Patricia O'Brien

• Task Lead and Subject Matter Expert, Employment and Training Administration (ETA) Office of Unemployment Insurance (OUI), U.S. Department of Labor July 2021 – June 2023
• Equity Grants; Promoting Equitable Access to Unemployment Compensation Programs. Analyzed and summarized approved equity grants of thirty-two (32) states funded to implement one hundred twenty-four (124) different projects designed to promote equitable access to unemployment compensation programs.
• Project Manager, Indigenous Student Identification, Educational Equity through Policy Implementation: Implementing Authentic Ethnic Studies November 2022 - Present
• Qualitative Analysis Lead, Institute for Museum and Library Services, Evaluation of CARES and ARPA Funds July 2023- Present

• Project Manager, Indigenous Student Identification, Educational Equity through Policy Implementation: Implementing Authentic Ethnic Studies November 2022 - Present
• Qualitative Analysis Lead, Institute for Museum and Library Services, Evaluation of CARES and ARPA Funds July 2023- Present
• Task Lead and Subject Matter Expert, Employment and Training Administration (ETA) Office of Unemployment Insurance (OUI), U.S. Department of Labor July 2021 – June 2023
• Equity Grants; Promoting Equitable Access to Unemployment Compensation Programs. Analyzed and summarized approved equity grants of thirty-two (32) states funded to implement one hundred twenty-four (124) different projects designed to promote equitable access to unemployment compensation programs.
• Analysis and summarization of Regional Office Pandemic UI (Unemployment Insurance) Monitoring Trends for ETA Regional Office monitoring jurisdictions participating in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, the Continued Assistance Act (CAA), and the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).

Administered program budget of over $30 million, sponsored mission critical projects valued at over $50 million, provided fiduciary governance of approximately $120 million in consortium funds for ReEmployUSA consortium, and administered contracts over $8 million.

• Oversight responsibility for all bureau data agreements and Bureau data security requirements.
• Oversaw Division of Policy and Program Performance which included system support group, application specific help desk, training and support unit, Program Performance Metrics (Benefit Accuracy Measurement, Data Validation, Tax Performance Standards, Benefits Timeliness and Quality) and Document Management.
• Member of NASWA Workforce ITSC Steering Committee as Unemployment Insurance Representative 2019 - 2021
• Wrote and received over $40 million in federal grants.

Business sponsor of ReEmployME project January 2013-January 2019

Implemented modernized Unemployment Insurance systems; replaced all IT legacy systems as well as document management system with implementation of ReEmployME system - an integrated Unemployment Insurance Tax and Benefits system.

Involved consortium between Maine, Mississippi, and Connecticut

• Oversaw Executive Steering Committee
• Tax phase of project involved decoupling and transitioning integral business process, from Maine Revenue Service back to department. This affected 44,000 Maine employers. Tax contributions processed by ReEmployME system are approximately $109 million annually.
• Restructured UI Tax Division to correlate to business process changes resulting from system implementation.
• Created Training unit and Application Help Desk for ReEmployME system.

Additional Projects as Business Sponsor

Replaced Document Management System – Completed August 2017 Replaced end of life document management system.

• Constituent Messaging Portal – Completed May 2017 Implemented messaging application that allowed capture and assignment of constituent questions, inquiries, and complaints incoming from various portals within department (legislative liaison, web application, calls to other bureaus, and customer service unit)
• Initial and Weekly Claims Web Application – Completed February 2015 Successfully replaced end of life web claims application. At go live, used by 7,000 to 8,000 claimants' weekly application to file initial and weekly claims.
• TOP (Treasury Offset Program) – Completed March 2014 Implemented Treasury Offset Program which is automated collection tool allowing department to offset federal tax returns for overpayments owed department.
• UI Interactive Voice Response System – Completed March 2013 Successfully replaced old IVR infrastructure with a fully supported IVR solution. When deployed 13,000-15,000 claimants were using system on a weekly basis.
• UIPROD project – Completed September 2013 Successfully transitioned Oracle based Unemployment Benefits system from outdated hardware, unsupported Oracle database and unsupported UNIX version to supported versions of Solaris 10, and Oracle Forms and Reports 11G. Mission critical application responsible for determining eligibility and disbursing unemployment benefits. Approximately 11,000 claimants filing weekly via Unemployment benefits system at time of cutover.

• Supervised, directed, and coordinated program integrity efforts for bureau including management of tax field advisors and examiners, fraud adjudicators and quality control staff as well as oversaw central Benefits operations which is responsible for UI trust fund reconciliation and quality control processes.
• Developed initial detailed integrity strategic plan that incorporated IT system implementations, system changes and business process changes oriented towards reducing overpayment of unemployment claims and reducing fraud.

• Managed information technology team supporting unemployment benefits team supporting Maine Department of Labor. In 2009, system processed weekly claims for approximately 37,000 unemployed claimants and disbursed $425 million.
• Developed project timelines and cost estimates for initiatives and projects.
• Allocated team resources to ensure project feasibility, timeliness, and quality.
• Communicated project and production system issues and logistics.
• Developed biennium IT application development budget to support bureau totaling approximately $13 million.
• Successfully transitioned 30,000 unemployed claimants to receive primary payment method of unemployment benefits from paper checks to debit card or direct deposit.
• Successfully transitioned 30,000 unemployed claimants to receive primary payment method of unemployment benefits from paper checks to debit card or direct deposit.

• Project Manager for Bureau of Unemployment Compensation projects
• Developed biennium IT application development budget to support bureau totaling $13 million.

Completed Projects

• Web application – Employer Registration - 2004 Implemented Internet application to allow Maine employers to register for unemployment tax account. $500K
• Web application – Initial Claims - 2001 Implemented Internet application to allow claimants to file initial unemployment claim. $1M
• Mainframe Migration Project Managed mission critical mainframe migration project – 1997-1999 If project was unsuccessful, bureau would have been unable to take, or process unemployment claims after 1/1/1999. Project cost: $4 million