EXECUTIVE PROFILE
Jay is a recognized leader in the evaluation, organizational assessment and development of businesses. Leading important changes in a company, he understands the structured approach needed to transition an organization from its current state to its desired future position. Aligning a company’s structure with its objectives, improving business processes and developing a model of skills needed for growth, Jay has excellent knowledge of technology, project management and managing relationships with external organizations.
Having developed and implemented Information Technology projects for Fortune 100 Companies in the financial services industry, he has also cultivated a successful methodology and created a valuable Playbook for the Mergers & Acquisition Integration Program Office (IPO). His methodology has become a vital element for systems development and merger integration initiatives across commercial banks, insurance companies and private businesses. As a commanding figure with an award-winning communication and public speaking expertise, he has earned the respect of his peers and managed to unite all levels of an organization.
Other specialty disciplines include:
• Project Management and Systems Development
• Program Management
• Service Level Management
• Problem Management
• IT Organization restructuring
• Strategic Planning • Senior Executive/Financial Services industry
• System Development Methodology
• IT Metrics
• Resource Management
• Change Management
PROFESSIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
THE COUSINS GROUP, Marina Del Rey, CA (2001- Present)
Principle
Specializing in project management, organizational assessments, Mergers & Acquisition Integration, IT, operational reviews, and ascertaining strategic solutions for profitability.
• Establishing and Project Managing the development and marketing of a new 2010 start-up aimed at the financial industry – working with specialists in banking, foreclosures and Federal law.
• Performed a comprehensive assessment of the CIO function for the County of Los Angeles. Cousins Group recommending tactical changes in their strategic planning process, IT Governance Model and internal processes, resulting in a three tier structure to optimize their $650 million IT annual expenditure.
• A review of Los Angeles County Department of Public and Social Services (DPSS) $33 million outsourcing contract with Unisys Corporation. Benchmarking all aspects of the operation resulting in an annual savings of $32 million.
• Developed a comprehensive merger & acquisition playbook for Comerica Bank including the organizational structure, reporting approach and modules. Comerica is a $75 billion regional bank operating throughout the USA
• Reengineering assessment of City National Bank’s commercial loan portfolio of $9 Billion. Proposing strategic and tactical changes in their operational processes and quality control which will dramatically reduce end to end processing time to market.
• Developed a radical redesign approach for Comerica’s National Wire Transfer Operation giving the bank an annual saving of $1.3 million, implementing a new staffing and organization model and providing measurable improvements in customer services.
• Managed the integration of Comerica’s four affiliate banks into one single legal entity resulting in national standard products and pricing.
• Managed the integration of Comerica Bank, Michigan and Imperial Bank headquartered in California.
• Developed a new service-based model for the restructuring of Comerica Bank’s systems development organization for the potential split of Development and Maintenance resulting in a 15 to 20% increased capacity for new development.
NATIONAL CITY CORPORATION, Cleveland, Ohio (1996-2001)
Financial services organization with assets of $86 billion and net income of $1.6 billion operating in six mid-western states.
Sr. Vice President/Director, Management Services/Information Services Division (1999-2001)
Responsible for the $200 million IS Budget, IT Procurement Services for the corporation and Strategic resource services collectively charged with managing expenses and leveraging IT assets.
• Educated over 400 corporation executives in the standard systems development technique for all major banking technology projects over $5million in cost.
• Developed a three-year PC refresh model for 24,000 workstations resulting in operating expense reduction of $1.9 million and a predictable and well managed environment.
• Responsible for the development and implementation of a new “Organizational Model” in production support for Information Services. Our results included a more focused, efficient and saleable organization consistent with the corporate goal for growth to $200 billion in assets.
• Headed the development and implementation of a new organization “Budget/Forecasting Model” to manage the $184 million IS budget resulting in a focus on expense control through “Total Cost of Ownership” techniques and reinvestment of unused IS budget.
• Directed the development and implementation of a new procurement services organization within IS to manage over 500 contracts and $85 million in expenses through the purchase of services and products from third party organizations.
• Governed the expansion of a new resource management function focusing on the efficient allocation of internal and external resources ($80 million staff expense) on all corporate mission critical projects and bank consolidations.
Sr. Vice President/Director, Project/Application Services/Information Services Division (1997-1999)
Managed over 400 development and production support staff with a budget of $40 million, covering six mid-western states. Providing leadership and strategic direction for the Management Performance Group, Enterprise Architecture Board, and Acquisition and Integration Steering Committee for the Fort Wayne National consolidation.
• The architect in restructuring the entire Information Services organization to a service orientation resulting in specialization and increased efficiency.
• Major contributor in the development of the Enterprise IT Architecture and process for the ongoing assessment of all technology decisions.
• Restructuring the Application Services area splitting the Production Support from the Development function.
• Developed and implemented a comprehensive Executive Metrics Program for the Technical Services, Data Center and Distributed Client Services Divisions.
• Developed and implemented a comprehensive “Service Level Management “program for the IS Division.
• Developed and Implemented a formal Problem and Change Management program for the IS Division.
GENERAL ACCIDENT INSURANCE CO., Philadelphia, PA (1982-1996)
A Property and Casualty insurance company, with assets over $5 billion and premium of $2 billion. Wholly owned subsidiary of General Accident Assurance Company Ltd, headquarters in Perth, Scotland and operating in 25 countries.
Vice President, Information Technology Planning and Support (1992-1996)
Responsible for development, growth and execution of the company’s information technology strategy and information systems operating plan, ensuring proper alignment with the firm’s strategic goals and objectives.
• Development of the corporation’s 3-year Information Technology Strategy and 1-year tactical plan, producing: a major transformation of the technical infrastructure and application architectures; improved systems performance and response time; reduced product delivery time by 50%; provided IS direction to the organization and improved the image of the IS division.
• Introduced the concept of the “Information Technology Enterprise Architecture” creating: economies of scale across technical platforms; critical technical standards ensuring that disparate systems development and products were consistent with the IS strategy.
• Developed the Corporate Executive IT education program leading to a marked improvement in senior management understanding, decisions and support of new technology. Created a sound awareness of how the competition was using technology to achieve their goals and objectives.
• Member of the Information Systems “Steering Committee”. Established the charter, composition and responsibilities. Standardized the process for project submission, ranking cost benefit analysis and reporting. All ending in corporate focus and visibility on the company’s highest priority projects; allocation of scarce resources; reduced project delays/cost overruns and senior management buy in.
• Developed project management standards and implemented the work management system for project management and time reporting, conveying an improved direction and control of IS resources; standardized project management software methodology templates and improved productivity of development staff.
• Direction and control of the $60 million Operating and Capital Information Systems budget. Initiated industry benchmarking and IS trend analysis resulting in cost containment, reduction of expenses and improved decision making capabilities.
• Established a professional IT contract and procurement staff responsible for the negotiation of over 250 hardware/software and service contracts. Standardized and centralized the contract function and expanded the function to include U.S. subsidiaries and international procurement. This produced annualized negotiation savings of $1.8 million and a professional and highly regarded staff.
Vice President, Corporate Project Management (1986-1992)
Responsible to the President and Chief Operating Officer for the progress, development and execution of the company’s largest application system projects in excess of $500 thousand. Direct control of six project managers and consultants, up to 80 programmers/analysts and project budgets up to $4 million.
• Successful completion of Policy Processing, Billing, Financial and reporting systems. Specific projects include Commercial Lines Direct Bill, Producer Bill, Personal Assigned Risk, Claims Processing, Commercial Business Owners, and the creation of three corporate subsidiaries in New York State.
• Standardized and implemented the project management methodology, formalized the change control process and implemented project management tools and exception reporting formats, resulting in improved direction and control on major projects; improved productivity with new systems; $3.2 million in annual tax savings in New York; improved cash flow through the reduction of bad debt; increased market share with new products; and improved decision making through better access of customer data.
EDUCATION AND INTERESTS
• B.A., Economics, Eastern College, St. David’s, PA (1974)
• Dow Jones Award: Highest grade point average in the field of economics.
• Basketball: NAIA Small College All American, NAIA and NCCAA First Team All-District, selected for Outstanding college athletes of America
• Eastern College, St. David’s, PA (1990-1996) MBA candidate, Finance G.P.A. to date: 3.8
• President of Toastmasters International Club in Northwest Ohio. Award winning speaker in international competitions