Project Manager Business Analyst

Jabar K. Smith, CSM, PMP

OBJECTIVE

Seeking a senior leadership role that allows me to utilize and build upon my demonstrated relationship management, technical, analytical, and leadership skills

SUMMARY OF QUALIFICATIONS

Jabar is an experienced Project/Delivery Manager with over thirteen years of experience in the financial services industry that spans across Asset Management and Investment Banking. He has his PMP certification along with a CSM. Jabar has successfully managed multifaceted system integration projects on time and within budget. These projects span across various departments and separate work streams. He also has experience in business development and providing strategic road maps for department reorganizations. Jabar has deep rooted project life cycle knowledge with experience in project planning, implementation and execution. He is a proven subject matter expert within Syndicated loans, Residential and Commercial Mortgage loans, Equity, Fixed Income, Structured Assets (RMBS, CMBS, ABS, and CLO) and Derivative financial products. Additionally, he holds a strong operations background in the financial services industry, providing him with the overall understanding of the front, middle and back office business processes.

oAccomplished Project Manager with expertise in both Agile and Waterfall approaches

oManaged large scale projects with multi-million dollar budgets with over 30 resources

oStrong and effective communicator with the ability to manage across a diverse set of work streams and 3rd party vendors

oProven track record in establishing credibility and strong working relationships with stakeholders at all levels

oPolished executive presence, excelling at clearly communicating information to both technical and non-technical audiences, as well as the skill set to articulate the big picture in addition to the details

oDeep understanding of the earned value, cost and risk management principles (CV, SV, CPI, SPI, EAC, ETC, VAC, TCPI, PV, EV and AC)

oEstablished operational risk management expert, introducing standard change control tools and best practices to mitigate all risks

oThorough knowledge and experience with; system integration implementations, business process redesign projects, testing techniques/methodologies and training curriculum/deployment

oDeep rooted experience in vendor analysis

oProven experience in setting up an Operational Risk system

RELEVANT PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Regions Bank/ Capital Markets Atlanta, GA

Capital Markets Business Systems Analyst (Vice President) July 2019- Present

Conduct business process analysis, performs preliminary cost/benefits analysis in an effort to align information technology solutions with business initiatives

Formulates/defines specifications for operating software programming applications

Modifies/maintains complex existing applications using engineering releases and utilities from programs

Analyzes and evaluates existing or proposed systems

Prepares charts and diagrams to assist in problem analysis and submits recommendations for solution

Prepares program specifications and diagrams and develops coding logic flowcharts.

Encodes, tests, debugs and installs the operating programs and procedures in coordination with computer

Provides business system support to the Real Estate Capital Markets team (FNMA, CMBS, HUD and Secured Lending)

Created/designed reports in CLOSER which is RECM’s workflow system for FNMA and CMBS

Redesigned the layout of CLOSER and updated fields with appropriate drop down options

Designed Dashboards within CLOSER for the RECM group

Angel Oak Companies Atlanta, GA

Technical Project Manager/Senior Business Analyst Oct 2018- July 2019

Notable Project Highlights:

Created a comprehensive technical analysis for the entire Angel Oak Capital Advisors business. Jabar identified business pain points along with potential technical solutions. He also unearthed several unknown unique systems and many repetitive silo processes. Jabar provided clear solutions through systemic automation, realignment of resources/systems and a clear road map for future projects. In his analysis he proposed hiring additional AOCA technical support to report to him across Portfolio Management/ Risk Management/ Operations/ Accounting/ Marketing/Sales/Compliance and Capital Markets which included a budget estimate for staffing and strategic initiatives costs. His work was well received by the COO and the CTO as it served as the blue print for reorganization and cultural reform.

Responsible for driving and managing projects across all of Angel Oak Capital Advisors

Business Analysis/Strategic Management

Experience in working with C-suite (Currently reports to CIO and CTO)

Manage and mentor project team members

Ensure service management is followed on all client engagements

Vendor software analysis

Hiring qualified candidates to fill project positions

Creating job descriptions to serve senior management

Guide/Assist Human Resources in hiring process by leveraging skills matrix and other tools

Drives robust business strategy/business case and ensures all elements of the solution comply with the standards and policies by IT controls

Voya Investment Management Atlanta, GA

Project Manager/Senior Business Analyst May 2015 – September 2018

Notable Project Highlights:

Camra SQL Version 8 Project: Camra is the FIRM’s Fixed Income accounting system. This application produces fixed income accounting data, which the firm uses in financial statement reports. Camra was purchased from an external vendor, SS&C, who recommended that the firm upgrade the software from Version 6 to Version 8. The new version contains new functionality for the end user that should improve the experience, as well as any latency issues. Jabar is the sole project manager owning a very vast scope across several work streams and 30 FTE (internal/external).

Management and People Development

Creates training curriculum for the PMO organization regarding best PMI practices

Provides training courses related PMI knowledge areas across different organizations

Manage and monitor a team of 30 resources across five business areas who own execution of all project plan tasks (Areas consist of: Data Management Group, IT, Systems Integration, Proprietary Client Finance and Operations)

Serves as the liaison between the vendor (third party) and internal business areas to track and manage project deliverables as well as status

Accountable for maintenance and reconciliation of 3rd party time/expense reports to ensure that all project expenses are within allocated budget

Communication and Collaboration

Lead and facilitate monthly Executive Oversight Steering and Operating committee meetings

Drive monthly structured status and decision making meetings with and Daily senior stakeholders, including; Senior Managing Directors, Managing Directors, Senior Vice Presidents and Vice President levels

Manage the daily tasks of 5 separate work streams, which includes weekly status meetings with each respective group; Technology, Book Value/Effective Yield, IMR/AVR, TAX and Cash Tracking

Facilitate and lead final design and requirements sessions with key business owners

Collaborate and interview subject matter experts regarding specific areas of research

Ownership of facilitating daily production/deployment calls with all key resources across functional areas/entities

Techniques and Skills

Owns and manages integrated project plan across key stakeholders and vendor to; track and manage the overall plan activities, as well as define project scope, objectives, resources, deliverables, key issues, and performance metrics

Design and development of daily, weekly and monthly Executive Team metrics dashboard, which is used by executive leadership team to measure the overall success of the implemented product

Detail-oriented and consistent development of value-adding deliverables throughout the project lifecycle

Analyzes and solves poorly defined problems, by leading facilitated focused sessions with key stakeholders to mitigate and close issues

Analyzes and modifies current as is business processes, to ensure efficiency for future state model

Creates detailed testing scripts with Subject Matter Experts and performs system integration (SI) and user acceptance (UAT) testing, as well as serves as main coordinator to resolve all critical open defects

MORGAN STANLEY New York, NY

Project Manager/Senior Business Analyst Oct 2012 – February 2015

Notable project highlights:

RECAP (Risk Event Capture application) is the FIRM’s new Operational Risk Incident capture application. The application is entitled to over 2600 users from various Business Units across the firm. It featured several workflow and user interface enhancements to eliminate end user downtime. On this project, Jabar owned the project management of enhancements, but also drove the identification of the requirements (with the key stakeholders), as well as conducted over 40 trainings sessions for users from Asia, Americas and Europe regions. The firm’s Chief Risk Officer personally congratulated everyone evolved in the project.

Management and People Development

Managed team of 3 who handled daily maintenance requests of the firm’s ORI application

Managed the daily activities and owned reviews for one internal resource

Managed changes to the project scope, project schedule and project costs using appropriate verification techniques

Communication and Collaboration

Worked with other key team and senior managers to facilitate/assist in resource planning

Effectively reduced expenses through automation and integration with the successful implementation of the new Operational Risk Incident Capture Tool

Conducted kick-off meetings with key stakeholders to facilitate project discovery, scope and governance

Held requirement gathering meetings across all impacted areas to identify functional attribute requirements on a weekly basis

Techniques and Skills

Gathered business requirements, and translated them into functional requirements for our technology service providers

Provided Agile and Waterfall project management approach expertise and owned the overall project plan

Documented functional attributes of the tools as they evolved including artifacts such as the data dictionary and report specifications

Created current and future state process flows with impacted stakeholders to ensure the most optimal workflow

Developed UAT plan/approach, engaged key users in UAT and assisted with testing

Analyzed and created current and future state workflows based on

Created job aides to help the users successfully adopt and fully leverage the tools by providing over 40 training sessions and three quick reference cards

Created the content for training and conducted training to over 2600 end users onshore and off shore pertaining to the RECAP application

CREDIT SUISSE, New York, NY April 2009 – Sept 2012

Settlements Coordinator, Cash Securities-Equities and Fixed Income

Ability to triage, identify, and resolve all daily settlement discrepancies and issues in a strict timeframe

Resolve bank ledger and statement accounts for settlements

Settle Equity and Fixed Income trades for the Domestic and Latin America markets

Process Equity and Fixed Income payments generated through DTC terminal

Creation of detailed training curriculum, related to the steps/actions to perform specific settlement job functions

Primary resources dedicated to providing cross training to new team members on the settlement process and procedures

Verbal confirmation of trades with counterparties

Daily communication with stock loan desk to ensure coverage of all short positions

Syndicated Loans-Credit Default Swap August 2007- April 2009 Trade Support/Middle Office Specialist

Provide assistance to Credit Default Swaps Traders

Ensure New York CDS trades are booked accurately and on a timely basis

Process P&L postings as stipulated by blotter with diligent follow-up on non-receipt of funds from counterparties

Input NY Confirmation data on DTCC, validate with counterparties, and update monthly report

Reconcile, set-up and process all fee payments due to counterparties

Monitor WIP Report consistently to resolve current discrepancies and aged items

NATIONSTAR MORTGAGE, Woodbury, NY 2006

Sales-Loan Officer/Mortgage Consultant

Generated client base/book of business via referrals and bank leads

Monitored and managed the daily sales pipeline

Ownership of book of business consisting of 30 sub-prime loans

Attended various external mortgage loan training sessions

Reviewed and configured loan options with potential and existing clients

Offered various methods and proven best practices to assist clients in rebuilding their credit

TECHNICAL SKILLS

Computer: JIRA, Windows, Microsoft Office (Access, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Project, and Word), RPA, Visio, Lotus Notes, SharePoint, TFS, Web focus, Camra, PACE, DTCC, Clarity, Aladdin, Bloomberg, Findur, Sales Force, Encompass, Liquid Logics, Street Solutions, Rockport, CLOSER, ACBS and LoanIQ)

PMP Certification - 02/2018 (SME pertaining to the knowledge areas below)

Project Human Resource Management

Project Time Management

Project Scope Management

Project Risk Management

Project Cost Management

Project Quality Management

Project Communication Management

Project Procurement Management

Project Stakeholder Management

Project Integration Management

Agile and Waterfall Methodologies

CSM (Certified Scrum Master) – 04/2018

CFA Institute IF (Investment Foundations) Certification – 11/2018

PROFESSIONAL SOCIETY

Shepherds, Inc- Mentor September 2012- Present Cristo Rey High School- Mentor September 2016- Present

Habitat for Humanity-Volunteer October 2009-May 2016

The Inner-City Foundation for Charity and Education Annual Dinner November 2005

NBMBAA April 2018

EDUCATION

St. John’s University, Queens, NY

Bachelor of Science; Major in Finance May 2007

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