Keith Leonard
Litchfield Park,AZ
Summary
Highly motivated self-starter with strong and high-quality deliveries of technology project & program events in the Program Manager, Project Manager, and Agile Scrum Master roles. Built strong, respectful, honest and engaging relationships with executives, clients and cross-functional project team members to successfully create, plan, execute and deliver complex projects. Resulted in high-quality deliverables that met the business and technology goals. Effective delivery occurred also from being successful at listening, influencing, leading and mentoring multi-level teams to ensure high-quality complex business and technology solutions for the Financial Services, Banking, Insurance and Manufacturing industries.
Overview
11
11
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Technology Senior Agile Scrum Master
Wells Fargo Bank
Chandler, AZ
03.2021 - 02.2024
- Mentored, trained and supported two Technology software teams on the migration journey from Waterfall to Agile using the Scrum and Kanban principles
- Results provided significant improvement in getting the business’s software functionality updated quickly along with the technology team modernizing the application code in numerous areas
- For 2+ years helped mature the teams through executing the daily/weekly 5 scrum ceremonies (Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum, Sprint Review, Sprint Retrospective & Product Backlog Refinement) to identify challenges, successes and areas needing improvement
- Utilized JIRA and Tableau software tools to provide team with data metrics to show areas of challenges, successes and to help the team dynamically plan, track and manage the workflow through the Agile sprints and Kanban daily/weekly meetings
- Facilitated team meetings to guide them in launching cross-functionality training to each other so that the entire team can code and deliver different technical coding assignments in support of each other
- Mentored Product Owners and Agile teams to create user stories, prioritize stories and constantly refine the Product Backlogs
- Facilitated daily stand-up meetings to discuss progress, impediments and plan for the day's tasks.
- Organized sprint planning sessions to ensure team members understand user stories and acceptance criteria.
- Tracked project progress against goals using agile methodologies such as burndown charts, velocity tracking and task boards.
- Coordinated with stakeholders to prioritize backlog items and ensure alignment with business objectives.
- Provided guidance on Agile Scrum principles, best practices and processes to ensure successful delivery of projects.
- Advised teams on how to improve their efficiency through better utilization of Agile Scrum tools and techniques.
- Mentored junior team members on Agile Scrum concepts, practices and values.
- Developed retrospectives after each sprint or milestone to identify areas of improvement for future projects.
- Monitored sprint performance metrics including velocity, defect rates, cycle times, to identify trends and opportunities for optimization.
- Collaborated with other scrum masters across the organization to share best practices and lessons learned from previous projects.
- Facilitated post implementation reviews with key stakeholders and customers providing feedback regarding successes and areas of improvement identified during the course of the project.
- Defined release plans based on available resources, timelines and budget constraints while ensuring quality assurance is maintained throughout the process.
- Provided timely updates on project status and deliverables ensuring all relevant parties are kept informed at all times.
- Participated in daily Scrum meetings to update on project progress.
- Trained and mentored team members on best and most effective ways to use Scrum processes to improve efficiency and reduce production times.
- Coached and mentored team members, stakeholders and leadership on benefits of Agile and Scrum.
- Led daily Scrum stand-ups and Agile development sprint planning meetings for multiple, concurrent projects.
Technology Senior Technical Project Manager
Wells Fargo Bank
Chandler, AZ
08.2016 - 02.2021
- Led and mentored globally dispersed technology software teams that successfully migrated 90+ applications to Wells Fargo’s Java-based Pivotal Cloud Foundry (PCF) and the Microsoft-based Azure Cloud for the 5 Lines of Business: Wealth Management, Community Banking, Consumer Lending, Technology Operations Group, Audit-Finance
- Conducted over 86 application manager meetings & surveys to prepare them for the Cloud project kickoffs resulting in completed project planning topics: Business Case / Project Scope / Project Budget ($12 Million) / Size and Complexity of Individual Applications / Applications’ Target Kickoff / Team Resources Assigned / Resources Data (Role, Type (Employee or Contractor), Labor Costs, Work Duration and Resource Sourcing / Risk & Issue Management
- Facilitated Consumer Lending Business with 85+ applications’ technical discovery calls to optimize their Cloud migration approach which resulted in needing only 16 migration events instead of 85 individual migrations and simplified the post-migration support model
- Trained and mentored Cloud Migration’s execution principles to application owners, business analysts, new project managers assigned to the project, and others assigned to the Program to optimize their application onboarding time and effectiveness in delivering applications to the cloud
- Provided frequent and consistent status communications to Executives, Program Managers, Sponsors, and Cloud Enablement stakeholders
- Optimized delivery included utilizing Agile & Iterative principles as teams transitioned from Waterfall principles
- Consistently ensured teams conducted functionality and security analysis, built quality designs, executed optimized builds, tested effectively (system integration, user acceptance test), planned their releases and approved the results.
- Developed and maintained project plans, schedules and budgets.
- Conducted meetings with stakeholders to ensure successful delivery of projects.
- Managed resources for the successful completion of projects within budget and timeline constraints.
- Provided guidance on best practices in software development life cycle.
- Monitored progress of projects and identified areas of improvement or risk mitigation strategies.
- Resolved conflicts between stakeholders during the course of a project.
- Led team discussions on various topics related to projects such as scope changes, status updates.
- Executed change management activities to ensure smooth transition from one phase to another during a project's lifecycle.
- Acted as an escalation point for critical issues that require immediate attention.
- Ensured adherence to established policies and procedures while delivering projects successfully.
- Outlined work plans, assessed resources and determined timelines for projects.
- Oversaw budgets for project, tracked expenses and timelines and communicated with key stakeholders on milestones.
- Maintained close connection with project personnel to quickly identify and resolve problems.
- Enhanced development and drove continuous improvement of project delivery process by providing strong program leadership.
- Updated project plans based on changing objectives, specifications and staff availability.
- Worked with end users, technical professionals, administrators and testers to review requirements, conduct tests and implement solutions.
- Applied extensive expertise in System Development Lifecycle (SDLC) methodologies and Agile project management techniques to manage multiple project teams.
- Brought in additional project personnel and resources to meet demands.
- Monitored milestones and deliverables to stay ahead of schedules and proactively spot potential roadblocks.
- Maintained project schedules by managing deadlines and adjusting workflow.
- Identified, addressed and either resolved or escalated project issues.
- Collaborated with cross-functional teams to ensure all aspects of a project are addressed and managed appropriately.
Delivery Manager / Program Manager / Senior Project Manager
SunGard Financial Services-Professional Services
Birmingham, AL
01.2013 - 01.2016
- Engaged client and SunGard team members in major revamp of major insurance client’s (Ohio National Insurance Co) financial services business processes
- Planned, and executed the delivery of Software as a Service (SaaS) / suite of 11 retirement services products for the client resulting in client ability to implement and sell new retirement financial products (401k, 403a, 403b) that ensured achievement of the client’s business and technology goals
- Built new Project Management Office (PMO) execution model for both the client and the SunGard team, led team in work effort estimating (hours and dollars), planned the releases strategy and delivered multiple releases resulting in client receiving revenue of $20 million dollars within 3 months of final release
- Defined and built execution strategy to onboard new client into a SaaS environment utilizing SunGard suite of 11 recordkeeping products (Recordkeeping administration, Trading, Online Web Access for participants, plan sponsors)
- Using project & program management methodology standards, built PMO infrastructure while mentoring team members on execution model, team member roles and processes for proactively identifying and resolving risks and issues
- Defined, designed, built, and trained end-users and tested the hosted recordkeeping solutions consisting of 11 SunGard products plus 25+ change requests resulting in client ability to dramatically increase new business and takeover sales, increase compliance capabilities while reducing technology infrastructure and business operations long-term costs
- Optimized web portal content via the mobile site to display efficiently and appropriately across multiple mobile devices (Apple, Samsung and others)
- Served as primary interface between SunGard and the Client while managing deliverables from multiple resources across diverse organizations
- Provided multiple engagement presentations across both organizations while negotiating resolutions to risks, issues and other components across diverse stakeholders.
- Developed and maintained relationships with external stakeholders to ensure smooth delivery of projects.
- Conducted regular meetings with clients to discuss project progress, identify potential risks, and address any issues in a timely manner.
- Coordinated resources across multiple teams to ensure successful completion of projects on time and within budget.
- Provided leadership and direction to team members on tasks related to the development, testing, deployment, and support of software applications.
- Established processes for tracking project progress, monitoring performance metrics, and reporting results to senior management.
- Created detailed project plans outlining milestones, deliverables, timelines, resources needed, costs estimates, and quality standards.
- Documented process flows and user stories associated with each release cycle.
- Coached delivery teams to take accountability for delivery, risk and issue management.
- Proposed, reviewed and approved modifications to project plans.
- Monitored performance of project team members to provide performance feedback.
- Negotiated with project stakeholders or suppliers to obtain resources or materials.
- Produced thorough, accurate and timely reports of project activities.
- Monitored internal financial budgets to measure against projections.
- Delivered high level of service to clients to extend relationship and encourage further projects.
- Outlined work plans, assessed resources and determined timelines for projects.
- Oversaw budgets for project, tracked expenses and timelines and communicated with key stakeholders on milestones.
- Kept project teams on-task with proactive control of budgets, schedules and scopes.
Education
Bachelor of Science - Business Management Degree -
Montana State University
Skills
- Project Management
- Program Management
- Agile Scrum Master
- Agile Kanban Lead
- Project Planning
- Scope Build
- Project Budgeting
- Risk Management
- Strategic Planning
- Emotional Intelligence
- Dashboard Builds
- JIRA Tool
- Tableau Data Analytics
- Software As A Service
- Mentor
- Security & Compliance
- Microsoft Products
- Stakeholder Management
- Workflow Analysis
- Sprint Planning
- Leading Scrum Meetings
- Agile Best Practices
Certification
- Project Management Professional (PMP)
- Agile Scrum Master Certification
Timeline
Technology Senior Agile Scrum Master
Wells Fargo Bank
03.2021 - 02.2024
Technology Senior Technical Project Manager
Wells Fargo Bank
08.2016 - 02.2021
Delivery Manager / Program Manager / Senior Project Manager
SunGard Financial Services-Professional Services
01.2013 - 01.2016
Bachelor of Science - Business Management Degree -
Montana State University
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