Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
Skills
Accomplishments
Certification
Awards
Timeline
Generic

Jennifer Ascolese

Saint Augustine,FL

Summary

Accomplished Business, Cybersecurity & Technology Risk and Compliance professional with more than 24 years of transformational IT Leadership and Technology in large, global enterprises including Professional and Financial Services. Known for leading high performing, cross-functional, geographically dispersed, cross-cultural, technology teams in demanding environments. Track record of improving risk cultures that encourage organizations to establish sustainable management of complex systems and ongoing process and business operations improvement. Proven success in discovering and mitigating systemic issues afflicting organizations. Excellent communicator and negotiator with diplomacy skills and established record of guiding, influencing and convincing senior stakeholders and external parities both orally and in writing. Experience with complex judgments and solutions based on analytical thought comparing and selecting alternatives. Highly trusted risk advisor with unique ability to translate technology jargon for non-technical business leadership consumption.

Overview

25
25
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification

Work History

Senior Solution Engineer III

Bank Of America
10.2021 - Current
  • Establish risk mitigation practices for 11 Architects and oversee application of technology risk policies, technology and tools, and governance processes to create sustainable solutions for reducing exploitable weaknesses and losses from failed internal processes, inadequate controls and emerging risks for Collaboration & Productivity CTO within the Employee Experience Technology (EET) CIO
  • Serve as CTO subject matter expert for analysis, documentation and communication of emerging risks, including continuous risk assessments on impact of threats to Bank of America
  • Improved Risk Posture of Employee Experience Technology (EET) CIO through in-depth, collaborative analysis that resulted in identification, submission and prioritization of ~ 60 new risks, including 5 Self-Identified Audit Issues (Sev2/3) across Collaboration & Productivity technology organization within 5-months
  • Appropriately assess risk during business decisions, demonstrating consideration for firm's reputation and safeguarding Bank of America, it's clients and assets, by driving compliance within applicable laws, rules and regulations
  • Produce on-demand risk trend reports that promote decision making to advance safety and security of Bank of America's Infrastructure
  • Ensure significant issues and/or trends are identified, escalated, and acted upon through appropriate escalation
  • Influence across multiple levels of management and business partners to ensure deliverables, timelines, and support are met
  • Collaborate with Product/Project/Technology teams to drive solutions that are Enterprise standards-compliant, enterprise grade (Cryptography, Data Protection, End User Security, Identity and Access Management, Infrastructure, Monitoring, Response and Forensics, Third-Party Security Management, Threat and Vulnerability Management)

Business Controls Manager

Bank Of America
02.2021 - 10.2021
  • (Promotion) Leadership role with responsibility over key risk governance routines aligned to risk and control reporting, audit and regulatory oversight, key operational risk reporting, as well as other core risk identification and mitigation routines
  • Drove implementation and influenced adoption of new Global Operations & Technology (GT&O) and Operations Excellence Single Process Inventory program for Consumer, Small Business & Wealth Management technology (CSWT) CIO
  • Led established team in evolution of simplification processes to support process owners in design and development of effective controls and monitoring methods
  • Took ownership of 2 in-flight Self-Identified Audit Issues, demonstrating sustainability and closing ahead of deadline
  • Horizontal analysis across governance routines and reporting to identify related and interdependent elements and provided recommendations for connecting to achieve greater effectiveness and efficiency
  • Partnered with line of business (LOB) within GT&O to ensure an effective and meaningful controls framework
  • Prepared quarterly Risk and Control Self-Assessments (RCSA), monthly Risk Metrics Dashboard, including Key Risk Indicator (KRI) and Key Performance Indicator (KPI); Presented at senior level meetings

Business Control Specialist

Bank Of America
08.2016 - 02.2021
  • Served as Technology Risk Officer supporting two technology organizations within Employee Experience Technology CIO, Real Time Communications (RTC) & Social, Mobile & Collaboration Services; Identified, prioritized documented ~400 Cybersecurity and Compliance related risk artifacts within 3-year period
  • Created/managed risk metrics and led risk remediation activities
  • Maintained status and reporting for on-demand review with peer groups, leadership, and Global Information Security (GIS)
  • Ensured risks were remediated as per Bank defined service level agreements for Issue Management
  • Escalated remediation conflicts or failures for immediate resolution
  • Contributed oversight and management of audit issues, audit exams, application/platform issues, and non-permitted technology
  • Led multiple risk posture improvement initiatives including Application Entitlement Revocations, Identity Access Management (IAM), Business Continuity Planning for disaster recovery, and Associate Investment Monitoring (AIM) policies, intended to protect bank, cover employees and contractors from insider trading liability and avoid actual or perceived conflicts of interest
  • Participated in governance routines and review of Key Risk Indicators
  • Fostered Bank's ‘Identify, Escalate and Debate' risk culture

Global Network Technical Support Engineer

Deloitte
06.2015 - 08.2016
  • Responded to support requests from end-users and patiently walked individuals through basic troubleshooting tasks.
  • Explained technical information in clear terms to non-technical individuals to promote better understanding.
  • Explained technical information in clear terms to promote better understanding for non-technical users.
  • Performed root cause analysis of reported issues to enact corrections.
  • Provided guidance on installing and integrating new hardware components and software to 50 Deloitte practitioners across 20 member firms
  • Assessed system hardware and software and suggested modifications to reduce lag time and improve overall speed.
  • Maintained response times to support business continuity.

IT Quality Assurance Manager

Deloitte
12.2004 - 05.2015
  • (Promotion) Team Lead role responsible for hiring, training and managing two on shore / offshore Testing teams (US and India) each comprised of 6-7 individuals to certify production critical proprietary audit software system (Audit System 2 and Technical Library)
  • Reduced Time-To-Market by identifying opportunity to partner with Business Analysts to enhance business requirements and provide oversight and support to ensure appropriate interpretation Database and Engineering teams for next generation audit application, "Deloitte Audit"
  • Identified over 300 defects in upstream stages of Systems Development Life Cycle for single module of next generation proprietary audit system
  • Monitored staff organization and suggested improvements to daily functionality.
  • Evaluated interactions between associates and customers to assess personnel performance.
  • Performed root cause analysis to identify and resolve quality issues and defects.
  • Reported production malfunctions to managers and production supervisors.
  • Inspected products and worker progress throughout production.
  • Recorded, analyzed, and distributed statistical information.
  • Assessed product quality by monitoring quality assurance metrics, reports and dashboards.
  • Collaborated with cross-functional teams to develop and implement process and system improvements.
  • Conducted risk assessments to identify and mitigate potential quality issues.
  • Monitored resolution of bugs, tested fixes and helped developers tackle ongoing problems by providing QA perspective.
  • Completed pre-implementation testing for new system modifications to assess potential impacts.
  • Evaluated function, performance and design compliance of every product against design standards and customer needs.
  • Kept scripts and test cases updated with current requirements.
  • Advised developers on problems with databases, performance and other issues.
  • Operated under Agile and Scrum frameworks to complete releases and well-organized sprints.

Quality Assurance Specialist

Deloitte
06.1998 - 12.2004
  • Recorded findings of inspection process, collaborating with quality team to implement corrective actions.
  • Authored and maintained ~ 500 well-organized, efficient and successful manual test cases for entire team.
  • Implemented process improvements to increase productivity in quality assurance operations.
  • Completed deviation forms and recorded findings of inspection process, collaborating with quality team members and department managers to implement procedural remedies.
  • Provided regular updates to team leadership on quality metrics by communicating consistency problems or production deficiencies.
  • Addressed non-conformance issues, pausing production to correct errors.
  • Updated inspection journals and daily summary logs with quality-related data.
  • Reported problems and concerns to management.
  • Monitored testing procedures and verified performance of tests according to established item specifications and protocol.
  • Documented and executed detailed test plans and test cases and summarized and logged audit findings for reporting purposes.
  • Recorded and organized test data for report generation and analysis.
  • Liaised between quality control and other departments and contractors, providing project updates and consultation.
  • Promoted adherence to quality standards by educating personnel on quality control
  • Provided regular updates to team leadership on quality metrics by communicating consistency problems or production deficiencies

Education

Bachelor of Arts - Communication Studies

The College of New Jersey
Ewing Township, NJ
05.2008

Skills

  • Governance, Risk & Compliance, Cybersecurity
  • Identity & Access Management, Threat and Vulnerability Management, Third Party Security
  • Key Risk Indicators (KRI), Risk Control Self-Assessment (RCSA)
  • SaaS / IaaS, Emerging Technologies
  • Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery
  • New Employee Mentoring
  • JIRA

Accomplishments

  • Notable Subject Matter Expert sought by technology teams for consultation on risk analysis and concise issue documentation
  • Improved Risk Posture of the Employee Experience Technology (EET) CIO through in-depth, collaborative analysis that resulted in the identification,submission and prioritization of ~ 60 new risks, including 5 Self-Identified Audit Issues (Sev2/3) across Collaboration & Productivity technology organization within a 5-month period
  • Prepared and led risk statement writing training to the EET Collaboration & Productivity Architecture team that resulted in significant reduction in revisions
  • Oversee & support remediation efforts of ~ 90 self-identified risks and ~15 Self-Identified, Audit-Identified and Risk & Compliance Identified Audit Issues
  • Stepped into a leadership role and drove the completion of an inaugural Accessibility (ADA) Assessment required to deploy the firm's next generation telecommunications analytics solution, which removed End-of-Life, End-of-Support, and Not Permitted Technology (NPT) risk from the environment.
  • Drove past due Application Entitlement Revocations down from several hundred to zero in a 6-month period
  • Developed solid working knowledge of engineering, design and architecture
  • Mentor new teammates and bring them up to speed on projects, resulting in quicker overall completion milestones.




Certification

  • CRISC Certification - Target December 2023
  • ITIL 4 Foundation Certification - Target December 2023

Awards

  • Global Recognition Awards - received from Technology Executive, Business Information Security Officer, and Global Information Security Executive - for leadership and going above and beyond the call of duty for accelerated and efficient risk artifact creation and acceleration of leadership approval to support the expedited deployment of ZOOM Cloud Conferencing neede to support Bank of America's remote work posture during the 2020 - 2021 global pandemic.
  • Gold Award for leading the 2017 Identify Access Management (IAM) Transformation initiative and completing ahead of deadline

Timeline

Senior Solution Engineer III

Bank Of America
10.2021 - Current

Business Controls Manager

Bank Of America
02.2021 - 10.2021

Business Control Specialist

Bank Of America
08.2016 - 02.2021

Global Network Technical Support Engineer

Deloitte
06.2015 - 08.2016

IT Quality Assurance Manager

Deloitte
12.2004 - 05.2015

Quality Assurance Specialist

Deloitte
06.1998 - 12.2004

Bachelor of Arts - Communication Studies

The College of New Jersey
Jennifer Ascolese