Project Manager Management

Alpa ‘April’ Cobb

**** ******** **• Schaumburg, IL 60173 • Phone: 847-***-**** • Email: *********@*****.***

Project Management, Process Improvement

Highly passionate and results-driven leader with extensive project management, organizational change

management and process improvement experience within various industries. Ability to effectively transform

organization’s culture through people, process and technology with sustainable results.

SKILLS

PEOPLE PROCESS TECHNOLOGY

• • Microsoft Office Products

Organizational Change Lean Six Sigma

Lotus SmartSuite Products

Management Methodologies

Microsoft Project/Visio

• •

Team Building Process Reengineering

HP Service Manager

• •

Enterprise Resource New Product Development

Minitab

•

Management Transition Planning

Various collaboration

• •

Conflict Resolution/ Metrics identification and tools (i.e. WebEx, MS

Negotiations base lining SharePoint, Yammer)

• •

Learning Development and Financial Management PDW Resource

Delivery Knowledge Based

Management

• Global/virtual team mgmt Configuration/Mass

ARIS Process Modeling

• Customization

Facilitation

EXPERIENCE

PROJECT MANAGER, PROCESS IMPROVEMENT, Northbrook, IL Oct 2012 – Present

Tek Systems– Allstate

As part of the Project Management Office, responsible for implementing consistent Demand management

processes that includes intake, estimation, slotting and resource management for one of the largest IT divisions.

Work with various delivery leads, portfolio managers and estimators to develop requirements, design, build, test

and rollout while identifying and mitigating any issues or risks.

Manage complex, large scale demand management process and tool development and

implementation which includes training to the entire organization

Responsible for all aspects of the implementation including project, process, and change

management

PROJECT MANAGER, PROCESS IMPROVEMENT, Rosemont, IL Feb 2012 – Oct 2012

US Foods– Food Distribution

As part of the Supply Chain Replenishment organization, responsible for managing various projects. Work with

functional leads to define requirements, tasks, dependencies, milestones and due dates relating to business

projects and monitor the completion of each task, highlighting issues or delays to the appropriate management.

Manage complex, large scale ($3M+) modernization of purchasing system implementation

Mentor and coach process analysts on various tools and techniques to effectively manage process

improvements

Launched companywide process excellence affinity group to network, develop and share best

practices

Optimized a new hire orientation process that successfully on boarded large amounts of new hires on

a monthly basis

Designed and launched department wide SharePoint site for more efficient collaboration & knowledge

sharing between corporate and the field offices

Alpa ‘April’ Cobb

Resume, Page Two

DIRECTOR, BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION, Schaumburg, IL Apr 2011 – Dec 2011

PromoWorks – Marketing Services, In Store Sampling for CPG/Retailers

Reporting directly to the CEO/Chairman of the Board, identify, lead and implement all companywide

transformation projects.

Utilized SharePoint and Yammer.com to help the organization collaborate more effectively in order to

build a culture of social learning and sharing

Conducted several cross functional kaizen teams to optimize the Finance and Logistics processes.

Develop and managed the implementation plans.

Redesign the entire field operations organizations to support the converting shoppers to buyers

strategy.

Initiated and led volunteer teams to conduct quarterly Town Halls that received overwhelming positive

feedback

BLACK BELT, Schaumburg, IL Feb 2011 – Mar 2011

Nielsen – Business Process Improvement, Advanced Analytic Consulting

Provided overall Business Process Improvement (BPI) leadership for Nielsen's Advanced Analytic Consulting

(marketing mix) business unit by leading projects and initiatives with broad scope and high impact to the

business/customer.

*Note: Left this position due to spouse was activated in US Army and could no longer travel

PROCESS REENGINEERING ANALYST, Northbrook, IL Jan 2008 – Jan 2011

Allstate – Allstate Technology & Operations

Led process reengineering initiatives that support strategic technology initiatives. Utilize organizational change

management principles to drive sustainable adoption of changes/improvements.

Utilized Six Sigma methodology to improve the efficiency of the Request for Estimate process which

resulted in over $1.3 million/yr net savings. The culture shifted from siloed to collaborative via the new

process

Led team of Sr. Leaders to define a specific organization’s restructuring to a matrix environment

Proactively participated in the largest known US organization transformation initiative to change the

technology organization’s culture to be more engaged and focused on thrilling the customer as a member

of the Transformation Operating Team that governs the initiative along with providing the voice of the

organization

Assisted developing a Grassroots Evaluation of Leaders performance process in which all employees are

empowered to voice their perspective on their leaders in a safe environment

Led the development of a technology wide dashboard that helps all employees connect to the line of sight

to customers via metrics.

Successfully led several Six Sigma projects for one of IT’s operating strategies that involved legacy

modernization. Analyzed and identified that the new technology platform will have 27% cost efficiency

gains which was over $1.8 million/yr.

ENTERPRISE RESOURCE MANAGER, Schaumburg, IL Jan 2005 – Sept 2006

Motorola– Government & Enterprise Mobility Division

Implemented an Enterprise Resource Management process and technology to better forecast IT resource

utilization as an input to portfolio prioritization. Utilized change management principles to help transition

stakeholders towards a role based organization and to adopt new technology and processes.

Implemented a new resource management tool (PDW) to 300+ resources to easily allow project

managers the ability to forecast and plan when skilled resources are available to start on projects

Reengineered the way IT managed resources and their portfolios by creating role based process

workflows/training to assist in understanding how the new process impacted them and how it benefited

them

Alpa ‘April’ Cobb

Resume, Page Three

SENIOR CONSULTANT/RESOURCE MANAGER, Road Warrior Mar 2001 – Jan 2004

Parametric Technology Corporation (PTC) –Consulting for Product Lifecycle Management Solutions

Managed resources within the Product First Practice group that were responsible for creating new consulting

service methodologies, maintaining existing services and managing outsourced development projects.

Managed 7 direct and 32 indirect resources by managing resource allocation, career plans, 360

performance reviews, and conflict resolution

Created a new organizational change management (OCM) consulting service offering from concept to

proven implementation that resulted in added substantial revenue for every technical implementation

project

Developed a process for automating product designs via mass customization

Received several “Excellence” Awards for developing innovative service offerings and for successfully

managing client engagements that led to client references

DESIGN ENGINEER, Elgin, IL Jun 1998 – Mar 2001

Chicago Rawhide, SKF –Manufacturer of Automotive, Industrial and Aerospace rubber seals

Created innovative automated 3D design CAD models for various product lines and their associated mold designs using

Pro/ENGINEER. Successfully managed resistance to the new automated models by fellow engineers by utilizing Organizational Change

Management principles.

Minimized RFQ design time from 3 days down to 3 hrs by embedding 80% of the design rules into the

CAD models so that they are mass customizable. Minimized 3 wks of mold design time down to 1 wk.

Solely responsible for creating, maintaining, training and providing technical support for the automated

process to a group of 25+ engineers. Extensive change management planning and execution.

Chosen as winner of the “Technology TQC” award for developing and implementing the models and

yielding an improved response time for quotes and quality to the end customers

PROJECT ENGINEER, Huntley, IL July 1997– Jun 1998

Duo-Fast Corporation (ITW) – Manufacturer of Nailers and Staplers for Construction Industry

Led a cross functional team to develop a new line of heavy duty commercial staplers while establishing company-

wide New Product Development processes in order to improve time, cost and quality. Conducted several team

building exercises to effectively improve relationships within cross functional teams.

PROJECT ENGINEER, Rockford, IL Jan 1995 – Jun 1997

Greenlee Textron, Inc – Manufacturer of Electrical Contractor Tools

Developed a new line of battery powered crimping tools from prototype to production. Worked with cross

functional departments in order to produce a robust product. Trained production floor personnel on proper

assembly of tools. Authored all end user and assembly instruction manuals. Participated in conducting

marketing surveys and trade show promotions.

EDUCATION

Bradley University – Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, Peoria, IL May 1994

LaMarsh & Associates Managed Change June 2001

Motorola’s Organizational Change Management Mar 2005

Allstate Insurance Company Six Sigma Black Belt Certification July 2009

ASQ Certified Six Sigma Black Belt, Cert No. 9603 Nov 2009

ASQ LEAN training April 2010

LaMarsh & Associates Change Agent Certification Training Aug 2010

SolutionPeople Accelerated Innovation & Creativity Training Dec 2010

Nielsen Company Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Certification Mar 2011

Re-Certify ASQ Certified Six Sigma Black Belt, Cert No. 9603 Dec 2012

Contact this candidate