Project Manager Account Director

DonTai C. Crump PSM®, CSM®

*** ****** *** ● Birmingham, MI 48009 ● ******.*@*****.*** ● https://www.linkedin.com/in/dccrump ● 248-***-****

Growth-Oriented Cross-Functional Team Leader

International Operations Manager • Project Consultant • Senior Project Director • Account Director

Strategic Planning • Vendor Relationships • Change Management • Customer Satisfaction

Implemented Agile Methodologies • Evaluated Risks • Spearheaded Expansion • Analyzed Data

Achieved Milestones • Resolved Conflicts • Secured Investments • Streamlined Operations

Professional Summary

I have a successful track record of launching and supporting enterprise software solutions as an Account Director in the Customer Success Team at Merkle Inc. My management functions include planning, organizing, and proactively mitigating issues within set funding and resource goals to deliver business value and build relationships. I excel at fostering partner relationships beyond project engagements, driving process adoption, and removing impediments.

In my role as an Account Director, I lead the strategy for important client accounts within my portfolio. I take on a leadership position, identifying and developing new growth opportunities. I lead small teams daily and have the freedom to take ownership of my clients' P&L and assist with new business projects. I focus on advancing projects, enhancing opportunities, and mapping results with clear business value to grow account value.

Professional Experience

Merkle Inc. – Client Success / Dentsu Americas Detroit, MI

September 2021 – Present

Marketing Account Director

•Coordinated senior vendor relationships to negotiate preferred rates and maintain partnerships for access to new services.

•Collaborated with critical clients to oversee campaigns and develop strategies.

•Mentored Account Managers in delivering all campaign planning and implementation.

•Compiled team training schedules to enhance both internal and external training opportunities.

•Drafted Scope of Work documents for account campaigns and projects.

•Recommended new technologies and abilities with the potential to enhance the technical stack.

•Created, executed, and revised project plans to fulfill continuously changing needs.

•Evaluated work requests, identified needed resources, delegated individual responsibilities, and scheduled action items.

•Provided regular updates and progress reports to internal teams and client stakeholders.

•Cultivated new personal and team client relationships to identify development opportunities.

GM Financial – International Operations / Application Service Delivery Detroit, MI

November 2018 – September 2021

Application Service Delivery Manager / International Operation

•Supervised daily growth, resource, and vendor requests while resolving issues related to production and development.

•Improved the software development process by implementing DevOps practices, which helped deliver high-quality software more efficiently.

•Constructed aggregate service plans for services, including cost and resources forecast.

•Coordinated capacity to balance utilization and responsiveness to new demands, allocating workloads across geographies to fulfill customer needs and utilization requirements.

•Forecasted service demand and resource needs within defined budgets.

•Analyzed requirements, inspected use cases, and evaluated project plans.

•Liaised with vendors and other users to provide technical assistance for all applications.

•Administered all sustain and support production issues, generating short- and long-term resolutions and preventive measures.

•Collaborated with the Development team to support all on- and offshore sites.

•Evaluated risks and resolved issues affecting application development throughout the SDLC.

•Controlled release and change dependencies with internal business leads and external vendors.

•Identified and remediated incident trends in collaboration with cross-functional teams.

•Updated stakeholders on process and technology changes, heading associated initiatives to ensure the impacted systems' availability, performance, and reliability.

GM Financial – International Operations / Salesforce Application Delivery Detroit, MI

September 2016 – November 2018

Senior Project Manager / International Operation / Senior Specialist Salesforce

•Administered project financials to the established PMO tolerance of 5% variance.

•Deployed all applications no later than 2 weeks beyond the established PMO tolerance.

•Operated within frameworks to identify process inefficiencies and facilitate framework development while continuing to achieve checkpoints and phases.

•Planned the delivery of Salesforce Sales Cloud/Service Cloud activities for GM Financial IO, including EU, China LAO, and Australia.

•Spearheaded end-to-end Agile project ceremonies and deliveries, including financial planning, requirement assembly, Scrums, PMO checkpoints, and deployment planning.

•Developed purchase requisitions based on vendor submissions, statements of work for fixed bids, and time/material project actuals.

•Ideated short and long-term strategic objectives for GMF IO IT.

•Established a Project Management forum to cascade best practices across the organization for current and newly hired Project Managers within International Operations IT.

•Created a fusion risk release program deployed through an Agile release framework.

•Partnered with Brazil Service Operations and RPD teams to evaluate Salesforce options for process optimization and operational cost reduction opportunities.

•Owned stakeholder satisfaction to ensure projects achieved all key objectives.

•Increased program and personnel development to reduce external supplier dependency.

Vertiv / Solution Delivery Organization / Business Relationship Management Princeton, NJ

April 2015 – September 2016

Program Manager

•Delivered overall programs and associated activities aligned with organizational goals.

•Developed and implemented short- and long-term objectives to achieve program success.

•Created annual budgets and operating plans to support the program.

•Installed a program evaluation framework to assess strengths and potential improvements.

•Drafted program funding proposals to guide continuous service delivery.

•Aligned all program activities with relevant legislation and professional standards.

•Collected and maintained confidential client records to improve program statistical analyses.

•Implemented a performance management process for all program staff.

•Liaised with clients and stakeholders to secure community and solicit program feedback.

•Communicated with client stakeholders and executive staff as outlined in funding agreements.

•Monitored and approved all budgeted program expenditures.

FordDirect / Application Delivery Dearborn, MI

July 2014 – April 2015

Integrated Project Manager

•Facilitated various Scrum ceremonies such as grooming, sprint planning, retrospectives, and daily stand-ups.

•Kept track of the Agile team's velocity and sprint/release progress, and communicated updates accordingly.

•Increased the productivity of Scrum teams by 16% and improved the quality of deliverables by 22% through ongoing continuous improvement efforts.

•Worked closely with the management team to support business system requirements and provided strategic direction and support for the preparation of high-quality deliverables.

•Acted as a liaison between business users and technologists to resolve issues and expedite system enhancements.

•Managed the entire process of application break fixes from identification to production releases.

•Wrote specifications for both new and existing products based on customer feedback and sprint retrospective input.

Xede Consulting Group / Salesforce Implementation and Delivery Troy, MI

April 2013 – July 2014

Senior Project Manager

•Managed planning, budgeting, design, development, testing, and deployment of Salesforce development, testing and deployment

•Worked in a Scrum Agile process with two-week iterations

•Delivered new features and monitored team velocity trends

•Maintained professional communication with stakeholders

•Provided regular status updates and SDLC progress reports

•Moderated SCRUM retrospectives

•Led communication between business units and IT to negotiate deliverables

•Played a role in component and data architecture design

•Monitored project performance

•Ensured projects met business objectives

•Delivered projects on scope, quality, budget, and schedule

•Fostered a positive, results-driven team environment.

J.D. Power-Autodata / Application Solution Delivery London, Ontario

December 2008 – April 2013

Client Services Manager / Project Management / Business Relationship Management

•Reported to the Senior Partner of the Delivery Organization as key client-facing contact for all issues related to the development of long-term and short-term web development strategies

•Was accountable for the budget, scope, and schedule of projects

•Tracked and communicated team velocity and sprint/release progress

•Facilitated effective Account Reviews to track Key Performance Indicator (KPI) trends, anticipate risks to plan, mitigate challenges, capitalize on opportunities, and direct day-to-day operations

•Worked to ensure that each implementation progressed to the timeline and budget to improve time to revenue, including publishing associated Implementation team performance metrics.

•Engaged in lightweight Agile program management (Iterative Waterfall)

•Oversaw and directed multiple projects and teams in various delivery stages, identified vital resources, and provided the direction required for meeting the project objectives, timelines, and financial expectations.

•Ensured appropriate management, customer, and vendor involvement throughout the project lifecycle

•Provided leadership in designing and developing production systems requirements and specifications for applications.

•Established and maintained security, integrity, and business continuity controls and documentation.

•Gathered data and provided Agile Project Key Performance Indicators

•Conducted Application code release management and planning

Bartech Workforce Management Bingham Farms, MI

November 2007 – November 2008

Senior Implementation Project Manager

•Reported to the Vice President of Operations, where I successfully implemented the company's vendor-managed solution for several companies

•Managed all project resources to perform software implementation tasks according to the plan

•Set expectations concerning deliverability, performance, maintenance, design, and costs.

•Estimated time frames, quality, and quantity of resources required to successfully implement project specifications for graphical applications using the Clarity Workbench portfolio management system

•Managed each implementation to timeline and budget to improve time to revenue, including publishing of associated Implementation team performance metrics

•Prepared weekly and monthly status reports on all project activities and issues

•Maintained customer satisfaction through the delivery of high-quality, timely, and thorough solutions to the customer problem

•Gathered system requirements, conducted analysis, coordinated solutions design, and established success metrics.

•Performed analysis of systems specifications and used analysis / diagramming tools to represent business / technical processes

•Developed system implementation plans

ZF TRW Automotive / Information Technology Livonia, MI

July 2000 – June 2007

Senior Project Manager – Corporate Applications / Information Technology

•Led a team in building and maintaining a complex distributed employee appraisal application using agile methodology

•Focused on delivering high-quality code each iteration while monitoring and reporting regression

•Analyzed and developed products, enhancing requirements to meet functional needs

•Reviewed technical feasibility of requirements and established timelines with development teams for application creation

•Managed the product development budget, resource allocation, and scheduling while maintaining documentation and reusable code for modular software development initiatives

•Led the planning and execution of project work plans, making ongoing revisions to meet changing needs

•Directed the development team efforts to achieve our team and product development goals, objectives, and milestones

•Collaborated with cross-functional teams in global locations to build software architectures that resolved complex business problems

•Oversaw development initiatives with input from consultants and technology vendors

ZF TRW Automotive / Information Technology Farmington Hills, MI

July 1997 – January 2000

Senior Business Analyst

•Streamlined business processes and reduced operating costs by 18% by closely examining end-user requirements and translating them into functional system requirements.

•Managed over 35 projects and 26 applications while maintaining strong relationships with 45 stakeholder managers.

•Utilized CA Clarity to increase application development efficiencies and accelerate deployment through process-driven integration and best practices.

•Planned, developed, tested, and documented computer programs while conducting assessments to identify potential risks and issues.

•Created contingency plans and effectively communicated them with program management, suppliers, and engineers to ensure successful project delivery.

•Worked independently and with cross-functional team members to address action items and open issues, ensuring material request goals are met.

•Developed and maintained weekly status reports to keep stakeholders informed and up-to-date on project progress.

Certifications

•SCRUM Alliance / Certified Scrum Master

•SCRUM.org / Professional Scrum Master

Education

University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

Major: Chemistry

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