Rajesh Podjale PMP®, TenStep, SMC®, SPOC®

@: adcl84@r.postjobfree.com, M: 708-***-****

Leadership Profile

Experienced Program and Project Manager with a broad background in a range of high technology industry verticals.

Proven ability to lead strategic programs from ideation to implementation, managing large Enterprise cross functional global teams on scaled agile framework. Adept at analyzing industry trends and creating solutions to drive growth.

A trusted advisor to C-Level executives, with a track record of delivering business value by combining business goals with technology expertise and effective program management.

Excel at communicating with customers, senior executives, internal departments, and vendors to coordinate overall efforts in accordance with corporate goals.

Core Competencies & Strengths

PMP certified with more than 20 years of experience in IT Project Management using PMBOK, Iterative and Scaled Agile methodology for projects with leading Health (PBM), Banks, Retail, Manufacturing industries, Securities, Financial and Insurance industries in United States and across the globe (Singapore, Malaysia, and Hong Kong).

Develop frameworks to conceptualize complex technical infrastructure in business-friendly language, such as: e-commerce, digital maturity model, SEO/SEM, content strategy.

5+ years of project and program management experience in Design, Development, Enhancement and Management of Business Intelligence applications using COGNOS, Business Objects, Informatica, UDB/DB2 and SQL, PL/SQL. Managing large global clients/implementation across geographies involving USA, Canada, Bangalore and Uruguay.

Excellent knowledge in Data warehouse development life cycle, dimensional modeling, metadata management and implementation of STAR, Snowflake, Incremental loads/Change Data Capture, OLAP and OLTP databases

Strong Experience in implementing business domains of LEAN/Six Sigma Initiative and Loyalty Marketing Rewards program – Shop Your Way Rewards.

Project Management with PMO office co-ordination for Project Management Reviews, Project Plans approval, Business Analysis, Progress Status Reporting, Change Management, track incurred expenses versus planned expenses, evaluate risks and recommends contingency plans using MS Project Server, MS Project, SharePoint, Visio, MS Office and PowerPoint

Excellent experience in contract negotiations, vendor performance review and management, Requirements Management, Software Configuration Management, SLA, SLM, SOW(s).

In depth exposure and experience in Product oriented process comprising of product and Project Life cycle. Very good experience in Group, team structuring, Onsite – Offshore teams management, Strategic Planning, Tactical Planning, Influencing, operational planning and Six Sigma processes.

Worked in a multicultural environment and skilled at People management of internal teams, client staff and executives of geographically dispersed teams including offshore development.

Hands – on leader skilled in balancing business requirements, corporate objectives, goals and technology capabilities, versatile manager, goal oriented leader who relates to individuals on all levels

Certifications

PMP (Project Management Professional) Certified

Scrum Master Certified (SMC®)

Scrum Product Owner Certified (SPOC®)

TenStep Agile Project Management Certification

Training Attended

Optum Scaled Agile Methodology (OSAM), CA Agile, OpenUP Agile and Iterative Project Management, TenStep training and workshop, CMM & QMS training, Object Oriented Analysis Design and UML, Amex Branding and Awareness training, SIX Sigma, ITIL, TBEM Awareness Training, COGNOS Training from COGNOS Corp.

Education

Master of Computer Management from Shivaji University, India

P R O F E S S I O N A L E X P E R I E N C E

Client: Health Care Service Corporation – licensee of BCBS, Chicago, IL Jan 2019 to Present

Program Manager, EPMO Provider and Networks – CDE and Provider Portals

Provider and Networks Group - which handles clinical data exchange and systems integration with the hospitals and Labs. Tasked with creating a more efficient way to work with the hospitals enabling bi-directional, high scale and efficient sharing of clinical data within and outside HCSC complying with HIPAA security checks and balances. Also responsible for migration of PCMH core services and all content on the BCBS Secure Provider Portal to 3rd party Availity/Payer Spaces

Oversee end-to-end delivery of P&N portfolio projects; deliver projects for hardware installations, network upgrades, cloud computing and virtualization rollouts, business analytics and data management projects and implementing IT services ensure on-time and on-budget execution, and manage scope to ensure strategic alignment with business needs.

Lead all aspects of program management, including development of governance model, roadmap, status reports, project financials, issue logs, and project charts

Drive project execution; facilitate meetings, drive stakeholder engagement, escalate key issues, identify decision points, and manage scope of project deliverables

Facilitate decision making and tracking across the program to ensure successful delivery of CDE and Provider Portal

First level escalation contact for risks and issues on projects and work with stakeholders on resolution and mitigation

Document/publish charter & project schedule, determine project deliverables, status reports, refine key roles & stakeholders, and identify needed artifacts. This includes driving the team through the Planning (PPP) phase with estimates and PPM updates using tools like CA Clarity/Spark, Jira, ServiceNow, MS Project, Teams, TFS and Sharepoint.

Represent the EPMO at Triad forums as liaison between IT and Business to provide program updates to Business Sponsors/Owners and VP-Level executives. Manage coordination and communication between Business, EPMO, and IT teams throughout delivery

Client: United Health – Optum Technology, Schaumburg, IL Aug 2016 to Dec 2018

Program Manager, Digital Solutions Group – OptumRx and Provider Portals

Led the $35M collaborative effort in migrating to the newly combined entity from the legacy OptumRx(CHP) and Catamaran portal business units. The new consolidated member portal provides experience that exceeds the current revenue and self-service goals, helps further drive home delivery pharmacy penetration targets, while preserving existing contractual obligations.

Accomplished the consolidation of Member portal by aligning the technical and branding standards of Optum, building back-end systems and creating a new digital platform based on AEM 6.3 to replace both legacy web and mobile platforms

Led the decommission program to shutdown Legacy Client, Provider and Member (CHP & Catamaran) portals at the Catamaran Datacenter in Elk Grove, IL and migrate the re-purposed Infrastructure to the Elk River, MN.

Successfully led the OptumRx SSO integration initiative with a diverse list of over 40 external clients

Liaise with integrating cross functional teams (RxClaims, TIBCO/ECS, RxCCR, HSID, MyUHC etc) to avoid project collisions, cross-project interdependencies and help remove impediments while mitigating risks to the program

Shepherd teams across geographies from Intake to Rollout. Actively involved in program management lifecycle participating in Product Mgmt Council to define, socialize, prioritize and manage capabilities and features across the value stream/train. Perform IT Service and workflow management through ServiceNow tool.

Represent the programs at portfolio management forums providing updates to Business Sponsors/VP and C-Level executives

Leading, guiding the development and execution of Provider Portal Self registration and Prior Auth Program which aids in reducing 25 % requests to Call Center. Formulating budget, resource planning, in CA PPMO and Agile management through CA Rally tool using Optum Scaled Agile Methodology (OSAM) and CA Clarity PPM.

Client: Kimberly-Clark Corporation, Chicago, IL & Neenah WI Jun 2015 to Jul 2016

Digital Transformation Program Manager, ITS Global Sector Marketing & Innovation

Leading Global Sector Marketing and Innovation (GSMI) ITS transformation and restructuring initiative across Global Sectors – NA, EMEA, APAC & LAO, eliminating costs, while also transforming the organization to provide service in a digital world

Set priorities with GSMI Senior Leadership Team, focused energy and resources to strengthen operations, ensured that employees and other stakeholders are working toward common goals

Create the Marketing Capability Development and Delivery Operational Model and upgrade to Atlassian Jira collaboration software; develop standard work and Agile Leader Boards that aid in strategic decisions and actions using Kanban.

Develop a Vendor Management governance process to support a multi-vendor, distributed delivery team that will enable K-C to take advantage of cost, scale and flexibility.

Coordinate GSMI-wide benchmarking of IT capabilities, with a goal of optimizing ITS operations and increasing spend on transformation projects by 20%.

Clients: Eddie Bauer, Westmont, IL and Peapod, Chicago, IL Jan 2014 to May 2015

Delivery Manager, EddieBauer.com B2B revitalization and Peapod eComm platform upgrade

The EddieBauer.com revitalization project involved overhaul of the eCommerce platform by migrating to Oracle ATG. This initiative is targeting to increase the Online Sales by 25% by leveraging the Data Anywhere Architecture. The program scope involves leveraging the Unified Multi-site Architecture to efficiently expand to multi-channel, multi-site, multi-brand, multi-language, and multi-currency environments. This enabled to rapidly launch sites for new brands, markets and geographies.

The Peapod eCommerce platform upgrade project involved liaising with IT stakeholders in Chicago and business teams from parent company Ahold across east coast to create a consolidated view of the enhanced ATG 11.1 site by bringing disparate teams and business verticals together.

Responsible for managing the eCommerce revitalization and Upgrade programs and teams by:

Work with business team at Bellevue, WA to understand the long term eCommerce objectives and develop a strategy and create roadmap of eCommerce platform rollout with team of Architects and experts at Westmont, IL.

Determine budget, and resource needs using oversight within the PMO governance charter

Work with Content management and business teams across Carlisle, PA and Quincy, MA to understand the pain areas and customization requirements for the ATG 11.1 platform.

Working with cross functional teams to develop a integrated plan to provide a seamless cutover to the new eCommerce platform at Peapod

At Peapod - establish partnerships with 3rd party vendors and key technology teams across the company to leverage best practices and processes for ShopRunner, ShopRunner Express and PayPal integrations

Client: Sears Holdings Corporation (SHC), Hoffman Estates, IL Jun 2013 to Dec2013

Program Manager, LEAN/Six Sigma - Information Analytics & Innovation (IA&I)

LEAN/Six Sigma Initiative is targeting to deliver $500 million in profit improvement over the next three (3) years on a systemic, smart and sustainable way. The program scope involves improvements to 6 LEAN tracks: Hardline, Softline, Grocery/Drug/Pharmacy, Marketing, Online, and Stores. IA&I will establish business partnerships across the company to identify features to build into analytical engines; including features such as segmentation, trending, margin erosion and data exploration

Responsible for managing the Lean Continuous Improvement program and teams:

Facilitated alignment across multiple cross functional business verticals to develop Lean Six Sigma roadmap covering scope for Big Data, Predictive Analytics, Mobility and Social Media.

Prioritized strategic initiatives of each track and managed team of experts focused on reporting and analytics services

Work with Product teams to develop a long term analytical strategy with Big Data using Hadoop and Datameer.

Drive the evaluation of appropriate BI tools/software looking both at internal solutions and external software providers.

Partner with data scientists and product management teams to recommend and prioritize roadmap of analytical product features and business adoption programs for Information

Employ Kanban agile product development methodologies that accommodate changing business conditions and reduce time to market of innovative analytical application solutions within the Lean governance structure

Contribute to key decisions regarding data architecture, data tool design, and project sizing.

Client: Wolters Kluwer, Chicago, IL Mar 2011 to May 2013

Program Manager, STEP BOI Program

The SAP TAL ETC Program (STEP) is a $45 million initiative for TAL to migrate from existing Order to Cash Systems (OMS, AMS, and VISTA), multiple financial systems (PeopleSoft & JD Edwards) and supporting data warehouses and reporting systems to one integrated ERP - SAP implementation based on a consistent set of business rules across TAL USA.

As Program Manager for STEP Back Office Interfaces involving 23 applications, brought programmatic rigor and best practices (Agile, Scrum, PMI), to work in partnership with STEP PMO, and further the capability of the BOI PM team. Additionally responsible for e-Commerce initiatives across different business units.

Responsibilities:

Successfully managed the transition of the 23 projects, under BOI stream from OMS to SAP.

Liaised with IT Infrastructure stream lead to build and stand up the BOI servers and interfaces with SAP.

Provided a unified message to all affected internal stakeholders, Business Process Owners and deliver feedback back to the Stream Leads, VP’s and PMO

Established standardized processes for the PMO to formalize project schedules, budgets, deliverables, system and business documents

Responsible for creating Vendor and 3rd Party management process to obtain the best pricing adherence to SLA of services rendered.

Work closely to build relationship with onsite, offsite and offshore teams across global geographies to deliver the STEP program objectives.

Client: John Deere Corporate HQ, Moline, IL Aug 2010 to Feb 2011

Project Manager, Order Fulfillment and Planning (OFP) applications

John Deere is the leading manufacturer of agricultural machinery in the world. The objective of Order Fulfillment and Planning program was to manage the forecasting and scheduling applications under the Ag and Turf business division.

This involved managing and executing 11 projects for OFP business unit under Enterprise Business Application IT division

Responsibilities:

Responsible for Project Management of the 11 projects, under OFP portfolio using TenStep and OpenUP Agile and Iterative Project Management methodology.

Manage multiple projects concurrently using MS Project Server, MS Project and in-house tools.

Responsible for defining strategy for demand and change management within the OFP portfolio

Create and manage the Business transition plan, Communicate the change readiness, conduct end user training

Proactively coordinated cross-functional team activity within the EBA division

Client: Sears Holdings Corporation (SHC), Hoffman Estates, IL Mar 2010 to Aug 2010

Project Manager, Loyalty Marketing Infrastructure

The objective of Loyalty Marketing Rewards program – Shop Your Way Rewards that Sears Holdings has created is to retain customers, attract new customers, and increase customer loyalty. It improves the value of the customer base by motivating/managing a series of incremental profit enhancing behaviors and to maximize their experience with SHC

This involved executing multiple projects under Relationship Marketing business unit -

Manage Loyalty Marketing system integrations, UNICA migration of loyalty campaigns and BI Reporting.

Infrastructure PM supporting all aspects of business that impact the Loyalty Marketing touch points - POS, IT, CDW, Loyalty Lab and Responsys. Central conduit to PM’s in IT. Assessing technical, system based impact to addressing any/all requests that have a demand on internal or external partners.

Managed custom development of individual campaigns.

Client: MOTOROLA, Schaumburg, IL Jul 2009 to Feb 2010

Project Manager, Motorola.com Spin-Off

The primary objective of Spin-Off program is the separation activities for Motorola.com web content management applications and related systems. This involved executing 3 projects under marketing business unit

Vignette Infrastructure Separation - This project addressed the separation activities for Motorola.com Vignette content management applications and related systems. It included separating the Greenfield Content Management systems and environment to independent platforms for the Mobile Devices (MD) & Business Mobility Solutions (BMS) divisions of Motorola to develop rollout of e-Commerce applications.

External Site search – Implement Google Search Appliance tool for each business unit to improve search relevancy, search intelligence and the overall user search experience on Motorola.com

BMS WebTrends - As part of separation the MD business has to migrate to a SaaS hosted environment of the Web Trends application. The current Web Trends on-premise solution does not meet the analytic and data needs. The architecture and dynamic requirements require a reprocess and custom reporting solution that meets the business’s needs.

Client: MasterBrand Cabinets, IN, USA Jan 2009 to Jun 2009

Project Manager, DWBI MBCI

Masterbrand is part of Fortune Brands, a leading consumer products company. MasterBrand grew to be a market leader in cabinet by acquiring various brands. Every brand had their independent IT Systems, the objective of DWBI project is to consolidate and leverage legacy IT Systems/repositories and migrate the existing applications to an enterprise wide reporting solution. This involved building a data warehouse and reporting solution on Business Intelligence (BI) platform by implementing a BI (Cognos) and ETL tool (Datastage) to meet MBCI business needs

Client: MOTOROLA, Schaumburg, IL Oct 2008 to Dec 2008

Project Manager, Discovery – Motorola.com Spin-Off

The primary objective of Discovery was to create two companies that are ready and able to succeed in their respective markets. This involved executing 2 projects under marketing business unit

TSA Separation - Separating shared marketing application platform into 2 separate physical instances to support Mobile Devices and Business Mobility Solutions.

HRLE Rebranding - Rebrand external facing Marketing applications (Motorola.com, Web Trends, and External Search) as part of project Discovery.

Client: American Express, Phoenix, AZ Sep 2003 to Sep 2008

Project Manager, Tracker, iARC for Interactive Reporting and SSO

Lead the development of Interactive Auto Reporting Capabilities (iARC) an end-to-end DW and BI solution. iARC project built on Business Intelligence (BI) platform where the objective is to create a Point of Arrival enterprise wide reporting solution by implementing a reporting data warehouse, a BI tool (COGNOS) and an ETL tool (Informatica) integrated with Tracker.

Tracker a centralized business event capture system gathers metrics over MQ sourcing data from heterogeneous data sources including Omniture, DB2, Flat files, Legacy Mainframe and external sources like Double Click and 24/7.

Responsibilities:

Responsible for Project, Portfolio management of Interactive Reporting portfolio.

Responsible for defining onsite/offshore service delivery model, preparing RFP for BI Product, Vendor evaluation and risk mitigation strategy.

Manage the development of enterprise wide BI reporting utility (iARC) with a 3 Tera Byte Data warehouse.

Managed complete lifecycle - Initiation, Planning, Estimation, Project Tracking and Control using both waterfall and agile.

Ensure MYCA BU adheres to SOX compliance guidelines by implementing adequate internal controls.

Participate in project management reviews and shepherd project through JADR reviews

Client: Standard Chartered Bank, Singapore, Hong Kong & Malaysia Aug 2001 to Sep 2003

Project Manager, Strategic Technical Architecture (STAr) – PSS

Quantum Leap (QL) is a major cash management programme and STAR project was an initiative to build a leading edge technical framework to support various QL applications.

Responsibilities:

Manage 25 team members, across Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and India, to develop a new online B2B and B2C process for real-time, straight-through wholesale banking applications.

Escalation manager for

Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) – A trusted system for the generation of digital signatures ensuring SCB and its customer’s non-repudiation of electronic transactions.

Infobus - Interfacing internal/external customers to banks various Back Office systems for critical applications by using IBM MQ Series for guaranteed message delivery. Maintain and support NCS foreign exchange transaction routing, processing and reconciliation

Pre-2000: GE Appliances, Louisville, KY; GE-Power Systems, Atlanta, GA; GE Capital - Retail Financial Services, Stamford, CT

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