Project Manager Management

Valerie A. Lyford

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**** **** ***** ? Roscoe, IL 61073 ? 815-***-**** ? **********@*****.***

Project Management ? Training ? Process Improvement

Accomplished senior professional with 20+ years experience; project

manager, trainer, technical writer, with a proven track record for

increasing client satisfaction through development of professional staff.

Combines passion with practical problem solving techniques, excellent

communication skills and commitment to contributing to an organizations

bottom line.

Professional Experience

WPP . July 1985 to December 2009

WPP is one of the world's largest media and communications services

conglomerates, with operations in more than 100 countries.

Kantar Operations . Lisle, IL . June 2005 to December 2009

Kantar Operations is the internal social and marketing research division

for the Kantar Group (a WPP company).

Senior Manager - Project Management Department - (2004-2009)

Considered part of the companies senior leadership with involvement in

the strategic development of company-level systems, procedures and

practices. Reporting to the Vice President of the Project Management

department and also part of the department senior leadership team

accountable for departments' utilization, allocation of resources,

quality, timeliness and budget management for work-in-progress, and cross

company initiatives. Primary responsibility was managing training,

recruitment and development of new Project Managers as well as creating

and managing ongoing training for senior staff. Other responsibilities

included business software tool design/development and business process

improvement and quality programs.

Training:

Designed and implemented induction training program and ongoing

supplemental training for department of 80 personnel across 10 offices

and 13 teams

* Authored and presented training sessions covering theory, technical

processes, practical applications and behavioral soft skills

* Re-launched Project Management role via 3 day workshops held on site

throughout the country collaborating with Human Resources in design

and presentation of materials with the goal of moving staff from

process followers to valued added trusted consultants

* Coordinated cross departmental training both domestically and in

partnership with international regions

* Managed new hire staff for initial 6-12 months, with as many as 5 at

a time

* Developed and presented company wide financial process and

accountability training

* Increased client satisfaction scores by 10% year on year across all

areas measured such as ownership, efficiency, collaboration,

communication, respect and professional courtesy.

Professional Experience cont.

Business Software Tool Design/Development:

Lead business owner for development and roll out of proprietary

company wide software used for project management, job tracking and

quality assessment system

* Managed coordination of feedback, business validation/testing,

supported upcoming releases, updated user documentation,

coordinated and planned user training

* Designed and implemented departmental metric reporting using data

based information

* Analyzed data and prepared compliance reports for CEO and internal

department managers

* Departmental compliance measures increased 65%

Business Process Improvement Program:

Developed financial processes surrounding initial cost management, re-

costs, ongoing budget management and accurate project closure

procedures; designed and coordinated user training

* Identified areas of inefficiency in all areas of the organization

and developed and rolled out newly defined processes

* Purchase order and invoice management improved by 60%, P&L variances

on closed jobs decreased by 30%

Millward Brown . Naperville, IL . July 1985 to June 2005

A global leader in marketing research, well known for pioneering many of

the industry's most innovative research technologies and techniques

Senior Manager/Manager- Telephone Project Management (2000-2004)

Reporting to Vice President of Project Management department, managed

team of 10 market research Project Managers focusing on telephone market

research projects covering a wide variety of industry sectors such as:

Pharmaceutical, Automotive, IT, Consumer Packaged Goods, Beverage,

Financial Services, Agriculture, Retail and Restaurants

* Developed and rolled out proprietary production reporting system used

to streamline assessment of project level efficiencies and identify areas

of concern assess project level efficiencies

Project Manager/Senior Project Manager - Telephone Project Management

(1991-1999)

Managed over 900 custom telephone survey projects with responsibilities

including timeline management and coordination of internal support

departments for on-time delivery of research data with project budgets

ranging from $50,000 to $1 million+

Supervisor/Interviewer - Call Center (1985-1991)

Supervised a team of 10 to 25 interviewers conducting custom market

research telephone surveys

Education

Clarke College Dubuque, IA ?1984 ?B.A. History/Spanish ?Senior Class

President

Computer Skills

MS Office Suite, MS Access, MS Outlook, MS Visio, Quanvert, Quancept,

mrInterview, Dimensions, Business Objects, Etabs

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