IC Agile Coach/Facilitator, RTE, CSM, SPC 4

Karen Camille Richmond

Release Train Engineer (CA Technologies Trained), Certified ScrumMaster, SAFe Program Consultant, ICAgile Certified Professional, Agile Team Facilitator (ICP-ATF) and Agile Coach (ICP-ACC) and Member of the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership

Email: *********@*****.***

Tel: 773-***-****

Chicago, Illinois

Professional Summary

Served as Scrummaster, SAFe Release Train Engineer, Agile Coach and Servant Leader at Bank of America.

Previously, served in other roles throughout Bank of America and a consulting a firm under the following roles: Programmer, Business Analysis, Quality Assurance and Manager, Audit, Testing and/or Project Management in several industries: financial services (AML (anti-money laundering)/KYC (Know Your Customer), commercial, investment banking, global markets and risk), insurance, surety, pharmaceuticals, logistics, academics, IT sales support, B2B (accounting systems), and Sarbanes Oxley compliance/audit, online gaming and retail food service.

Experience in Quality Assurance management (test planning, execution and reporting) with large teams with emphasis on the effective software testing that delivers products & services that consistently meet or exceed customer expectations. Strong understanding of the testing toolkit: Functional, Front end, backend testing, ETL, Data Migration, Data Services (SOA), automated testing (functional, SOA, Performance), User Acceptance.

Strong knowledge in all areas of the SDLC lifecycle and how it relates to technology disciplines. Able to navigate and prove to be resilient through challenging projects to ensure successful application of a quality product.

Under Waterfall and Agile: Sound facilitation and management experience, which includes and is not limited to: Facilitating decisions guided by facts and sound judgment, identifying and resolving operational issues using defined Scrum/Project team processes and frameworks as required.

As a test manager: Responsible for the management (financial, resource and project) and coordinating of approximately 30 to 100 plus resources with an understanding of the dynamics of team resource hybrid mix. (Associate/Contractor/ (offshore, near-shore and onshore.) Coordinating and supervising daily testing activities. Defining priorities across the teams. Managing resources and establishing goals, Ensure that resources are secured for all efforts, Reviewing and providing input on all project level documentation, approving detailed estimates and timelines, and recommending alternate testing processes/strategies for teams where a higher level of effectiveness/lower level of risk (i.e. change of process) is required.

Under Waterfall: Strong creation/use/understanding of artifacts used/created in SDLC: Business Requirements Documents (BRDs), test plans, creation of detailed Microsoft project plan work breakdown structure, detailed estimates, traceability matrices, automated test scripts, status reporting, and closeout documents. Go/no go documents, defect management tools. This knowledge exists dues to the fact that I have been a BA, Auditor, PM, Developer (COBOL, RPG 1 and 2), and QA Tester/Manager at some point in my career.

Part of a team to set up processes for training and professional development of Quality Assurance teams.

IT Skill and Knowledge Base

Database : General RDBMS knowledge

Operating Systems : Windows, UNIX

Software Packages : Rally, MS-Office Products (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Visio, Project)

Tools : HP Quality Center Suite

Clarity (Resource/Time management), Internal Resource Financial tools

Current Employer

Bank of America /Merrill Lynch - Mar 2006 – Present

Title : Vice President, Technical Delivery Lead/Systems Engineer

Role(s) : Release Train Engineer, Servant Leader/ScrumMaster/SAFe Program

Consultant/Lean Agile Coach, (2014-Present)

Team Size : 30 + (Multiple Agile teams)

Apps Supported: CashPro Online/CashPro Mobile (iOS), BAML Payments, and CashPro Credit

Responsibilities: Possesses the ability to leverage servant-leadership to positively influence change. As a Servant-leader, I am charged with the responsibility of enabling teams and those who they interact to learn and live SAFe, Agile, and Scrum principles by teaching and coaching the Agile theory, practices, and framework.

Provides service to the Product Owner (PO) in several ways, including: facilitating in helping them to find techniques for effective Product Backlog management, helping the PO and the Team understand the need for clear and concise Product Backlog items, Ensuring the Product Owner knows how to arrange the Product Backlog to maximize value, understand and practice (inspect and adapt) agility; and, facilitating Scrum events as requested or needed.

Provides service to the Development Team by coaching them in relentless teamwork, empower the team to be transparent, self-organization, cross-functionality, appreciating one another for what each one of them bring to the team and fun. Protecting the team from external noise and items outside of usual impediments that hinder their performance. Helping the Team to create high-value products by removing impediments to the Development Team’s progress and coaching the team in organizational environments in which Scrum is not yet fully adopted and understood. Help the team to negotiate with those groups who have not yet adopted the Agile. Helping the team to consistently inspect and adapt for self-improvement.

Provides service to the Organization by leading and coaching the organization in its Scrum adoption, transformation, standing up new team, training, helping employees and stakeholders understand and enact Scrum and empirical product development, facilitating change that increases the productivity of the Scrum Team, and working with other Scrummasters to increase the effectiveness of the application of Scrum in the organization by forming scrum circles that allow other Scrummasters to share experiences and help one another to resolve issues and share techniques for promoting the Agile mindset throughout the teams in the enterprise.

Title : Vice President; Team Manager Systems Software /QA

Role(s) : Systems Test Manager (2005-2014)

Team : GCPI - Client Information Technology

Team Size : 30 -100 +

Apps Supported: Number of systems supported: 39 (BA Legacy and BA/ML Applications) in addition to the systems listed below:

Middleware, OneView (Internal Client Payments Tracking System), LEO (AML/Client Onboarding), DMP (Client onboarding), CED (Customer (Information) Entity Database) Services, eXpedite (Credit Approval and Process Monitoring application used for Global Markets Credit Approval Flow, with a global user base.), MCD (Master Client Data that supports workflow for creating/updating fixed income and equities clients) information including sales and trading coverage. Master source data for other equities and FI (Fixed Income) applications within Global Markets, Legacy Sales Tools

Testing Performed: Front end, backend testing, ETL Data Warehouses, Data Migration, Data Services (SOA), Regression, Performance, Batch

Team: Customer Relationship Management QA All BAC Legacy software, LaSalle Bank Transition - Testing Performed: Front end, backend testing, ETL, Data Migration, Data Services (SOA), Regression, Performance, Batch

Past Employers

Dates : 1996 – 2006

Organization : Blackwell Consulting Services

Consulting Clients: Bank of America, Aon, Kemper Insurance, Abbott Laboratories, DSC Logistics Inc., Chicago City Colleges, Cincinnati State, USG

Role: Consultant (Project and QA Manager, Business Analyst)

Description: Acted in several capacities while at this organization. Project Manager, BA and QA Lead

for short team to multi-generational projects

Responsibilities: As PM: (Pharmaceuticals, Academics, Logistics/Warehousing, Construction Supplies)

Creating and tracking project plan.

Client focused testing (UAT)

Reviewing documents (project artifacts) for approval

Liaison with client, test, BA and development teams for joint activities such as status, go/no go escalation issues, document reviews, change control meeting

Delivery of status to the entire team

Tracking the budgets of projects (fixed bid and time and materials)

Document reviews / signoffs

As BA/QA Manager: (Surety, Logistics/Warehousing, Insurance, Food services)

The duties mirrored the duties of a PM with the exception of the responsibility of these activities revolved around testing.

Team: BAC Global Markets - THUB ((Sales)Transaction Hub) - Data Warehouse/Datamart - Testing Performed: Backend and ETL

MacDonald’s Corporation: (Sr. Level III Unix support)

Dean Witter/Sears: (Retail Sales backend technical support for IBM midrange, PC and POS systems

GM/EDS Corporation: (telecommunications (switch) support for General Motors)

IBM: (Support and consulting of general and construction-base accounting tools, coding/development)

Professional / Academic Credentials

Release Train Engineer (class administered by CATechnoligies, a SAFe Certified Trainer)

(SAFe) Scaled Agile Framework Program Consultant 3 and 4

Certified ScrumMaster, Scrum Alliance

ICAgile Certified Professional: Agile Team Facilitator (ICP-ATF) and Agile Coach (ICP-ACC)

Member of the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership

Practical use of Six Sigma DMAIC lifecycle

Practice Workflow and Information Management Redesign Specialist, Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology Workforce Development in September 2012

Loyola University - Chicago, Illinois BA

Texas Womans University Denton, Texas, Masters Level Finance and Computer Information Systems Courses

References provided upon request

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