Project Manager Management

Donald W. Lort

*** ******* **. *** *** Cell: (***) 852 - 1611

Tallahassee, Florida 32308 Email: i7ibqi@r.postjobfree.com

A distinguished senior level Information Technology Director / Program Manager/ Project Manager with 18 years of extensive experience managing complex large scale IT and Wireless projects that consistently exceed all expectations regardless of technology platform, and within all budget constraints. In-depth technical background provides the roadmap between technology and business goals to provide leading edge solutions in both the Wireless and IT arena. Managed as many as 175 employees in a Cross Functional Multi-facility development effort with budgets reaching 225 million. Experience working in a Matrix management environment with little to no direction. Uncanny ability to resolve the toughest issues, and bring projects to completion ahead of schedules. Very strong negotiation, communication and organization skills enable me to interact comfortably with all levels of executive management, technical personnel and third party vendors.

Additional Qualifications

• Manufacturing

• Construction background

• Information Technology

• Consulting

• Wireless

• Smart Cards

• Interactive Television

• Telecommunications

• Internet

• Website Design

• Networking

• Loyalty programs

Professional Experience

Government Services Group, Tallahassee, Florida February 2011 – Present

Sr. Program Manager

Developed and implemented processes and procedures for building out 250+ Microwave backhaul middle mile sites for Local Government agency that won a Federal Broadband Grant. Established various teams and developed processes and procedures to perform daily tasks. Produced business model and business plan for government agency, established budgets, and introduced risk management and managing the critical path including equipment procurement, warehousing, operations and B/OSS needs. Provided a Network Design review and action plan to improve design. Involved in developing the contract process with vendors, establishing deliverables, and ensuring schedules were maintained. Assisted Senior Management in strategies for implementing different service levels, establishing market base and deployment flow charts.

Experience utilizing OCCAM switches, Ceragon Radios, Cisco Routers, Ring topology obtaining five nines availability and < 50 msec latency. Led two separate engineering firms in designing Carrier Class Networks utilizing advanced protocols that take advantage of layer 2 of the OSI model based on 802.17 and implementing MPLS-TE in support of IPTV and broadband access. Implemented project reviews, reviewed invoices, and approved deliverables from engineers and from construction teams. Provided oversight of both engineers, Network and data center development, Site Acquisition and deployment. Developed Quality Assurance procedures and inspected Construction sites holding vendors to Quality Standards developed by the Government Authority and Jacobs Telecommunications and built on Telkore standards.

Additionally worked with the Business Development team setting services and pricing, providing presentations, and negotiating contracts with Last Mile Providers and Beta Customers. Responsible for signing up over 4 million dollars of business. Provided input to establishing vertical markets and coordinating and reporting team efforts.

Powder River Development, St. Louis, Missouri May 2010 – October 2010

Sr. Project Manager

Interested in broadening my technical background into wireless, accepted a position responsible for managing the upgrading and development of 200 RF and Microwave construction sites including collocation facilities and rooftops for Clearwire. Managed the bid process including conducting bid walks, managed contractors during construction ensuring timely completion. Help identify potential problems before they become issues and working with management team, land owners, and contractors to provide immediate solutions. Primary interface to client, site acquisition, tower owners and general contractors. Additional responsibilities include:

• Conducted site punch walks, verify timely completion of outstanding items and all close out documentation completed and uploaded as required.

• Enforced compliance with landlords, local municipalities, and client requirements. Complete Site Acquisition walks.

• In a very hard build I lead a team of 7 field supervisors to complete the market build out 3 days ahead of schedule with additional sites, drastically reduced the number of change orders, and were able to lower GC bids from the extra due diligence performed ahead of time – all saving the client millions of dollars. Responsible for directing 5 Site Acquisition based on client priorities and modifications to move sites into construction quickly.

• Provided daily updates, problem tracking, risk management, uploading and reporting using Clear Vision, conducted all pre-cons to ensure Scope creep was not an issue.

• Resolved Issues as they appeared to keep projects moving. Worked will all organizations necessary to complete builds. In some cases, sites would end up becoming too expensive to build and I would quickly assemble the team and quickly move the new identified site through the permitting process, bud process and into build out without delay.

• Once Sites were deemed production, all upgrades or modifications were scheduled and conducted in the maintenance window.

iTelemedia, Ormond Beach, Florida 2007 – 2011

Chief Information Officer / Program Manager

Provide company direction, and technology leadership in the development of interactive television applications over IP (Internet Protocol), including VOD, and consulting services over Cable Networks and Telephone lines (DSL). Develop corporate goals, set overall corporate budget, allocating resources, negotiating contracts with vendors, providing project planning, status reports, set overall architecture, build management reports, develop and present presentations for potential investors successfully raising 1.5 million dollars.

• Interactive Television: Negotiate product set with investors, define overall technology strategy for product set, Provide architecture and design for product, author the business plan and business model and design document. Major Products include Video on Demand (VOD), Music on Demand (MOD) as well as National Yellow Pages and classifieds based on location. Introduced the concept of “android” like interface to the next generation of television. All solutions based on the next generation set-top boxes and OCAP standards.

• Telecommunications: Built Middle Mile Network incorporating large anchor institution network evaluations and upgrade plan. Provided Last Mile link engineering, overall design including industry standards. Provided Business evaluations including business models justifying infrastructure upgrades. Worked with executives to build next generation infrastructures and consolidating data centers and networks to provide leading edge network solutions.

• Retail: Provide Technology Consulting in developing and reviewing project plans, defining and developing product content for loyalty programs, and developing road map for implementation in POS systems for large companies in the electronic, Department, and Grocery retail environments. Worked on leading edge concepts including wireless solutions. For a grocery chain, developed loyalty program built on latest technology leveraging relationships with other stores, developed shared data warehouse and provided real time reporting for mobile benefits.

Verizon Wireless, Columbus, Ohio 2005 - 2007

Field Construction Manager

Responsible for overseeing the development of 46 UMTS and LTE construction sites including raw land, collocation facilities, and rooftops. Managed cross functional teams totaling 15 contractors and employees in Conducted bid walks, managing contractors during construction ensuring timely completion within agreed upon budget. Help identify potential problems before they become issues and worked with the management team and contractors to provide immediate solutions. All Issues were brought to my attention to see that they were tracked and resolved. I provided the direction without direction to resolve pertinent issues and keep projects moving forward.

Supervised the concrete pad for radio shelters and installation of ground rings around shelter and tower. Additional responsibilities included overseeing the placement of shelters via crane, stacking of towers both mono pole and self supporting, installation of coax from the shelter to the antenna position on the tower, read and interpret Anritsu sweep testing of coax runs for minimum system performance, conduct site punch walk, verify punch out items are completed and close out all documentation.

Supervisor for construction of emergency generators

Responsibilities included in site supervision of pre-poured concrete generator pad and setting of generator with a crane. Inspected all alarm wiring, utility coordination for power transfer, inspect all underground electrical conduits for correct depth and conduct punch walk with contractor.

SoftCARD Systems, Inc., Watkinsville, Georgia 2000 - 2003

Director of Information Systems & Assistant CTO

Responsible for translating organizations mission into an overall IT strategy focused on the business goals and objectives to reach that mission. Developed vendor relationships, and create high performance teams focused on product delivery and meeting customer expectations. Advising Senior management of resource loading and management needs as well as setting budgets to meet organizations overall objectives. SoftCARD Systems is a technology company specializing in smart card solutions, loyalty programs, and internet solutions.

• Involved in business development meetings among potential customers, and interface to third party technology vendors. Lead marketing person in successfully obtaining an infusion of funds to complete loyalty program with 2 million dollars.

• Developed the design and architecture of potential customer loyalty systems as well as changes to current suite of software to meet company’s vision. Orchestrated changes to various parts of third party software.

• Major projects included:

o Built multiple Loyalty/Couponing programs includes building an internal ISP and local company web site and coupon web site. Building a technology advanced loyalty solution at the point of sale, Internet solution to Electronic loyalty & coupon redemption, Managing the design, development and implementation of Hardware components to support Electronic couponing, and the design, development, and implementation of a messaging system to manage the information flow across the internet to the various retail outlets. This design entailed both the software requirements and the necessary collocation facilities required to manage the data banks, telecom equipment including wiring requirements, workloads, and negotiating contracts with contractors to build out space in collocation facilities. Designed and developed real-time and backend data warehouse with Business Intelligence to support real time transactions and reporting needs of management team. Entire Electronic Couponing System was developed to work with Smart card technology or UPC codes. Instrumental in setting up smart card processing techniques, structure, and layout. Integrated solution into IBM 4390 POS Supermarket Application for redemption during checkout. Secured major contracts for providing our technology solutions to other companies.

o Vacuum management system that consisted of the development of a hardware and software solution to manage the collection of coins and reporting usage from vacuum cleaners and air units at local convenience stores across the Nation. Provided Architecture and design specs for rooftop installations including coax cables, local coordination contractors, costs, budgeting, and timelines. Integrated RF communications into stores, analyzed sweep test results with contractors and engineers trying to anticipate interferences and alternative solutions. Provided hardware design to engineers for manufacturing components to electronically count and transmit usage, monies collected, and outages.

o E-commerce. Incorporated loyalty program into purchasing discounts and promotions based on purchasing history. Real-time product updates and shipments from manufacturers. Advanced cart functions, processing through multiple media.

ArkNet, Atlanta, Georgia 1999 - 2000

Chief Technology Officer

Provided the necessary leadership in delivering a functional Christian ISP. Responsibilities were not limited to but included contract negotiations with vendors, both hardware and software, building the infrastructure, inter-office network, call center, managing software development teams for content, and vendors for delivering major parts of the functionality. Because this organization was a start-up, I wore many hats as required to support the vision and direction of the Executive Management Team.

• Provided technical insight and leadership in the development of a totally secure Network Architecture & Topolog.

• Developed Requirement & Design Documents for web design, E-commerce, a proprietary proxy server and leading edge network applications. Provided ER model and Design concepts for data warehouse.

• Designed and developed databases for the Call Management Center, E-commerce, and Proxy server applications.

• Provide Integration strategy for communications among major portions of ISP including LDAP, DNS, Proxy, Cache, E-mail, E-commerce, content, and ground works for online education. Developed all the design documents and presentations to executives and investors. Provided multiple views and authorizations for customer service.

• Developed and Delivered presentations to various groups including Venture Capitalist groups and various software, hardware, and networking vendors

• Negotiated contracts with several major vendors including Lucent technologies (worth 1.5 million dollars) and Bellsouth to provide software, hardware, infrastructure and services. Instrumental in the writing & presentation of the Information Memorandum.

Peak Resource Group, Inc. Decatur, Georgia 1997 - 1999

Chief Information Officer & Technical Director

Responsible for all the planning, marketing and startup activities relating to Information Technology Services Delivery for Peak Resource Group. Peak Resource Group is a privately held information technology consulting and professional services corporation that merged with Information Technology Specialists, Inc. and provides Fortune 500 clients a wide range of management and technical consulting services. Peak offers its clients flexible staffing and technology solutions by providing highly skilled, experienced, and knowledgeable technical resources. Peak specializes in the following industry segments: Telecommunications; Financial Services; Manufacturing; Insurance; Commercial; and, Public Sector. Involved in day to day management and delivery of all fixed price projects and all negotiations between clients and prospective vendors.

• Responsible for all Consulting services relating to Solutions-oriented sales and ensure delivery of all projects. Oversee all fixed priced projects and work with corporate management in solving Business goals & objectives. Oversee all data warehousing projects, data driven implementations, and data mining.

• Provide Consulting serviced for a Federal Government Organization and Telecommunications company in the area of Y2K and networks. Provided code analysis and remediation as well as managing the vendors for letters of certification and upgraded releases.

• Most recent project was to help a local Christian Online Network build an Internet Service Provider from the ground up. Responsibilities included all facets of putting the effort together and reported directly to the CEO of the organization. Also provided input to the Marketing Team as to the direction and rollout schedules and plans. Negotiated contracts with outside vendors and access carriers as well as building a team to provide content and install third party products.

Information Technology Specialists, Conyers, Georgia 1993 - 1997

Director of IT / Account Manager

Founder of this consulting organization which provided consulting services to Fortune 500 clients. Merged with Peak Resource group in 1997.

• Technical Manager: Responsible for managing a major client/server development effort to support 2 call management centers from 1 location in Atlanta. Managed through entire development life cycle.

• Technical Manager: Provided leadership in the implementation of 43 Client/Server Applications and a development team of about 175 employees and contractors with a 225 million dollar budget for Bellsouth. Managed cross functional multi-facility teams with the burden of managing the development and implementation of this entire data center upgrade and process change. My responsibilities included developing a proposed organization structure of implementing Client/Server applications for this organization using SDLC methodology and RAD for more critical data entry systems as well as producing a Configuration Management Plan, a Release Management Plan, and act as a liaison to the development staff. Other Duties included managing the deployment of OO applications using Rational Rose tools and other third generation applications throughout the US and providing the guidance from training to configuring the production environments as well as providing the first level of technical support. The technical responsibilities included Windows 3.1, Windows NT, SQL Server, UNIX HP UX, with TCP/IP and Novell and NT communication protocols. The current application development environment includes Visual basic, Visual C++, C, and Oracle.

• Project Manager: Managed the development of a Call Entitlement Tracking System for IBM in the Atlanta area. Conducted JAD sessions to gather requirements, and then provided a prototype based on these requirements in order to gain approval of screen design and flow. The prototype was developed based on CUA guidelines.

Computer Task Group, Atlanta, Georgia 1992 - 1994

Project Director / Account Manager

Provided project management for several projects of small teams of programmers. Responsibilities for two major projects; (1) Problem Tracking and Customer Complaint System, and (2) Services Management System which included all phases of the development life cycle Training sessions were held to educate end users and the help desk.. The technologies utilized consisted of BACHMAN for data modeling, SQL/DS, REXX, and CUA2001 as the screen handler.

Price Waterhouse, Georgia -Consultant 1990 - 1991

IBM Laboratory, North Carolina – Computer Programmer 1989 - 1990

Southern Company Services, Georgia – System programmer 1986 - 1989

Education

B.B.A., Management Information Systems, University of Georgia GPA: 3.67

Currently pursuing PMP Certification

Florida Licensed Real Estate Agent.

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