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FRANCIS PAYNE AWAFONG

Senior Program Manager

Sr. Program Manager with 18+ years of experience in building high-performance teams (coaching, mentoring, training, supervision), highly organized, facilitative, assertive, self-starter, enthusiastic, fosters a culture of transparency and cohesiveness and strives to empower teams to provide scalable business solutions/benefits/strategies-OKRs, via project/program management. I am a detail- oriented and action-biased Strategic-minded professional with extensive experience in cross-functional collaborative leadership, aligning project objectives/ program benefits with business strategies, continuous/process improvement techniques, scoping, budget planning, and financial oversight, scheduling-, stakeholder-, resource-, risk-, and change management. I am proficient in leveraging quantitative data Analysis for decision-making, translating data into meaningful insights, and delivering results in a fast-paced and highly ambiguous work environment. Passionate about streamlining workflows and fostering a culture of collaboration and inclusiveness. I have managed budgets exceeding $5M and projects grossing $75M in yearly sales revenue. PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Sr. Program Manager, Business Operations - Direct Report to Chief Operations Officer Oct 2021 – May 2023 NEOSEM TECHNOLOGY Livermore, CA-US

Successfully delivered program in collaboration with cross-functional/geographically dispersed teams (Electrical Engineers, Software Developers, mechanical Engineers and Designers, and Quality Engineers from Korea, the US, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and China) stakeholders and senior management. Defining program benefits, developing process flow chart with assigned phase-gate exit criteria, decomposing project objectives and aligning them with business strategy, optimizing resource allocation, and managing schedule, budget, and risks for the following Program Components –Projects and Initiatives:

Project 1: Delivered a precision-critical custom-designed Automated SSD Testing (robotic system –capital Investment) with embedded Software development, –with onsite testing – FAT and SAT, and third-party Safety qualification.

Project 2:Delivered custom-designed Motherboards for Server DIMM testing (system) to production, - Project stages including feasibility and concept, engineering and design validation, manufacturing pilot - prototyping, in stages of product development with phase- gates: EVT, DVT, PVT, MP and scheduled deliveries of the end product to the customer, including Order management and RMA processing.

Collaboration & Leadership: managed stakeholders across functional project teams (overseeing planning and execution - 15+ members), collaborated with department leaders to establish processes and procedures, frameworks, and project management templates, while focusing on planning aligned to the organization’s OKRs, developing strategies to drive success, adhering to quality standards, optimizing resource allocation, monitoring schedule, maintaining costs/expenditures within budget, identifying and resolving conflicting priorities across stakeholders, resulting in improved team alignment- engagement, and collaboration.

Cost and Schedule Management: Developed a robust project financial performance approach, using Earn Value Management System/Analysis (EVMS) – as a cost and schedule control methodology, integrating cost, schedule, technical scope, and risk to project progress against baselines that helped forecast and estimate the cost to complete and at completion (/EAC/ETC) and anticipated the risk of budget overrun.

Continuous Improvement: Implemented continuous process improvement (DMAIC alongside statistical tools), risk, stakeholder, and change management best practices, by harnessing project/program management capabilities and managing change through the Control Board activities, increasing overall project-related process efficiency by 25%.

Execution: Led the gathering of project requirements, developed a detailed WBS to define the scope and budgeted cost, identified tasks, deliverables, and milestones, and ensured proper management of cross-functional/program dependencies. Also leveraged the Critical Path Analysis (define roadmap) to focus on scheduling and monitoring, task prioritization, resource allocation, and report project status. This improved the program visualization, the timeline of the projects, the efficient tracking of progress, and quickly identifying potential delays or issues.

Reporting & Analytics: Applied Scrum & Waterfall - translating business requirements into crucial data dependencies, (using Agile metrics such as team velocity, cycle time, and burn rate), working with stakeholders to develop other key performance metrics- KPIs (leading and lagging) and driving analytics to create status reporting and providing visibility into team performance, resulting in a 5% faster status report and regular visibility to leadership.

Risk planning & Mitigation: Designed a recovery plan to evaluate project deviation from the baseline plan, developed a comprehensive monitoring of risks, and issues, and developed mitigation strategies to minimize disruption, resulting in a quicker decision-making process and risk management efficiency of up to 99%. 2 P a g e

Stakeholder and Conflict Management: Developed a Stakeholder engagement plan for the program, established and maintained (proactive and effective) communication channels to keep stakeholders informed and engaged with a focus on the evaluation, identification, synthesizing inputs and understanding of Stakeholder expectations and requirements, building consensus, resolving conflicts, leading to a more effective decision-making process, better stakeholder relationships-, alignment to budget, schedule, performance objectives-, accountability, and reduced friction among stakeholders.

Operations and Quality Management: Acting as the operational interface to Field Service Engineers, streamlined the RMA

(for Custom Motherboards -Reduced Repair cycle time) process, leading scrum ceremonies, especially implementing retrospectives (inspection and adaptation) to drive continuous improvement within the RMA process and using PARETO & ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS and coordinating quality control and assurance -related works, reducing Cycle time by 28%. Sr. Project Manager, Business & Sales Operations –Report to Director of Sales & Operations Jan 2009 – Sept 2021 TESTCOAT INC - Tracy, CA-US

Achieved business objectives using a team-based approach to developing a project organization, including all aspects of aligning with strategic business goals, building performance capability, training, resource identification and allocation, and specific needs, and building a scorecard with chosen KPIs to define success.

Owned the design of the New Product development process – Coating Thickness Gauge for quality control in a plethora of industries – Corrosion inspection, Automotive Dealerships, Car Auctions, Powder Coating, from definition, prototyping, design, and validation to commercialization.

Managed all aspects of project Phase Gates, reviews, deliverables, milestones, action items, dependencies, risks, mitigation plans, budgets, and timelines for successful project completion, resulting in a faster decision-making process, and easing the identification of risks and potential issues.

Drove all aspects of scoping, creating a business case, cost, quality expectations, risk planning and mitigation, product design, testing /validation, and a successful product launch in global markets.

Managed and provided regular status updates to the steering committee including the following performance metrics –KPIs

(leading and lagging), for scope, cost, quality, and Time-to-Market (TTM).

Developed a Sales Enablement during the commercialization phase – a scalable and repeatable process, resulting in accelerating, adding consistency to the sales process, and enabling reps to spend more time selling the product.

Conducted readiness assessments, phase exit evaluation, value realization, and resource evaluation during the final phase of NPD to ensure market opportunity has not changed.

Managed yearly corrosion inspection of different infrastructures – bridges, ship- and marine repairs, and railroad maintenance, involving contracted Coating inspectors from Request for Proposal, strategic pursuits, acquisition, planning, execution, and inspection through certification of job completion. Head of US Subsidiary -Direct report to the Chief Executive Officer Germany Jan 2007 - Dec 2008 AUTOMATION USA, SUBSIDIARY AUTOMATION Dr. NIX GMBH GERMANY - Gettysburg, PA -US

P & L responsibility and business development, including sales growth, marketing strategies, negotiating and closing deals, process improvements, innovation, setting budgets, hitting targets, and profitability, growing and developing teams, managing safety and quality, and engaging and developing teams.

Managed and provided leadership to the operations team. Oversaw sales and financial operations, projects/deployments, procurement, logistics, Field Service, and Customer Support.

Provided day-to-day leadership/ management and drove the company to achieve and surpass sales, profitability, cash flow, and business goals and objectives.

Led, planned, and directed all aspects of a subsidiary organization's policies, objectives, and initiatives approved by the parent organization including Key accounts selections, competitive analysis, financials, partnership dynamics, operational realities, risk mitigation strategies, etc.

Defined the vision and developed short and long-term goals and strategies that drove the achievement of maximum sales, financial, and operational performance.

Planned and facilitated executive reviews, including Strategic Planning sessions and Quarterly Business Reviews. Project Manager- Sales Operations/Productivity & Supply Chain Mgmt. Apr 2002 - Dec 2006 AUTOMATION DR. NIX, GMBH — Cologne - Germany

Managed projects including manufacturing lines performing industrial processing, product manufacturing–metals, plastic, fibre, and cable, using project management methodology/tools to develop project plans, roadmaps, work plans, schedules, budgets, needed skills and resources, project scope, and deliverable/responsibility matrices.

Developed and implemented a new sales forecasting model by collecting, analyzing, and interpreting customer data to provide insights and recommendations for exceeding customer satisfaction resulting in a 15 % improvement in forecasting accuracy. 3 P a g e

Partnered with Demand Planners to support both Sales and Operations Execution (S&OE) and Sales and Operations Planning

(S&OP) processes and coordinated S&OP meetings (planning process that includes d & S, financial planning) to improve the operations value chain, device tracking, RMA, profitability, on-time delivery, and breaking down departmental silos.

Developed change plans and managed implementation activities to reduce customer churn rate, improve customer experience, streamline operations, and monitor Pipeline value, sales conversion rate, monthly recurring revenue, and sale cycle length, while building trust across teams.

Developed and maintained dashboards to track project/program status and to communicate key project metrics to the broader organization including Engineering, Finance, and Manufacturing. EDUCATION

P.H.D. IN AGR. ECONOMICS GPA 4.0

GEORG AUGUST UNIVERSITY GOETTINGEN — Gottingen - Germany MBA - Master of Business Administration GPA 3.6

MITCHELL COLLEGE OF BUSINESS - UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH ALABAMA MOBILE — Alabama- USA MSC IN AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS GPA 3.7

GEORG AUGUST UNIVERSITY OF GOETTINGEN - Germany

Skills

Industry Knowledge: Lean Six Sigma, Phase-Gate Review Framework, Business Operations, Financial Acumen, NPD & NPI – Quality Control Inspection Devices, Budget & Finance Oversight, Resource Management Techniques, Value Stream Mapping, Critical Path /Chain Methods, Earned Value Management, Standards & Compliance:- NIST, NACE, SSPC, ASTM, ISO 9001. Soft Skills: Strategic thinking, Negotiation, Collaborative cross-functional Leadership, Setting clear goals and expectations, Customer interaction, Prioritization, Adaptability and Resourcefulness, Efficient communication, Problem-Solving, Multilevel cross-functional collaboration and consensus brokerage, Interpersonal. Technical Abilities /Tools: MS Word, MS Excel, MS Project, and Standardized project management tools, PowerPoint, SharePoint, Jira, MS Teams, RingCentral, Slack, Zoom, ERP. CERTIFICATIONS

• Project Management -PMP (Cert. # 1774947), Project Management Institute – (Nov. 2014)

• Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Certified (Cert. # 103211) 6 Sigma Study-Reg. Educ. Provider PMI (August 2012)

• Professional Scrum Master, PSM 1, Scrum.org (Feb.2020) LANGUAGES

English, French, German

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