KIM WARD

*** ********** **** ******: 832-***-****

League City, Texas acog7g@r.postjobfree.com

www.linkedin.com/in/kimo

ward

Summary

A Senior Information Systems executive with expertise in global Oracle and

SAP implementations in the pharmaceutical, retail, wholesale, mining and

consumer goods industries. Valued for ability to reduce costs, improve

quality and manage large scale projects within time and budget parameters.

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

IT Governance Relationship Management

IT Strategy Various ERP implementations and

support

Project Portfolio Management Application Management

Project Management eCommerce

Budget management Enterprise Content Management

Vendor Management Process Improvement

Professional Experience

Grocers Supply June 2014 - Present

Grocers Supply has provided 90 years of success in serving and partnering

with independent grocers in order to provide quality products to

communities in Texas and surrounding states. In addition to their wholesale

business, Fiesta Mart, a wholly owned subsidiary, operates retail Hispanic

format markets in the Houston, DFW, and Austin regions. Grocers Supply

generates approximately $3 billion in sales annually.

IT Director, Enterprise PMO and office of CIO

Responsible for identifying the strategic priorities for Grocers Supply,

ensuring the overall project portfolio is balanced delivering the strategic

goals expected by the business. Additional responsibilities include

creating and managing the overall IT budget and driving process improvement

throughout the IT organization. Some highlighted accomplishments include:

. Established a process improvement initiative with warehouse operations,

transportation and sales to balance transportation and warehouse workload

and customer deliveries within a day and across a week optimizing the

frequency of deliveries to a customer, realizing savings in labor and

transportation costs and reducing employee turnover due to a more

balanced schedule. Annual savings in excess of $1.5M include closing one

warehouse for two days and another warehouse for one day each week.

. Implemented a voice selection and replenishment systems improving

accurate orders shipped to customers (increased from 99.5% to 99.9%),

improved productivity due to shorts, replenishment issues and the need

for audits at multiple points in the process and reduced warehouse

employee turnover resulting in a reduction of 15 FTE's required to

execute the order fulfillment process.

. Replaced 25+ year old phone systems with new Cisco technology with a

centralized phone system across 5 locations providing 5 digit calling

between locations, failover, audio conferencing via Webex, Interactive

Voice Response (IVRs) and hunt groups for 8 locations.

. As result of C&S acquisition, coordinated and led the effort to prepare

for "day 1" activities with new company for payroll, finance, benefits,

and treasury ensuring risks were managed and contingency plans were in

place.

. Led the divestiture of the real estate business and Levit family assets

per legal obligations of the C&S acquisition and directed the transition

to separate all assets from Grocers Supply LLC.

Gartner 2013 - 2014

The world's leading information technology research and advisory company.

Gartner delivers the technology-related insight necessary for their clients

to make the right decisions. They work with every client to research,

analyze and interpret the business of IT within the context of the client's

individual role.

Executive Advisor

A trusted adtvisor, coach and senior consultant in Gartner's Executive

Programs division responsible for Service Delivery to CIO clients. Examples

of advisory topics for CXOs and CIO roles include: strategy, innovation,

project/portfolio management, governance, leadership development, IT cost

optimization, and organizational and process optimization. Results include

the improved use of information products and services to support profitable

business growth and sustained client relationships.

. Managed up to 42 CIO client relationships in a range of industries

including healthcare, public sector, oil and gas, education,

manufacturing, retail, and banking to equip the executives with the tools

and knowledge they need to deliver exceptional business results and

develop themselves as successful business leaders.

. Renewed 94% of client relationships with more than 25% renewing at a

higher level of service delivery.

. Established programs to mentor IT executives aspiring to become CIOs

. Led IT cost optimization workshops with clients to identify opportunities

to reduce operating expenses through better management of contracts,

application and infrastructure technologies and benchmarking.

MERIAL LIMITED, DULUTH, GA 2005 - 2012

Animal health division of pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis with 5500-

employees and $2.7B-revenue.

Executive Director, IS Applications and Portfolio Management (2010 - 2012)

Reporting to the CIO, providing IT leadership for Global Applications,

Project and Portfolio Management, Relationship Management with specific

focus on US Business Operations, R&D and Support Functions. Managing four

directors/managers, a department of 17 +, an annual expense budget of

$5,000,000, and an average annual capital budget of $8,000,000.

. Established Global IS governance of IS applications, projects and

portfolio improving overall performance of IS ensuring consistent

processes and metrics globally

. Established a sourcing methodology, identified preferred list of

suppliers providing contractors/consulting resulting in $1.4M annual

savings of capital

. Implemented a Project and Portfolio Management office to ensure IS

projects aligned to the strategy, delivering the highest value, following

the most efficient and effective processes and ensuring quality

. Established an IS Software Asset Management collaborative process and

solution to reduce risks and penalties/fees of non-compliance to

contractual obligations and usage

. Directed the implementation of a global service desk solution

establishing common processes and providing 100% visibility management of

incidents and changes to all Merial systems globally

. Established a global disaster recovery process for all critical

applications that was planned and tested annually as a single exercise

Executive Director, IS Applications and Development (2005 - 2009)

Reported to the CIO. Provided IT leadership in every major strategic IT

initiative. Managed five senior directors worldwide, a department of 125

+, an annual expense budget of $45,000,000, and an average annual capital

budget of $25,000,000. Maintained IT costs at 3% of sales. Responsible

for relationship management, project and portfolio management, development

and support of all business applications worldwide, including ecommerce.

. Established a global 4 year IT strategy aligned with the business

strategy tracking action plans with executive KPI's to measure progress

for global ERP, commercial excellence, and achievement of service levels

for critical applications

. Drove operational efficiencies and reduced cost by implementing global

ERP strategy (Oracle R12 and MS Dynamics)

. Improved IS operations for service desk tickets, project and portfolio

management, testing and validation for 2 Six Sigma black belts and 3 Six

Sigma green belts to support the Oracle R12 implementation

o Reduced the number one call to the service desk with single sign-

on solution for password resets

o Improved project and portfolio management efficiencies by 15%

with standard processes and templates by implementing a standard

process for approving projects and managing projects

o Improved validation/testing process by reducing regulatory risk,

capturing regulatory requirements, ensuring traceability through

validation deliverables and enabling milestone review and

signoff

o Reduced testing effort and duration by establishing standard

processes and ensuring quality for all systems using a global

testing tool.

. Increased sales and improved productivity of sales force by 40%

implementing CRM/SFA solutions and ecommerce

. Implemented corporate VoIP, VMWare and global outsourcing solutions to

reduce costs by $4.6M annually

. Delivered standard technology solutions globally - Oracle e-Business

(R12), Oracle HR (R12), Cognos Planning, Cognos BI, Hyperion, ECM, MS

SharePoint

PEPSICO, INTERNATIONAL, ARLINGTON, TX 2004 - 2005

IT Director

Reported to the VP of World Wide Concentrate Operations and the CIO of

PepsiCo International. Provided technology leadership to IT managers and

Plant Managers in North America, South America, Asia Pacific and Caribbean

operations including world wide distribution. Key responsibilities

included providing an IT system strategy and driving best practice and

standardization across all plants. Managed eight IT managers, an expense

budget of $5,400,000, a capital budget of $3,300,000 and an ERP

consolidation project of $14,000,000.

. Delivered technology solutions to support sourcing strategies for the

Mexican and Andean market from Uruguay meeting the tax free benefits for

all production to Asian market

. Established an interim ERP strategy for all concentrate operations

standardizing on one ERP and convinced senior executives to fund the

solution for 7 countries which generated a 48% ROI over 3 years and

significantly reduced costs while continuing to deliver on-going demands

of the plants and distribution

. Partnered with business to develop their first business continuity plans

completing a table top exercise walking through the event of a disaster

to improve the quality of the plans and to identify best practices and

solutions to be shared across all plants

. Created and implemented the first IS Disaster Recovery Plan for all

concentrate plants that was planned, documented and tested

. Established and implemented SOX controls and policies to ensure SOX

compliance for concentrate operations

NORDSTROM.COM, SEATTLE, WA 2000 - 2003

Senior Director Business Information Systems

Reported to the CTO and COO providing technology leadership to

Nordstrom.com. Executive team. Responsible for project management,

business analysis, development, testing and quality assurance to support

all business applications and the Nordstrom.com website. Managed four

senior managers, a staff of 75 an expense budget of $10,000,000, and a

capital budget of $7,000,000.

. Re-designed the Nordstrom.com website on the .Net platform to decrease

dependency on IT staff for content management

. Upgraded Ecometry in 6 months, less than 3% of budget ($3,500,000)

increasing user productivity, improving customer service, providing real

time interfaces to the website and eliminating 90% of the modifications

. Launched the beauty /cosmetic website increasing sales by 10% the first

year

. Implemented Gift Cards on website to increase sales and improve service

. Delivered drop ship shoe solution integrated with PkMS and Ecometry

improving internal efficiencies, increasing sales and scaled solution for

jewelry and apparel

. Implemented Oracle financials delivering on schedule and within 1% of

budget

ECC INTERNATIONAL/IMERYS, ROSWELL, GA 1997 - 2000

Director of Business Applications

Reported to the CFO/CIO. Managed a staff of 24, an annual expense budget

of $7,000,000 and a capital budget of $10,000,000.

. Directed successful SAP implementation for Calgon business unit that

generated a 60% ROI over 5 years

. Integrated an acquired company with revenues of $280M into ERP system

. Directed global SAP implementation for IMERYS ($34,000,000 budget - 3

years)

. Implemented HR solution (HRizon) within budget replacing legacy system

. Completed all Y2K projects on time and 12% less than budget, including 2

new business units as a result of merger

LEVI STRAUSS & CO., SAN FRANCISCO, CA 1990 - 1997

IS Technology Manager

Reported to the VP of IT for Europe, living as an expatriate in Brussels,

Belgium. Key leader in business process re-engineering effort to redesign

the supply chain for Europe and implemented BPCS for 11 countries. Managed

team of 5 developers.

. Established a global model of current and future business processes as

team member for a European Business Process Re-engineering effort

. Established a global IT architectural design to support ERP system for

Europe reducing regional infrastructure and ERP expenses

. Established development standards and hardware configuration on the

AS/400

. Facilitated JAD sessions with 11 countries to capture business

requirements

. Led the RFP process to select an ERP solution - BPCS

. Led development of all additions, modifications and interfaces for BPCS

ASK/MANMAN, MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA 1988 - 1990

Senior Technical Consultant

. Installed and upgraded MANMAN/HP software for various ASK customers

. Trained and consulted for HP3000, Cognos, Order Management and

Manufacturing

FMC CORPORATION - AUTOMOTIVE, CONWAY, AR 1986 - 1988

Programmer Analyst

. Implemented and supported ASK MANMAN (ERP) modules for General Ledger,

Inventory Management, Order Management, AR, AP, MRP and MPS

. Designed and developed a service and commission system integrated with

ASK MANMAN driving increased sales of service parts by more than 25%

annually

Education

Liberal Arts degree in Mathematics with emphasis in Computer Studies

Hendrix College, Conway, Arkansas

Professional Development

Six Sigma - Black Belt Sponsor, Influential Leadership, Leading Through

Change, Customer Relationship Management, IS Governance, Project and

Portfolio Management, Coaching

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