Program Manager Release

Ron M. Burson

Cumming, GA ***** *********@**********.*** (678) 736 - 0628

www.linkedin.com/in/ron-m-burson-61305015

Summary

Senior Program Manager with over 15 years experience. Duties in release management, change management, supply chain, secret military programs, IT projects, account management, new product development, production management. Managed global teams including direct reports and budget control. A seasoned professional spanning a wide range of industries including high tech electronics, avionics, cable TV, consulting, banking. Drives large technical teams and keeps efforts on track to achieve successful implementation. Outstanding people management skills across diverse cultures and time zones. Provides dynamic leadership for product life cycles from design through go-to-market release. Strategic planning and operational improvements. Release management for hardware and software. Project management of engineering teams. Vendor and partner management. Metrics and KPIs for operations measurements and improvements. Communications skills, WebEx, telepresence. Advanced skills In Excel and Microsoft Office. Traveled to customers, vendors, strategic partners and international manufacturing centers. Successful career achieved by balanced attention to people, product and profit. Former secret clearance. Will travel. Will relocate.

Professional Experience

On Sabatical and Semi-Retirement, Cumming, GA 2013 to 2022

Time with family and travel. Returning full time to workplace as of January, 2023.

Cisco, Program Manager, Research Triangle Park, NC 2009 to 2013

Provided program and operations management for global lab operations used in troubleshooting customer issues. Successfully completed projects that resulted in global centers of excellence and worldwide labs becoming a unified, award winning show case of Cisco lab management.

• Coordinated 100 team members worldwide: site managers, network engineers, lab admins and software developers. $1.2B in Cisco lab equipment in 100,000 sq ft of global lab space.

• Planned and implemented strategic programs to forge labs worldwide into a 24/7/365 modern support system for troubleshooting customer issues. Budget and schedules responsibilities.

• Managed day-to-day operations with international support vendors assigned to technical support. Implemented process improvements between Cisco and its global delivery partners.

• Integrated new teams from Cisco acquisitions into lab environment and culture. Smooth and timely migrations included Tandberg, Starent and Scientific-Atlanta’s cable modems,

• Developed key performance indicators and metrics packages resulting in behavioral changes and operational improvements.

• Designed and managed Wiki sites for lab documents and show casing lab operations.

Cisco (Scientific-Atlanta), Program Manager, Lawrenceville, GA (1999 to 2009)

Provided in-depth production support for cable subscriber systems and strong cross functional leadership of teams associated with new video product development: cable settops, digital head ends, software and components.

• Led all activities associated with new product releases: software/hardware designs, MRP requirements, purchasing agreements, vendor evaluations, factory pilot runs, install procedures.

• Experienced in pre-production and high-volume manufacturing. International travel to factories for new pilot introduction. Resolved start-ups issues resulting in multi-million dollar production.

• Developed methods to track obsolete components and provided early warning for new designs.

• Supported go-to-market activities for release of new hardware and software. Configured newly created part numbers and BOM structures for SAP and Oracle based ordering systems.

• Planned and implemented special field related and recall programs. Directly contacted senior customer management, on-site technicians and support contractors.

SunTrust Bank, Technical Project Leader for PC Y2K Refresh, Atlanta, GA 1998 to 1999

Provided IT program management for all aspects of Y2K compliancy for 500 commercial banks sites across 3 states. Technical leadership over all PC refresh duties including site studies, installing 27,000 PC’s, new servers and banking applications. Extensive travel in southeast.

• Led on-site assessments, network design and applications teams, database conversions, local cabling, infrastructure, equipment orders, on-site installation teams and day-one support.

• Achieved high success rate of bank refreshes. Effectively managed large installations teams at banking sites. Communicated to executive management about status, challenges and solutions.

MCI Corp, Release Manager, Atlanta, GA 1997 to 1998

Managed distribution software and rollout new PCs for national sales force. Successful rollouts of 5,000 Compaq 7350 laptops and sales applications. Coordinated software life cycle activities including initial customer requirements, development, integration, acceptance test, sign-off, production releases and upgrades. Established productive team spirit.

• Provided day-to-day leadership and supervision of software developers, web site developers, network administrators, testers and quality controllers.

• Created custom software images and installs packages for corporate and sales use. Wrote test plans for IBM ThinkPads and Compaq laptops. Led web developers to create web sites for downloads resulting in user friendly installations of production software and flash updates.

Consulting and Contracting, Atlanta area, GA 1990 to 1997

Worked with numerous clients including AT&T, NCR, BellSouth, GE, GTE, Northern Telecomm, Sprint and Scientific-Atlanta. Designed cost control systems, proposal and customer management applications. Set-up of new help desks system. Drove engineering change notices and production reviews resulting in production releases.

Electromagnetic Sciences, Manager of Microwave Production, Norcross, GA 1988 to 1990

Full profit/loss responsibilities for microwave integrated circuits production department and million dollar contracts. Secret clearance.

• Reorganized teams, traveled to customers, restored relations on programs in default under previous contracts and successfully completed programs.

• Directly managed microwave engineers, technicians, production line supervisors, assemblers, quality controllers and production controllers.

ITT Avionics, Program and Ops Strategy Manager, Secret Clearance, Nutley, NJ 1982 to 1988

Effective program management for the microelectronics design and production of JTIDS, a multi-million dollar avionics program for the Department of Defense (U.S. Navy). Widely traveled to Washington DC, Hughes Aircraft, major air framers and strategic microelectronics vendors.

• In-depth program management of hardware and software design teams of avionics products.

• Strategic planning and executive staff functions for the division's transition from an R&D mode to a price competitive manufacturing operation.

Loral Electronic Systems, Avionics Project Leader, Secret Clearance, Yonkers, NY 1981 to 1982

Schedule and budget responsibilities for the Operations’ portion of 20 million dollar secret avionics production program for the Department of Defense (U.S. Army). Developed and taught courses on first line supervision and other management development topics as the Vice Chairman of Management Development Committee.

Education and Memberships

B.S. in Business Administration, Management, 1988, State University of New York.

Awards and certificates received 200 hours of teaching in management development programs. Former memberships with APICS, SME, ISHM, AMA, NMA.

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