Program Director Customer Service

Paula Raven, PMP

972-***-**** Frisco, TX ***********@*****.*** linkedin.com/in/paula-raven

Career Summary

•Executive Program Director with a broad background in program management and operations, leveraging a proven track record in special project execution through inclusive collaboration with executive leadership, ensuring end-to-end tactical strategy implementation in conjunction with gap analysis to drive comprehensive product/project/process development

•Acted as Project and Program Director for implementing loan servicing software, achieving a successful 15-month go-live with 47 processes, 1.1M loans, and 87.5M transactions, ensuring accuracy through new software integrations and functionality

•Collaborated with the C-suite to shape tactical and operational objectives, translating overarching company goals into departmental strategies, driving alignment, and fostering cross-functional synergy

•Led Loan Operations and Customer Service teams, effectively implementing new products and initiatives, resulting in a strong foundation for future endeavors, including Legal Lending Licenses

•Orchestrated onboarding, hiring, training, and integration strategies, leading to the seamless integration of over 60 schools within 26 months, enhancing market penetration and expanding the customer base

•Led the successful mentoring, teaching, and documentation of over 60 mortgage processes, achieving alignment with new company standards and Lean Six Sigma process improvement standards

Professional Work Experience

Diamond Resorts/Hilton Grand Vacations

Director of Special Projects - Program Manager Product Owner 2019 – 2023

•Spearheaded the transition from legacy loan software to a new platform, managing a $4M budget

•Acted as Project and Program Director for implementing loan servicing software, achieving a successful 15-month go-live with 47 processes, 1.1M loans, and 87.5M transactions, ensuring accuracy through new software integrations and functionality

•Directed a team of 5 consultants, 5 project managers, and internal programmers in the successful migration and integration of new software/systems into existing IT infrastructure, ensuring improved efficiency, accuracy, and deployment functionality

•Collaborated with consultants, developers, department heads, vice presidents, and users to execute a comprehensive rollout across 5 key projects, including Loan, IT, Training, Data, and Accounting

•Developed a new product offering, tactically reviewed all technology issues for the payment system, created all product stories for development, and project-managed development and system integrations

•Ensured the seamless execution of operations during the COVID-19 pandemic, transitioning to remote work for the loan servicing department, including collections and payments.

•Led change management efforts, fostering alignment across departments and ensuring a smooth transition during the M&A from Diamond Resorts to Hilton Grand Vacations for the loan department, enabling frictionless development during the process

•Managed activities and was Product Owner for continuous development and break/fix of loan servicing and IT software initiatives, overseeing Agile-Hybrid development team performance, risk mitigation, and compliance

•Determined prioritization of system enhancement by performing ROI, risk, and cost/benefit analysis, creating savings of over $500k

•Created executive dashboards and project schedules, facilitating decision-making and providing insight into the prioritization of conflicts and risks through data analysis and data-gathering initiatives

•Produced future year road map, evaluating change to personnel at all project stages, and supervised training material creation, including CBTs, SOPs, and process documentation to enable evidence-based project/people management

•Assessed, Tracked, and Mitigated risks for projects, products, processes, and services

Meritize

Director – Operations, IT, PMO Chief of Staff 2016 – 2019

•Pioneered project management and initiation efforts as Chief of Staff for a day-one startup, orchestrating unified operations, project delivery, and strategic integrations within IT to accelerate integration and build-out

•Managed the loan lending startup initiative, validating regulatory compliance and alignment with executive strategies

•Collaborated with the C-suite to shape tactical and operational objectives, translating overarching company goals into departmental strategies, driving alignment, and fostering cross-functional synergy

•Led Loan Operations and Customer Service teams, effectively implementing new products and initiatives, resulting in a strong foundation for future endeavors

•Successfully directed the startup's loan lending initiative, navigating the complex lending license process and state business license registration, culminating in a swift market entry and regulatory compliance to avoid costly discrepancies

•Administered brand and market efforts, utilizing modern strategies that propelled Meritize to secure Tier 2 funding within 18 months, establishing the company as a significant player in the industry

•Orchestrated onboarding, hiring, training, and integration strategies, leading to the seamless integration of over 60 schools within 26 months, enhancing market penetration and expanding the customer base

•Steered loan operations, overseeing loan origination and customer service processes, budget flow, income, and expenses, resulting in the successful origination of over $4M in loans within the first 2 years, enabling agile and targeted development

MeasureOne

Director of Project/Process Management Project Manager Process Manager 2015 – 2016

•Guided customers in developing comprehensive project management standards and systems, including the creation of the entire loan origination process, ensuring strategic alignment, ironclad regulatory compliance, and operational efficiency

•Established an effective employee review process within an IT department, aligning criteria to enhance performance, process success, and overall organizational strategy

•Pioneered internal PMO processes while also crafting and executing vital business processes such as onboarding and analytics delivery, driving efficiency and success

Capital One 2003 – 2014

Process Manager – Mortgage 2011 - 2014

•Led the successful mentoring, teaching, and documentation of over 60 mortgage processes and new process managers, achieving alignment with new company standards and Lean Six Sigma process improvement standards

•Championed lean process engineering for various Home Loans division procedures, encompassing risk identification, assessment, and mitigation, resulting in reduced risk exposure, employee compliance, and streamlining audit reporting

•Managed a team of 4 process manager contractors, overseeing comprehensive process documentation and improvements, including risk mitigation and issue root cause identification, resulting in the creation of 54 Certified Process Document Binders

Project Manager Process Manager – Consumer Lines and Loans 2009 - 2011

•Created and implemented new national loan origination processes, ensuring seamless software transition for a $2B nationwide product rollout, conducting comprehensive state compliance law reviews to assess risk and manage risk profiles

•Conducted post-merger feasibility study of Hibernia's proprietary Home Equity origination system to achieve Capital One IT and originations requirements for Consumer Loan origination.

•Effectively oversaw the direct marketing execution team, maintaining a weekly marketing schedule for optimal outreach and engagement to boost market penetration and engagement

•Pioneered a software integration and transition period, enabling key building blocks and operational capacity to manage non-asset backed loans, validating all performance and implementations to ensure accuracy and success

•Awarded the prestigious Capital One Circle of Excellence Mark of Distinction for 2010, recognizing exceptional contributions and performance across the Consumer Lines and Loans division by exceeding expectations during the software transition

Additional Experience

Capital One – Project Manager – Credit Risk Management, Auto Finance

Capital One - Administrative Assistant – Home Equity Card

Education & Certification

Washington University – Master Certificate of Project Management

University of Wisconsin – Bachelor of Arts

Project Management Institute – PMP

Six Sigma – Lean/Green Belt

International Leadership Associates – Leadership Certificate

Core Competencies

Project & Process Management

Executive Strategy

Agile/Lean Six Sigma

New Product Development

Collaborative Stakeholder Management

Transition/Change Management

KPI/Metric Management

Servant Leadership & Team Building

Regulatory Compliance & Audits

Budget Management

Program Oversight

Bias to Action

Continual Optimization

Tailored, Evidence-based Solutions

Cross-departmental & Stratum Communication

M&A Integration and Development

Risk Assessment and Mitigation

Contact this candidate