Project Manager Product Owner

ALOK PRASAD PMP, FLMI, M.A.

732-***-**** ***********@*****.***

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alok-prasad-pmp-flmi

SUMMARY

Experienced program / project management, product owner with a strong background in strategic planning, risk management, and resource allocation. Known for adaptability, problem-solving, and fostering collaboration to achieve results. Proficient in optimizing processes and aligning initiatives with organizational objectives. Expertise in agile, waterfall methodologies and in leading teams both onshore and offshore.

SKILLS

Project Management Product Development Stakeholder Management Data Analysis Business Analysis Risk Management Backlog Refinement JIRA & /MS Project Problem Solving Collaboration Conflict resolution Decision Making PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Program Manager / Product Owner 08/2022– 06/2025

NTT Data (Everlake Life) – Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Managed program for integration of Third-Party vendors and internal projects and worked in complex transformation projects in moving data from Everlake to NTT systems and providing Life & Annuity extracts to EVL and Reinsurance extracts to TAI.

● Guided Scrum Lead and project managers to refine scope, definition, implementation plans, estimations and delivering results within schedule and scope under both agile and waterfall methodologies.

● Owned and managed the product backlog, translating high-level business requirements into detailed user stories with clear acceptance criteria.

● Participated in and supported all agile ceremonies, including sprint planning, reviews, and retrospectives

● Provided regular updates to stakeholders and leadership regarding project status, challenges, and opportunities

● Served as a decision-maker for the team, providing clarity and direction throughout the product lifecycle.

● Maintained good relationships with business partners for implementing innovative solutions

● Handheld training and mentoring Business Analysts, Engineers and Testers spread across India and USA.

● Researched,Analyzed,Defined,Developed and Tested extracts based on data analysis and client inputs.

● Managed data and image migration from the policy admin system of vendor of Sunlife to NTT policy admin systems

● Hands on Policy Admin System of NTT to validate product solutions and help with user acceptance testing. Senior Project Manager/ Domain Consultant 10/2018 – 08/2022 Tata Consultancy Services (Transamerica) – Cedar Rapids, Iowa

● Managed 8 business analysts for gathering requirements from business partners (actuarial, accounting, correspondence, compliance, legal, operations, and new business), validating requirements (user stories) from the stakeholders and passing it for development while maintaining scope and keeping within the timeframe.

● Managed & coordinated discussions with stakeholders for annuities and life products and ensured that the data migration and process that were residing on to TCS systems were as per Transamerica’s expectations.

● Handled multiple projects for different policy administration systems (Vantage, Genesys)

● Created and maintained project plan in excel, tracking and reporting progress to the program team.

● Collected requirements for reinsurance operations collaborating with operations,finance and actuarial.

● Acted as first point of contact (liaison) for functional requirements and coordinated with 3rd party vendors (Oliver Wyman and other actuarial firms) for completing product and system configurations and development of calculations.

● Ensured that the underwriting workflows were correctly configured to enable quick and correct issuance of policies.

● Managed and guided both onsite and offsite resources and encouraged them to achieve higher goals.

● Drove process improvement initiatives by analyzing existing workflows,while also designing new ones for higher efficiency

● Hands on BaNCS (Policy Admin System of TCS). Helped admin understand the processes and design screens. Project Manager 03/2018 – 10/2018

Wipro Technologies (Corning Inc.) – Painted Post, New York Managed project for upgrading to Windows 2016 and upgrading security, backup and HP tools to New (N) or N-1 version.

● Managed the build for Windows 2016 ISO image and packaging it with Security tools (Symantec End Point (SEP), Symantec VIP, CB Protection), Backup Tools (Avamar, Networker), and HP tools.

● Upgraded tools like Symantec End Point, Symantec VIP (2 Factor Authentication), CB Protection (previously known as Bit9), AD Tools, HP Tools (Monitoring tools), Print Smart to their newest version.

● Managed stakeholders from the Business, IT, Procurement and 3rd party vendors

● Created project plans using MS Office tools like Project/Excel, tracked, monitored and reported progress, dependencies and risks to stakeholders including governance and Steering committee

● Provided closure to projects by determining lessons learned from the team at the completion of a project..

● Represented the project at Quality meetings so that all SDLC processes are followed as per standards of Corning Project Manager - Insurance & Retirement 09/2016 - 07/2017 PKF O’CONNOR DAVIES, Cranford, New Jersey

Managed end to end projects from design to implementation of application changes for employee benefits programs.

● Customized the retirement product and developed business cases for the client.

● Defined the project plans, scope and deliverables and managed resources and staff for completing the project.

● Managed client relationships to secure functional and non-functional requirements from the company.

● Conducted in-depth analysis and designed several (ESOP) financial models suitable to the client.

● Implemented the (ESOP) financial model approved by the client along with Trustees, TPA, Lawyers, and Actuaries.

● Developed communication plans and published status report and dashboards for client, ELT and other stakeholders.

● Documented lessons learned from each implementation and improved the existing processes. Project Manager 07/2014 - 09/2016

JOHNSON & JOHNSON, Raritan, New Jersey

Managed projects in Software Defined Data Center (SDDC) Workload Virtualization Program & Windows 2000 Server Remediation to deploy Infrastructure changes and application upgrades within J&J Global Data Center Portfolio.

● Lead project team in project initiation, planning, execution, and closure, while complying with established project management methodologies and standards to ensure that the project was within scope, budget and timelines.

● Participated with product owners and key stakeholders for grooming & planning of stories and story points.

● Lead meetings for assignment of stories to developers and testers and helped team to determine the definition of done.

● Oversight of daily status calls with multiple vendors (Accenture, HCL & Cognizant) and resolved impediments.

● Created, maintained and tracked the work breakdown structure, scope, budget and schedules for the project.

● Managed project costs against the budgeted figure.Used EVM methodology to keep a close watch on different ratios and performance indexes for the project.Requested for new allocations with any scope changes.

● Logged and tracked the status of risks and issues, assessed and resolved issues and ensured timely escalations.

● Compiled various internal management reports, their schedules and data content to propose a unified standard format.

● Collaborated with Quality & Compliance to define Change management templates for GxP applications and Database. Project Coordinator 05/2012 - 08/2013

STATE FARM INSURANCE, Bloomington, Illinois

Software development project to automate claims receivable by State Farm from vendors for ERS program.

● Created product charter, scope, WBS, process and data flow diagrams and release plan.

● Developed the Project Plan, Risk Analysis Document, Change Request Forms, Logs and template like Action item log, Status Reports, Test Dashboards, etc.

● Collaborated with third party vendors and ensure deliverables on the projects were of high quality, according to project scope, within targeted timeframe

● Maintained daily issue/risk log, assess and resolve issues and timely escalations.

● Supported cost and scheduled variance analysis and other ratios for cost controls and measuring performance..

● Published project status dashboard and testing dashboard with updates being sent to stakeholders.

● Represented projects in cross-functional meetings to identify improvement opportunities and record lessons learned. Managed Operations in Life Insurance Corporation of India as Administrative Officer / Sr Operations Manager and in Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance as Associate Vice President, Details can be provided on a need basis. Expertise in individual and Group Business (Defined Benefits and Defined Contributions) starting from receiving a new business (NB) proposal, underwriting, policy servicing, accounting, and claims. EDUCATION – TRAINING - CERTIFICATION

MS Actuarial Science – Completed 12 credits - Columbia University, New York City with special papers on pensions and health insurance

M.A. Economics - Delhi School of Economics, Delhi, India. Project Management Professional (PMP) – Issued Feb 2018 – PMI. Fellow Life Management Institute (FLMI) – Issued March 2013 - LOMA Six Sigma Green belt.

Generative AI – Yellow Belt (level 1)

TOOLS

Excel, Word, Visio, Access, Outlook, PowerPoint, SharePoint, SQL, Service Now, Dev Plus, Test Trac,MS Project,JIRA VOLUNTEER – Leader with Purpose. Devote time at Hawkeye Area Community Action (HACAP) in giving back to community

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alok-prasad-pmp-flmi

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