IT Services Program Manager & PMO Lead

Praveen Kumar Chava

Email: ************@*****.***

Contact: 469-***-****

www.linkedin.com/in/praveenchava

Summary:

IT Services Manager / Senior Program Manager with over 15 years of enterprise-level experience driving complex, cross-functional programs and managing complete project and program lifecycles across Healthcare, Retail, Financial & Banking Services, Cloud, Infrastructure, and enterprise technology transformation environments.

Proven expertise in IT Governance, integrated program planning, PMO governance, executive reporting, dependency management, RAID management, risk mitigation, stakeholder communication, and end-to-end delivery execution.

Experienced in developing and maintaining integrated master program plans across multiple workstreams, including milestones, dependencies, critical paths, cross-functional handoffs, delivery timelines, and program-level execution tracking.

Highly skilled at managing customer, business, technical, and executive stakeholder relationships, ensuring accurate capture of business requirements, alignment of program objectives, timely delivery of IT solutions, and effective communication of project and program status.

Experienced in preparing polished PowerPoint presentations, executive dashboards, status reports, and decision-ready summaries for senior leadership, governance reviews, weekly program meetings, and Steering Committee forums.

Skilled at establishing standardized program reporting structures, status metrics, dashboards, reporting templates, governance routines, RAID registers, dependency tracking, and action-item management processes across multiple teams and workstreams.

Proven experience providing timely updates on program health, project status, service availability, priority incidents, risks, issues, and delivery milestones to stakeholders and leadership teams.

Proficient in Microsoft Project, PowerPoint, ServiceNow, Jira, Confluence, SharePoint, and other project and ITSM tools for program planning, reporting, incident, problem, and change management, Agile project tracking, backlog management, and sprint planning.

Experienced in leveraging Microsoft Copilot and AI-enabled productivity tools to improve meeting documentation, capture key discussions and action items, support follow-up activities, enhance reporting efficiency, and strengthen overall program execution.

Experienced in resource planning, resource allocation, budgeting, delivery tracking, and timely project and program closure, while ensuring alignment with business objectives, timelines, quality standards, and stakeholder expectations.

Extensive experience leading and managing onsite, offshore, and remote technical resources, with a strong ability to coordinate across business stakeholders, customers, vendors, architects, engineering teams, operations teams, and end users.

Strong background in IT Infrastructure and Operations, including WAN/LAN Services, Service Delivery, Incident Management, Problem Management, Change Management, Disaster Recovery, Business Continuity, Risk and Contingency Planning, E-Commerce, QA Management, and Infrastructure Engineering.

Experienced in Identity and Access Management (IAM), including implementing, integrating, and supporting Okta Cloud SSO, MFA, IGA, Active Directory, Microsoft Entra ID, and enterprise SaaS technologies within complex and heterogeneous IT environments.

Proven experience leading enterprise infrastructure modernization, cloud transformation, and M&A integration initiatives, including Active Directory domain consolidation, large-scale user migrations, network integration, infrastructure dependency analysis, production cutover management, rollback planning, and post-implementation stabilization.

Domain Expertise: Healthcare Services, Financial & Banking Services, Retail, Media & Entertainment, Manufacturing, Cloud Transformation, Infrastructure Modernization, M&A Integration, IAM, and Enterprise Operations.

Core Competencies

IT Infrastructure & Service Management

Enterprise Program Management

Integrated Master Program Planning

Multi-Workstream Coordination

Dependency & Critical Path Management

Program Governance & PMO

Executive Status Reporting

Steering Committee (SteerCo) Support

RAID Management

Risk & Issue Management

Executive PowerPoint Presentations

Program Dashboards & Metrics

Milestone & Delivery Tracking

Action Item & Decision Management

Cross-Functional Stakeholder Management

Executive Communication

Microsoft Project

Jira & Confluence

ServiceNow

Microsoft Copilot & AI-Assisted Productivity

Agile & Waterfall Delivery

Professional Experience:

Anthem Health Care – Atlanta, Georgia. May 2022 – Till Date

Program Manager

Led enterprise IT infrastructure modernization initiatives across AWS and hybrid cloud environments by coordinating cross-functional teams responsible for Windows/Linux servers, Active Directory, Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD), IAM, DNS/DHCP, virtualization, storage, backup, and network infrastructure, ensuring successful project delivery within scope, schedule, and budget.

Managed enterprise infrastructure projects involving LAN/WAN, Cisco Switching, Routing, VPN, Firewalls, Load Balancers, and SD-WAN technologies by partnering with infrastructure architects, network engineers, cybersecurity teams, and business stakeholders to deliver highly available production environments.

Developed and maintained integrated program plans across multiple infrastructure, cloud, security, application, and operations workstreams, defining key milestones, dependencies, critical paths, cross-functional handoffs, and delivery timelines.

Consolidated updates from multiple workstream leads into clear, standardized program status reports, providing senior leadership with visibility into accomplishments, milestone health, risks, issues, dependencies, decisions required, and next steps.

Coordinated infrastructure and application change and release activities across engineering, cybersecurity, operations, and business teams, ensuring technical readiness, dependency validation, implementation planning, and production support.

Partnered closely with workstream leads, architects, engineering teams, cybersecurity, operations, and business stakeholders to identify cross-functional dependencies and proactively resolve timeline conflicts and execution gaps.

Facilitated release readiness reviews, deployment planning meetings, Go/No-Go checkpoints, and post-implementation reviews for infrastructure modernization and cloud transformation initiatives.

Prepared executive-ready PowerPoint presentations and leadership dashboards summarizing program health, milestone progress, accomplishments, risks, dependencies, decisions needed, and upcoming priorities.

Established implementation, rollback, validation, and contingency plans for high-risk infrastructure changes, minimizing service disruption and improving deployment recovery readiness.

Translated complex technical and operational information into concise, business-focused executive summaries tailored for senior leadership and cross-functional stakeholders.

Used AI-enabled productivity tools, including Microsoft Copilot and other AI tools, to improve meeting documentation, capture discussion summaries, identify action items, organize follow-ups, and improve the efficiency of program communications.

Drove accountability across multiple workstreams by monitoring commitments, following up on overdue actions, escalating blockers, and ensuring alignment with overall program objectives and delivery milestones.

Produced clear written and verbal communications for executives, technical teams, vendors, and business stakeholders, ensuring consistent understanding of program priorities, risks, and required decisions.

Facilitated executive governance meetings, managed third-party vendors, infrastructure engineers, and application owners while driving technology refresh, infrastructure upgrades, disaster recovery readiness, and continuous service improvements using Microsoft Project, Jira, ServiceNow, and Agile methodologies.

Drove program outcomes by aligning deliverables with business objectives, monitoring program schedules and milestones, and ensuring timelines, quality standards, and stakeholder expectations were consistently met.

Coordinated with offshore development and support teams to support new application implementations, service delivery, and operational readiness across multiple workstreams.

Footlocker - Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Feb 2021 – April 2022

IT Project Manager (Data Center Operations)

Led enterprise Data Center Migration and infrastructure transformation initiatives by coordinating server, storage, virtualization, networking, security, and cloud engineering teams during migration of critical retail platforms to AWS, ensuring minimal business disruption and successful production cutovers.

Directed Identity & Access Management initiatives utilizing Active Directory, Azure AD (Microsoft Entra ID), Okta SSO, MFA, IAM provisioning, and enterprise authentication services to strengthen security, governance, and user lifecycle management.

Managed integrated project plans across data center migration, cloud transformation, infrastructure, networking, security, application, and operations workstreams, ensuring alignment of milestones, dependencies, sequencing, and production cutover activities.

Built and maintained detailed project schedules and dependency trackers using Microsoft Project, Jira, and Confluence to provide visibility into critical path activities, cross-team handoffs, timeline risks, and delivery commitments.

Consolidated updates from technical and business workstreams into executive-level status reports highlighting overall program health, key accomplishments, upcoming milestones, risks, issues, dependencies, and decisions requiring leadership attention.

Led deployment readiness reviews, migration dry runs, production cutovers, Go/No-Go checkpoints, and post-implementation validation activities to ensure successful releases with minimal business disruption.

Prepared polished PowerPoint presentations, executive dashboards, and weekly status reports to communicate complex migration and transformation activities to leadership and key stakeholders.

Facilitated cross-functional governance and project review meetings involving infrastructure, cloud, cybersecurity, applications, vendors, and business teams; documented decisions and drove follow-up on action items.

Identified cross-workstream dependencies and potential execution gaps across application migration, infrastructure readiness, security approvals, network connectivity, and production cutover activities.

Managed production and non-production environment readiness by tracking infrastructure dependencies, application connectivity, security approvals, configuration requirements, and deployment sequencing.

Developed detailed implementation, rollback, contingency, and validation plans for high-risk migration activities, providing clear escalation paths during critical deployment windows.

Leveraged AI-enabled productivity tools and collaboration platforms to improve meeting documentation, action tracking, stakeholder follow-up, and communication efficiency across project workstreams.

Tata Consulting SVCS LTD – American Express Phoenix, Arizona. Oct 2019 – Jan 2021

Technical Infrastructure Program Manager SRE

Managing day-to-day operations of IT systems in SRE team, ensuring that planning, end-user impact, Incident management, Problem management, change management, Active Directory Administration, SharePoint Servers, Availability management, Quality management are properly addressed and monitored to ensure that deadlines with service levels met, and results delivered.

Led complex infrastructure and banking technology programs supporting critical financial operations, ensuring timely delivery within scope, budget, and compliance requirements.

Managed enterprise release management activities for infrastructure and application deployments by coordinating release schedules, change approvals, deployment planning, and production implementation across distributed technology teams.

Facilitated cross-functional Go/No-Go decision meetings involving engineering, QA, application support, infrastructure, and business stakeholders to ensure release readiness and successful production execution.

Partnered with DevOps teams supporting CI/CD deployment pipelines, ensuring release activities aligned with Agile sprint schedules, infrastructure availability, and organizational change management processes.

Developed and maintained deployment runbooks, rollback strategies, implementation checklists, and post-release validation procedures to minimize deployment failures and accelerate incident recovery.

Coordinated post-release monitoring, incident triage, root cause analysis, and stakeholder communications to ensure rapid issue resolution and continuous improvement of release management practices.

Owned and coordinated the end-to-end release management lifecycle for scheduled releases, infrastructure deployments, application enhancements, and production changes across development, test, staging, and production environments.

Facilitated Release Readiness Reviews, change approval discussions, Go/No-Go checkpoints, deployment planning sessions, and Post-Implementation Reviews (PIRs) with development, QA, DevOps, infrastructure, and operations teams.

Coordinated with business, product, development, QA, infrastructure, and operations teams for banking program delivery.

Managed end-to-end payment application releases, including planning, testing, implementation, and post-production support.

Evaluated change requests for implementation risk, business impact, technical readiness, environment dependencies, rollback requirements, and production support readiness prior to scheduled deployment windows.

Partnered with DevOps and engineering teams supporting CI/CD pipelines to coordinate automated deployments, release schedules, code promotion, infrastructure readiness, and resolution of pipeline or environment blockers.

Facilitated stakeholder and governance meetings and provided executive status reporting on program progress.

Coordinated Agile delivery activities including backlog prioritization, sprint planning, release planning, and retrospectives.

Partnered with business and technology teams to ensure timely resolution of issues impacting banking operations and customer services.

Managed RAID logs (Risks, Assumptions, Issues, Dependencies) and implemented proactive mitigation strategies to minimize operational and financial risks.

Supported banking operations systems by managing incident, problem, and change management activities in compliance with enterprise governance standards and SLAs.

Facilitated Agile Scrum ceremonies including sprint planning, backlog grooming, retrospectives, and release planning for distributed application development teams.

Tachyon IT Solutions Pvt Ltd, Hyderabad, India (Dubai Onshore Consultant) Nov 2013 – Sep 2019

Service Delivery Manager

Responsible as single point of contact for multiple cloud-based software products customization, implementation for around 600 customers across UAE and middle east.

Managed cross-functional technology implementation and service delivery initiatives by coordinating internal teams, customers, and vendors, tracking delivery milestones, risks, dependencies, and operational readiness.

Coordinated software product implementations, upgrades, production changes, and customer deployments across multiple cloud-based products supporting approximately 600 customers.

Led the creation of transition framework and transitioned different technologies like Network, Platform, Storage, Voice, NOC, Security, ITSM & Local IT Support.

Facilitated planning & budgeting of IT Infrastructure Operations, Active Directory Management, Technology implementation, transition, and service delivery; led a team of 43 technical personnel and about 30+ vendors.

Managed deployment planning and implementation coordination between development, infrastructure, support teams, vendors, and customers to ensure technical readiness and successful production releases.

Established change implementation procedures, risk assessments, rollback planning, validation activities, and stakeholder communication processes for critical production changes.

Coordinated environment readiness, application configuration, data migration, testing, and production deployment activities for enterprise technology implementations.

Handled Data migration Projects from DB2 to Snowflake. Database testing using SQL queries for cross checking the data accuracy.

Hewlett-Packard Company, Bangalore, India Oct 2006 – Nov 2013

Senior Systems Engineer: Service Delivery Manager

Led the infrastructure workstream supporting the post-merger integration of the Nokia and Ericsson enterprise environments by planning and executing Active Directory domain consolidation, user migrations, infrastructure dependency analysis, and production cutover activities while ensuring uninterrupted business operations.

Managed end-to-end M&A infrastructure integration activities including due diligence support, migration planning, user provisioning, DNS/DHCP updates, Group Policy synchronization, security validation, rollback planning, and post-migration stabilization across geographically distributed enterprise environments.

Coordinated cross-functional infrastructure teams responsible for Active Directory, Windows Servers, LAN/WAN connectivity, Cisco Routing & Switching, VPN, Firewalls, Identity & Access Management (IAM), and messaging services to successfully integrate enterprise infrastructure following the merger.

Led enterprise user migration activities involving thousands of user accounts, security groups, file permissions, Exchange/mail services, and authentication systems while maintaining compliance, minimizing downtime, and ensuring seamless access to business applications.

Partnered with infrastructure architects, network engineers, application owners, and business stakeholders to identify migration dependencies, mitigate project risks through RAID management, execute production cutovers, and successfully complete post-merger infrastructure integration within planned timelines.

Provider of all IT related services for APAC and US region customers with server management and desktop support.

Hands-on duties included all aspects of Active Directory, Messaging, SharePoint environment administration and management, facilities/vendor management, in-office wireless.

Education:

Master’s in computer science, Sikkim Manipal University, India – 2011

Bachelor’s in commerce & Computer Science, Kakatiya University, India – 1998

CERTIFICATIONS AND TRAINING:

SAFe Certified AI-Empowered Scrum Master, ITIL Certified in V3 Foundation (Service Strategy and Service Design), OKTA Professional Trained, AWS Associate Level Trained, MCSE, Lotus PCLP Certified.

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