Paul Culver
Bothell,WA
Summary
Professional IT services expert with comprehensive experience in managing and optimizing IT operations. Strong focus on team collaboration and delivering impactful results. Adept in strategic planning, problem-solving, and adapting to evolving business needs. Known for reliability, effective communication, and fostering positive work environments.
Overview
20
20
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
IT Service Manager (Contract)
ZOLL Medical
09.2024 - 10.2025
- Advanced CMDB maturity from 0 -> 50+% dependency mapping of critical applications, enabling stronger service impact analysis.
- Delivered 200+ strategic communications to drive service governance awareness and standardized intake schema.
- Built ServiceNow Kanban workflows to optimize team planning, prioritization, and service transparency.
Senior Release Manager / Change Manager
Premera Blue Cross
07.2022 - 05.2024
- Achieved 98% change success rate by embedding risk-based controls into the change process.
- Redesigned risk schema, saving $23K annually while improving change governance reporting.
- Proactively assumed product owner role for team and championed Agile processes. Mentored additional Agile engineering teams and partnered with stakeholders to align ServiceNow enhancements with service delivery goals.
Principal IT Service Manager
Premera Blue Cross
09.2019 - 07.2022
- Directed Organizational Change Management for CMDB implementation and adoption, improving data quality to 90%+.
- Reduced Cyber Security P2 resolution time from 5+ days to under 4 hours by aligning ITSM and security incident response.
- Facilitated SLA-aligned service reviews to ensure service performance visibility for executives.
- Drove 60% closure of open/aging Problem tickets.
Product Owner / Project Manager
Tideworks Technology
11.2017 - 07.2019
- Collaborated with cross-functional teams to define product vision and roadmap.
- Prioritized backlog items based on regional and international stakeholder feedback and market trends.
- Facilitated Agile ceremonies to enhance team collaboration and productivity.
- Developed user stories and acceptance criteria to guide product development.
Sr. Systems Analyst, Continuous Improvement
Liberty Mutual Insurance
03.2015 - 12.2016
- Unified root cause tracking tools to improve ownership, accountability, and service reporting across Agile teams.
- Provided operational and consulting support oversight to 26 First Response and Customer Support operations teams comprised of 500+ employees and contractors. Drove Lean and Agile adoption strategy and related tools and methods.
- Successfully piloted and delivered core metrics for operations teams with a common repository for delivery measurement visibility.
Release Manager
Liberty Mutual Insurance
11.2012 - 03.2015
- Established single Release process across organizations by Q1 2013 target; included influencing participation of 35+ new teams, exceeding adoption expectations by 50%.
- Oversaw 27 monthly releases and 600+ deployments with compliance-driven governance controls.
- Led BMC Remedy upgrade and DevOps migration across 350+ IT staff, saving $125K annually while ensuring audit trail integrity.
Incident Response Team Lead / Sr. Software & Sys. Engineer
Liberty Mutual Insurance
09.2010 - 11.2012
- Led 239 major incident calls, improving resolution times by 30% and reducing P1 incident volume by 16%.
- Improved root cause compliance scores from grade “C” to “B” within 12 months.
Incident Manager
Liberty Mutual Insurance
03.2009 - 09.2010
- Converged service management processes during M&A to ensure consistent governance and operational alignment.
- Facilitated 200+ major IT events, consistently exceeding resolution targets.
- Reduced incident process waste by 60% to enhance operational efficiency and automated escalation support for faster response.
Senior IT Analyst / Event Manager
Safeco Insurance
06.2008 - 03.2009
- Commanded IT incident bridges, increasing declaration speed by 75% and reducing business complaints by 80%.
IT Process & Service Delivery Manager
Safeco Insurance
05.2005 - 06.2008
- Drove the design, delivery, and improvements of multiple ITSM processes and metrics across the enterprise, including clear, consistent Major Incident processes.
- Reduced open IT incident count among Enterprise Technology Services 300+ staff organization by 40%.
- Led coaching and mentoring of key staff and leadership.
Education
Associate of Arts & Sciences -
Bellevue College
Bellevue, WASkills
- ITIL-certified service management leadership
- ServiceNow & CMDB Optimization: Dependency mapping, data quality, service health monitoring
- Change and release management
- Incident & Problem Management: Root cause analysis, incident mitigation, operational resilience
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Executive stakeholder engagement, customer advocacy, communication strategy
- Product ownership and project management
- Process optimization strategies
- Agile and Scrum methodologies expertise
- SLA adherence and KPI tracking
Accomplishments
- Increased dependency mapping of critical customer-facing services from 0% to 50% in 12 months through proactive engagement.
- Elevated business capability data quality to 90%+ using change management and cross-team readiness initiatives.
- Delivered 1,000+ targeted communications on business events, functionality rollouts, and service updates.
- Defined requirements enabling successful CAB Workbench implementation in ServiceNow, achieving 98% deployment success for production changes.
- Established quarterly business review standards with executive-ready data design and expanded domain representation.
- Saved $23K annually by strengthening risk analysis for production rollouts.
- Cut cybersecurity event resolution from 5+ days to under 4 hours through cross-team coaching and SLA adherence.
- Reduced incident backlog by 40%, eliminated 60% process waste, and accelerated critical incident declaration by 75%.
- Saved $125K annually by leading cross-functional summit to optimize product release processes.
- Directed 600+ successful business deployments in 24 months through cross-team release leadership.
- Unified incident processes during M&A, integrating cross-cultural collaboration into a single workflow.
- Restored trust between tech and business teams, reducing complaints by 80% within 6 months.
- Championed Kanban adoption as product owner, driving visibility into prioritization, capacity, and alignment.
- Mentored new service management staff with operational plans, building lasting leadership in healthcare capabilities.
Certification
- ITIL Foundations v3 (v4 exam scheduled Dec 2025)
- AI, ServiceNow, Agile, Project & Product Management, Facilitation & Leadership Training
Timeline
IT Service Manager (Contract)
ZOLL Medical
09.2024 - 10.2025
Senior Release Manager / Change Manager
Premera Blue Cross
07.2022 - 05.2024
Principal IT Service Manager
Premera Blue Cross
09.2019 - 07.2022
Product Owner / Project Manager
Tideworks Technology
11.2017 - 07.2019
Sr. Systems Analyst, Continuous Improvement
Liberty Mutual Insurance
03.2015 - 12.2016
Release Manager
Liberty Mutual Insurance
11.2012 - 03.2015
Incident Response Team Lead / Sr. Software & Sys. Engineer
Liberty Mutual Insurance
09.2010 - 11.2012
Incident Manager
Liberty Mutual Insurance
03.2009 - 09.2010
Senior IT Analyst / Event Manager
Safeco Insurance
06.2008 - 03.2009
IT Process & Service Delivery Manager
Safeco Insurance
05.2005 - 06.2008
Associate of Arts & Sciences -
Bellevue College