LILIAN CHICHI OBINNA-IGWE

**** ******** ***** ***** #*, Indianapolis, IN 46224

adcct8@r.postjobfree.com

+1-317-***-****

Project Manager Program Manager Certified Scrum Master Business Manager

Result- and value-driven project manager with over 15 years’ of business management experience in both the public and private sector with key emphasis on infrastructure management, vendor management, and program management. Reliable enthusiast with records of managing operational sales while demonstrating excellent customer service. Hardworking individual with proven leadership, organizational, and product development skills. Passionate about helping emerging businesses grow and leverage off her advisory experience in an entrepreneurial emerging company environment to set up operations for sustainability and profitability.

CORE COMPETENCIES

Ability to define and initiate projects.

MBA backed by multiple certifications (PMP, LSSGB, CSM – Certified Scrum Master).

Ability to work with virtual teams and manage expectations.

Adept at coordinating and managing multiple projects simultaneously.

Great ability to cope up with the fast-paced and highly stressful work environment.

Strong team-building and collaborative talents, including maintaining communication with stakeholders.

Project Management, Process Improvement, Stakeholder Management, Operational Management, Incubation of Startups, Business Development, Client Relationship Management, Commercial Agreements, System integration and Management Consulting.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Tech Program Manager Nov 2019- Mar 2020

BC Forward – Anthem

Applied project management knowledge, skills, tools and techniques in an agile environment to execute enterprise wide programs of $7M-$10M size with multiple concurrent sub projects or equal complexity.

Coordinate requirements, schedules implementation and post implementation plans, and develop service-level agreements for Vendor partners and global resources firms.

Defines, recommends and secures contractual agreements for technical services and products.

Interfaces with all stakeholders affected or impacted by the Project including project teams, Vendors, cross-functional teams, end users and Leadership team.

Coordinate with cross-functional, cross discipline & virtual teams responsible for the delivery of all aspects of the project and ensure all parties are on track with project requirements, deadlines and schedules

Meeting with project team members to identify and resolve issues.

Work closely with the Scrum team, coaching & facilitating scrum events & artifacts in ensuring sprints are run according to Scrum values, principles and its framework in totality.

Training of teams on agile transformation (SCRUM), ensuring that the SRUM roles & responsibilities are well understood and adopted and deploying relevant organizational change management techniques in adaptation to change.

Managing consulting relationships by identifying Vendors for projects based on their capabilities and maximum spend allocated to each Vendor for every project. Developing scope, statement of work and respective work orders for each project scope for execution.

Using team collaboration tools like Confluence, SharePoint to properly document all project activities.

Coordinating creation of user stories, epics and features and defining acceptance criteria and “Definition of Done” for all potentially shippable product increment using JIRA tool.

Collaborating with the scrum team & product owner to prioritize product backlog and sprint backlog for transparency, inspection and adaptation.

Schedule and participate in regular project review meetings with key stakeholders and providing ongoing project reporting as needed.

Proactively identify dependencies and issues between teams and work to resolve them including priotization of work to be executed.

Acting as an impediment buster by working closely with the scrum master in removing impediments, blockages during sprint execution

Plan, coordinate, execute and deliver multiple concurrent projects with various internal teams, 3rd party Vendors and consultants.

Building and creation of product / project roadmaps that aligns with the project requirements, scope and organizational vision.

Monitoring and tracking of project schedules, tasks and roadmaps using MS Project and JIRA Enterprise tool.

Collaborate with key stakeholders (management, business owner, product owner, development team, and vendors, legal and supply management) to drive results and achieve established milestones.

Defining the Project roadmap, Sprint roadmap and Product roadmap to align with organizational vision, objectives and goals.

Regularly communicate project status with external and internal stakeholders, including key accomplishments, next steps, and issues/risks for management attention and further projections.

Project Manager- Events Sep 2018 – Oct 2019

ABN Global Events LLC USA

Recruitment and mobilization of delegates around the globe for various company events, seminars workshops and programs.

Collaborate with clients before and during events by acting as the primary point of contact for organizers and clients while providing updates & guidance throughout the project planning process.

Plan and execute events through leading teams from initial conception of the events to its successful completion.

Monitor all project / event risks, including the development of contingency and mitigation plans

Negotiate contracts & agreements for various services and products related to the various programs.

Maintenance of event budgets to ensure event spending’s stays within budget by developing category-specific budgets for certain elements and identify opportunities to cut down cost; using reallocation method to cut down funds in ensuring that project stays on budget.

Develop program concept and plan through information gathering to develop program proposals.

Preparation of all program materials and deployment of materials to event venues.

Working closely with facilitators and speakers on conference topics, contents, visuals, presentations using applicable tools & techniques to meet the overall program objectives.

Management Consultant for GLG : April 2017 – Aug 2018

Private Equity Firms, Local & foreign Investment Companies

Collaborate and help emerging businesses grow with practical operational and set up skills both within and outside Nigeria and other emerging markets.

Provide insight and professional advice on how the travel business works, modalities for set up, structure, management and operations, process analysis, project management, technology integration and implementation, operational improvement and strategy development.

Manage online service/product offerings and performance level prevalent in the travel industry.

Assist in Sales channels, various B2B/Affiliates technology platforms, payment gateways and relevant communication channels.

Devise Marketing strategies to drive traffic to site, increase conversion & sales and implementing tools to measure performance.

Collaborated with private equity firms as a management consultant to Initiate, plan and execute the operational setup of 2 startups / incubator firms in the Nigerian market while acting as an accelerator to revamp the operations of a firm that was struggling to survive.

Managing Director Nov 2015 - Aug 2016

Travelden Nigeria Ltd

Spearheaded and acted as a consultant in the capacity of a Managing Director to oversee the startup of operations for a new OTA (Online Travel Agency).

Championed all the needed requirements to initiate and kick start the operations of Travelden Nigeria Ltd as a startup Company including but not limited to the following; building of the website, supplier management and integration, database buildup, revenue growth & market leadership.

Devised different marketing strategies to drive traffic to the site (both online and offline).

Adequately managed finance, staff recruitment, stakeholders, and sales channels, commercial & operational strategies while initiating new ideas to grow the business within & beyond the Nigerian market.

Country Manager Sep 2013 - Nov 2015

Travelstart Nigeria

Ensured appropriate strategies are developed and in place to meet key business drivers.

Effectively led the managerial team and efficiently solved functional concerns within their own sphere.

Planned and executed business development and strategic goals for Travelstart Nigeria resulting to increased profitability, productivity, market share, customer satisfaction, brand recognition and loyalty.

Established commercial relationships with major distributors, suppliers, key customers and partners nationally & internationally while negotiating favorable reseller agreements.

Developed business plans and strategies in coordination with macro plans of Travelstart Global Pty to enhance operations, profitability revenue growth & business plans both on the sell and buys sides.

Built relationships and developed alliances with local and International suppliers, key decision-makers in target organizations for business development.

Generated revenue internally without recourse for funds from the head office and remitted same back to the head office while managing Travelstart revenue/finances in the most prudent manner.

Increased Travelstart Nigeria market sale and revenue using the BSP monthly remittance as a yardstick from N65million to N700 million in a 2 years financial period.

Successfully initiated and implemented major projects on internal system integrations, third party integration and payment gateways for Travelstart Nigeria which brought about more visits to the website, and conversion and paid ratio rate rose from 17% to 50%.

Increased the market share and visibility of Travelstart Nigeria with the introduction of key marketing strategies, industry partnerships, customer acquisition programmes, B2B sales channel, Affiliate programme which increased the visibility of Travelstart in the Nigerian market and ultimately earned Travelstart the award of the best Online Travel Agency in Nigeria.

Operations Management:

Ensured all country-wide operations are conducted in accordance with set policies and procedures.

Ensured that compliance with all appropriate regulatory requirements is met with suppliers and that these are applied and adhered to correctly.

Led periodic review of policies, procedures and management systems and processes.

Ensured communication with customers & external regulatory bodies are developed and maintained.

Set up processes for day-to-day sales operations, office management and financial component of the business and drive incremental improvements (sales & conversion rates).

Liaised with payment solution providers to determine the best payment gateways to implement on the website while developing processes to mitigate against credit card fraud and ensuring there is additional security level on the platform.

Provided advice on ways of improving the usability, design, content and conversion of the company’s website.

Streamlined complex operational processes by eliminating waste, identifying the root cause of problems by deploying the DMAIC tools & methodology to meet business needs.

Managed all stakeholders across board throughout the life cycle of projects by identifying them, establishing their requirements, managing their expectations and possible influence on the projects.

Regularly managed Travelstart product & services user experience including all localization, conversion, online & offline pricing initiatives.

Developed and executed a comprehensive program – primarily focused at retaining existing customers, executing seasonal promotional campaigns and tactical currency offers.

Managed customer centric operations & ensure utmost customer satisfaction that can achieve delivery & service norms.

Worked closely with the Company developers, Tech team & scrum teams to understand business requirements, using the SDLC to develop new software features and functionalities to create a better user interface, solve operational issues, improve operational efficiency and meet overall business needs.

Managed the call center by tracking all inbound & outbound calls and implementing needed call center tools like Kayako to improve operations efficiency and overall customer service experience.

Deployed the use of project management tools & methodologies (Trello, Asana, Waterfall, and Agile) to track timelines for projects, assign tasks to teams, meet project deadlines, deliver projects in phases and sprints, handle project statuses, changes & progress, and determine security schemes & permission levels to meet overall business requirements and objectives.

Personnel Management:

Provided visible leadership and serve as role model to company employees.

Mentored, coached and developed employees in meeting company expectations.

Recruited, mentored, trained and developed staff to ensure operational efficiency and the overall company objectives are met.

Created and sustained a dynamic environment that fosters opportunities and motivates high performance amongst team members.

Developed staff job description, staff performance appraisal and rating with applicable KPIs

Identified skill gaps among staff; recommend necessary trainings to improve staff productivity.

Financial Management:

Assumed full responsibility for country-wide budgetary planning and control.

Ensured that there are no revenue leakages from all revenue streams and total compliance to all financial processes among all units.

Scaled the business aggressively by owning the P&L and overall business plan for Travelstart Nigeria.

Ensured timely compliance for all necessary remittances to the regulatory authorities (IATA, FIRs, LIRs, Pension, Insurance Company etc.).

Sales & Marketing:

Creatively developed new approaches to target customer segment using analytics tools thereby increasing conversion rate and turnover.

Formulated and implemented marketing plans for increased awareness, referrals and overall sales.

Monitored competitors’ activities, market trends and report new developments, created new innovative independent strategies to maintain leadership position in the market.

Set up, executed and managed promotions on both offline & online platforms and identify creative ways of ensuring consumers are attracted by the offerings to drive sales.

Managed digital marketing campaigns for the company & partnerships with eCommerce companies.

Built and managed all marketing activities across all customer acquisition channels (including Affiliate Networks, Corporate Sales, B2B sales channel, SEO, SEM, social media, Content Marketing), remarketing to improve conversion, retention and paid ratio.

Oversaw large scale online & offline acquisition programs while collaborating with all relevant agencies.

Cultivated, structured, and negotiated significant strategic relationships and distribution deals with key players within and outside the industry.

Oversaw and guided both digital and offline activities in ensuring that effective segmentation of the market is done and mileage of target audience reached.

Business Relationship Manager Sep 2007- July 2013

MMA2 Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited

Prepared and developed the department’s annual business plan/budget.

Followed up on manifests, issuance of invoices, account statements, payment deadline & debt recovery.

Gathered market intelligence and updated market trends within and outside the industry.

Ensured tenants & terminal users are satisfied with the facilities & services provided in the terminal.

Identified and appointed suitable Concessionaires to run different aspect of airport operations.

Evaluated proposals and negotiation of terms to develop and sustain relationships with government regulatory agencies (e.g. NCAA, NAMA, NIMET, FAAN)

Analyzed competitive environment to ascertain product performance against the competition.

Managed team and individual performance through regular reviews, monitored objectives and ensured development needs are identified and executed.

Managed commercial activities at the airside including Passenger Service Charge, Use of Avio Bridge, Fuel Charge Concession, Apron Access, Aircraft Parking Charge, Flight Catering Charge, Check-in Counter Charge, Ground Handling Concession Fee, rates for airport lounges in the terminal.

Planned and mapped out new business strategies, prospecting, contacting and sustaining new clients, Space letting - Evaluating & benchmarking rates for retail space at the airside.

Liaised with advert agencies for branding, and ensured collaborative marketing with airlines & tenants.

Introduced direct collection of passenger service charge from airline passengers which drastically reduced the operating airlines indebtedness to Bi-Courtney from N1billion to N500million.

EDUCATION

Master of Business Administration, University of Lagos (2011-2013)

B.Sc (Hons) Biochemistry, University of Lagos (1994-1998)

High School Certificate, Federal Govt. Girls College, Owerri (1989-1993)

PROFESSIONAL TRAINING AND CERTIFICATIONS

Certified Scrum Master Scrum Alliance

Certified Project Management Professional(PMP) PMI

IATA Marketing Certification IATA

Lean 6 Sigma Certification (Green Belt) IASSC

SKILLS

Proficient with the use of Confluence SharePoint & Jira tools

Critical thinking

Project Management

Problem-solving

Adaptability

Strong client relation skills

Detailed-oriented

Multitask skills

Excellent communication skills

Excellent organization skills

Process Improvement skills

REFERENCES

Available on request

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