Vanessa Ross
Smyrna,GA
Summary
As an Agile Technical Delivery Leader and Engagement Director, I excel in steering complex projects to surpass delivery objectives and stakeholder expectations through quality. Renowned for motivating and leading teams to achieve exceptional results, I specialize in building trust and fostering long-term relationships. My approach combines a commitment to results with a strong emphasis on interpersonal respect and team inspiration.
Overview
16
16
years of professional experience
5
5
Certificates
Work History
Engagement Director
KR Elixir
08.2020 - Current
- M&A Data Migration: Led the migration and consolidated 179 million data sets from 6300 sources across five domains
- Business Case Consensus: Developed and gained approval for 3-years $29M Business Case
- Data Migration Framework: Defined a Data Migration Framework that reduced lifecycle time from 16 weeks to 4 weeks.
- Promoted program to funders through direct appeals and special publications or online appeals.
- Managed multiple simultaneous engagements, ensuring all projects were delivered successfully and on schedule.
- Led cross-functional teams to deliver high-quality results for clients across various industries.
- Implemented innovative solutions for complex challenges faced by clients during engagements.
- Enhanced company reputation through successful execution of high-profile projects that generated positive client feedback and referrals.
- Managed budgets for staff operations to keep costs low and maximize profits.
- Developed comprehensive project plans to meet clients' goals on time and within budget constraints.
- Conducted thorough risk assessments to proactively address potential issues before categorized as issues.
- Provided mentorship and guidance to junior staff members, fostering professional growth and development.
- Optimized resource allocation based on project requirements, ensuring each team member was utilized efficiently while working at maximum capacity.
- Met with clients to understand needs and develop proactive solutions.
Intelligent Automation Leader and Portfolio Manager
Cox Automotive
01.2018 - 07.2020
- Customer Experience Transformation Led transformation for Auto Dealer contract order process leveraging Blue Prism to automate workflow; met ROI within 3 months exceeding 3-year Long Range Plan (LRP) savings of $1.5M
- HR Process Improvement: Created digital workers for HR PTO and time corrections, managing 65K transactions monthly for 65% of workforce and lead to increase of employee satisfaction by 45% through reduced payroll errors
- Portfolio Management: Managed portfolio health across technology operations over all investment and P&L budgets for 2018 and 2019
- Enterprise-Wide Automation Strategy: Developed and led adoption of expanding automation capabilities, coordinated with 3-year corporate objectives
- COE Governance: Created a governance framework that bridged Agile and Plan-Driven methodologies, facilitating seamless cooperation among business and technology stakeholders
- Devised and implemented processes and procedures to streamline operations
- Negotiated contracts with vendors and partners, securing favorable terms that aligned with business requirements
- Increased team productivity by streamlining communication and implementing effective program management strategies
- Created and managed program plans, timelines, and budgets
- Reduced operational expenses by implementing cost-effective solutions and proactively monitoring budgetary allocation
- Built high-performing teams by recruiting top talent and providing ongoing support through professional development programs
- Evaluated employee performance and coached and trained to improve weak areas.
Executive Technology Consultant
RCG Global Services Inc.
01.2015 - 12.2017
- Led proposal and delivery of RCG Client Partners, including SVPs and VPs, adopting Agile governance framework for accelerating program delivery
- Automotive Client: Financial Roadmap Development: Formulated 6-month release calendar that secured $6M in savings, closely aligned with quarterly financial objectives
- Executive Reporting: Designed dashboards and presentations for C-Level Officers
- ServiceNow Practice: Led enterprise expansion of leveraging and adopting ServiceNow incident and change workflow
- Financial Client: Billing Optimization: Successfully spearheaded implementation and automation of merchant billing system, resulting in 30% increase in processing efficiency and 20% reduction in billing errors
- Revenue Growth: Elevated overall client portfolio from $6M to $9M in revenue
- Cost Efficiency: Led Process Engineering and Transformational initiatives, resulting in $1M in operational savings and $2M in cost avoidance
- Team Assessment: Conducted comprehensive review of client's business analyst team
- Ninety-eight percent of recommendations were executed, reducing attrition from 75% to 25% within 6 months.
- Championed continuous improvement initiatives throughout enterprise, fostering culture of innovation and excellence in all aspects of technology consulting.
- Directed IT services, counseled executives and collaborated with senior management on strategic planning
- Led cross-functional teams with expertise in Java, PL/SQL, Oracle EBS, enterprise security and infrastructure domains
- Led technical upgrade projects for clients by working and coordinating with consultants and developers for integrations
- Managed technology budgets, optimizing expenditures to maximize returns on investment in hardware, software, and services
- Evaluated vendor proposals to select optimal partners based on technical capabilities, cost-effectiveness, and alignment with organizational objectives
Business Program Manager
Coca-Cola Enterprises
04.2013 - 12.2014
- Delivered high-quality results by setting performance metrics and monitoring progress against targets.
- Implemented optimization strategies in customer onboarding, resulting in 30% improvement in supply chain efficiency
- Demonstrated strong writing and presentation skills to develop briefs, memorandums, and analytical reports for executives.
- Realized 50% reduction in onboarding errors, elevating customer satisfaction.
- Identified program obstacles and communicated impacts to team.
- Streamlined communication channels to facilitate efficient collaboration among team members and stakeholders.
- Designed and developed programs and projects for dissemination to personnel.
- Collaborated with business leadership to set priorities based on business needs, resource capacity and risk exposure.
- Managed multiple strategic projects with numerous sub-projects or workstreams.
- Coached team members on productivity strategies to accomplish challenging goals.
- Managed cross-functional teams for successful project completion within deadlines and budgets.
- Established team priorities, maintained schedules, and monitored performance.
IT Technical Program Manager
Daugherty Business Solutions
04.2010 - 09.2010
- Devised and implemented processes and procedures to streamline operations.
- Conducted thorough market research and analysis, providing valuable insights for client decision making which led to $6M contract engagement.
- Advised clients on change management strategies to ensure smooth transitions during periods of organizational transformation.
- Created monthly forecast templates and resource management allocations for approved projects reducing client operational costs by 500K annually.
- Supported clients with business analysis, documentation, and data modeling.
- Aligned closely with business owners and employees to gather information and gain operational insight.
- Created and developed detailed work plans to meet business priorities and deadlines.
- Evaluated staff performance and provided coaching to address inefficiencies.
- Leveraged technology tools for enhanced project tracking, reporting, and information sharing among team members.
- Leveraged project management processes and tools to define and execute projects.
- Managed multiple strategic projects with numerous sub-projects or workstreams.
- Optimized resource allocation, effectively balancing priorities and managing competing demands.
- Established milestones and objectives based on input from functional areas and stakeholders.
- Enhanced project visibility with regular status updates, leading to increased stakeholder engagement.
- Improved program efficiency by streamlining processes and implementing time-saving solutions.
- Researched industry best practices in support of training development and program content across
Program Leader
InterContinental Hotels Group
04.2008 - 04.2010
- Revenue Reservation System Migration: Orchestrated seamless migration of data centers including Disaster Recovery planning.
- Google Apps Infrastructure Delivery: Spearheaded multi-regional (AMER, APAC & EMEA) integration of Google Apps.
- Reduced Infrastructure Technology operational costs by annual savings of $500K and estimated cost avoidance of $3M by 2012.
- Expedia-IHG Partnership: Implemented inventory push functionality resulting in strategic partnership with Expedia and resulted in $1M in new revenue post-implementation year.
- SDLC Committee Leadership: Served as Technical Operations Project Leader, establishing project portfolio governance framework
- This framework provided transparency through actionable reporting and involved cross-business, technology, and operational teams, enhancing portfolio health and driving investment and P&L efficiencies.
Education
Master of Information Technology -
American InterContinental University
Dunwoody, GA09.2000
Bachelor of Arts in English -
Georgia State University
Atlanta, GA06.1998
Skills
- Digital Transformation expertise
- Cloud Transformation expertise
- DevOps Implementation
- Compliance and regulations
- Stakeholder Management
- Change Management
- Strategic Planning
- Schedule Management
- Risk Mitigation
- Data Management
- Cost Management
- Technical Analysis
- Capacity Planning
- Agile Methodology
- Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
- Strong analytical skills
- Continuous process improvements
- Building technical teams
- Program implementation
- Complex Problem-Solving
Certification
- Project Management Professional
- Certified Scrum Master
- Safe 6.0 Product Owner Product Manager
- ServiceNow Certified System Administrator, Active
- Safe 6.0 Lean Portfolio Management (in progress, class complete)
- Cloud Digital Certification (in progress, class complete)
Timeline
Engagement Director
KR Elixir
08.2020 - Current
Intelligent Automation Leader and Portfolio Manager
Cox Automotive
01.2018 - 07.2020
Executive Technology Consultant
RCG Global Services Inc.
01.2015 - 12.2017
Business Program Manager
Coca-Cola Enterprises
04.2013 - 12.2014
IT Technical Program Manager
Daugherty Business Solutions
04.2010 - 09.2010
Program Leader
InterContinental Hotels Group
04.2008 - 04.2010
Master of Information Technology -
American InterContinental University
Bachelor of Arts in English -
Georgia State University
- Project Management Professional
- Certified Scrum Master
- Safe 6.0 Product Owner Product Manager
- ServiceNow Certified System Administrator, Active
- Safe 6.0 Lean Portfolio Management (in progress, class complete)
- Cloud Digital Certification (in progress, class complete)
Technology Expertise
Google Workspace, Google Chat, Google Sites, Microsoft Office Suite, SharePoint, Microsoft Project, Microsoft Teams, Asana, AHA Product and Roadmap, JIRA, Mindmap, Lucid Chart, AWS, GCP, Salesforce, Oracle CX Cloud, Oracle ERP, Docker, Kubernetes, Spring Boot, Apigee, Jenkins, GitLab CI/CD, UiPath, Blue Prism,TensorFlow, Scikit-learn, OpenAI GPT
Areas Of Excellence
- Strategic Leadership
- Technology Planning & Roadmap Development
- Digital Transformation
- DevOps & Agile Methodologies
- Team Development
- Project & Program Management
- Risk & Change Management
- Resource Optimization
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