Donald Palmer

*** ******* **. ********, ** ***** 214-***-**** adj72p@r.postjobfree.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/donaldlpalmer/

SUMMARY

Results-focused Business and Technology Leader with over 35 years of broad-range experiences in engagement management, program/project management, digital strategy, cloud transformation & adoption, portfolio design and release management who knows how to drive large complex transformational programs by developing alliances with organization leaders and motivating them to align with, support and implement key business initiatives.

SKILLS

Leadership

Tolerance of Ambiguity

Executive Communications

Persuasion and Influencing

Teamwork

Conflict Resolution

Critical Thinking

Rapport-building

KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS

As a Cloud Transformation Engagement Director and Program leader for a joint venture between ConAgra and Cargill (Ardent Mills), developed and delivered the first 100% cloud enabled solution on Microsoft Azure platform in the United States with on-demand IS scalability and a loosely coupled tightly integrated Velcro Architecture (SaaS/IaaS) which was modular and more responsive to change.

o100% Public Cloud enabled resulting in a double-digit reduction in IT OPEX. No overhead or real estate cost.

o90% improvement in Finished Products KPI (60 vs 600 errors yearly)

oSimplified the IT landscape by reducing over 360+ applications to 37

oRedesigned Order Management system executed 475,000 transactions successfully per week with a success rate of 99.98%

As a Cloud Transformation Director created a cloud adoption and migration strategy on Azure and AWS (IaaS/Paas/SaaS) for 20 discrete cloud workloads as defined across a $211M addressable baseline of 3497 applications targeted for decommissioning and rationalization with a 5-year NPV on conservative scenarios equal to $87M - $102M.

Created several Program Management Office (PMO) strategies for the management of large, complex, mission-critical projects / programs whose success requires participation from multiple areas of the business. Implemented the strategy successfully with clients such as AT&T, Comcast, Time Warner, Verizon Wireless, DOW, Dupont, UPS and Ardent Mills which resulted in 20% reduced time to market, higher project efficiency by 50%, greater assurance of quality and customer experience and continuous improvement.

Created Service and Release Management strategy for implementation and governance utilizing SAFe principals for several financial institutions as a catalyst for DevOps and Continuous Development (CI/CD). Strategy projected a 20-30% cost savings through the implementation of development and release processes.

Managing Director of a professional services firm comprised of 30 management consultants providing strategic advisory and program/project management to various Fortune 500 firms. Leadership lead to the successful merger with Leapstone Systems, Inc. prior to acquisition by Motorola

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

SALESFORCE (Contract Position) Dallas, TX

Senior Program Management Advisor

03/2020 –02/2021

Program lead to drive M&A integration efforts to align and integrate acquired companies within Salesforce systems and processes for AWS Cloud Integration, Employee Success, Finance, GTM, Sales, etc.

Drives Steering Committee meetings with key stakeholders for each program to help make key decisions, remove obstacles, and address key program issues. Be the key driver to ensure business goals are met and drive the strategic vision of each program.

Partners with cross-functional stakeholders and teammates to drive workgroup alignment meetings to address tactical release issues, dependencies, team status, production issues, metrics review, milestones, etc. (cross functional – AWS Cloud Integration, Product Owners, Scrum Masters, Engineering, Platform Engineering, TechOps, Release Engineering, Capacity, Functional Managers, Release Management, etc.).

Anticipated and removed obstacles with a sense of urgency that normally would slow down or prevent project teams from delivering on project goals and helped to save over $25M in duplicate contract costs.

A catalyst within the organization to enhance Methodology processes, procedures, and Playbook activities to advance product and technology strategy and drive acquired organizations to change.

Coordinated integrations and migrations from the following systems: ServiceNow, Netsuite, Oracle HCM, WorkDay, ADP, Expensify, Concur, LinkedIn, Quickbooks, Salesforce, Payworks, BambooHR

M&A Integrations included Tableau, Vlocity, Clicksoft, CMO Club, Evergage, Mobify

WIPRO LIMITED Plano, TX

Director, Cloud Delivery

07/2019 – 02/2020

Chosen by executive leadership to provide technology vision, strategic direction and enable rapid growth of PHEAA’s commercial business through a turn-around of cloud transformation delivery. (Phase1)

Led a cross-functional on-shore team of 15 infrastructure architects, Cloud and DevOps Engineers to deliver PHEAA’s first AWS go-live for phase 1 of mainframe & infrastructure, to successfully meet a federal commitment date in 2020.

Directed Infrastructure’s first three SAFe Agile Program Increment planning process via enterprise resource planning empowering leadership to right-size the cloud team to support the 2020 delivery.

Collaborated with partner organizations to an architectural review process and architecture and design package, eliminating recurring project delays and >$100k in rework

Implemented PHEAA’s first cloud financial operations resulting in over 10% savings in the first three months

Staff included 15 onshore infrastructure architects, cloud and DevOp engineers.

MCAFEE, INC. Plano, TX

Director, Customer Experience

03/2018 – 07/2019

Primary ownership and accountability for ensuring customer growth, satisfaction, and retention within the assigned global accounts which included all complex, high-value cross-cloud customers for Skyhigh / McAfee's MVision Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) enterprise security platform.

Designed and implemented Engagement Management strategy to steam-line customer CASB implementation activities and Professional Services to build and maintain customer and partner relationships at all levels of the organization, influence long-term strategic direction and act as trusted advisor and influencer.

Managed 20 professional services / delivery consultants and 8 Customer Success managers.

Increased business agility improved synergies between operations and sales and reduced business risks and time to implementation by over 70%

Defined Customer Success strategy by partnering with internal sales and various business resellers across the entire sales cycle to understand potential client needs and seamlessly and effectively speak to McAfee’s Skyhigh product and services to help them acquire, engage and retain new customer through a cohesive strategy including Brand Awareness, Content Strategy, User Experience, and Digital Marketing and Analytics.

Improved business processes cut sales teams Lead-to-cash (LTC) by a minimum of 30% globally.

Owned all primary Customer communication and resolve escalations with autonomy related to the services provided by McAfee MVision Cloud.

Collaborated with the Sales organization to identify new opportunities and lead in closing incremental revenue and securing long-term renewals.

Ensured ongoing adoption by customers through continuous innovation of the MVision Cloud feature set.

Acted as a liaison between Product Management and customers with a focus on feature collaboration and communicating the MVision Cloud roadmap in a balanced "one-versus-many" approach required by the SaaS model.

Collaborated with customer's implementation partners to achieve overall satisfaction with the solution and to create a trusted 3-way partnership between customer, partner and McAfee MVision Cloud.

Built a solid base of referenceable customer contacts including Disney, EA Sports, Caesar's Entertainment, L3 Technologies, and several federal government "Fed Ramp" customers.

IBM (Contract Position) Dallas, TX

Senior Program Management Advisor

06/2017 – 03/2018

Provided advisory services to IBM customer organizations (American Girl and Navy Exchange Command) to guide them on large complex programs and in making decisions on program management, cloud adoption and digital strategies, release management and software selection and implementation utilizing Agile Methodologies.

Provided a vendor assessment of a comprehensive content management solution for building websites, mobile apps and forms of Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) and Adobe Campaign Manager. Coordinated the implementation and set-up with American Girl.

Created a PMO strategy for Navy Exchange Command to interact with other DOD command entities to provide advisory services on infrastructure and security assessment of DOD security compliance (DIACAP-DoD Information Assurance Certification and Accreditation Process).

Implemented a vendor selection process for the selection of fraud software, reducing an exhaustive evaluation process for RFP responses focusing strictly on requirements and providing weightages for vendor evaluation.

TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES, LTD (TCS) Edison, NJ

Practice Director, Cloud Transformation

05/2013 – 06/2017

Provided consulting services leadership with a specific focus on solutions aimed at delivering Cloud and IT transformation (e.g. Azure, AWS and bimodal strategies) for large, complex, multi-year transformational programs to various Fortune 500 customers of TCS including: Ardent Mills, DOW, DuPont, Bank of America, Western Union, Bank of Montreal, Lamb Weston, Charter Communication, Cox Communication and UPS.

Enterprise Cloud Authority for near, mid, and long-term “Cloud First” technology strategies – both public and private while staying abreast of Cloud Service Provider (CSP) capabilities and technological advancements. Provided an understanding of best practices and emerging technologies to support continuous improvement.

Lead in several integrations of seamless Operations across our platforms, which includes traditional/on-premises and IAAS, PAAS, and SAAS engagements. Successfully collaborating with strategic partners (e.g. Microsoft, AWS, etc.) to prioritize and accelerate delivery of cloud solutions.

Managed a global delivery model of more than 30 offshore delivery personnel and 20 professional services / onshore consultants and created a holistic set of well-defined best practices to conduct analysis, planning, design, implementation and earned value metrics (EVM) for transformation programs.

Averaged $12M annually in new professional services bookings for transformational programs.

Developed a trusted advisor status with C-Level executive clients by not only providing strategies and business / technology model frameworks, but by working directly with their organizations to ensure the models get implemented and the organization behavior is changed.

Programs include: Strategic Cloud Adoption for ERP and ecommerce transformation; Continuous Development, DevOps and Release Management Strategies; Account Management; Executive Relationship Management; Organization Design; and Service Management Strategies (ITIL).

Created Service and Release Management strategy for implementation and governance utilizing SAFe principals for financial institutions (e.g. Bank of America, Western Union, Bank of Montreal) as a catalyst for DevOps and Continuous Development (CI/CD). Strategy projected a 20-30% cost savings through the implementation of development and release processes.

Created a global delivery model for "Cloud First" integration with more than 30 offshore delivery personnel and 20 onshore consultants and created a holistic set of well-defined best practices to conduct analysis, planning, design, implementation and earned value metrics (EVM) for transformation programs

INFOSYS LIMITED Plano, TX

Consulting Director, Cloud Transformation

05/2012 – 05/2013

Worked with Infosys's most strategic customers (e.g. Director, VP and C-Level executives) along with Global and Enterprise account teams and sales leadership to drive the biggest changes and adoption in cloud and service solutions.

Developed an architectural and hybrid cloud (AWS) technology blueprint with associated prototype of new capabilities for web functionality and ecommerce utilizing IBM Websphere for T-Mobile.

Develop TCO, ROI and Value Models to help Customers understand the cost/benefit equation associated with Cloud computing. Increased program margins by 8 points through efforts which included lean release management activities and SAFe agile programs

HEWLETT PACKARD (Contract Position) Dallas, TX

Senior Program Management Advisor

04/2011 – 05/2012

Designed and implemented a Program Management Office for Hewlett Packard's Global Network Automation Division using a combination of Six Sigma methodologies and ITIL principles to increase workforce productivity. Over 300k contingent workforce hours saved through automation efforts to drive a cost savings of greater than $25M in one year.

TIME WARNER CABLE (Contract Position) New York, NY

Senior Program Management Advisor

03/2010 – 04/2011

Engaged by Time Warner to create a Program Management Office to own and manage all deployment and product launch activities through their 4G Wireless MVNO agreements with Sprint and Clearwire to their national customer base among 6 regions and more than 30 divisions in the Time Warner footprint, including North Carolina, Texas, Kansas, Ohio, New York, California and Hawaii.

COMCAST CABLE (Contract Position) Philadelphia, PA

Senior Program Management Advisor

04/2009 – 03/2010

Created Comcast's Program Management Office to ensure program and projects to meet organization goals and requirements for all phases of the product development life-cycle for interactive television (iTV) and deployment to customers such as ESPN, CNN, QVC, HSN and The Weather Channel.

MOTOROLA, INC. Somerset, NJ

Director, Program Management & Service Delivery

11/2006 – 04/2009

Acquisition of Leapstone Systems, Inc August 2007 to further the product development of the Communications Convergence Engine suite as a Service delivery platform for AT&T’s U-Verse IPTV enterprise and manage an on-site Program Office and key executive relationships with AT&T executives and other key sponsors.

Oversight Management with AT&T for U-Verse to be conversant in the underlying operations and client environmental and placement metrics that drive the ebbs and flows in revenue and affect positive movement in each on a peer-level dotted line relationship with strategy and operations. Developed market requirements deemed critical for market acceptance, including a cross-section of customer input, system evolution, market and industry technology trends, and leading competitive benchmarking and analysis. Report to both AT&T and Motorola leadership with respect to their performance, industry revenue cycle trends, and new revenue cycle technologies.

Created a 20-person Program Management Office (PMO) to manage overall U-verse program initiatives, drive strategic partnerships and manage external vendors with internal customers and various other 3rd parties to manage conflicts and ascertain desired program outcomes.

Managed a detailed budget of $16.5M annually in which costs were reduced by an average of 15% annually including a 4% average SG&A reduction.

WINDON, INC. Dallas, TX

Partner / Managing Director

04/2002 – 11/2006

Managing Director of a professional services organization comprised of 30 management consultants providing strategic technical advisory and program/project management to various Fortune 500 firms. Served client executive leadership to provide strategic and operational consulting, and drive results by working as an extension of the client team for a variety of technical program assignments.

oLed the merger with Leapstone Systems, Inc. which acquired WinDon, Inc. in November 2006. to further the product development of the Communications Convergence Engine suite and align with the architectural framework to empower converged service providers to expand and evolve their product portfolios to include all elements of the triple/quad play, including IPTV, VoIP, high-speed internet data and fixed mobile convergence.

oEstablished on-site Program Office(s) for AT&T executives and other key sponsors in St. Louis, MO and Hoffman Estates, IL to deploy the Communication Convergence Engine as key part AT&T’s U-Verse IPTV enterprise.

oManaged the deployment and further portfolio product development of the Communications Convergence Engine as the service delivery platform for Verizon Wireless’ V-Cast.

Created a comprehensive telecommunications strategic sourcing strategy and employed with clients to negotiate telecommunications savings of an average of 43%. (Neiman Marcus, Zales, Wells Fargo, DuPont and Daimler Chrysler)

Designed a custom mobile eCommerce solution architecture for field sales automation to increase sales efficiencies by 23%. (RedBull)

Created Product Marketing PMO office strategy to increase development efficiencies between business and technical entities and the launch of products. (Verizon Wireless)

DELOITTE CONSULTING, LLP Dallas, TX

Senior Manager

08/2000 – 04/2002

Engagement Senior Manager for Communications, Media and Entertainment practice, mobilized and managed engagement teams, defines deliverable structure and content, oversees proposal development and pursuit team activities, manages engagement economics and risk, quality of work products, and manages C-level client relationship for day-to-day expectations and satisfaction.

Fulfilled role as Chief of Staff to an equity investment client to facilitate communication investment objectives and provide insights and guidance across numerous cross-functional business initiatives and partner with various partners and equity funds.

Created due diligence strategy to accelerate equity investor decision to undertake major investments in Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (CLECS).

Created comprehensive PMO Strategy & Governance model with a proven value proposition to reduce product time to market, create higher project efficiencies, assurance of quality and customer experience and continuous improvement through defined project success metrics.

WORLDCOM, INC Chicago, IL

Assistant Vice President, Business Technology & Operations

08/1996 – 08/2000

Principal Technical Leader for nationwide Fiber Optic network for operations and maintenance in 32 metropolitan areas nationwide. Managed 25 Senior Directors, Directors and Management direct reports. Facilitated the design and development of companies OSS/BSS for an entire sale to billing operations support system to enable the sales, deployment, billing and ongoing maintenance and operations of all metropolitan fiber ring and long-haul circuitry.

Responsible as the engagement lead for the M&A integration for services acquired from MCI. Including managing all cross-functional dependencies between business and technology entities of both WorldCom and MCI. Working directly with Senior Executives, legacy business and technology owners to manage scope, cross-deal project plans, schedules, and critical path milestones.

METROPOLITAN FIBER SYSTEMS, Inc. (MFS) Chicago, IL

Senior Director, Business Technology & Operations

01/1995 – 08/1996

Acquired as part of the WorldCom acquisition in August 1996

Principal Technical Leader for the MFS nationwide Fiber Optic network for operations and maintenance in 14 metropolitan areas nationwide.

Managed 20 nationally dispersed Directors and Management direct reports. Facilitated the design and development of companies OSS/BSS for an entire sale to billing operations support system to enable the sales, deployment, billing and ongoing maintenance and operations of all metropolitan fiber ring and long-haul circuitry.

UNITED STATES NAVY Honolulu, HI

Radioman First Class

03/1983 – 01/1995

Principal Technical Control and communications facilities director for both onshore and shipboard communications systems including communication security equipment.

Commander US Naval Central Command (COMUSNAVCENT), Manama, Bahrain (Staff Position): Managed PMO Office for governing the buildout of a US Navy and Joint Services Satellite Communications and Operations facility in Manama, Bahrain. Provided a centralized management structure for facilitating between all vendors, contractors, service members, DOD and Federal Government entities. Oversaw 25 direct reports. Responsible for reporting Operations and Communications status directly to a 3-star Vice-Admiral as part of staff and regular reporting to Pentagon / DOD officials and US Central Command. (1993-1995)

Naval Computer and Telecommunications Area Master Station, Wahiawa HI: Directly oversaw the modernization and automation program of the US Navy’s Eastern Pacific Master Communication’s Technical Control facility in Wahiawa, HI and including all reporting entities in San Diego, CA; Stockton, CA; Adak, AK; Barber’s Point, HI; Pearl Harbor, HI. Directly managed 20 service members and over 200 in-direct reports of technical control supervisors, electronics maintenance, and cryptographic professionals

Honorable Discharge January 1995

Multiple awards and commendations including: Navy Commendation Medal; Navy Achievement Medal; Southwest Asia Service Medal (Protected Veteran)

EDUCATION

Master of Business Administration, Management Information Systems

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN Ann Arbor, MI 12/1995

Bachelor of Science, Business Administration

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND College Park, MD 05/1985

CERTIFICATIONS

PMP (since 1987) PMI – Agile Certified Practitioner (ACP) (since 2006) ITILv3 Foundation (since 2006) AWS Cloud Practitioner Essentials (Architecting, Security, Cloud Concepts, Core Services, Pricing & Support) (since 2018)

PUBLICATIONS / WHITE PAPERS

Authored an Integrated Agile Release Management Methodology introducing the application of agile and lean techniques to release management to achieve rapid, reliable, low risk delivery of high-quality, valuable functionality to usersThe methodology was successfully implemented for several organizations including: Bank of America, Western Union, Bank of Montreal, DOW, DuPont and UPS

Authored Point of View (POV) on the “Evolution of the Converged Content Delivery Provider” and presented to various industry consortiums of network service providers, professional services consultants, software providers and infrastructure vendors. The POV served as a business model strategy to develop an end-to-end converged content delivery platform to allow network service providers to become the mechanism to enable media-rich content.

Authored “Agile for Project Teams” training to outline the application of Agile development values, principles, roles and practices to high value, high quality products. Utilized for organizations such as: American Airlines, Navy Exchange, T-Mobile, PHEAA and Ardent Mills.

COMMUNITY SERVICES/VOLUNTEER

2010 – Present U.S. Navy Jr. ROTC Instructor on Naval History and Citizenship, Celestial Navigation.

2010 – Present STEM Program Consultant/ High School Solar Car (2017 and 2018 National Champions)

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