Ron Czarniak, PMP

Roles/Responsibilities:

Project Management

Solution Design, Management & Implementation

Conversions & Migrations

Mergers/Acquisitions Implementations

Organizational Design

Change Management

Planning, Initiating, Control & Execution

Business Case Development

Budget Management

Process Design

Package Selection/Vendor Management

Tools/Methods:

SDLC Life Cycle Project Management

Waterfall & Agile Methodology

Rational RUP

JAR/JAD/RAD

Microsoft Project

Clarity PPM

HP PPM

Industry Application:

Health Care

Claims – Third-Party Administration

Finance

Manufacturing

Consumer Products

Banking

Hospitality

Memberships:

Project Management Institute (PMI)

Technology Leaders Association (TLA)

Association of Information Technology Professionals (AITP)

Education:

B.S. Management Information Systems – Florida State University

M.S. Operations Management University of Arkansas

Experience Summary

Results driven information systems professional with a demonstrated ability in successfully leading business and technical initiatives. Extensive experience in managing large scale projects through the project management life cycle for business operation projects, full life-cycle application development projects and infrastructure implementation roll-outs. Experience in managing projects ranging in budget from $500K to $30M. Proven track record of managing projects through the project life cycle with a focus on delivering projects on time and within budget enabling clients to achieve their overall strategic and tactical goals.

Skills Inventory

Project Management, Leadership, Communication, Strategy Development, Relationship Building

Large scale Project Management

Solution Planning, Design, Management and Implementation

Information Technologies Restructuring and Reorganization

Mergers & Acquisitions Technology Strategy and Implementation

Regulatory and Legislative Acts Compliance and Implementation

Project Planning & Development

Infrastructure Implementation Rollouts

Business Requirements Solicitation

Risk Management & Mitigation Strategies

Communications Plan Development & Management

Scope Development and Management

Resource Planning & Management

Budget Development & Management

Implementation/Deployment Management & Execution

PMO Development, Management & Execution

Analysis/Design Skills

Business and Technical Workflow Analysis & Design

Rapid Application Development (RAD)

Business Process Engineering and Re-engineering Skills

Facilitation of Joint Application Requirement and Design sessions

Chronological Summary of Experience

Sr. Project Manager (Consultant)

Cox Communications, January 2016 – Present

Sr. Project Manager in the IT Operations Management Office responsible for managing both full life cycle SDLC development projects and operational readiness activities associated with new services, applications, and product launches. Managed client /vendor relationships to ensure that all services were delivered adhering to quality standards established by the Operational Delivery Management Office.

Managed the operational readiness for the rollout of new products and services through the creation of Support Models, Service Guides, Support Handoff Plans, and managing the completion of tasks in the Operational Readiness Framework ensuring the delivery of supportable and sustainable production environments.

Firm understanding of project management methodologies and tools accompanied with creativity and innovative thinking to find solutions to complex problems that can balance short and long-term objectives.

Strong experience in technology planning, project planning, team leadership, as well as establishing and managing service measures to ensure organizational effectiveness.

Oversee the product statement of work enhancements, development, and release management processes.

Validate the product site design with the product managers to ensure the design satisfies the business requirements.

Work with the QA team to plan testing activities ensuring test cases have been defined, executed, and documented in support of the requirements traceability standards.

Manage the infrastructure buildout activities associated with new services, applications, and product launches.

Facilitated review sessions between 3rd party vendors, technology and business partners in the evaluation, selection, and application of new and emerging products and services.

Managed the project scope, delivery, and adherence to quality standards with cross functional teams as required for integrated and enhancement release projects.

Provide financial reports (spend against budget, forecasts, estimate to complete) on a monthly basis to both the PMO and product owners/sponsors.

Validate operational readiness to include requirements, design, testing, documentation, training, tools, change management, service level agreements, service assurance policies & procedures, escalation procedures, and disaster recovery & business continuity planning.

Managed 5 projects simultaneous each ranging in budget from $700k to $2M from inception through Close-Out. (ETA-Direct, SOA Conversion, MDU Easy In & On, MDU Master Contract, iNAV Evolution).

Managed all projects with adherence to the Assured framework and EPM standards using the HP PPM Portfolio Management System to manage all project objectives, cost, schedule, resources, and risks.

Sr. Project Manager

Macy’s Systems and Technology – Retail, July 2013 – January 2016

Sr. Project Manager responsible for managing development initiatives across all phases of the project life cycle for the Advertising & Marketing department. Supported the MAS Production system, a workflow and imaging based management system used to drive the creative processes for all Macy's advertising assets.

Managed the development and rollout of a customer rewards system using both the Waterfall and Agile project management methodologies.

Managed the full project life cycle from project initiation through project closeout.

Defined scope for all projects based on business needs in order to meet client expectations.

Reported statuses on a weekly basis ensuring key stakeholders were accurately informed.

Ensured a common understanding by setting expectations in accordance with the project scope and alignment with stakeholders and team members.

Identified and mitigated risks/issues with team members and management.

Obtained final acceptance for all projects from project sponsors validating that the products and services comply with agreed scope.

Managed the MAS Production system which a budget of $10M, the eWallet project with a budget of $2M, and the Pay Pal conversion project with a budget of 2M form inception through close-out.

Managed all projects with adherence to the Q4M (Quality for Macy’s) standards using the Clarity Project Portfolio Management System to manage all project objectives, cost, schedule, resources, and risks.

Sr. Project Manager

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee – Health Care Provider, December 2010 – June 2013

Sr. Project Manager responsible for managing and directing an enterprise $30M ICD-10 program migration initiative through the project management life cycle (Initiation, Planning, Execution and Control, Project Closeout). Managed the project objectives including cost, schedule, resources, and risks. Expertise in managing all aspects of a program to ensure on-time delivery while maintaining and improving established budgets. Additionally managed the change management effort to implement the HP PPM Project Portfolio Management System within the IT organization.

ICD-10 Program Manager

Provided leadership, direction, and management to the ICD-10 PMO team

Developed, implemented and provided oversight for the ongoing operation of ICD-10 PMO processes including risk/issue management, change control, schedule management and reporting.

Lead the system-wide effort to inventory and categorize all ICD-10 initiatives and integrate them into a master schedule.

Managed the integrated master schedule, ensures that document/project plans are updated, dependencies managed and change control employed to manage schedule baselines.

Identified, escalated and supported the resolution of strategic and operational risks and issues that impact ICD-10 compliance and readiness projects and activities.

Monitored and reviewed the overall progress of ICD-10 Program and provided timely reports and updates to the Executive Sponsors and Executive Steering Committee

Developed and managed the resource allocation to the program and worked with leadership to ensure that funding and resources are available to effectively implement projects across organizational boundaries.

Managed the relationships with key stakeholders keeping them informed of program/project timelines and providing information proactively so leadership can make effective decisions to advance the program agenda.

Managed the Program Financials, such as spend against budget, forecasts, estimate to complete, and trends.

Identified opportunities for continued performance improvement with internal and external entities to successfully implement Financial, Operational, Payment, Benefit, and Revenue Neutral changes.

Worked with external vendors and other corporate departments to document new and existing policies, procedures and reports

Managed the ICD10 Conversion project with a $30M budget which accounted for modifications to FACETS and 50 subsystems.

Managed the change management effort to implement the HP PPM Project Portfolio Management System within the IT organization. This included configuring the HP PPM system and defining new standards on how the company managed their IT initiatives relative to resource planning, project roadmap, risk management, budget tracking, executive reporting of project status, and tracking the different phases of the project approval process by defining the phase approval gates for the projects. (Entry Gate, Portfolio Gate, Alignment Gate, Launch Gate). Managed the creation of the training plans and product rollout to the IT organization.

Managed all projects with adherence to the BCBST quality standards using the HP PPM Project Portfolio Management System to manage all project objectives, cost, schedule, resources, and risks.

Sr. Project Manager

Crawford & Co. – Third-Party Claims Administration, July 2004 – December 2010

Sr. Project Manager leading the conversion of a $20M legacy Claims Management System to an enterprise third party solution (RiskTech).

Managed the Development organization consisting of internal development resources, vendor development resources and off shore development resources in modifying vendor code and the development of 100 plus back-end and third party interfaces. Lines of business included claims management development, state regulatory EDI development, and back-end financial development.

Successfully established the strategy, approach and scope for the Design, Development and Deployment for the conversion of an enterprise Claims Management Solution Initiative for Crawford Co. The solution provided a fully integrated, streamlined business and technology workflow solution leveraging an already established business strategy.

Related to the conversion, managed components of organizational design identifying new roles and responsibilities within the business and IT organizations

The project consisted of three releases:

- Release 1 - the initial pilot

- Release 2 - re-engineering the solution to support new acquisition

- Release 3 - phased deployment approach.

IT Business Relationship Manager

The Coca-Cola Company, Corporate Division, November 1990 to December 2002

As the Business Relationship Manager for the Finance Division, my primary responsibility was to understand the business processes for the division, assisting in the prioritization of projects, ensuring that projects align with the technology that provides maximum return on investment, and managing the implementation of the approved IT strategy for the division. Other responsibilities include managing a staff of 5 PM’s responsible for managing the project life cycle form conception through implementation for all approved projects.

Guide the creation and delivery of the ongoing strategic information and technology plan for assigned business partners.

Primary point of contact for overall IT needs and for prioritizing demand for the Finance Division.

Defined strategic framework for each fiscal year and multi-year roadmap and directed IT strategy in support of the overall business strategy.

Primary point of contact for overall IT needs for Headquarters and Operational Accounting with the responsibility for prioritizing demand.

Identify customer technology needs and growth strategies roadmap and direct IT strategy in support of the overall business strategy.

Provide regular updates on major strategic Information Services projects, business line priorities, and business specific issues.

Managed internal customer expectations with respect to IT services identifying gaps between customer needs and IT capabilities while working to find innovative solutions for defined gaps.

Collaborated with other Business Relationship Managers, IT senior management, middle management and team members to ensure corporate, business unit and IT objectives are aligned and delivered.

Managed and supported established governance processes ensuring all demand for IT is recognized, approved and prioritized by the business unit.

Acted as escalation point for clients and staff to resolve project implementation issues and scope changes.

Group Account Manager, Special Projects

Strategic creation and execution of technical infrastructure for Project Infinity. Identified potential technical challenges in deployment of SAP. Collaborated in evaluation of financial suite of applications. Managed professional team of eight.

Initiated a proof of concept project evaluating multi-dimensional reporting tools.

Served as a key member of a cross-functional team accountable for defining scope and objectives in deciding the strategic selection of the next generation of financial systems.

Core team member that reviewed the results from the evaluation of financial suite of applications from SAP, Computer Associates, PeopleSoft, SSA and J.D. Edwards.

Presented formal presentation of findings from the financial systems review to the BASIS Advisory Committee and to BASIS Bottler IT Group of North America.

Facilitated creation of the hardware budget for Project Infinity that projected technical infrastructure and hardware expenditures for the estimated seven-year life of project.

Streamlined Employee Receivable System resulting in improved efficiency and flexibility. The results of this initiative reduced the time to process employee expense reports from 8 business days to 4 business days.

Group Account Manager, Finance

Account Manager supporting headquarters and operational accounting responsible for client system and reporting requirements. Partnered with clients in defining project scope, planning, requirements gathering, design specifications and work estimates. Coordinated development initiatives, developed test scripts for unit/integration testing and provided client training and support. Clients advocate for resolving systems integration issues.

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