CSPO,CSM, PMP, MBA
Resume:
Benjamin Kreischer – PMP, CSPO, CSM, LeSSWB, Venture Capital Scout, MBA Finance, CPAinactive
PERSONAL INFORMATION
Fishers, IN 46038
************@*******.***
linkedin.com/in/benkreischer/
EDUCATION
BS & MA in Accountancy
Manchester University
MBA Finance
Indiana University - Kelley
COMMERCIAL SKILLS
Project Management (PMP)
Agile Practitioner (CSM, CSPO)
PMO Liaison/Dev
CRM – Salesforce Dev
Predictive Analytics with AI/ML
Stochastic Financial Modeling
Business Intelligence Design
M&A Analytics and Analysis
Capital Asset Valuation
Sales Origination
Enterprise Risk Management
TECHNICAL SKILLS
@Risk Stochastic Modeling
AI/ML Analysis and Dev
API Development - Bidirectional
Cloud Platforms - AWS, Azure
ERP Development/Implementation
ETL And Data Warehousing
ETRM Financial Model Dev
Expert Agile/Kanban/Scrum/SAFe
GRC – MDM, Vulnerability
Jira Migrations – To and From
Jira Service Management Admin
Jira/Confluence/Bitbucket Admin
Jira/Sharepoint On-Prem to Cloud
Microsoft Fabric Dev
Microsoft Office VBA Dev
Microsoft Power BI Dev
Microsoft Sharepoint/Teams Dev
Microsoft VS Code
Power Automate RPA Dev
Remedy/ServiceNow/MSP Integration
UI/UX Dev - Miro, Figma
Summary: With multiple decades of experience as a senior technical and functional product owner, project manager, scrum master, and data analyst, I manage and develop long term, high risk, impossible projects, full stop. I possess extensive expertise in financial and analytics engineering, and organizational change management. I am a fully credentialed agile practitioner with over 20 years of experience in the energy/utility industry. My competencies include project risk management, quantitative and predictive analytics utilizing AI/ML, CMDB orchestration, and business intelligence. My experience includes implementing all major agile frameworks, such as Kanban, DevOps, Scrum, SAFe, Hybrid, and Waterfall, and migrating multiple project management tools such as Jira, MS Project, Planview, Monday.com, and Smartsheet. I specialize in the Atlassian ecosystem (Jira, JSM, Confluence, BB, etc.)
I have a deep grasp of SDLC and ITIL, with extensive experience in API integration and RPA automation. My expertise also extends to cybersecurity vulnerability remediation, digital transformation, COTS integration, SaaS implementation, ITSM platform development, data analytics, stochastic modeling, and legacy data migration to cloud environments.
I possess a strong accounting foundation, an MBA in Finance, with demonstrated proficiency in venture capital scouting, M&A, capital budgeting, and financial engineering (FP&A) activities. I started my career in the financial domain as a CPA.
STEP UP FOR STUDENTS (02-2024 to PRESENT)
ITSM JIRA SERVICE MANAGEMENT CONSULTANT (CONTRACTOR)
Jira Service Management Development/Implementation: Implemented a new Jira JSM platform for change management, including the design of workflows, screens, approvals, automations, and reporting. Conducted a comprehensive review of existing Atlassian infrastructure and provided cost-saving recommendations.
SONIC AUTOMOTIVE (12-2022 to 05-2023)
PROJECT MANAGER, PRODUCT OWNER, ATLASSIAN ARCHITECT (CONTRACTOR)
Administrator of Jira, Confluence, SharePoint, and Project Manager for Sonic Automotive’s project ingestion team, I managed an enterprise-wide project portfolio. I implemented, customized, and maintained an Agile-based Jira Cloud environment for DevOps, Project Management, and Service Desk using Kanban, Scrum, and Waterfall. Additionally, I developed the SharePoint Cloud environment.
Experienced in creating and managing workflows, fields, screens, schemes, marketplace extensions, automation, advanced JQL filtering/dashboarding, with a strong grasp of Jira's architecture, data model, and limitations. I'm adept at resolving complex issues and providing ongoing user training and support.
Engineered data migrations internally and with third-party vendors, overseeing planning, communication, resource planning, risk mitigation, and execution. Transitioned and developed workflows >50 multi-platform projects to Jira Cloud.
Developed SharePoint-based RPA Microsoft Power Automate solutions with multi-user approval and data-driven logic workstreams, leading to API automation of Jira user requests from multiple custom developed Power Platform SharePoint portals.
CHARLES SCHWAB FINANCIAL (09-2021 to 10-2022)
PROJECT MANAGER, SCRUM MASTER, ATLASSIAN ARCHITECT (CONTRACTOR)
Solutions architect responsible for developing workflow processes across multiple productivity tools and external system interfaces. Tasks included redesigning email systems, Jira project management, team documentation in Confluence/Sharepoint, collaboration interface in Teams, Office365 apps, and integrating Remedy ITSM for reporting and workflow management solutions.
From day 1, redesigned and implemented Jira, Sharepoint, Confluence and Teams for a geo-located team of 25 network engineers spanning 4 time zones. I developed tools, reporting, and training to manage workflow and grew the team’s agile capabilities to creating efficiencies and develop the team into a data driven agile team 30 times larger over a 1-year period, becoming likely the most actively managed Jira instance in the Charles Schwab ecosystem, the largest Atlassian Jira/Confluence Server instance on the planet.
PROJECTS OWNED AND MANAGED
Upgraded Cisco IOS-XE switches in 24 service centers, handling resourcing, communication, planning, change management, execution, and issue resolution.
Remediated vulnerabilities, drift, and PCI compliance for Schwab devices, including switches and terminal servers.
Agile training to transform numerous disconnected projects into a framework managed by epics/initiatives. Built and led the most effective Jira team at Schwab, managing 25+ epics/initiatives.
Served as Scrum Master for a team of 7 engineers/contractors to address BMC Remedy incident queue.
JIRA
Sole administrator for a geographically dispersed team of 25 network engineers. Reengineered a non-functional workflow into multiple workflows, with simplified transitions and statuses, eliminating redundant and confusing steps. Trained and coached the team to grow Jira 30x larger in 1 year.
Engineered all 7 Jira schemes, modified all screens, for targeted issue creation and grooming. Added custom fields to simulate a Jira reporting engine with calculations defined by custom automations.
Built complex JQL statements to drive more than 500 filters used as the basis for a complex reporting scheme, to drive 50+ unique dashboards to the limit of Jira’s native capabilities and extending with 3rd party tools such as Dataplane, Checklists, and iframes for external system reporting functionality.
Built autonomous standup integration (chat bots) facilitating daily standups for engineers, ingesting current user workload to groom and transition, and pushed data back into Jira via streamlined REST API calls.
Built an external roadmapping tool for grooming, development, and capacity planning, exceeding the functionality offered in Jira’s advanced roadmaps, by adding bulk updating and bidirectional Jira updating capabilities.
CONFLUENCE
Administered and rebuilt a home-grown Confluence site for better organization and repurposing Confluence to build upon its strengths, namely information dissemination. Tied into Jira instance for real-time updates, slide deck preparation, and external stakeholder information consumption. Built advanced yet simple to edit and publish data inside multiple team Confluence sites, serving as an SME. Built internal library organization structure for a world-class repository that became the single source of truth.
SHAREPOINT & MS TEAMS & POWER BI
Migrated on-premise SharePoint to SharePoint Modern Cloud, along with building out an automated reporting framework for intelligent document management (“The Library”) to eliminate document obsolescence and redundancy, as well as serving as a repository for team tooling and upskill matrixing.
Developed Power BI reporting framework for ingestion and presentation purposes.
PROJECT MANAGER / BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE DEVELOPER – AXE ANALYTIX (01-2020 to 09-2021)
Developed analytical and business intelligence platforms, from ideation to deployment, with ETL processes, AI and ML model design, training, scoring, and application interactivity architecture for data storytelling and consumption in Azure/Dataverse web and mobile environments. AI/ML functionality assisted in data discovery, finding program risk and market opportunities, presenting highest potential ROI projects to stakeholders.
PRODUCT OWNER/STRATEGIC SALES ORIGINATOR - DIRECT ENERGY (01-2018 to 01-2020)
Led agile/scrum teams in model/app development, utilizing the Jira/Confluence platform, hosting scrum ceremonies for geo-located teams for multiple high risk/high visibility projects.
Utilized ETRM models/sources across every ISO/RTO (55 zones) for modeling of variable price paths.
Administered and developed Salesforce for local sales office including reporting enhancements.
Agile/Scrum trainer, experienced in talent development leading sprint planning, backlog grooming, user story articulation, RAID log monitoring, project monitoring and controlling, and escalation / communication methods necessary for successful increment and value delivery.
PMP, CSM, CSPO certified, SAFe and RTE trained, with expert level project planning, workshop facilitation, UI/UX wireframing, plan monitoring and controlling, risk mitigation, communication, and C-level presentation skills.
Key originator responsibilities included client project management, PMO liaison, energy portfolio interrogation, risk and market opportunity-based strategy development, key deliverables synthesis, with client-facing responsibility negotiating Commercial & Industrial electricity, natural gas, renewables (solar, wind, battery, DER), DR opportunities securing $10M in margin.
Developed and life-cycle managed upgrades to Direct Energy’s analytical model, Grey Matter 2 (GM2), a stochastically based ML predictive model and presentation development tool universally used throughout the sales team for identifying risk exposure and mitigation opportunities using a portfolio of hedging instruments to identify a multi-commodity product mix aligned with client’s energy budget and risk tolerance goals.
GM2 simulated 55 energy zones (power/gas) in US and Canadian ISO/RTOs for 20 forward years, using current liquid forward curve and extrapolation and predictive techniques beyond the liquidity horizon by using @Risk ML tools.
LONG TERM STATISTICAL & ANALYTICAL ENERGY CONSULTANT - RESOLUTION ENERGY (06-2016 to 01-2018)
As the project manager and lead developer, I was responsible for implementing a stochastic-based risk engine using Palisade's @Risk suite and Excel 365. This engine aimed to evaluate various aspects of incremental power supply transactions for energy clients. The evaluations included proposed bilateral transactions, plant acquisitions, retirements, fuel requirements, sensitivity analysis, hedging effectiveness, and risk mitigation.
Additionally, I worked as the sole developer for the Azure SQL Server back-end, model logic streams, Monte-Carlo stochastics, and SQL reporting. These components were crucial for the development of business intelligence (BI) dashboards. Furthermore, I provided training to the client's staff in the discipline of stochastic modeling and modeling risk mitigation best practices.
PROJECT MANAGER / PRODUCT OWNER / SCRUM MASTER – ACES POWER MARKETING (01-2005 to 04-2016)
Led the Special Projects initiative, spanning nearly every vertical at ACES. Extensive project success of more than 50 material projects included load forecasting, client salvage and recovery, capital asset valuation, forensic deal review, asset acquisition and retirement analytics, member rate structure review, MISO capacity modeling and forecasting, transmission position consulting, and board / management “state of the union” reporting. Migrated Allegro valuation models, improving, rebuilding, and consulting across the platform to integrate new data sources and valuation methodologies for defensible mark-to-market valuations.
Served in both internal and external client facing roles, reporting to the VP of Business Development and the PMO/CIO office. If a problem, project, or opportunity was multi-department, I managed the projects for 11 years, with guidance from the PMO.
Opened the north office in Minnesota, serving as a bridge to onboarding 15 employees from Great River Energy to ACES Power, assisted in orienting employees to the proper groups at ACES Power. Developed the Budget to Actual platform for 3-day pre-close of operating results of the previous month, vs a 30 day close.
Project lead and solution architect for ACES Portfolio Performance Reporting (PPR) system, a nationwide BI platform, managed geo-located and time zone resources, worked at all levels with internal and external stakeholders to develop market insight for a real-time performance cloud-hosted system incorporating multi-dimensional business intelligence into a framework measuring historical financial, operational, and strategic initiative performance versus established budgets, KPI benchmarks, and variance interrogation.
Owned overall project management, internal and external communication, needs analysis, root-cause issue identification, ETL/data table/views design, assisted in SQL development, UI/UX wire framing, KPI development, infrastructure development, resulting in customer implementation and ongoing deliverable refinement. Served as the client champion and product owner using Agile, Scrum, Kanban, Classic Waterfall, and hybrid Waterfall approaches.
Founding member of the Integrated Portfolio Management & Risk Reporting team which developed strategies for analyzing the entire landscape of risks clients faced as well as developed standardized methods for communicating risks. Also, a member of the Coordinated Market Intelligence Team, which developed a reporting framework for consolidating and reporting all sources of market intelligence both internally and externally.
QUANTITATIVE ANALYST / ML & PREDICTIVE MODEL DEVELOPER – ACES POWER MARKETING (12-2000 to 01-2005)
Architect and developer of ACES Power’s stochastic and predictive energy risk model, providing broader capabilities to develop risk mitigation strategies focused on asset optimization, bilateral energy and option evaluation, budgeting-to-actual insight tool development, for cross-commodity recommendations using Palisade’s @Risk platform for stochastic development of price/load/generation iterations.
Provided extensive analytical, consulting, and strategic implementation capabilities across multiple internal and external departments, predominately portfolio strategy, new business development, trading, leading to greater adoption of stochastic based modeling results throughout the customer base.
Modeled all aspects of analytical and strategic development of power and natural gas portfolio recommendations for the majority of the largest energy cooperatives in the country providing portfolio hedging recommendations and strategies valued > $2 billion to C-level executives, and staff SME’s using all available energy technologies, including renewables, carbon-based assets, and fuels procurement strategies. Served as the internal portfolio subject matter expert.
EXTERNAL AUDITOR / ACCOUNTING SYSTEM CONSULTANT – KATZ, SAPPER & MILLER (06-1993 to 12-2000)
Acted as an external auditor for both public and private companies, ensuring adherence to bank reporting requirements and US GAAP compliance across various industries.
Developed and executed effective auditing processes, audited financial statements, and assessed accounts for accuracy and regulatory compliance. Inspected internal systems and controls, evaluated risk management strategies, and reported any systematic errors or fraud indicators.
Conducted quality audits and assurance services, meticulously prepared all necessary audit working papers, documented findings, and communicated accounting and financial insights to partners and clients.
Performed comprehensive inventory auditing functions and was responsible for training incoming auditors on best practices, analytical techniques, and efficiency improvements.
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