James Costa
Email: *********@********.***
Address: ***** ******** *****
City: Ashburn
State: VA
Zip: 20148
Country: USA
Phone: 720-***-****
Skill Level: Management
Salary Range: $70,000
Primary Skills/Experience:
See Resume
Educational Background:
See Resume
Job History / Details:
James D. Costa
42694 Chisholm Drive, Virginia 20148
720/951-1504 * *********@********.***
PROJECT MANAGER AND BUSINESS ANALYST / MORTGAGE BANKING EXPERTISE / EXCELLENT LEADERSHIP SKILLS
Professional Objective: I am an accomplished, multifaceted professional with broad-based experience across all aspects of business and technical operations across multiple industries. Proven industry experience in banking, mortgage, insurance, healthcare, telecommunication, and government sectors.
20+ years of experience and success in the financial industry in project management, business analysis, operations, and communications. 12 of those years as an independent business consultant. Clients included: Charles Schwab, Pacific Bell Telephone, VISA, Wells Fargo Bank, George Mason Mortgage, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of North Carolina, AIG, Lenders Processing Services and Fannie Mae.
Successfully led several efforts to find short and long term solutions on pressing business issues. Able to resolve complex projects.
Conducted data mapping analysis between new data model and legacy data model. At Freddie Mac, evaluate data between MISMO v3 format to legacy loan data delivery format. Findings used for training and communication purpose. At Blue Cross Blue Shield, compared new medical data format to legacy format. Findings to be used for a new medical billing application.
Familiar with Extensible Markup Language (XML). At Lehman Brothers, maintained a large inventory of xml test cases for an automated underwriting application project. Modified xml tests cases and ran via an xml test harness. At Freddie Mac, responsible for evaluating defective xml files reported by 1-800-Freddie to determine root cause of problem.
Expert in leading and managing operational areas, managing processes, risk management, and customer service to create strong teams and achieve departmental goals in the mortgage industry.
Expert at maximizing individual and team capabilities, and building strong inter-project team and customer relationships to create win-win solutions. Expert in turn-around or start-up situations.
Considerable expertise in successfully leading change management efforts including internal/external communications, education, and process change.
Able to influence at all levels of the organization, and effectively negotiate and leverage resources.
Excellent working knowledge of SDLC (Software Development Lifecycle).
Assisted with development of business cases for upcoming projects.
Successfully lead a SWAT Team on a major and complex project at Freddie Mac in 2012.
Mitigated business risks by conducting IT assessments and consulted project teams on requirements for specific automated application controls and manual controls.
Multi-talented professional who can easily wear different hats on a project: Project Manager, Business Analyst, Tester, Financial Analyst, and Report Writer.
Working Knowledge: RUP, UML, Use Cases, Agile, Storyboarding, PowerMHS, Enpower, Groupwise, MS Access, Nomad, ILOG 5.7, QRM, PowerPoint, MicroStrategy Office, Jira, Eclipse, Peregrine AssetCenter, Visio, CaliberRM, MS SQL, ReqPro, ClearQuest, Remedy, DOORs, XMLSpy, Oracle Financial Tool, MS Projects, MS Excel, MS Word, HP Quality Center, SDLC Methodologies.
KEY PROJECTS AS A CONSULTANT 1999 TO PRESENT
Client: Fannie Mae, Washington DC Sep 2012 to Dec 2012
BoD Metric Project (Short Term Project)
Responsible for collecting and evaluating all metric information and prepare for senior management`s review. Metric is any type of measurement used to gauge some quantifiable component of a company's performance. Developed an MS Access database for reporting purpose and analysis. This was a short term project of 4 months.
Client: Freddie Mac, McLean, VA Nov 2010 to Aug 2012
Uniform Loan Delivery Dataset (ULDD) Project
ULDD is a standardization of Loan delivery data that leverages the use of MISMO in delivering loan data electronically. Primary Role: Project Manager. Responsible for the performance of a large sized technical project per FHFA`s requirements of a standardization of loan delivery data. Tasks included: Managing a SWAT Team; requirements management, change management, risk/issue management, resource management, User Acceptance Testing, report writing, communication planning, troubleshooting defects, operational readiness preparation (policies, procedures, and guidelines), development of the risk/control matrix, promoting and researching of enhancements, tracking and managing deliverables, and motivating project members to excel on their assigned tasks.
Client: Fannie Mae, Herndon, VA Apr 2009 to Nov 2010
Making Home Affordable (MHA) Project
MHA is President Obama`s initiative that helps struggling homeowners get mortgage relief through a variety of programs. Role: Business Analyst on program requirements and Procedure Writer of various operation tasks. Primary Role: Operational Readiness Consultant. Tasks included: Writing a majority of operational procedures; development of the risk/control matrix, troubleshooting defects, gathering requirements, identification of use cases, development of workaround solutions, developed weekly progress report and tracking defects/solutions.
Client: Lender Processing Services Company, Westminster, CO Dec 2008 to Mar 2009
Internal IT Audit Project
Within a matter of days of an IT assignment I became the -Subject Matter Expert- of a floundering internal IT auditing system project that was in jeopardy of missing its implementation date. Identified all requirements and development gaps, created use cases, test plans, and trained the system`s corporate-wide users. Single-handedly facilitated the project`s successful completion by its original deadline.
Client: United Guaranty Corporation, Greensboro, NC July 2008 to Nov 2008
Various IT Insurance Projects
Evangelized best practices for requirement management. Development of functional specification and Graph User Interface specifications. Creation of a vendor survey to assist with purchasing of a billing system.
Client: Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, Durham, NC Mar 2008 to July 2008
Children Health Insurance Project
Primary responsibility at BCBSNC was to capture business requirements for a new medical insurance product line. Worked on EDI 4010 integration and a HIPAA compliance project. Elicit business requirements from various stakeholders and developing functional specification document and Test Script Document.
Client: Freddie Mac, McLean, VA Aug 2003 to Jan 2005
Selling System Improvement Project
Wrote detailed description of user needs, program functions and steps required to develop special computer programs within the Freddie Mac Selling System. Evaluated proposed software and software enhancement for feasibility. Studied existing information processing systems to evaluate effectiveness of using ILOG Jrule builder for the business community.
Client: George Mason Mortgage, Fairfax, VA Apr 2003 to Jul 2003
New Loan Origination System Project
Interviewed Loan Officers, Loan Processors, Post Closers, Shippers, and Underwriters and wrote detailed description of user needs, program functions and steps required to develop a new Loan Origination System.
Client: Wells Fargo Bank, Clayton, MO Feb 2002* to Apr 2003
Trade Desk Improvement Project
Prepared workflow charts and diagrams to specify in detail what operations were to be performed by computer programs and operations related to the Asset Backed Securities programs. Documented current Trade Desk processes including hedging, buy-up buy-down, and other processes.
Client: Visa, Foster City, CA Jun 2000 to Jun 2001*
Asset Tracking Software Project
First project team to successfully implement Asset Tracking software at Visa. The project team was responsible to deploy the asset tracking software in the USA, Asia, and Europe Visa offices. Responsibilities included localization of the software in various locations.
Client: Pacific Bell, Oakland, CA Dec 1999 to Jun 2000
Human Resource Reporting Project
Responsible for the documentation of data structure within the Human Resource IT system and assisted with the generation of ad-hoc and standard reports.
Client: Charles Schwab, San Francisco, CA July 1999 to Dec 1999
Internal Audit Projects
Worked in the IT Internal Audit department, responsible for IT audits projects to ensure all IT projects adhere to strict software guidelines.
OTHER PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE- FULL TIME POSITIONS
Lehman Brothers - Project Manager/ Business Analyst - Automated Underwriting Project, 01/2005 - 03/2008
Bank of America - Various positions: Sr Financial Analyst, Nomad Programmer, Project Manager, 06/1989 - 06/ 1999 & *06/2001 - 02/2002
EDUCATION
University of Hawaii at Manoa, Bachelor of Arts degree
Cal State University of Los Angeles, Computer Analysis Program
Computer Learning Center of Los Angeles, Diploma for Computer Desktop Program
Currently studying for the PMP exam.
MILITARY SERVICE
United States Marine Corps, Pacific Fleet Marine Force - If want you a -Gung Ho- individual on your team
Hire a Marine!
Reference/Recommendations
For more information on the past accomplishments and work ethics refer to the following URL:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/menehune