Brian “Patrick” Kepler, CSM

Raleigh, NC ***** linkedin.com/brian-patrick-kepler-csm ad3gfh@r.postjobfree.com 919-***-****

Scrum Master and Professional Project Management

Scrum Master and Technical Lead with 15 years of experience in Agile software development for multi-million-dollar global initiatives. Network support and process improvements by implementing steps to improve efficiency while increasing productivity and delivering cost control strategies within financial platforms and budget analysis, thus increasing revenue. Proven ability to succeed in business optimization implementation, operational oversight, and displaying exceptional performance and consistent professional versatility in various leadership roles. Demonstrated record of accomplishment of success with excellent customer and business partner satisfaction through strong interpersonal skills combined with expertise in client service management.

Areas of Expertise

Scrum Master

Business Analysis

Business Process and Analysis

Project Management

Strategic Planning

SDLC

Best Practices

Customer Relationship Management

Risk Management

Quality Control

Programming

Budget Analysis

Certifications

Scrum Alliance, Certified ScrumMaster (CSM)

CompTIA, A+

6SigmaStudy, Six Sigma Yellow Belt

ICAgile Certified Professional - Agile Team Facilitation

Registered Scrum@Scale Practitioner

Certified AgilityHealth Facilitator

Professional Experience

Agile Scrum Master Fidelity Investments Contracted through TalentSource Durham, NC 02/2021 – 01/2023

Job Scope: Facilitate Scrum ceremonies and perform one-on-ones. Daily use of Jira and Jira Align for project planning, oversight, and metrics review. Created and maintained stories in Jira and epics in Jira Align, managed dashboards and reported statuses. Communicated organizational goals with team to foster sprint goal creation along with quarterly planning while identifying and removing impediments. Coach team and teammates regarding Agile practices.

Led two development teams Fidelity Charitable one a BAU team utilizing responsive design encompassing mobile devices and a new feature team integrating a new search engine, negotiated with multiple teams regarding conflicting priorities and timelines to ensure successful and on-time release management

Moved to Personal Investing division and led two business teams that used Scrum and Kanban methodologies and merged the two teams to a single, cohesive team and migrated to Scrum from Kanban

Created a cooperative and psychologically safe environment, fostered health conflict, reduced ongoing negative conflict

Led team to build create a backlog of two ready sprints and enhanced quarterly planning while integrating with other teams, which allowed us to refine the backlog and updated priorities based upon project needs and coached the team to break down stories from boulders to rocks to pebbles

Encouraged innovation sprints among teams for fresh ideas and problem solving

Scrum Master/BA IBM Contracted through Infinite Computer Solutions Raleigh, NC 08/2019 – 06/2020

Job Scope: Facilitated all Scrum ceremonies and performed one-on-ones with a multinational, distributed team. Identified and removed impediments creating a more effective working environment for the team utilizing Jira. Created and maintain stories in Jira along with reviewing and reporting metrics and recommend changes using data driven decision making. Engaged and facilitated meetings with external vendor performing new product development and provided engaging communications/presentations.

Led a development team and then transitioned to lead a new operations team where I also served as Support Manager

Built and managed relationships with product owners and stakeholders facilitating interaction with the squad

Encouraged and sustained innovation sprints among team members which created innovative solutions to issues being experienced

Implemented new ServiceNow system to the operations team allowing work to come through ticketing system rather than emails

Performed business analysis for the first application in the department to be rewritten and migrated to the IBM Cloud and engaged with external product development vendor that assisted with moving application from legacy databases to the IBM Cloud

Implemented a Scrumban-style environment with my operations team which created a better fit the flow of stories with the team workflow

Business Analyst / Scrum Master CRMNext, FTE Raleigh, NC 12/2018 – 08/2019

Job Scope: Engaged and interviewed clients, determined requirements, and identified needs. Created use cases and business rules to customize CRMNEXT for new clients. Facilitated clear and effective cross-team organizational communication. Performed project management with banking clients holding weekly status meetings and documenting new deliverables and completed tasks. Coordinated with offshore teams to complete tasks on time.

Implemented Agile concepts and Scrum ceremonies like sprint planning, retrospectives, etc.

Successfully reduced the burden of Agile training costs on the organization

Acted as organizational change agent by introducing and encouraging adoption of Agile methodology which improved communication and made delivery timelines clearer and more understood

Application Support Analyst Deloitte, Contracted through Vaco Morrisville, NC 07/2018 – 11/2018

Job Scope: Self-motivated analyst that built and developed a new, internal helpdesk for DevOps environment that was customer focused and professional that yielded time sensitive and high-quality results. Provided first-level triage and routing to second-level departments. Negotiated with clients for timing and resolution expectations, update progress in Jira and ServiceNow

Scrum Master role: Facilitated meetings with separate functional units and introduced Agile concepts

Business Analyst role: Built new process flows, publicized documentation in Confluence

Reduced breaching ServiceNow tickets from 6% of total tickets in half to 3%

Data Analyst role: Exported and analyzed ServiceNow data and computed metrics for management reports

Added responsibility; Security Admin - maintained roles and permissions in Okta and ServiceNow

BizOps / Scrum Master AT&T, FTE Durham, NC 05/2015 – 05/2018

Developed and lead Scrum/QA teams, coordinated, offered guidance, and removed impediments

Worked with the stakeholders, customers, and users in identifying and documenting all works

Provided leadership to and coordination for project groups of developers for Scrum/QA teams

I tracked progress through Jira and created documentation and reports in Jira and Confluence. Involved in SDLC.

Business Analyst role: Improved existing work process flows to reduce total time by 20% through analysis

Team Leader provided mentorship and coaching for Agile team; created an effective working environment

Created and refined training documentation, reducing onboarding from 1 month to 2 weeks

Orchestrated and executed deployment coordination, facilitated meetings, and provided leadership, tracked projects

Drove metrics related to SASHA (BPMN) application, researched, and provided solutions for efficiency gains

BizOps/Web Developer / Team Lead AT&T Contracted through ASK Staffing Durham, NC 09/2013 – 05/2015

Advanced to Team Lead in 2014; initiated programming standards and performed code reviews

Created and ran short-term Scrum projects within department Agile practices, tracking progress in Jira and Excel

Engineered workflow process models for frontline call staff and implemented with HTML and CSS

Engaged with interdepartmental teams, inquired on goals, recommended solutions, and drove process improvement

Implemented process improvement and reduced code review from 3-4 hours to 1 hour

Performed onboard of new team members through one-on-one training; designed new learning materials

Product Owner role: Created engineering documents for the team, encompassing objectives and acceptance testing

Business Analyst StoneRiver (formerly of FISERV) FTE Cedar Rapids, IA 11/2009 – 12/2012

Engaged and interviewed clients for enhancements, defined requirements, created use cases and user stories, while reduced risk and maintained budget; tracked projects through to completion and assisted with strategic planning

Scrum Master role: Conducted sprint retrospective meetings

Created and managed quality assurance procedures for regression testing and UAT including documentation

Facilitated technical pre-sales calls, provided advice and options while reducing data and confidentially risk

Involved throughout SDLC, Analysis/Design, Testing, Deployment

Review changes for impacts to business and risks and offer solutions for mediation

Additional Experience and Education

University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA - Bachelor of Arts in Accounting, Minor in Economics

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