IT Manager - Project Manager

Les Jones

Shillington PA ● 610-***-**** ● **********@*******.***

Sr. IT Project Manager - System Analyst & Business Leader

Leader of cross functional IT business teams, vendors and projects across all sales channels. Driver of project implementation, gathering of business data specifications and team building. Communicator of system strategy, prioritization and budgeting with executive leaders in retail, web, finance, supply chain, marketing and human resources. Extensive knowledge and experience in all aspects of IT technology, systems and staff.

Professional experience

Godiva Chocolatier – Reading, PA 1998 to April 2020

Director of North America IT & Member of Executive Leadership Team 2018 to 2020

Dual role leading North America (NA) IT team of 25+ professionals and executive business team member. Owned the Retail/Cafe, Digital, Supply Chain, ERP, Manufacturing, Wholesale, Sales, Marketing, CRM/Loyalty, Customer Service, Telecommunications, Desktop teams and applications. Worked closely with the global IT teams for integration and system efficiencies.

IT business representative on the NA Executive Leadership Team reporting to President of NA and global CTO. Managed overall Godiva business strategy and direction with other business function leaders. Responsible to communicate technology strategy and partner with the global executive team and board.

Owned application and system roadmaps, lifecycle management, service delivery

Building of digital technology stack and process improvement

Team building, engagement, resource and succession planning

Managed expense budget of $4m+ and capital budget of $7m+

Partnered with business teams to reduce Operational Expense spend with vendors

Cross functional management of internal/external IT and finance audits

Planned security management, compliance and disaster recovery planning

Coordinated application data center (DC) move from IBM US to European in-house DC

Vendor relationships and SaaS management

Utilize Scrum and Agile concepts with vendors and internally

RFP and contract negotiation reducing IT and business spend over $1.1m

Microsoft Dynamics ERP integration, implementation management and steering committee member

Go forward Café technology planning, execution and business steering committee member

Sr. Retail IT Manager/Global Project Manager 2008 to 2018

IT relationship manager, project manager and implementation manager for retail. Owned application analysis and testing. Ensure operational excellence with all retail IT applications including point of sale (POS), hardware, network, ERP, supply chain, loyalty/CRM, resource planning, credit & gift card processing, traffic counting, payroll management and vendor management.

Responsible for discovering and investigating retail system business requirements. Align retail operations and IT business needs. Formulate strategic short and long-term prioritization and budgets.

Managed several North American and global (Europe, Japan, China and Pac Rim) POS integrations and implementations with IBM/Toshiba hardware, Fujitsu/ GlobalSTORE, Micros/Oracle and application upgrades for 300+ stores and $5 million plus budgets.

Upgraded Canada POS and implemented semi-integrated credit solution for PCI (Payment Card Industry) and EMV/Chip & Pin requirements.

Implemented and supported Verifone AJB/RTS credit & gift card authorization systems in conjunction with PCI compliance and bank regulations.

Support internal and external security teams on PCI compliance for retail applications.

Project manage past and current mobile handheld Micros/Oracle miStore (iOS & Fujitsu), Clover Mobile POS implementations and investigations for retail initiatives.

Consultant onsite for Europe, Pac-Rim, China and Japan POS strategy, development and retail systems implementations.

Assisted with SAP ERP integration projects related to Retail.

Managed and designed national award-winning multi-channel Godiva Chocolatier Rewards Club (GCRC). Managed IT team, application, operations and data integrity. Over 7 million (2 to 3 million active members). Drove over 50% of Godiva’s retail comp growth during the first three years.

GCRC Loyalty IT project manager and relationship manager for marketing, Godiva.com, retail operations, business intelligence, customer service and vendor teams.

Implement and manage ShopperTrak traffic counting rollout and systems in US and Europe.

Negotiated Micros/Oracle software, IBM US POS hardware support and maintenance contracts significantly reducing total annual spend.

Sr. IT Analyst Retail Applications 2004 to 2008

Worked on international team to gather and implement Hong Kong POS and ERP business system requirements.

Responsible for POS functionality and quality assurance testing for upgrades and ongoing enhancements.

Manage POS, retail applications and resource budgets for IT and retail operations.

Owned image and release management for POS application.

Primary 2nd & 3rd level support for POS and other retail system applications 24 x 7.

Retail Applications Analyst/Help Desk Manager 1998 to 2004

Successfully revitalized POS vendor and internal retail operations relationships.

Improved Godiva store customer service standards, response times and satisfaction.

Trained and coded AS/400 iSeries, RPG & CL for retail applications.

Handled 1st & 2nd level store POS application and hardware service calls 24 x 7.

Polo Ralph Lauren – Reading, PA 1997 to 1998

Store Training Manager/Store Manager

Managed $6 million+ store with over 50 team members.

Fila USA – Reading, PA 1995 to 1997

Regional Manager/District Manager/Store Manager

Managed $1.5 million store with over 20 team members. Promoted to district/regional manager responsible for over $30 million in sales and 26 stores.

Working Knowledge and Technology Skills

Micros/Oracle POS XCenter Suite, Fujitsu’s GlobalSTORE POS, Fujitsu’s CustomerCENTER loyalty, Microsoft Dynamics ERP, VeriFone AJB/RTS/FiPay credit authorization applications, SQL server, iSeries/AS400, Island Pacific Retail ERP, Apple iOS, Clover POS, Square POS, Microsoft Project, Office, Visio, ITIL, Windows, RingCentral, ServiceNow, Jira, Sharepoint and Teams.

Education

The Pennsylvania State University, Harrisburg PA – BS in Information Systems

Society for Information Management – Regional Leadership 9-month course

Contact this candidate