Project Management Program Manager

Joseph A. Ancosky, Ph.D., PMP, CSM

Venetia, PA **367 412-***-**** ********@*******.*** www.linkedin.com/in/joseph-ancosky-ph-d-mba-pmp-csm-9868126/

Senior Enterprise Project Management Leader

Accomplished Enterprise Project Management Office (PMO) Leader with diverse experience across industries including education, insurance, financial services, communications, and consumer goods. Lead enterprise-wide strategic initiatives aligning project methodologies, governance structures, and business processes with corporate goals. Trusted advisor to key stakeholders with a reputation for elevating team performance through improved communication, tools, and accountability. Accustomed to managing large project portfolios valued at >$545M/year.

Key Performance Indicators

PMO Best Practices

Performance Management

IT Project Management Expert

ITIL/Waterfall/SCRUM/Agile

Project Lifecycle Management

Cost Containment Strategy

Team Leadership

Risk Management

Professional Experience & Executive Impact

Pinnacle PM Solutions, LLC Ventia, PA April 2025 – Present

Provider of PMO development and program and project management consulting and delivery services.

Principal, Owner: Found and operates a successful consulting firm providing end-to-end project and program management services across multiple disciplines.

Founded a project and program management consulting firm focused on helping organizations improve delivery outcomes, governance, and execution of strategic initiatives.

Develop service offerings for PMO setup, project prioritization frameworks, Agile transformation, and enterprise delivery optimization.

Leverage 25+ years of executive experience in healthcare, higher education, communications, and financial services to advise organizations on large-scale change initiatives.

Build business infrastructure including CRM, proposal templates, and delivery frameworks tailored to enterprise clients.

Create proprietary tools for project intake, KPI tracking, and portfolio health assessment to accelerate client impact.

University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, PA May 2021 – March 2025

Provider of education, research, and innovation services.

Director, Pitt Portfolio & Project Management Office (PPMO): Identified, directed, and executed on university-wide portfolios and projects.

Established new PPMO organization, creating the roles, processes, methodologies, and tools for planning, managing, and oversight of the university’s portfolio of strategic projects.

Worked directly with senior leadership to identify, prioritize, resource, and execute university-wide projects towards strategic plans, including ERP

Lead portfolio managers, project managers, and change managers to ensure successful planning and execution of large strategic initiatives.

Highmark Wholecare (previously Gateway Health Plan) Pittsburgh, PA October 2019 – November 2020

Provider of health insurance offering medical coverage, disease management, health and wellness programs, and preventative care services.

Director, Enterprise Program Management Office (EPMO): Managed and led team of 10 project managers and 4 business analysts to deliver projects within $35M portfolio. Advised corporate stakeholders on developing proper governance structures in support of the project management portfolio. Instituted project management approvals process using methodologies to ensure results.

Reengineered project approval process starting from project concept to approval; process was adopted enterprise wide.

Developed Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) used across the enterprise to ensure accountability and ROI.

Oversaw implementation of project prioritization process and procedures.

PNC Bank Pittsburgh, PA September 2013 – October 2019

Diversified financial service company providing retail banking, residential mortgage, corporate and institutional banking, and asset management.

Vice President, Enterprise Project Management (December 2015 – October 2019): Oversaw $546M portfolio of technology projects and directed the work of 125+ project management professionals. Managed delivery of functionality utilizing various methodologies, documented, and communicated issues and risks throughout project lifecycles. Met project resources needs by analyzing capacity and demand management and providing forecasting for proposed project work.

Grew project administrator team from a pilot into a team of 60+ professionals.

Met imposed $5M cost savings target in 2016.

Served as Chief of Staff for senior leadership overseeing Enterprise Project Management (EPM) organization.

Consolidated 400+ Project Management team members into a newly created organization.

Drove consistent project artifacts and transparency through reporting function managed by EPM.

Supported Cyber security and business continuity projects

Vice President, PPM Strategy (September 2013 - December 2015): Provided leadership for annual analysis, selection and approval of yearly capital and expense planning processes. Served as Program Manager for Program6/Portfolio, Program and Project Management. Utilized CA PPM/Clarity to design, develop and integrate best practices for portfolio, project, and program management initiatives organization wide.

Highmark (Blue Cross Blue Shield) Pittsburgh, PA July 2007 - September 2013

Large individual not-for-profit health insurer with an Integrated Delivery Network, operating several for-profit subsidiaries.

Manager, Program Operations (December 2011 – September 2013): Hired, evaluated, developed, and managed staff of 50+ direct reports. Co-managed PMO project portfolio of $138M annual budget. Collaborated with IT and business unit leaders to identify and communicate project priorities and strategies.

Developed new governance and project management processes, templates, and deliverables used across the corporation to ensure best practices were instituted consistently; oversaw proper storage and approvals in SharePoint.

Spearheaded the use of proper ITIL, Waterfall, Scrum (Agile) Methodologies.

Forecasted staffing needs, facilitated hiring processes to double the size of the team in one year.

Provided guidance and structure for project coordinators, project managers, and program managers.

Partnered with Procurement and Legal teams to generate SOWs, RFPs, and contracts with vendors and customers.

Program Manager (July 2007 - December 2011): Delivered complex multi-year, multi-million-dollar projects requiring management of interdependencies of multiple projects within the Clinical Services Area program. Developed processes for corporate and cross-affiliate initiatives. Acted as the point of contact to executives to communicate project progress. Coordinated change management process communicating issues and risks. Facilitated Steering Committee and program meetings. Assisted customers with business case and cost sheet development.

Implemented detailed SOW process with third party vendor to ensure consensus for each corporate release.

Delivered project management excellence for new $5M Salesforce automation tool.

Managed $3.4M identification and stratification tool with new external vendor.

Implemented $7M wellness product in cooperation with new third-party vendor.

Executed $1M upgrade to the existing Health Risk Assessment (HRA)

WellPoint (Blue Cross Blue Shield of GA) Atlanta, GA May 2006 - July 2007

Nation’s largest health benefits company with more than 33M members in its affiliated health plans, and 69M individuals served through subsidiaries.

Senior Project Manager: Produced and maintained project plans and followed proper project management methodologies to ensure high quality delivery. Served as the primary business liaison for all new IT projects.

Developed business and functional requirements for multi-year, multi-million-dollar Life and Disability Claims system.

Completed business and functional requirements for Data Warehouse Project for Specialty Groups of WellPoint.

AT&T (previously BellSouth) Atlanta, GA September 1998 - May 2006

American Telecommunications Holding Company.

Senior Project Manager & Client Account Manager: Managed team of 8 staff accountants and project managers. Analyzed business processes to develop and document internal/external customer requirements and functional specifications. Ensured project timelines and annual budgets were met. Engineered process workflows and procedures for new projects to meet proper controls and Sarbanes Oxley documentation requirements. Provided status reporting, change and resource management and financial accountability for projects. Validated projects for quality assurance and testing prior to implementation.

Designed, documented, developed, and managed critical technology projects ranging from $110K to $3.5M.

Upgraded PeopleSoft Accounting and HR modules for BellSouth Affiliate Services Corporation (BASC).

Education & Professional Certifications

Doctorate of Philosophy, Instructional Management & Leadership Robert Morris University - Moon, PA

Master of Business Administration Kennesaw State University – Kennesaw, GA

Bachelor of Arts Business Administration (Accounting) Saint Vincent College – Latrobe, PA

Project Management Professional (PMP) Project Management Institute - #420730

Certified Scrum Master Scrum Alliance - #954244

Master Certificate in Project Management University of Pittsburgh – Pittsburgh, PA

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