Scrum Master

Timothy M. Baffa

*** *. ****** ***.

Lombard, IL 60148

708-***-**** ************@***.***

Executive Summary:

A certified scrum master with a successful record of managing IT development efforts and fostering team

and organizational growth. Competencies include requirement definition, business analysis, issue

management, risk mitigation, stakeholder management, conflict resolution, and proficiency with the MS

Office suite of products. Experienced in developing, delivering, and supporting derivatives-based

initiatives utilizing both SDLC and Agile project methodology within the capital markets industry .

Career highlights:

• Passed the Scrum.org Professional Scrum Master certification exam (PSM1) in December 2014

• Passed the Scrum Alliance Scrum Master certification exam (CSM) in January 2013

• Led demonstration of trading system functionality and market supervision responsibilities for the

Trend Exchange to the CFTC in November 2009

• Managed the on-boarding of 55 financial firms to a centrally-cleared FX platform

• Primary customer relationship manager for the CBOT while at The Clearing Corporation

• Designed and developed the first real-time trade match at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange

Professional Summary:

Bank of America Chicago, IL April 2014 - Jan 2015

Agile Project Manager

Promoted team and management growth through instruction and application of both Agile and Lean

practices

Served a large development team that executed development and testing utilizing a hybrid,

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iterative approach

Facilitated team estimation, story refinement, sprint execution, and team retrospectives

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Trained both product owners and technical team on requirement definition, story creation and

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acceptance criteria definition

Coordinated with team and stakeholders to manage multiple software releases

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RPM Financial Markets Group Chicago, IL June 2013 – March 2014

Associate

Business Analyst for a start-up financial services company.

Provided subject matter expertise to financial firms around operational processing and trade

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management for derivatives

Developed operational and regulatory documentation for financial clients in the Chicago

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financial district to assist them with Dodd Frank compliance requirements

Bank of America / Merrill Lynch Chicago, IL Nov 2012 – May 2013

Scrum Master

Facilitated the adoption of Agile (scrum) development methodology within the Global Derivatives

Confirmation and Settlement Division of Bank of America / Merrill Lynch.

Performed as Scrum Master for three separate concurrent scrum teams over 6-month period

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Facilitated Scrum events such as Sprint Planning, Daily Stand-ups, Product Backlog

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Refinement, Sprint Reviews, and Sprint Retrospectives within 2-week iterations

Worked within the organization to identify and eliminate “waste”, promote lean operational

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policies, and communicate the benefits of communication and transparency

Worked individually with team members to foster team growth through Agile principles

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Partnered with product owners to effectively groom product backlog, track team productivity,

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and establish release plans

Created and delivered power point presentation on Specification By Example

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The Trend Exchange (formerly Media Derivatives) Chicago, IL Sept 2009 – Sept 2011

Customer Relationship Manager

Provided value to the start-up commodities exchange in the areas of project management, integration

testing, risk identification and analysis, mitigation and contingency planning, stakeholder management,

vendor management, and executive communications.

Developed and managed execution of on-boarding project plans

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Developed and coordinated Trend Exchange operational schedules and deliverable

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dependencies with stakeholders

Managed integration testing efforts for trade clearing, position management, customer

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reporting, market supervision, and regulatory requirements

Performed extensive customer and product research in support of business development

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Contributed to the development of CRM application to support marketing efforts

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ION Trading (formerly Rolfe & Nolan) Chicago, IL Apr 2008 - Jan 2009

Project Manager – Client Services

Created and promoted managerial and procedural improvements through a newly-defined role within the

organization.

Identified areas of procedural inefficiencies within Client Services, and proposed

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improvements to existing processes

Defined activities, developed project plans, measured project performance, and created and

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delivered executive level project status communications for customer-based RISC system

projects performed by Client Services staff

Scheduled and managed client relationship meetings with RISC customers

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Provided RISC system support for customer issues, business objects requests, system

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access, and other customer issues as needed

FXMarketSpace, Inc. Chicago, IL Oct 2006 - Mar 2008

Project Manager – Clearing and Settlement

A leading contributor to the successful launch of the first centrally-cleared foreign exchange commodity

platform.

1 Directed the development and execution of on-boarding project plans for 15

clearing firms and 40 trading firms. Provided essential expertise in scope management,

system analysis, activity definition and estimation, resource management, stakeholder

management, quality control, risk management, project communication, and operational

readiness initiatives

2 Created business documentation related to Statements of Service,

Business Continuity, Disaster Recovery, and periodic Executive Summaries (i.e. – dashboard,

score cards)

3 Participated in development of onboarding CRM application in Salesforce

4 Conducted internal data audit of all clearing and trading registrations in

Salesforce

Encore Consulting Services, Inc. Chicago, IL Jan 2005 - Jun 2006

Business Analyst consultant

Provided critical business analysis services for financial industry clients.

Calamos Industries: Supported a major system conversion through requirement definition,

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screen design, and system documentation

Chicago Mercantile Exchange: Prepared key business and technical analysis for a major

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system conversion (GAINS to GPS). Created job schedules, system and data mapping

documentation, and plan for decommissioning of legacy GAINS system

TransMarket Group, LLC: Improved existing project methodology by developing new

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procedures around Release Management, Test Approach, Scope and Requirement Definition,

Version Control, and Change Management

Lawson Products, Inc.: Documented and recommended supply chain solutions for Lawson’s

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Order Entry, Billing, and Inventory systems

The Clearing Corporation Chicago, IL Feb 2000 - Sept 2004

Group Manager and Project Manager

Fostered company growth and success through effective staff direction and management of significant

and concurrent project initiatives.

1 Demonstrated proficiency and leadership in the areas of project initiation, activity

definition and estimation, project budget estimation, resource management and development,

project communication and reporting, stakeholder management, procurement management,

project execution, quality control, risk management, contingency planning, and change

management.

2 Fulfilled pivotal role as primary CBOT relationship manager for The Clearing

Corporation

3 Supervised the daily development and maintenance of production systems

Successfully delivered the following derivative-based systems and enhancements:

4 New Trade Management System (TMS) – Development of new Trade

Management system platform, providing the foundation for future system development

5 SLEDs – Created a better interface for spread trade data entry and maintenance

6 Quarter Tick Spreads – Accounted for a 100% increase in CBOT electronic

options volume

7 Electronic Shipping Certificates – Removed the need for paper-based delivery

transactions and improved delivery reporting and auditing

8 New Exchange Fees – Created 14 additional revenue streams for The Clearing

Corporation

9 CBOT Handheld Terminal processing - Dramatically reduced transaction entry

errors and provided improved audit capabilities

10 Separation of Pay/Collect – Protected The Clearing Corporation from firm default

risk

CNA Insurance Chicago, IL Nov 1998 - Nov 1999

MQseries Technical Analyst

Successfully completed a 12-month contract to provide support and direction for MQseries design,

administration, and analysis for in-house system development.

1 Lead system designer for CNA Exchange project. Designed, developed, and

maintained MQseries messaging services. Established multi-queue approach for distributed

processing

2 Integrated application environments with Candle MQseries monitoring software

3 Established and documented standards for application exception processing,

queue triggering, error handling, application logging, and object naming conventions

Chicago Mercantile Exchange Chicago, IL May 1992 - Oct 1998

Project Manager

In the highly-visible Trade Management division of the CME, served the exchange in the key positions of

Senior Systems Analyst and Project Manager.

1 Directed processes for stakeholder management, requirement and scope

definition, project plan development, resource management, project execution, integration

and Q/A testing, status reporting, change control, and post-production support

2 Primary software developer and analyst for Clearing 21, the worldwide exchange

standard for clearing and trade management systems

1 Systems developed and supported include Real-Time Trade Match, Exchange for

Physical System (EPS), Singapore Mutual Offset, Continuous Edit process, proprietary

MQseries real-time monitor, Currency Exchange Rate system, and Business Calendar

module

Education:

Villanova University Online VIL37 - Essentials of Project Management (2011)

Triton College Associates in Arts/Science in Data Processing (1987)

Training:

PMP Project Management Professional Certification Training Course, 2012

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2010 Microsoft Project, 2012

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Managing Projects with 2007 Microsoft Project, 2012

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Management Skills & Techniques for New Supervisors (AMA), 2002

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