe coaching, mentoring, and training at the Teams, Agile Release Trains, and Programs level.
- I helped launch 5 Agile Release Trains (ART).
- Team coach, mentor, and train 16 teams on the five Agile Release Trains (ARTs) as they transition from a waterfall or some form of Agile / Scrum.
CoreLink Administrative Services
09.2016 - 03.2018
- Agility Enterprise and Team Coach. Helped stand up and transform 36 teams and over 250 team members.
- Provided coaching and mentoring to Product Owners, Scrum Masters, and Team Members. Provide on-site coaching and training to ensure the successful adoption and execution of Scrum and Kanban Agile practices.
- I facilitated Agile and Leadership training, along with Agility Health Assessments.
- I helped establish a Community of Practice for Agile Scrum Masters.
- Worked with Executives, HR, Finance, and Shared Services areas on implementing Agile practices in a non-IT area.
Scrum Master, CSM
ITCC – CSC at STRATCOM
05.2015 - 09.2016
- Agile Program Coach and Scrum Master for the Remedy program (J6 unit) and SRADMS (J9 unit) for USSSTRATCOM.
- Certified Agile Scrum Master for Remedy (J6) and STRADMS (J9) Projects at USSSTRATCOM. Responsible for the day-to-day Agile activities, including Program & Team Sprint Planning, Sprint Review/Demo, Sprint Retrospective, and Daily Scrum meetings.
- Worked on organizing and getting Agile training for the J6 area at USSTRATCOM. Mentored Product Owners and team members on the Agile Framework used to drive the project.
Product Owner, CSPO
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska
07.2014 - 05.2015
- Certified Agile Product Owner, accountable and responsible for representing the customers, engaging stakeholders, and coordinating the business's input.
- Helped with managing stakeholder and sponsor expectations, team liaison to Corporate's Enterprise Service Support (ESS) and Executive Steering Committee (ESC), backlog refinement, and prioritizing the team's backlog according to enterprise priority.
Application Systems Analyst III
07.2008 - 07.2014
- Conducted data analysis of the Enterprise Data Warehouse information.
- I have collaborated with the Risk Delivery Agile team to understand the business requirements for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as part of a pilot project to gather and submit data to CMS.
- Coached teams on agile principles, fostering a culture of continuous improvement.
- Facilitated agile ceremonies to enhance team collaboration and communication.
I.S. Manager, Product Delivery
Hewlett-Packard
06.2000 - 08.2006
- Led a team of analysts and developers to deliver Business Intelligence (BI) reporting and data warehouse solutions to the business.
- End-to-end projects with information & data gathering to loading information into an enterprise data warehouse (EDW) and producing reports.
- Directed a team of 15 employees with an operating budget of $2M+. Hired, mentored, and coached employees to strive to be high performers.
Education
Master of Science - Strategic Studies
Army War College
Carlisle, PA06-2014
Bachelor of Science - Computer Science, Minor in Math
Kearney State College (University of Nebraska - Kearney)
Kearney, NE05-1987
Skills
- Organizational agility
- Agile framework expertise
- Scrum mastery
- Servant leadership
- Backlog refinement
- Scaling agile
- Sprint planning
- Project planning and development
Certification
- Top Secret Clearance, T.S. - SCI
- SAFe 4 Certified Program Consultant, SPC 4
- Certified Scrum Professional, CSP
- Certified Agile Product Owner, CSPO
- Certified Agile Scrum Master, CSM
- AgilityHealth Facilitator & Coach, AHF & AHC
- Enterprise Business Agilist Strategist, EBAS
- ICAgile Certified Professional in Business Agility Foundation, ICP – BAF
- Master's Degree in Strategic Studies – United States Army War College
- Bachelor of Science in Computer Science
Personal Information
Title: Agile Coach
Timeline
TADS Product Owner
SAIC
09.2024 - Current
Corporate Travel Management
01.2022 - 12.2023
National Indemnity
09.2019 - 01.2022
Mutual of Omaha
04.2018 - 08.2019
Agile Coach
Various Organizations
09.2016 - Current
Owner
Ropers Consulting, LLC.
09.2016 - Current
CoreLink Administrative Services
09.2016 - 03.2018
Scrum Master, CSM
ITCC – CSC at STRATCOM
05.2015 - 09.2016
Product Owner, CSPO
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska
07.2014 - 05.2015
Application Systems Analyst III
07.2008 - 07.2014
I.S. Manager, Product Delivery
Hewlett-Packard
06.2000 - 08.2006
Brigadier General
Army National Guard
06.1981 - Current
Master of Science - Strategic Studies
Army War College
Bachelor of Science - Computer Science, Minor in Math
Kearney State College (University of Nebraska - Kearney)