Senior Project Manager Bridging IT and Business Goals

LORI A. WATSON, MA, CSM, CSPO

816-***-**** *******@*********.*** www.linkedin.com/in/LoriWatson1/

PROJECT MANAGER

Stakeholder Management Leadership Complex Project Execution Strategic and results-driven, savvy, contract and FTE, PMO Project Manager with 10+ years of enterprise-wide Business and IT experience across travel, telecom, legal, healthcare, finance, and vendor relations. Proven expertise in leading complex projects using Waterfall, Agile, and Hybrid methodologies while collaborating, Cross-Functional Teams, and Offshore Vendors. Adept at change management, process improvement, and risk mitigation. Strong problem-solving and analytical skills with a track record of optimizing resources, and adapting to shifting priorities. Recognized for exceptional decision-making, negotiation, coaching, and time management skills, with the ability to drive successful project outcomes in fast-paced environments PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

COMMUNITYAMERICA CREDIT UNION, Overland Park, KS, (Contract Vendor – Adaptive Solutions) 2024 Contract Sr. Project Manager, Corporate Systems, Information Technology (February 23rd to July 31st) Led the implementation of the Docebo Learning Management System (LMS), and MS Teams phones projects, simultaneously, as part of the corporate systems implementation program.

• Served as primary point of contact and facilitated bi-monthly stakeholder meetings, weekly team meetings and Lessons Learned events. Performed all administrative duties.

• Designed and managed project plan, and execution and rollout plan for projects aligned with stakeholders, business SMEs, Operations team, Business Analyst, IT, Infrastructure, Communications, and Legal

• Delivered weekly project status reports to ensure all leaders were informed of projects’ health with full transparency

• Built strong relationships, influenced, and collaborated with cross functional teams and vendor partners to address issues/risks

• Managed the decommissioning of 350 company desk phones. while replacing them with MS Teams phones. Brought devices up to industry standards, and saved the company $46,200 SECURITY BENEFIT, Overland Park, KS (Contract Vendor - Capstone IT) 2023 Contract Project Manager, Business Enablement Services, PMO, Finance Transformation (April 11th to December 1st) Supported two Vice Presidents by managing to 100% completion of current Finance transformation and Implementation projects.

• Guided program lead in organizing and prioritizing tasks for audit, ensuring 100% completion and final approval

• Demonstrated strong verbal and written communication skills when collaborating with all levels of the organization and external vendors

• Delivered weekly status report to the Executive Leadership Team and direct stakeholders T-MOBILE, Overland Park, KS (Contract Vendor - Spectraforce) 2022 Contract Sr. Project Manager, Consumer Delivery Operations (CDO) (February 16th to October 28th) Led the Metro Identity Management (IDM), and Retail Mobile (REMO) Device Security high visibility, multimillion dollar projects under the Fraud Attack Model (FAM) program to decrease retail fraud.

• Established project cadence and provided guidance to all impacted workgroup leads to report their teams Accomplishments, Next Steps, Issues, and Risks during the weekly core status meeting

• Administered weekly status reports to stakeholders, core, and working team members

• Proactively supported global prioritization and capacity management by identifying and solving cross-project challenges DELL TECHNOLOGIES, Austin, TX (Contract Vendor - APEX) 2021 Short-Term Contract Project Manager Senior Advisor, Legal Strategy and Operations (July 16th to October 15th) Managed and coordinated US and global contract legal teams to successfully execute business-focused initiatives within the legal department.

• Led Playbook and Contract training for US and global calls twice a month with more than 150 counsels

• Monitored project activities to ensure alignment with scope, schedule, and quality requirements throughout the project lifecycle

• Analyzed existing workflows, resources, and systems to uncover areas for improvement in ongoing initiatives LOCKTON, Kansas City, MO (Contract Vendor - TSP Corporation) Short-Term Contract Project Manager, PMO, Human Resources (April 5th to May 7th) Collaborated with Sr. Employee Relations Consultant on the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiative to meet company goals.

• Gathered and analyzed data from conducting 40 individual interviews on current and future projects from each Series Lead and HR Partner to identify the overlapping of projects, target dates, budget, and resource gaps

• Delivered weekly DEI reports to the executive team, highlighting progress and changes across locations resulting in consistent improvement within initiative visibility and decision-making efficiency

• Collaborated with the Workplace vendor to co-lead weekly DEI training sessions for the executive team LORI A. WATSON, MA, CSM, CSPO PAGE 2

UNITEDLEX, Overland Park, KS (Contract Vendor - Kansys Staffing Group) Short-Term Contract Project Manager, IT Department (March 15th to April 2nd) Directed the relocation of IT equipment during company downsizing, overseeing the transition from two out-of-state locations.

• Completed the project two weeks early by streamlining the inventory process, resulting in time savings and enhanced accuracy

• Collaborated with stakeholders in Infrastructure, PMO, Helpdesk, Real Estate, and Facilities to manage contractors responsible for inventory control, monitoring, tracking, and equipment testing

• Developed project plan, monitored progress against milestone dates, and provided weekly status updates to key stakeholders H&R BLOCK, Kansas City, MO 2020-2020

Short-Term Contract Project Manager, Human Resources (October 12th to December 18th) Orchestrated the seamless execution of talent management processes and programs including goal setting, performance assessments, and succession planning.

• Collaborated with 30 combined HR Business Partners and HR leadership to drive strong enterprise participation of 100% in talent management practices within the Workday cloud-based talent system

• Provided robust communications, resources, tools, and support to ensure a positive leader and associate performance review experience

UNITEDHEALTH GROUP, OPTUM, Overland Park, KS 2019-2020 Business Implementation Project Manager, Customer Capabilities PMO (November 2019 to August 2020) Managed five international account managers to ensure international clients were prepared for the Employee Assistance Program

(EAP) services renewals or terminations during initiation, within the required two-weeks SLA.

• Performed as both a project manager and consultant by identifying and documenting risks and issues, resolving discrepancies between account manager documentation and client agreements using Salesforce, and ensuring clarity to meet client needs

• Served as lead SME and content developer for the Termination job aid used by all project and implementation managers

• Partnered weekly with 8 US EAP project managers to develop and refine processes and procedures that support account managers, while identifying and implementing best practices UNITEDHEALTH GROUP, OPTUM, Overland Park, KS 2016-2019 Business Project Manager, Business Initiatives PMO (December 2016 to October 2019) Served as lead project manager for the Provider Contact Optimization 2-year Blue Chip initiative to enhance the prescriber, client, and agent experience.

• Created a cost base analysis for the $1.2M project

• Collaborated with 10 stakeholders to create a project charter and gain sign-off

• Tracked year-to-date and actual budget financials, variance, and burn rate weekly through the IT PM and Product Owner TRAVELPORT, Kansas City, MO 2016

Contract Project Manager, Human Resources, Transformation Management Office, (June 2016 to September 2016) Managed all phases of the HR Employee Transformation project across the entire global organization.

• Leveraged relationship building skills, and extensive project management experience and processes, to ensure quality deliverables for complex work streams

• Communicated with all levels of the HR organization including VPs of multiple, global, lines of businesses, to escalate issues in a timely manner, and to hold status meetings to review tasks, progress, and risks

• Conducted analysis and created reports from data sources such as spreadsheets and Oracle H&R BLOCK, Kansas City, MO 2012 - 2015

Project Manager, Acquisitions and Development, PMO, (May 2012 to March 2015) Ensured all deals were managed from initiation to close within the required 8-week SLA.

• Performed both project and engagement manager roles by traveling, coaching, identifying risks and issues, solving problems, negotiating terms of investment, and providing clarity to meet client’s needs

• Closed 58 medium to complex deals on schedule ranging from $55,400 to $1.5M in revenues

• Managed, developed, and re-engineered process improvement documents to decrease deal closing transaction times to 8 weeks

(and sometimes less) with an increase in client satisfaction CERTIFICATIONS, EDUCATION, TECHNICAL SKILLS & PROGRAMS: Certificate, SAFe Scrum Master, Scrum Alliance

Certification, Scrum Product Owner, Scrum Alliance; Certification, Scrum Master, Balancepoint-Silicon Prairie Solutions PMI PMP Project Management 10-week Course Certificate Program; PMP certification pending MA, Human Resource Development and Management, Webster University; BS, Secondary Education, Emporia State University Salesforce, Microsoft 365, MS Teams, Slack, OneNote, Workday, Confluence, Project Management Software Tools (Smartsheet, Monday.com, Clarity, MS Project, and Workfront), SharePoint, and Virtual Meeting Programs (Zoom, Teams, Skype, Webex)

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