Sr Manager, Program Management

Alok Kumar

***** **** *** **, *********, WA *****

Cell 425-***-**** * Email: fwck63@r.postjobfree.com

SUMMARY

Seasoned senior manager with deep technical expertise. Experience leading teams developing software platforms (APIs and tools) that drive billions of dollars in revenue. Lead teams (40+) of program managers, architects, software developers, and testers. Six Sigma black belt expert using these methods in program management and software development. Agile software development. Extensive experience in display advertising systems, e-commerce, and retail systems. Seeking Principal / Director role in a fast paced and challenging environment

CORE COMPETENCIES

UX: Scenario Focused Engineering. Use case based design

Leadership: Team leader and manager. Product and Line of Business owner (>$500 million)

Business: Program Management, Product / Portfolio Manager / Strategist

Process: Black Belt Six Sigma, Agile, Waterfall, Modified Waterfall, RUP

Software: Development, Software/Solution/Enterprise Architecture (incl. APIs and Services),

Platforms: Windows, mobile, and cloud using .Net, SOA

BI systems: SQL Server Databases (OLTP and OLAP), ETL systems.

Applications development: Web, mobile, and Windows UX. Working with end users, UX designers, and researchers. .Net, C#, C++, javascript

PROFESSIONAL WORK EXPERIENCE

Microsoft Corporation

Oct 2006 - Present - Sr Manager, Program Management, Online Services Division

Engineering Line of Business Owner for Microsoft Ad Network and Atlas Advertiser Tools.

Conceptual creator and driver of next generation Unified Media Planning system to enable media planning and buying across diverse inventory from publishers. This is currently being developed with target release by middle of 2012.

Turned around Microsoft Media Network AdMarket ($500 mil revenue) and Media Console ($100 mil revenue). Took engineering team ownership of AdMarket in Jan 2010. Issues included floundering morale, no direction/strategy, attrition of key people, scaling for business growth, no defined backlog, and lacking engineering discipline. Stemmed attrition, staffed the program management team, addressed scale issues, defined strategic direction including exec sponsorship, defined engineering roadmap aligned to business strategy, and instituted program management and engineering rigor. Driving Advertiser platform API development and ecosystem integration strategy (ATPA).

Team of 5 direct reports and 40+ indirect reports (PMs, developers, testers, and vendors) in highly matrixed org. Actively collaborated with senior management (e.g., VPs and Sr VPs) at Microsoft – to drive strategy and release execution of the products.

Prior to this, joint owner of Microsoft publisher platform (AdExpert) that drives brand advertising of more than $1.5+ billion. My team (4 PMs) owned – pricing, orders workflow, capacity management, targeting management, ad assignment, client management, security, datawarehouse/reporting, and performance modeling. Also drove cross group initiatives to define consolidation of ecosystem of tools (350+ tools) to support the reserved display business. Worked with Microsoft research to define smart pricing and automated product catalog management.

Developed using .Net, SOA, SQL Server, C#, C++. Adhered to architectural imperatives of scalability, extensibility, performance, and manageability. Highly scalable systems that drive more than $2 billion in ad revenue and delivers more than 25 billion ads per day.

Agile, iterative waterfall, and waterfall process. Black Belt Six Sigma practitioner, using DMAIC to drive structured and measurable improvements. Recipient of numerous recognitions including 2 gold star awards – 2007 and 2008. Nominated for most effective manager Gold Star award 2011.

Amazon.com

Sept 2005 – Sept 2006

- Sr. Product and Program Manager, Merchant Services

Led and managed merchant experience program at Amazon. Defined, gained consensus, and executed on strategy to drive improvement in merchant experience. Used Balanced scorecard, KPIs, six sigma (DMAIC), and lean principles to identify gaps in platform, drove process changes, and created self-service tools for merchants. More than 10% increase in merchant experience. More than 10% reduction in contact frequency.

Achieved with extensive data mining of customer feedback, survey results, and application instrumentation. Team developed tools, modified/added features, and instituted process changes. Drove cross functional initiatives for other teams to make changes in other parts of the platform.

Software architecture (SOA), Java, Perl, MySQL. Architecture imperative was usability, performance, manageability, and scalability.

Completed Six Sigma black belt. Drove projects achieving savings of $250K. Championed six-sigma in merchant services.

NCR Corp

Sept 1999 – Sept 2005

- Sr Software Architect, NCR Corp, Retail Division.

Took on progressively increasing responsibility. Led the architectural direction of NCR retail product portfolio, led technology adoption decisions, developed and prototyped new technology solutions, led reuse across the enterprise and solutions. Lead architect for security, Embedded Systems, Personalization, CRM, Enterprise Management. Software development process definition and improvement like waterfall, RUP, and CMM/CMMI.

Architect of NCR Self Checkout solution – Led cross functional team to design features, develop prototypes, define architecture, develop, test, and support post release. Key product architectures driven included – FastLane (including security, Personalization, reporting)

Led technical engagement team for The Home Depot FastLane deployment. Store deployment and enterprise integration. Included requirements analysis, feature design, implementation, scheduled deliverables, and timely completion of deployment.

Defined and implemented FastLane system analytics. Started as skunkworks project that matured to become mainstay of the self checkout program. Led the development of FastLane KPIs to empower the customer and the customer facing teams (for customers like The Home Depot, Wal*Mart, Albertsons, Safeway, etc.) with data on FastLane performance trends. Managed and led offshore developers in Philippines to create the platform including ETL, cubes, data mining tools, web based user interface.

Performance Systems Group

May 1998 – Sept 1999

- Director, Information Systems

PSG manages stored value card programs (>$10 million) for its clients like Coors, Coca Cola, Kodak, etc. Led 3–4 person software development and network management team. My team was responsible for developing and maintaining the software for stored value card program, help desk, business analysis tools. Managed in-house and consulting projects; created office automation tools, developed portals (http://www.psg.com; http://www.incentivesolutions.com; http://www.ECentiveCard.com), designed and administered SQL Server database, Data Warehouse; conducted Data Mining; and administered the LAN. Office automation tools developed by my team greatly improved efficiency at PSG. For example, invoice time was reduced from 2 weeks to less than half an hour, invoice accuracy improved by more than 90%. Infrastructure included VB, SQL Server, Access, MTS, OCR, file, database, and web servers, 50 PC LAN

Environmental Risk Limited

Jan 1997 – May 1998

- Project Manager & Associate

ERL (based in Connecticut) specializes in environment audits and environmental compliance. Field studies and computer modeling. From office in Atlanta, led development of their practice in the southeast including RFPs, project implementation, marketing, and sales. Within a year, build client base (about 40 banks and 10 real estate firms) and generated revenue greater than $100K.

Entrepreneur / Consulting Experience2000 – 2002 -

Founder goRateMe.com, mission – “Bridging the Communication Gap Between Businesses and their Customers”. Developed business plan, business process, got together Board of Directors. Created the http://www.goRateMe.com (using ASP and SQL Server), marketed the site, sought venture capital investment. It was a very early social site that allowed consumers and businesses to interact with each other. Site launched as free service for real estate and automotive verticals. Site was decommissioned since subscription based monetization was not enough to make it profitable.

Independent Consultant

1997 - 2002

- In a part-time effort (>$10K per year), worked on projects for direct clients PSG, ERL, etc. This included project management, application architecture, application development, and proposals for government contracts. Implemented debit card based incentive programs (VB, SQL Server), web applications (ASP, SQL Server), and affiliate marketing applications (PHP, MySQL) for my client’s customers – Kichler, Mannington Mills, Continental Tire, Tarkett Inc., Formica Corporation, RJR, Regions Bank, etc.

UNIVERSITY TEACHING / RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

1997 - 2008

- Adjunct professor in the business and MIS programs at educational institutions.

* University of Phoenix (2001 – 2006) – Professor of Business, teaching MBA classes like Statistical Decision Analysis, Supply Chain Management, Operations Management, Information Systems, Accounting Information Systems

* Gwinnett Tech (2002) – Adjunct Professor of Information Systems

* Syspro Technologies (1997 – 2000) – VB and SQL Server classes for MCSD certification

* Kennesaw State University, Department of Chemistry (1997-1998) – Adjunct Professor of Environmental Chemistry

PATENTS / AWARDS / CERTIFICATIONS

PATENTS

* June 2003 (#6,412,694 B1) Produce recognition system and method including weighted rankings

* Sept 2005 (#6,944,864 B2) Dynamic architecture integration technique

* April 2007 (#7,206,647 B2) E-appliance for mobile online retailing

* April 2008 (#7,352,996 B2) System and Method for coupling users to retail computer with low risk of evesdropping

Also filed invention disclosures at NCR and Microsoft – two on wireless handhelds, one on EAI, one on personal area networks, one on web services, one on pricing, and one of user interface control.

AWARDS

Nominated for most effective manager Gold Star award 2011

2010 – Commendation for AdMarket turnaround effort

2007 and 2008 – Gold Star Award at Microsoft. It is an award given to handful top performers to recognize their contribution to Microsoft.

Recognition for contribution at Amazon.com

Architecture Award (NCR 2003)

Commendation for project management work with The Home Depot (NCR 2002)

Commendation for Architectural Work (NCR 2000)

6 Invention Disclosure/Patent Awards (NCR 2000–2003)

Performance Award (ERL 1997)

American Chemical Society Graduate Award (1995)

Illinois Mines and Mineral Research Institute Award (1990)

Gold Medal, highest honors for academic coursework (1987)

CERTIFICATIONS

Amazon.com Six Sigma Black Belt

Member

American Society of Quality (2001)Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer (1999)

Microsoft Certified Professional (1999)Georgia EIT (1996)

EDUCATION

* MBA (Information Systems), Robinson College of Business, Georgia State University, 2000

* Post Doctoral Fellow, Georgia Institute of Technology, 1996

* Ph.D., OGI School of Science & Engineering, Oregon Health & Science University, 1996

* M.S. (Engineering), Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (SIU-C), 1991

* B.S. (Engineering), Indian School of Mines, 1987

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