RENÉ JANEAN BENSON

Chicago, Illinois ***** M: 773-***-**** adzs0p@r.postjobfree.com http://www.linkedin.com/in/renejbenson

A dynamic accomplished Technical Program Director, Project Management Professional, and Professional Scrum Master with an MBA in eBusiness/MIS and over 20 years of experience in leading strategic initiatives, portfolio management, and cost optimization across diverse industries. Innovative advisor and expert in mergers and acquisitions, legacy system integration, web and mainframe development, infrastructure, performance tuning, and vendor product management. Skilled in Program and Project Management, Contract Negotiation, Customer Relationships, and Team building. Energetic leader managing cross-functional teams following the sun, building relationships, and delivering.

Professional Experience

Endeavor OpenBet, Chicago, IL – Global PMO Program Director; Director Technical Account Management 01/2021-04/2023

Directed online gaming and sportsbook operations for 10 clients across 15 markets, delivering over 400 software projects involving migrations, upgrades, enhancements, interfaces, integrations with 3rd party products; TIBCO, Kafka, Cloudflare, PayPal, Trustly, IMG, and Game Providers.

Led AWS migrations, ITAM initiatives, product roadmaps, performance, and product improvements minimizing risk and improving scalability. Created new change management and release protocols, lowering deployment errors by 50%, stabilizing systems. Availability increased to 99%.

Spearheaded regulatory audits and achieved 100% compliance with state regulations; introduced robust control measures that reduced penalties and fines by 99%. Rewrote all release documentation templates. Closed cybersecurity holes.

Comprehensive project management initiatives for renowned clients like Wynn, Caesar's, BetFred, HardRock, and MGM.

Managed resources, budgets, and financials, resulting in exceptional customer satisfaction, effective communication, and established outstanding relationships. Meeting all milestones driving operational excellence and exceeding customer expectations.

Facilitated the Endeavor acquisition and division of SG Digital into OpenBet and LnW transitions and integrations.

Motorola Solutions, Chicago, IL - Program Manager/Scrum Master; Actionable Data Insights 11/2019-11/2020

Headed Enterprise Data Hub Program that supported 11 business units’ data integrations, analytics, metrics, transformations, acquisitions, legacy integrations, and retirements. Scrum Master; Jira and Confluence; facilitated agile ceremonies.

Put into service a continuous improvement framework that optimized workflows and standardized processes; slashed time to market and increased customer satisfaction scores by 20%.

Launched an extraordinarily complex AWS migration to RA3 proof of concept, conducting comprehensive reviews, analyses, and comparisons of product features, financials, and contract terms and conditions. Scored and ranked alternatives for informed decision-making.

Led Textual ETL Analytics and Artificial Intelligence POC projects, and consolidated Google Analytics, Tableau, and Power BI. Conducted Tableau and infrastructure upgrades. Initiated Alation training and adoption. Led ITAM strategy and cost savings measures.

Shrunk budget by $34M due to Covid challenges through resource reduction, restructuring licenses, and negotiating vendor contracts.

CVS, Buffalo Grove, IL - Program Manager Consultant; Member Experience & Compliance 05/2018-09/2019

Completed the Merger of Anthem National Health Care Plan into CVS Systems; led Member Experience integrations for client implementations; built custom extracts and tools for client reporting needs, raw data administration, client training, and data analysis. Led the development of custom cost and finance options. Executive reporting and dashboards.

Client Implementation: Direct client contact and team integration to meet requirements and timelines. Integration of Eligibility, RxClaim, PeopleSafe, Avaya and IVR data to track member calls through their lifecycle. Launched the communication protocols between Anthem and CVS. Developing the Medallia extract process for client branding needs and survey creation to improve customer satisfaction.

Led Custom Software development, Infrastructure, Enterprise Data Warehouse, Client Online Services, Enterprise Service Team, People Safe Application team, IVR application teams, Telephony and Telecom teams, using Clarity and Jira. Introducing Chat, Power BI, Google Analytics.

Federal Trade Commission compliance initiative - Employed data management and security tools, including IAM, Splunk and Data Guard, oversaw infrastructure and application remediation of government applications, ensuring data protection and regulatory compliance, enhanced security measures, and optimized application performance. 100% compliance with GDPR and PII regulations.

Exelon, Chicago, IL - Enterprise Asset Management IT Manager Strategic Projects and Operations 02/2011-12/2017

Managed the 35-member EAM Functional maintenance team, led, mentored, and guided. Asset Suite/PassPort, Maximo, and Bolt-On applications, meeting SLAs and KPIs. Strict Regulatory and Compliance requirements; NERC, FERC, CFR810, SOX.

Strategy initiatives – Cost Maintenance Optimization, Strategic Provider Program, EDI replacement, Infrastructure Replatforming, Agile and Kanban introduction, Apptio, Managed 100s of upgrades and integration initiatives. Migration of IT systems from Mainframe to Oracle.

Drove business KPIs through rapid iteration of customer-facing product features. Selected and evaluated RFPs - Vendor Management, Software solutions, and new product integrations.

Technical Project Management of mergers, Acquisitions, and Divestitures, utility companies, nuclear plants, power plants, and retail companies. Including the merger of BGE and ComEd into Exelon and the acquisition of the Fitzpatrick Nuclear Plant.

Successfully restructured the Enterprise Management team between business units without loss of productivity, meeting all cost optimization objectives. Organizational Change decreased headcount and redundancy by 75%, resulting in a $9M cost saving.

Remotely managed project initiatives, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars savings and performance improvements; using ITAM, Agile, Waterfall, Maximo upgrade, TIBCO to Fusion conversion, Kafka, NetSuite, Cloud Migration, Nuclear Promise, Fitzpatrick integration, Generation acquisitions, Utility GIS implementations, Team Connect, Material Request elimination project, Sentinel Implementation, HRPC initiatives, PassPort Upgrade to Asset Suite, Infrastructure Upgrades/Migrations, “Cost to Achieve” initiatives, Planview, Documentum, Report Migrations, SharePoint, Windows OS, IE, and SQL upgrades. Extensive analysis, integrations, conversions; Cloud, SaaS, Oracle, Mobile, Web, Mainframe.

Aon Hewitt, Chicago, IL/Remote - HR Portal Technology Manager 02/2008-02/2011

Ownership of high-profile HRPortal Portfolio, all release and enhancement programs, Welcome Season’s annual enrollments and year-end processes of over 100 clients including McDonald’s, CBRE, Canadian National, and Exelon. Increased Customer Satisfaction by 97%.

92% incident reduction during enrollment season.

Aligned with Benefits Outsourcing stakeholders and SMEs. Liaison between IT and business partners. Gave sales presentations and RFPs. Determined release scope and requirements. Redesigned business processes to improve performance. Prepared detailed feature roadmaps that included action items and project targets. Prioritized product backlog and request management.

Introduced Project Management processes and methodologies, SDLC and Agile deployments. Instituted standards and guidelines in accordance with US and Canadian Health protections and HIPAA compliance.

Directed multi-national teams of technicians, engineers, and business partners. Directed on-shore and off-shore development teams. Designed UI/UX of 100 percent configurable client-facing portals. Bettered performance and response time by 200%. Collaborated with the global team to resolve IT support cases. Led Incident management. Applied new monitoring and response tools.

Architected and led the construction of the Canadian environment, Server Stacks, Infrastructure, Configuration, Software, Disaster Recovery, Network Connectivity, and Language Localization.

Coventry Health Care, Downers Grove, IL/Remote - Strategic Project Manager 02/2007-02/2008

Strategic Project Management of 10 project teams implementing long-term, large-scale strategic projects across 48 states. Projects resulted in multimillion-dollar cost savings while adhering to all government regulations and meeting all commitments.

Cross-Functional project coordination across multiple business areas incorporating vendor software, legacy, and web development, database redesign, and warehousing. All budgeting and personnel management.

Matrixed teams consisting of architects, programmers, analysts, and project managers. Compliance projects include claim systems, EOB distribution, Lockbox technology, Medicare COBs and vendor products.

SXC Health Solutions, Lisle, IL - Implementation Manager/Solution Consultant 02/2006-02/2007

Conversion and implementation of pharmacy adjudication management software, RxClaim. RxTrack and RxPortal. Collaborated with outside vendors and clients to ensure timely error-free conversions and implementations without member impact of Pharmacy Adjudication software determining formulations and benefit rule sets, EDI transmissions.

Implemented the largest SXC client Pharmacy Benefit Management systems; BCBS of Iowa, Caremark, and Aetna.

Set up Project Management Office, incorporating all PMBOK guidelines and governance. Implemented PMO processes, established templates and reproducible procedures to successfully deliver client implementations expeditiously. Resulting in ~$10M in cost savings.

Encore Business and Management Consulting, Chicago, IL - Director of eBusiness 02/2000-02/2002

Led strategic e-business initiative to successfully launch a new division of a start-up company. Delivered executive sales presentations and RFPs. Influenced company direction by participating in the development of the strategic plan, company mission, and roadmap.

Controlled multimillion-dollar budget. Oversaw departmental operations, including staffing, training, and purchasing.

Created specialized developmental units to ensure quality project implementation. Put into practice the use of the Rational Suite for project development across the organization.

Built rapport and conducted seminars for prospects and established clients to promote products and project strategy. Provided expertise, responding to client questions and concerns. Researched and purchased innovative technology solutions.

Project management, rendered the first online trade clearing platform, reengineering of EBusiness B2B applications, and configuration of revenue systems data warehouse. Developed ETL tools for data conversions. Provided training in data management and structured programming for optimal team performance. Clients include BOTCC, ATT, Boise Cascade, and Northern Trust.

Benson Consulting, Chicago, IL – Owner, President, Consultant, PM, Developer 02/1997-02/2000 and 02/2002-02/2006

Education and Certifications

MBA: eBusiness/MIS with Distinction, DePaul University, Kellstadt School of Business

Bachelor of Science: Medical Technology and Computer Career Program, with high honors, DePaul University

Project Management Professional, PMP #463026, Project Management Institute.

Professional Scrum Master, Scrum.org.

MT(ASCP) Medical Technologist Certification, American Society of Clinical Pathology

Many other certifications; AI, Business Process Reengineering, Java, VB, AHIC, Strategic Planning, Team Building, Agile Transformation

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