HICHAM NASSIRI
Franklinville,NJ
Overview
13
13
years of professional experience
7
7
Certifications
Work History
Dir, Portfolio Orchestration & Value Realization
Merck & Co., Inc
Upper Gwynedd, PA
12.2022 - Current
- Director leading an integrated portfolio, delivery, and continuous-improvement organization for Customer Engagement – Digital Marketing & Channels, with end-to-end responsibility for a $40M–$46M change portfolio and ~$90M operational budget, consistently delivered with near-zero variance and clear total cost of ownership. Built and managed a multifunctional team (portfolio management, agile/ways-of-working coaching, delivery orchestration, comms/marketing, and test automation) that drives OKR adoption, improves demand and financial processes, and coaches product/value teams on modern ways of working. Oversaw delivery of complex, multi-year, cross-divisional programs such as Customer Identity & Consent re-platforming, while owning and optimizing key enterprise-wide vendor relationships (including Salesforce, IQVIA, and Veeva) and transforming Quarterly Business Reviews into highly engaging, demo-led forums that strengthened IT–business alignment and product adoption.
Assoc Director Value Team Program Lead
Merck & Co., Inc
Upper Gwynedd, PA
04.2020 - 11.2022
- Progressed from Program Lead to Portfolio Manager, owning end-to-end portfolio management, financial stewardship, and delivery orchestration across a ~$35–50M+ combined portfolio and multiple value teams (Digital Marketing & Commercial, Face-to-Face, Data & Analytics) and key markets (US, Japan, EUCAN). Drove financial transparency and optimization, including identifying $2.5M/Year in MSO savings and consistently landing actuals within ~1% of forecast, while advancing Agile portfolio maturity through Jira Align, OKRs, and New Ways of Working. Acted as a strategic partner to senior leadership by shaping demand management and QBR processes, integrating new “Accelerate” priorities under evolving guardrails, and co-leading global digital compliance initiatives such as websites remediation and cookie/privacy programs.
Sr. Specialist Program Manager
Merck & Co., Inc
Upper Gwynedd, PA
04.2018 - 01.2020
- Managed a $8M portfolio and the delivery of six major initiatives across the Digital Marketing & Channel Platform, including Evolution, Run the Business, Mobility Solutions, and Global Websites Remediation. Led a global program that decommissioned 2,000+ unused websites and increased GDPR cookie compliance from 94% to 99%, significantly reducing cyber and regulatory risk while staying within tight financial guardrails. Acted as a key partner to senior leadership on 2020 portfolio planning and business case development, becoming the “go-to” leader for SDLC and compliance best practices across teams.
- Led cross-functional teams in developing and implementing strategic initiatives that aligned with organizational objectives.
- Managed project timelines while ensuring alignment with organizational goals, resulting in on-time project delivery.
- Facilitated stakeholder meetings to gather requirements and address concerns, enhancing collaboration and project clarity.
Specialist Project/Program Manager
Merck & Co., Inc
Upper Gwynedd, PA
04.2016 - 03.2018
- Led platform solution delivery and acted as Scrum Master for GMC project, coaching the team on Scrum methodology.
- Facilitated Agile Scrum adoption within GMC team to improve collaboration and streamline project execution.
- Managed digital marketing and channels platform programs with executive director and regional leads to drive strategic alignment.
- Oversaw Accenture Digital Factory resources for initiatives across the US, Europe, and Asia.
- Implemented Merck Confluence and Jira to improve compliance and visibility in GMC initiative.
- Established relationships across IT organizations to eliminate silos and identify operational synergies.
- Adhered to PMO's financial cadence, managing over $5 million within +/- 1% a +/- 1% threshold.
- Joined PMO team after completing ETR program, contributing to strategic initiatives.
Assoc. Specialist Business/Data Analyst
Merck Sharp & Dohme
Prague, CZ
07.2013 - 03.2016
- Acted as the lead Business Analyst on a major GxP initiative, the Assay Monitoring Tool (AMT), within the DMMD division, collaborating with cross-functional stakeholders to define requirements and support implementation. Also contributed to several data curation efforts supporting key projects in the MRL division.
Acted as Scrum Master for two global software engineering teams (Crusaders and Cyberdyne) in Prague, leading early adoption of Agile Ways of Working (WoW) within the company and driving delivery using the Scrum framework; subsequently contributed to scaling these practices to additional teams in the US. - Analyzed data trends to guide strategic business decisions and initiatives, supporting informed decision-making.
- Facilitated cross-functional collaboration to establish project timelines and deliverables, ensuring alignment and accountability.
- Developed training materials for onboarding new staff, improving knowledge transfer and team integration.
- Conducted business and technical analysis in HH-IT Commercial Platforms DMC space, served as Business Analyst for MerckConnect rollout in Spain, led onboarding of JanRain Identity Management platform, and managed Vialtus data and web servers migration to Merck AWS.
- Managed project timelines and coordinated team activities for successful completion.
- Collaborated with cross-functional teams to enhance product development processes.
- Developed training materials and facilitated onboarding for new team members.
Education
Bachelor in Science - Computer Science
Temple University, College of Science & Technology
Philadelphia, PA05.2013
Associate in Science - Computer Science, Mathematics
Community College of Philadelphia
Philadelphia, PA05.2011
Skills
- Portfolio and program management
- Project delivery orchestration
- Digital product launch (mobile apps)
- Vendor and partner relationship management
- Procurement and contract negotiation
- Budget and financial management
- Cost optimization and value realization
- People and team leadership
- Coaching and mentoring
- Employee development
- Cross-functional collaboration
- Stakeholder engagement
- Strategic planning
- Change management
- Operations and process improvement
- Risk and issue management
- Agile methodologies (Scrum, Kanban)
- JiraAlign and TargetProcess expertise
- Jira, Confluence and SharePoint proficiency
- Workfront experience
- Digital marketing and customer engagement
- Data analysis and reporting
- Apptio and Cloudability (financial and cloud cost insights)
- Ariba, Fieldglass, and procurement workflows
- IT governance, SDLC, and ITIL practices
- Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) awareness
- Web, database, and software development fundamentals
Languages
English
Native/ Bilingual
Arabic
Native/ Bilingual
French
Full Professional
Spanish
Professional
Certification
AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
Timeline
Dir, Portfolio Orchestration & Value Realization
Merck & Co., Inc
12.2022 - Current
Assoc Director Value Team Program Lead
Merck & Co., Inc
04.2020 - 11.2022
Sr. Specialist Program Manager
Merck & Co., Inc
04.2018 - 01.2020
Specialist Project/Program Manager
Merck & Co., Inc
04.2016 - 03.2018
Assoc. Specialist Business/Data Analyst
Merck Sharp & Dohme
07.2013 - 03.2016
Bachelor in Science - Computer Science
Temple University, College of Science & Technology
Associate in Science - Computer Science, Mathematics
Community College of Philadelphia