Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
Skills
Certification
Timeline
LINKS
BusinessDevelopmentManager
Julie Abernathy

Julie Abernathy

Process Optimization, Strategic Alignment & Transformation
Little Rock,United States

Summary

Strategic Business Process Leader with over 11 years of experience driving operational excellence, risk management, and regulatory compliance across Financial Services, Banking, Consumer Goods, and Digital Asset ecosystems. Demonstrated success in aligning enterprise frameworks with business objectives, leading cross-functional teams, and delivering scalable solutions utilizing BPMN, RCSA, and Agile methodologies. Skilled at translating complex data into actionable insights and guiding organizations through digital and regulatory transformation initiatives.

Overview

11
11
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification

Work History

Senior Risk Management Consultant

Coinbase, Ltd. (ZTek Consulting)
05.2025 - 07.2025
  • Engaged for a strategic discovery and design initiative to support the Global Regulatory Compliance team in offering solutions to optimize its Risk Assessment Scoring processes and insights delivery methods.
  • Conducted comprehensive evaluation of Risk Assessment Units (RAUs) within the Compliance Risk Taxonomy, delivering executive-level recommendations for standardizing risk definitions, data structures, and hierarchical alignment.
  • Mapped Level 3–4 risk hierarchies and identified categorization gaps, proposing taxonomy optimization strategies to enhance regulatory clarity and operational consistency.
  • Designed an Integrated Risk Management (IRM) transformation strategy, adapting traditional banking RCSA methodologies for DeFi environments to support competitive governance amid Stablecoin market expansion.
  • Advised on data architecture and process modeling, recommending SIPOC and BPMN 2.0 standards to build a unified repository linking processes, risks, and controls for improved transparency and decision-making.
  • Engagement concluded upon delivery of strategic recommendations; implementation was out of scope.

Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) Data Analytics Officer

Bank OZK
11.2024 - 05.2025
  • Led data-driven initiatives supporting the Community Responsibility team in analyzing and reporting performance of Community Development Loans, aligning insights with internal decision-making needs and compliance with Regulation BB (Community Reinvestment Act).
  • Defined technical requirements for Risk Data Science and Engineering teams to automate CRA reporting workflows, integrating federal submission guidelines, loan data parameters, and legacy system specifications to reduce manual oversight and improve reporting accuracy.
  • Facilitated cross-functional collaboration by translating regulatory and operational needs into actionable data mapping strategies, aligning vendor platform capabilities with future-state workflows and system triggers to enhance transparency and efficiency.
  • Position concluded following successful automation launch and company-wide restructure. Transition support was offered, though no internal roles aligned with departing candidates’ expertise. Offboarding included placement assistance and other benefits.

Certified RCSA Service Modeler and Business Process Engineer

Wells Fargo Bank, N.A (Contract via Experis)
08.2023 - 08.2024
  • Re-engaged with Wells Fargo on a one-year contract to lead Phase 2 of enterprise Risk and Controls Management transformation.
  • Supported Controls Management to facilitate comprehensive Risk Control Self-Assessment (RCSA) workshops across multiple operational units, reducing control gaps by 35% and identifying 12 significant procedural inefficiencies.
  • Designed and implemented risk and control frameworks using BPMN 2.0 standards, ensuring alignment with corporate risk management programs and regulatory requirements.
  • Created detailed process flows with clear upstream/downstream interconnectivity, enhancing operational risk visibility and management decision-making.
  • Maintained comprehensive inventory of Service Models and controls data files, tracking progress in Jira and ensuring RAU owner approvals for all models.
  • Led the process of guiding RAU owners through refinements in artifacts, including review and approvals for document indexing, data cleansing/structuring needs and overall, all ensuring Service Model to risk and controls data, passing all Risk and Control Board reviews.

Director of Compliance and Data Analytics

Goodwill Industries
05.2022 - 07.2023
  • Led compliance and risk management initiatives across the organization, preparing for CARF Compliance accreditation by coordinating documentation, control testing, and issues management.
  • Developed and implemented a comprehensive quality control program that included risk assessment, control design, testing methodologies, and remediation tracking.
  • Managed Microsoft Teams and SharePoint collaboration sites for compliance initiatives, structuring content and permissions for stakeholder engagement and document control.
  • Created and maintained Standard Operating Procedures with clearly identified key controls, ensuring alignment with regulatory requirements and organizational risk appetite.
  • Established testing schedules and methodology to ensure all control assessments were completed within established timeframes and properly documented.

Senior IT Digital Integrations Analyst – Mobile Experience & Marketing

Simmons Bank
09.2020 - 04.2022
  • Created and owned the product roadmap to develop Remote Banking and Card management features for the Online Banking website and Mobile Banking application.
  • Designed each development phase as Iterations with multiple sprints, managing a backlog of User Stories with controls built into each development phase, prioritizing groomed User Stories against level of effort and dependencies.
  • Managed the status and owned refinement of development across all phases from discovery to post-release.
  • Partner and key liaison working with software engineers, Operational functions (Process Owners), Platform vendors and their key project partners, and other key stakeholders to test development results of all User Stories developed against acceptance criteria provided in Azure DevOps, making decisions on whether move forward with release into production or to refine further.
  • Created process flows documenting key risks and controls for digital banking operations, including alert management and security preferences to aid in developing the architecture of all sources of integration data.

Lead Business Process Architect – Corporate Risk and Human Resources

Wells Fargo Home Mortgage (Contract Via Collabera)
07.2019 - 03.2020
  • Executed multi-year project to architect process artifacts for Corporate Risk, documenting controls and identifying 15+ risk mitigation opportunities.
  • Led stakeholder meetings to gather detailed process information and aligned process steps with controls in collaboration with Corporate Risk partners.
  • Managed BPM SharePoint collaboration sites for project teams, reducing documentation cycle time by 32% while ensuring version control integrity.
  • Refined Process Model documentation and implemented remediation efforts that resolved 100% of issues identified in Quality Control reviews.

Director of Credit Systems and Business Process – Loan Account Operations

Conn’s HomePlus
06.2017 - 06.2019
  • Led Business Systems and Process Excellence teams supporting enterprise Credit Operations.
  • Procured and architected the functional design of processes, data migration and configuration of new Account Management system, converting from a AS400 Core system and Excel process management to Software as a Service with Cloud Services, with digital queuing and real-time data insights.
  • Owned functionality and issue resolution of the existing Account Management system while conducting software conversion.
  • Led key process requirements gathering sessions which required enterprise-level cross-functional collaboration to document current-state inputs and outputs across all fulfillment process workstreams; led future-state data integration discovery using design thinking methods with Subject Matter Experts in creating the data architecture design of end-to-end triggers for data consumption of new workflows, reporting of outputs and ERP integration for General Ledger postings and reporting.
  • Automated the front-end Retail Point of Sale recalculation of returns and exchanges with interest, insurance premium and rebate recalculations per regulation limits and percentages billed for 14 states, reducing defects in billing due to algorithm gaps for these use cases.
  • Led cross-functional initiatives that eliminated $2.3MM in uncollectable billing losses by resolving onboarding defects in product-installment contracts. Spearheaded automation and process improvements for integrating new product orders, enhancing coordination between loan servicing, warehouse operations, and delivery dispatch. Achieved a sustained in onboarding accuracy over a 48-month rolling average, driving operational efficiency and customer satisfaction.

Senior IT Business Analyst III, IT PMO – Account Management

Exeter Finance
06.2016 - 06.2017
  • Led large-scale software application efforts to transform Loan Servicing, e-Commerce, Collections, Accounting, and Treasury processes.
  • Conducted discovery and design thinking sessions with business stakeholders.
  • Leveraged SQL data analysis for functional requirements and root-cause decisions.
  • Conducted thorough risk assessments and documented processes during requirements gathering to identify potential operational, compliance, and security vulnerabilities.
  • Implemented preventive controls within system designs to mitigate identified risks before development.

Senior Manager, Records Management – Customer Support

Capital One Auto Finance
05.2015 - 06.2016
  • Directed Records Management team for Auto Finance and Home Mortgage, overseeing 4 business units and 50+ FTEs.
  • Led department improvement and risk mitigation projects, including digital document repository contract intake controls, imaging delivery and indexing efficiencies and controls and automated account notation upon receipt of inbound customer correspondence.
  • Redesigned department productivity monitoring and reporting, creating line of sight with new metrics for measuring volume and completion rates, optimizing department capacity planning.
  • Established ongoing contact and process reviews with the Business Risk Office to document and set controls for identified mitigation needs.

Business Process Improvement Manager – Loan Servicing

Ally Financial
03.2014 - 05.2015
  • Led Lean Six Sigma initiatives for Global Collections and Loss Mitigation as a Certified Black Belt.
  • Applied Lean Six Sigma methods to business and technology modernization programs.
  • Supported Auto Servicing operations (Loss Mitigation and High-Risk) to provide Agile/Waterfall development support.
  • Developed process controls and coached leadership on process excellence, achieving $200MM in savings for loan modification processes by redesigning the intake of payment extension requests and processing workflows to complete fulfillment and communication of outcome to consumers.

Education

Bachelor of Business Administration - Economics

University of Central Arkansas
Conway, Arkansas
08.2001

Skills

  • Business Process Architecture & Workflow Optimization
  • Operational Excellence & Shared Services Leadership
  • Lean Six Sigma (Black Belt Certified)
  • Risk & Control Self-Assessment (RCSA)
  • Compliance & Risk Scoring Frameworks
  • Integrated Risk Management (IRM) Strategy
  • Process Modeling (BPMN, SIPOC)
  • Microsoft Office Suite (Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Outlook)
  • SharePoint (Content Structuring & Stakeholder Engagement)
  • JIRA & Azure DevOps (Agile Collaboration & Tracking)
  • Analytics & Performance Insights
  • Leveraging data outputs to identify opportunities and implement efficiencies
  • Data Migration Mapping & configuration of vendor platforms
  • Regulatory reporting requirements gathering & Governance alignment for optimization
  • Program & Project Leadership
  • Business Operations Analysis, Program Management, Product Management & Product Development Ownership
  • Experience with various methodologies:
  • Agile with Scrum/Product Development
  • Strategic thinking
  • Quantitative analysis
  • Stakeholder management
  • Cross-functional coordination
  • Planning and execution
  • Training and mentoring
  • Continuous improvement
  • Presentation skills
  • Performance improvement
  • Strategy realignment
  • Negotiation
  • Cost reduction
  • Stakeholder relations
  • Business planning
  • Revenue generation
  • System optimization
  • Business process reengineering
  • Quality assurance and control
  • Teamwork and collaboration
  • Problem-solving
  • Organizational skills
  • Active listening
  • Effective communication
  • Adaptability and flexibility
  • Reliability
  • Decision-making
  • Relationship building
  • Operational efficiency
  • Customer relationship management
  • Workflow optimization
  • Risk management
  • Market research
  • Improvement plans
  • Idea development and brainstorming
  • Problem-solving aptitude
  • Performance management
  • Marketing strategy
  • Contract negotiation
  • Change management
  • Key performance indicators
  • Vendor management
  • Regulatory compliance
  • Process analysis

Certification

  • Risk Control Self-Assessment (RCSA) Service Modeler Certification - Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., Controls Management - Oct 2023
  • Six Sigma Black Belt, Green Belt, Lean and Design Certification - Aveta Business Institute - Jan 2012
  • Ally Financial, Business Process Excellence - Mar 2014

Timeline

Senior Risk Management Consultant

Coinbase, Ltd. (ZTek Consulting)
05.2025 - 07.2025

Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) Data Analytics Officer

Bank OZK
11.2024 - 05.2025

Certified RCSA Service Modeler and Business Process Engineer

Wells Fargo Bank, N.A (Contract via Experis)
08.2023 - 08.2024

Director of Compliance and Data Analytics

Goodwill Industries
05.2022 - 07.2023

Senior IT Digital Integrations Analyst – Mobile Experience & Marketing

Simmons Bank
09.2020 - 04.2022

Lead Business Process Architect – Corporate Risk and Human Resources

Wells Fargo Home Mortgage (Contract Via Collabera)
07.2019 - 03.2020

Director of Credit Systems and Business Process – Loan Account Operations

Conn’s HomePlus
06.2017 - 06.2019

Senior IT Business Analyst III, IT PMO – Account Management

Exeter Finance
06.2016 - 06.2017

Senior Manager, Records Management – Customer Support

Capital One Auto Finance
05.2015 - 06.2016

Business Process Improvement Manager – Loan Servicing

Ally Financial
03.2014 - 05.2015

Bachelor of Business Administration - Economics

University of Central Arkansas

LINKS

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/Juliejohnson501

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Julie AbernathyProcess Optimization, Strategic Alignment & Transformation
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