LaQuanda Ellison
Orlando
Summary
Dynamic Senior PMO and Technical Delivery Leader with over 10 years of experience in steering enterprise IT portfolios, establishing PMO governance, and driving large-scale transformation initiatives. Expertise in Project, Program, and Portfolio Management (PPM) alongside Agile and hybrid delivery models, complemented by strong skills in financial management, vendor oversight, and executive reporting. Proven track record of aligning technology strategies with business objectives while leading cross-functional teams to deliver projects on time and within budget. Committed to fostering innovation and enhancing operational efficiency through strategic leadership, consistently achieving impactful results.
Overview
14
14
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Senior Director, Technical Delivery
United Service Organizations (USO)
03.2024 - Current
- Oversee strategic PMO operations, facilitating enterprise transformation and technology enablement through the integration of agile and traditional methodologies in a complex IT environment.
- Manage execution of projects within a $1M+ portfolio, focusing on optimizing resource allocation to achieve significant cost reductions for the organization.
- Collaborate with USO business units to implement diverse strategic and transformative IT projects, enhancing product offerings and platform upgrades.
- Define and implement governance standards for PMO to enhance project management effectiveness.
- Develop and execute comprehensive plans to implement IT projects and initiatives aligned with USO's vision, mission, and strategic goals.
- Oversee and guide cross-functional teams of project managers and developers, fostering professional growth and effective project execution.
- Facilitate in-depth research and analysis of technology options to ensure alignment with defined business requirements and to propose effective solutions.
- Engage with department stakeholders to identify and prioritize IT initiatives that support organizational goals.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams to define product vision and prioritize features for customer-facing and internal platforms.
- Develop business case justifications and cost/benefit analyses for IT initiatives and spending
- Conduct comprehensive audits of IT performance metrics to identify upgrade requirements and optimize existing systems.
- Manage IT operational and strategic planning, including business requirements, project planning, organizational oversight, vendor management.
- Perform assigned duties in the absence of Vice President, Information Technology
- Manage the Third-Party Risk Management process with all partners
- Track all security assessments from kickoff to closure
- Facilitate and acting liaison throughout the security assessment process
- Manage the long-range technology roadmap that aligns with the organization’s strategic plan outlining phased solutions that enable the achievement of business outcomes for USO Business Units
- Define and track KPIs, ROIs and performance metrics across complex portfolios
- Monitor project health, milestones and resource allocation across all workstreams
- Provide and present Executive-level briefings and reporting as needed
- Director, Technical Delivery (July 2022 – Mar 2024)
- Partner with USO Business Units to execute on a wide variety of strategic and transformative IT projects delivering new products and platform upgrades with the intended outcome of improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the USO mission
- Analyze, scope, develop plans, and coordinate allocation of IT resources utilizing agile project management methodologies and frameworks to implement IT projects and initiatives in support of USO’s vision, mission, and strategic goals from project intake through operational go live and enhancement
- Direct and conduct analysis and research on potential technology solutions and implementations to defined requirements driven by business need, identify and recommend optimal solution
- Facilitated discussions with department stakeholders to uncover IT initiatives aimed at enhancing business and mission outcomes.
- Analyzed IT initiatives and expenditures by creating business case justifications and executing cost/benefit analyses to support strategic investment.
- Lead and manage cross-functional medium to large size teams of project managers and developers
- Define, implement and audit IT performance metrics to assess operating costs, productivity levels and upgrade requirements for existing IT systems.
- Facilitated comprehensive project planning and organizational oversight, addressing business requirements and optimizing vendor relationships.
- Oversaw and guided IT personnel to foster professional development and team cohesion. Acted in place of Vice President of Information Technology to maintain operational continuity.
- Crafted and executed a strategic technology roadmap, ensuring alignment with organizational goals and providing phased solutions to facilitate achievement of business outcomes for USO business units.
Senior IT Project Manager
United States Postal Service
11.2017 - 07.2022
- Led large-scale Salesforce, CMS, and web platform initiatives using Agile Scrum methodologies
- Managed project scope, schedules, dependencies, risks, and vendor deliverables across multiple concurrent workstreams
- Facilitated sprint planning, backlog grooming, daily stand-ups, demos, and release planning
- Served as primary liaison between business stakeholders, vendors, and technical teams
- Led UAT, training, and change enablement to ensure successful adoption
- Business Systems Analyst - Principal (July 2016 – November 2017)
- Managed cross-functional work teams in support of Mail Enterprise Integration (MEI) requirements development
- Managed a team of contractors from multiple vendors through execution and delivery of Customer Acceptance Testing (CAT)
- Trained junior staff in learning and understanding requirements gathering and documentation
- Assisted junior staff in creating development plans to support career progression through the USPS Management program
- Conducted one-on-one development sessions with junior staff to create documented professional development plans (PDP)
- Managed contractor team throughout the project phases and tracked progress to ensure the projects were completed within time, cost, and scope constraints
- Lead requirements gathering for Mail Enterprise Integration (MEI) Analysis team
- Lead project kickoffs for distributed teams across the organization
- Developed user stories across all major releases for multiple project teams
- Created Software Requirements Specifications (SRS) to support both agile and waterfall projects across the organization
- Managed MEI release backlogs in VersionOne
- Managed project communications for all stakeholders on all MEI projects
- Reviewed Customer Acceptance Testing scripts to ensure requirements are met and tested appropriately
- Developed weekly status reports for leadership and stakeholders
- Created and presented briefings, recommendations, and status reports to senior leadership as needed
Lead Requirements Analyst
CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield
02.2015 - 07.2016
- Lead Requirements Analyst supporting Business Analysis Requirements and Documentation (BARD) for Claims Processing
- Project Lead for the Audit Remediation team
- Developed Business Requirement Documents and Functional Specification Documents for Claims Releases, Audit Remediation and SOPs
- Developed system enhancement requirements and documentation
- Tested and verified system defects as required
- Assisted with completing Release Scope items as needed
- Tracked and Managed release tasks through implementation
- Worked as the liaison between stakeholders for Claims
- Release Lead for alternating software releases spanning the calendar year
- Responsible for release management schedules for the Claims Requirements team
- Liaison to PMO for software releases and test defect resolution
- Managed allocation of resources through multiple releases
- Mentored new hires recruited through the College Hire Program
- Participated as a member of Steering Committee - College Hire Program
- Member of the Culture Cohort to improve employee morale through activities
Senior Consultant
Booz Allen Hamilton
12.2013 - 02.2015
- SharePoint Lead for the Office of Warrior Care Policy
- Lead team of contractors through development and design phases for the Integrated Electronic Health Record (iEHR) projects
- Provided general IT support of technology acquisition projects across the Warrior Care Program Office
- Created business requirement documents (BRD), whitepapers, test scripts, requirements traceability matrices (RTM), executive summaries, and ad hoc executive-level briefings in support of the operations team
- Presented reports and status updates to Management and US Department of Defense Senior Leadership
- Conducted Independent Verification & Validation (IV&V) on internal applications from the User Acceptance Testing phases in preparation for production deployment through multiple releases
- Identified, evaluated and provided a Plan of Action and Mitigation (POA&M) for risks to stakeholders in support of obtaining Authority to Operate (ATO) by the US Department of Defense
- Lead User Acceptance Testing (UAT) and Government Acceptance Testing (GAT) cycles and providing associated training documents for testers
- Provided functional subject matter expertise to the development team in order to assist in the US Department of Defense Information Assurance Certification and Accreditation Process (DIACAP) process
- Conduct remediation effort calls to mitigate issues with system controls
- Lead the effort to determine overall risk posture for the customer utilizing risk management framework (RMF)
- Provided technical and functional subject matter expertise in support of interagency initiatives
- Developed training materials to support small to large scale releases of multiple applications across the office
- Provided day-to-day support for agile development teams
- Created and reviewed user stories with project team and stakeholders to ensure correctness
- Reviewed junior staff user stories for accuracy and formatting per Agile best practices and organization standards
- Managed the project backlog and conducted sprint planning bi-weekly for teams
- Facilitated daily stand-up meetings
Consultant-Federal
Deloitte Consulting
08.2012 - 12.2013
- Worked with client and internal teams to help improve standards and operability processes within the Interagency Program Office (IPO)
- Managed a team of consultants through the requirements review and testing phases of projects across the Defense Health Agency
- Coordinated discovery and information sessions with client and internal teams to review business requirements and product
- Coordinated and executed Smoke Tests after installation of application to ensure system stability
- Performed requirements analysis to determine gaps and clarify business needs and understanding of system capabilities
- Performed 508 Compliance testing to ensure applications meet DoD/VA standards for accessibility
- Tested against system standards and performed quality assurance tasks
- Lead creation and execution of test scripts, cases, and scenarios that will determine optimal system coverage according to technical specifications
- Coordinated implementation of test plans with the development team
- Executed test scenarios for application enhancements, releases, and to support regression testing
- Managed requirements and associated defects in Quality Center
- Ability to write test cases and test scenarios and review, run and generate test reports
- Worked with client and partner teams to address defects and plan defect resolution for future test cycles
- Delivered testing reports, executive summaries and other relative documents to provide management with a perspective on project readiness and quality of the developed requirements and application
Education
Master of Science - Management Information Systems
Nova Southeastern University
Davie, FL08-2011
Bachelor of Science - Computer Information Systems
Florida A&M University
Tallahassee, FL12-2005
Master of Science - Cybersecurity
Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, GA12.2027
Skills
- Governance in project management
- Hybrid delivery methodologies
- IT transformation strategy
- Roadmap development
- Budget oversight
- Executive-level reporting
- Stakeholder relations
- Resource & Capacity planning
- Third-party relationship management
- Third-party risk assessment
Certification
- Project Management Professional (PMP) Nov 2028
- Certified Scrum Master (CSM) Dec 2028
- Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) Dec 2028
Timeline
Senior Director, Technical Delivery
United Service Organizations (USO)
03.2024 - Current
Senior IT Project Manager
United States Postal Service
11.2017 - 07.2022
Lead Requirements Analyst
CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield
02.2015 - 07.2016
Senior Consultant
Booz Allen Hamilton
12.2013 - 02.2015
Consultant-Federal
Deloitte Consulting
08.2012 - 12.2013
Master of Science - Management Information Systems
Nova Southeastern University
Bachelor of Science - Computer Information Systems
Florida A&M University
Master of Science - Cybersecurity
Georgia Institute of Technology