MARK F. STRAUSS

Succasunna, New Jersey *****

201-***-**** ac7s4x@r.postjobfree.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-strauss

IT PROJECT MANAGER

Experienced management professional with ability to nurture client relationships, recruit and relate to both senior business executives and operational level staff. Experienced in proposal writing, sales support and solutions delivery management has contributed significantly to building business solutions for clients. Strong team leading skills along with analytical capabilities. Expert in negotiating contracts.

Oversight and delivery management for the various phases of the system life-cycle, from initial needs assessments and cost estimates through concepts and requirements development, design, development, testing, implementation and support for matrixed teams.

Exceptional track record of building relationships with stakeholders, vendors and clients that has resulted in high customer satisfaction. Creative in problem solving and service deficiency.

Strong team builder who creates a results-oriented work environment. Self-starter with solid experience managing cross-functional teams on complex IT projects. Experience communicating with and presenting to C-level staff.

Champion the needs and issues of the Business by providing timely, clear and concise communications while escalating risks and issues effectively. Provide strategic direction on programs.

EXPERIENCE

Cognizant Technology Solutions – IT Project / Program Manager 2007 – 2018

Managed cross-functional digital financial services and P&C insurance projects, including governance, risk,

scope, budget, planning and gap analysis; change, resource and vendor management. Conducted weekly

Steering Committee and budget meetings. Oversight for team of on and offshore, consulting and employee

staff. Global portfolio managed included project teams of 25 to 160 people with budgets ranging from $1M to

$19.5M. Bridged gap between IT Staff and Business Sponsors. Collaborated with Data Management and PMO

teams and vendors to ensure key deliverables were met. Experienced in negotiation and consensus building.

Directed global PMO Operations team. Single point of contact with Client’s IT Procurement team for contracts, SOWs and invoicing. Liaison for the Client senior executive management and Cognizant team. Assisted various departments in pre-sale and post-sale support. Identified client issues and removed roadblocks. Analyzed program metrics and provided data on forecasts and resource capacity plans. Mentored and trained Project Management staff; provided staff performance feedback. Provided critical analysis of complex projects.

Implemented Sircon Netappoint 2.0 for onboarding agencies thru a web-hosted application for P&C client.

Managed P&C Umbrella project with 160 resources over 10-month period with budget of $4.5 MM.

Delivered for multi-country program to build full life-cycle P&C systems in Brazil for Personal lines and

Small commercial business using Exigen Policy Admin and Policy Billing product suite across Latin America.

Guided and motivated staff of 21 resources, resulting in successful client engagements and improved morale.

Grew account revenue by 12 percent through implementation of various strategic account initiatives.

In project rescue mode reduced programs negative budget variance of over $1.8M to a positive variance of

over $270k, while turning program’s PMO Dashboard status from red to green in a one-month timeframe.

Developed a Project Manager Handbook enabling Project Managers to successfully execute their projects.

Reduced outstanding invoices from $10.7M to $713K in 6-month period. Eliminated $87k in interest charges.

Increased Account Resource team from 327 to 513 in 3 years resulting in increased revenue.

In charge of full-cycle Human Capital Management (HCM) staffing inclusive of sourcing, interviewing,

background and reference checks, hiring, onboarding and termination. Created daily Staffing Status Report.

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Mark F. Strauss 201-***-****

InfoUSA – PMO Program Manager / Product Manager 2005 – 2007

Managed multiple concurrent domestic and international, medium to large scale web-based projects from

SOW thru delivery following the SDLC for Fortune 100 client companies. Managed contract, budget and

resources for projects. Reviewed client invoices and drafted SOW’s as needed to support business initiatives.

Presented project overview, metrics, risk and financial status to Stakeholders and Executive Staff.

Managed large scale $1.5M implementation of B2B acquisition database for major credit card company

enabling Users to create direct marketing campaigns to prospective clients. Solution provided for data

hygiene, data warehousing and analytical reporting. Analyzed customer usage data based off insights.

Data Integration of 6 different disparate systems for digital imaging company into one standardized

B2B marketing database system allowing client to reallocate processing dollars into marketing efforts.

Project was completed 2 weeks ahead of schedule, within budget and exceeded customer expectations.

ADDITIONAL RELEVANT WORK EXPERIENCE

Hartford Life Private Placement

PMO Senior Project Manager

NaviSys, Inc. (Insurance Software)

IT PMO Manager

Baker & Taylor, Inc. (Media / Publishing Company)

Director, Project Management Office (PMO) - Implemented PMO structure and strategy, and Managed PMO

Perot Systems Corporation (The Robert Plan Corporation – P&C Client)

Senior Manager, Program Management Office (PMO) - Implemented PMO structure for Insurance Client

Electronic Data Systems

Information Specialist / Project Manager

EDUCATION

BBA, Computer Information Systems - Bernard M. Baruch College, City University of New York, New York

Account Management – Harvard Business Publishing

PMP in progress

SOFTWARE

MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook), Microsoft Project, NIKU, RUP, PMBOK, PMI, JIRA,

SaaS, Agile (SCRUM), Iterative, Waterfall and SDLC Methodology, SFDC, Visio, eProject, Oracle,

DB2, ERP, CRM, SQL, ETL, PeopleSoft, KBACE, MDM, Webex, SharePoint, SalesForce.

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