Ryan Kahn

As Director of Vehicle Systems, I lead the design, development, implementation, and operational activities for the Vehicle Systems Department portfolio. This includes overseeing 13 IT systems, 28 FTEs, 51 participating Jurisdictions, 20 business partners, law enforcement, and a $60 M budget. The portfolio includes managing the transition of IT projects to production, delivering executive-level reports, and collaborating with Federal partners to provide value-added services.

• Create Project Deliverables: Develop project roadmaps, estimates, and proposals. Monitor project progress, deliverables, quality assurance, and customer service. Report status to executive management and to the project’s stakeholders. Identify and resolve risks that impact project completion. Coordinate planning, development, testing, documentation, and installation of a system to ensure timely deliverables, project success, and quality.
• Perform Budget Monitoring: Develop project detailed budgets and monitor project spending. Perform necessary budget updates in coordination with department managers and directors. Interface with the Finance Division to review and approve project invoices.
• Develop and Maintain Project Management Procedures: Participate in project debriefings to analyze lessons learned and provide recommendations for improvement. Develop and maintain Agile practices and artifact templates. Participate in staff training activities and mentoring as they relate to Agile practices. Socialize recommendations throughout the entire organization.
• Cross-Department Coordination: Coordinate and direct the activities of all supporting project teams. Lead external stakeholder working groups to identify and socialize new requirements and facilitate the development

Managed the implementation and update of the FDA.gov Content Management System (CMS). Replaced a home grown CMS with 30K pages and 75K media items without loss of service. The application team consisted of 20 FTEs, several ODCs, and a $12 M budget.

• Led Comprehensive Requirements Analysis and Risk Assessment: Identified and prioritized business needs, collaborated with stakeholders for systems analysis, and provided actionable insights into risks to align project goals with organizational objectives.
• Managed Complex Budgets and Resources: Developed project forecasts and budgets across multiple task orders, continuously monitored financial performance, tracked burn rates, and delivered detailed financial reports to senior management on a regular and ad hoc basis.
• Delivered Strategic Product and Program Support: Produced key project documentation, including requirements specifications, process mapping, and target state diagrams (TSDs). Troubleshot issues, developed tailored recommendations, and supported RFP proposal writing in collaboration with leadership.
• Championed Agile and Common Project Practices: Partnered with corporate PMO leadership to establish and refine Agile methodologies across project teams, enhancing processes for requirements collection, documentation, training, and continuous improvement.
• Ensured Project Success through Effective Change and Scope Management: Directed changes to project scope, cost, and schedule while maintaining milestones and timelines. Communicated project plans and progress to stakeholders and addressed challenges promptly to keep initiatives on track.

Managed the production release for multiple software iterations of the FDA Electronic Submissions Gateway. Met with SMEs, Centers, and Industry to assess needs, rules, and make recommendations. With a Team of 9 FTEs, and a budget of $5M, we were able to move from a hosted 3rd party software to a web-based application for over 2K users without loss of service. Operationally the system we created has handled over 60M transactions to date, has over 4 K users, and 99.99% up time.

• Performed Requirements Analysis and Systems Assessment: Evaluated business needs, prioritized initiatives, and assessed risk and cost-benefit impacts. Collaborated with technical and business stakeholders to conduct comprehensive systems analysis and develop actionable insights.
• Led Functional Testing and User Acceptance Initiatives: Managed end-to-end User Acceptance Testing (UAT), including planning, scheduling, and execution. Facilitated JAD sessions, documented outcomes, and developed detailed use cases to align system functionality with user requirements.
• Delivered Comprehensive Product and Program Support: Created key project documentation such as requirements specifications, process maps, and Target State Diagrams (TSDs). Provided innovative solutions for troubleshooting issues and contributed to RFP proposals to secure project funding.
• Oversaw Help Desk Operations and Training: Directed help desk system implementation, application administration, and staff training programs. Developed training materials to enhance efficiency and ensure consistency in support processes.
• Managed Full Project Lifecycle Execution: Directed projects from procurement to completion, ensuring adherence to schedules, quality standards, and safety protocols. Strategically identified resources and developed plans to meet project objectives while maintaining timeline commitments.

Managed production release for multiple iterations of the Integrated Time and Attendance System (ITAS.) Met with SMEs, business owners and users to assess needs, business rules and make recommendations.

• Led Requirements Analysis and Documentation: Collaborated with business owners, SMEs, and technology teams to assess needs, define business rules, and create comprehensive documentation, including business cases, requirements traceability matrices, process models, and user manuals. Provided actionable recommendations to align systems with organizational goals.
• Managed Functional and User Acceptance Testing: Directed end-to-end testing of the Integrated Time and Attendance System (ITAS), including test script creation, data setup, and status communication. Delivered training sessions, quick reference guides, and user support to ensure successful adoption and application performance.
• Provided Post-Production Product Support and Reporting: Developed knowledge base articles, facilitated product demonstrations, and resolved user inquiries post-implementation. Created dashboards and analyzed data to track KPIs, identify root causes of issues, and recommend corrective actions to inform divisional strategies.

Worked directly with the NIH IT Architect and NIH's 27 Institutes and Centers to make streamline project creation, Grants Managements, and use of IT for general research at the NIH.

• Optimized Business Processes and Enterprise Architecture: Designed and implemented hierarchical business process models to identify inefficiencies, redundancies, and improvement opportunities. Partnered with NIH Institutes and Centers to advocate for Enterprise Architecture, enhancing operational efficiency across the organization.
• Delivered Enterprise-Wide Training and Stakeholder Engagement: Presented quarterly Business Architecture training sessions for the NIH community and tailored sessions for subject matter experts. Acted as a liaison with leadership teams, delivering reports, analysis, and presentations to drive strategic decision-making.
• Supported leadership team: with reporting, analysis, and business presentations to inform divisional strategies.

Managed Operations-wide platform conversion from a mainframe-based Cash Collateral System to Windows-based application. This included developing business rules, importing data, and training staff.

• Client Integration and Requirements Gathering: Partnered with business users to analyze current and planned processes, translating them into detailed business and functional requirements, use cases, and test scripts. Led client migrations from tab-delimited text files to XML, facilitating funding file creation, access validation, and issue resolution.
• Interface Administration: Oversaw user access management for proprietary GMAC software and business systems, enabling efficient upload of funding files, monitoring of warehouse lending transactions, and real-time access to reports through the database.
• IT Governance Leadership: As a charter member of the IT Governance team, established best practices, optimized resource allocation, and streamlined processes to enhance organizational efficiency and collaboration across major initiatives.
• Training and End-User Support: Designed and delivered training materials for operational and advanced system functionalities. Provided customer support, trained Operations staff on advanced GUI capabilities, and addressed ad hoc business requests to ensure seamless system utilization.

Managed on-demand processing project full Systems Development Life Cycle. Met with users, gathered needs, collected business requirements, designed functionality, wrote specifications, created report mock-ups, evaluated functionality, managed implementation, provided support, and trained end users.

• Enhanced Operational Efficiency: Streamlined production processes, improved company-wide operational performance, and implemented recurring IT cost savings and revenue-generating initiatives to drive long-term business value.
• Led Platform Conversion Initiatives: Coordinated and educated project teams on the successful implementation of vendor feeds, advanced security-level analytic calculators, account aggregation methods, market comparisons, and other industry-leading quantitative tools.
• Provided Comprehensive Production Support: Leveraged SQL to interface with DB2 databases, validate reporting outputs, and resolve issues collaboratively with customers and business users. Supported reporting utilities to ensure accuracy and functionality.
• Translated Business Needs into Actionable Insights: Partnered with internal stakeholders to gather and document requirements, define project scope, and create data models that informed strategic decision-making.
• Developed and Governed Data Infrastructure: Designed and maintained data warehouses and marts to support critical business operations. Established and enforced data governance policies and procedures to ensure data integrity and compliance.