Project Management Information Technology

Leo A. Forte

Skills:

• Proficient in MS Excel, Word, Powerpoint and Outlook, able to work with various software systems, understands project management methodologies (PMBOK), experience in ITIL and SDLC processes (waterfall and agile)

• Project life cycle management, scheduling, budgeting and reporting, with practiced technical knowledge in system definition and design methodology, development and testing, and production implementation

• Software configuration management - Endevor on the mainframe side, ClearCase on the distributed side (including parallel development support), SharePoint

• Change management tools - Remedy, ITSM (Information Technology Service Management), HPSM (Hewlett Packard Service Manager)

• Project management - Primavera P6, Microsoft Project, Microsoft Visio, VersionOne, Risk assessment/analysis tools, Teamcenter

• Mainframe environment tools - COBOL, PL/1, Natural, SQL, DB2, CICS, TWS, JCL, Procedures, VSAM

• Numerous professional and technical training courses completed in the areas of:

o Project Management

o Systems Administration

o Software Engineering

o Personal Development

Education:

• The University of Connecticut

Master of Business Administration

Concentration in Management with courses in Accounting, Business Policy, Economics, Finance, Information Management, Law and Marketing

• The University of Connecticut

Bachelor of Science, Electrical Engineering

Minors in Computer Science and Mathematics

• The George Washington University, School of Business and Public Management

Associate’s Certificate in Project Management

• Central Connecticut State University, Institute of Technology and Business Development

Six Sigma Green Belt

Professional Experience:

Quest Global Services, Windsor, CT Jun 2023 - Sep 2023

Senior Project Engineer

• Lead high capability engineering teams for product management, development, and systems integration tasks.

• Ensure that all technical and schedule requirements will be met and lead decision team decision making to follow critical path.

• Develop master schedules supporting all hardware design, development, and testing activities.

• Analyze budget and earned value based on the milestone schedule, identify and mitigate risks to the success of the project, and make decisions to improve lead times and reduce cost.

• Create development/production hardware plans and test instrumentation plans to meet the Engine Validation Plan (EVP).

• Identify and lead investigations into hardware failures, identify solutions, implement design changes and analyze improvements.

• Lead part level product reviews and provide input to product reviews.

• Collaborate and innovate with a team of mixed capability QuEST engineers by proactively engaging team members and developing processes, tools and best practices.

• Lead the development, integration and documentation of technical requirements for component design, which may include management of suppliers.

• Work with Supply Chain Management to validate supplier capabilities to ensure design and engineering intent and maintain integrity.

• Communicate both orally and in writing to internal and external customers; strong verbal, written and presentation skills are necessary.

• Interact with a number of different customers on many different levels and locations.

Key Bank via Tata Consultancy Services Feb 2022 - Oct 2022

Mainframe IT Consultant, Profit Application Production Support Team

• Responsible for understanding and overseeing production support of existing Profit application functionality

Cigna, Windsor, CT via Tata Consultancy Services Sep 2019 - Feb 2022

Onsite Quality Engineering Lead for Offshore Banking and Billing Teams

• Responsible for understanding and overseeing the technical implementation and testing of new and existing applications in the Banking (approx. 1 year) and Billing domains (approx. 1-1/2 years)

Pratt & Whitney, United Technologies Corporation, East Hartford, CT via Apollo Professional Solutions

Jan 2017 - Dec 2018

Project Test Manager, Financial Planning & Analysis

• Establish testing criteria, perform testing and create system user guide documentation for new Part Valuation and Contribution System software application in conjunction with SAP Financial Management system

• Create systems test cases, execute test cases, document and suggest changes to current systems cost roll up

• Functionality to improve systems performance and accuracy

• Develop test criteria, document findings and work with Information Technology group to resolve issues

• Support design and implementation of preventative systems and process controls within the systems functionality and department procedures

Instrument Manufacturing Corporation, Manchester, CT Sep 2016 - Dec 2016

Project Manager - Operations

• Primary company interface for project clients of IMCORP’s Factory Grade® diagnostic testing service for underground power cables.

• Coordinates and ensures successful completion of operations field projects from inception to conclusion.

• Oversees all aspects of field operations projects, set deadlines, assigns responsibilities, monitors/summarizes progress of projects and analyzes project data.

• Serves as the primary client interface for company associates, ensures effective utilization and deployment of project resources.

• Management of projects including directing project-related activities of the project team members.

Cigna, Windsor, CT via Open Systems Technologies Mar 2015 - Feb 2016

Application Release Manager, Global Content Management Services Group

• Organized and structured release management processes and practices for better control, monitoring and efficiency

• Responsible for coordination and scheduling of production software releases in support of all customer web portals

• Chaired release implementation meetings and daily status meetings

• Worked closely with application developers, business clients, infrastructure support and change management groups to plan, prioritize and deliver release content

• Supervised production releases (as frequently as daily)

• Provided status reporting and release inventory tracking to management, business partners and IT

• Participated in issue identification and resolution for production environment

Northeast Utilities Service Company, Berlin, CT Jan 1982 - Jul 2014

Senior Information Technology Business Application Systems Developer

• Release Management Team Lead for Northeast Utilities Customer Service system, supervised and coordinated the delivery and implementation of Customer Service production releases, successfully completed approximately 1 major release each month, 2 minor releases each week, and 1 regulatory release each quarter (or when DPUC-mandated)

• A typical release consisted of host (mainframe), workstation and web (distributed) code, infrastructure changes and database and reference table hammers; once all components identified and prioritized for the release have been migrated to production, an IT technical checkout followed by a business functionality checkout were performed prior to the system being put back in service

• Held daily meetings with internal IT release team to schedule work and review progress

• Held environment meetings 3 times per week with application developers (in-house, onshore and offshore vendors), business client and IT infrastructure groups to communicate status and plan activity in testing regions

• Held release content planning meeting every other week to plan and track status of development and testing for upcoming releases

• Held change management meeting every week to review planned IT enterprise-wide infrastructure changes in conjunction with business client activity, and to evaluate their impact on developer and client testing and implementation of production releases

• Addressed any problems with testing as they arose, made the appropriate adjustments with resources and modified the release schedule as necessary

• Created and maintained an annual release schedule (long-term) as well as a monthly release calendar (short-term)

• Provided frequent updates to all stakeholders in order to communicate status and changes

• Created a production migration checklist for use by all groups involved during release implementation to track progress and document issues of concern, any problems were addressed either immediately during the release depending on severity or within the following week (i.e., the fall-out period)

• Responsible for SLA (service level agreement) and release-related performance metrics reporting to upper management as well as performance monitoring and implementation of system enhancements for improving performance

• Coordinated with Application Development, Business Client (Customer Service), IT Infrastructure and Change Management areas to plan and execute release content

• Worked closely with business client to facilitate their understanding and knowledge of the release process

• Strong experience in systems analysis, design and implementation

• Responsibilities included documenting and maintaining release plans, checklists and reporting status as well as tracking, monitoring and resolving post release issues

• Track key project milestones and work closely with IT Project Leads

• Managed, directed and planned test environments for Systems, Integration, Release and Training in support of production implementation

• Responsible for educating team on Release Management methodology and processes

Project Manager for the following IT initiatives: 1982 - 2007

• Real Time Systems (Electronic Dispatch System - outage management, Distribution SCADA - supervisory control and data acquisition, Trouble Call Management system upgrade)

• Customer Service (Third Party Billing project, Electronic Data Interchange - electronic funds transfer)

• Administrative Services (Compensation and Human Resources Information System - payroll/personnel, Manpower Planning and Control, Tool and Equipment Warehouse, Office LAN administrator)

• Nuclear plant process computer systems (Integrated Nuclear Data Exchange, Millstone Station security and plant process computer systems, Connecticut Yankee security upgrade, Public Service of New Hampshire generation)

• Fossil/Hydro plant process computer systems (Montville Station plant process computer installations, Mt. Tom performance monitoring, Northfield Mountain plant process computer system upgrade, Devon Station performance monitoring)

Part-time Experience:

North American Martyrs Parish Corporation, East Hartford, CT July 2024 - Present

Assistant Director of Religious Education (Grades K-12)

Saint Edmund Campion Parish Corporation, East Hartford, CT Sep 2019 - July 2024

Coordinator of Religious Education (Grades K-8)

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