Project Manager Management
Resume:
John Berar
*** ********* *****, ****, ** *****
*******@*****.***
Career Summary
I have more than 25 years of experience working in virtually every functional area of technology. I’ve been very fortunate to have both broad and deep skills and experiences. I have a number of technical certifications (ITIL, Six Sigma, MCSE, CNE) that complement my business and technical based education and experience.
My goal is to be instrumental in helping businesses select and implement technology solutions that align with their business objectives and leverage their technology investments. I have developed an excellent understanding of the challenges people face using technology and I ensure implementations are performed with the end user in mind. I partner with key leaders across the organization and implemented solutions that can support a global workforce. I’ve successfully consolidated financial, billing, and marketing systems; updated desktop, laptop, and server operating systems, as well as enterprise applications such as email, Internets and intranets. I understand how critical good technology can be to an organization and have created selection processes to ensure business needs are met. Further, in recognizing failing technology strategies, developed alternatives and implemented solutions I have been able to reduce technology budgets by 10-25% while providing the same or better capability.
I’ve implemented traditional developed software, purchased software, and “Software as a Service” (SaaS) solutions to meet business needs. My responsibilities have included ensuring high availability for critical, revenue generating systems. I’ve negotiated contracts and have managed the ongoing relationships with vendors onshore, nearshore, and offshore. I’ve also defined and developed IT objectives, strategic plans, organizations, and budgets.
I began as computer programmer and held various positions with increasing responsibilities including application developer, local area network administrator, project manager, consultant, and director. I’ve designed and implemented key systems for a variety of organizations and served as manager and systems integrator for key migrations and implementations, mobilizing project teams of more than 120 people. I’ve also lead global IT organizations of 75 employees and contractors.
I am open to travel and have worked virtually from a home office. Please find my resume attached for your review. I am available at any time to answer questions or discuss my experience in more detail.
John Berar
401 Parkfield Drive, Apex, NC 27502
*******@*****.***
Experience
Laboratory Corporation of America (LabCorp) (Sept 2010 – current)
IT Director, Enterprise Services
Responsible for product management of key enterprise systems including financials, supply chain, and procurement (PeopleSoft), document management, logistics, fleet and route management, and time and attendance.
Developed SLA reporting, capacity plans, DR plans, and product roadmaps for portfolio of applications.
Responsible for the engagement of service providers (onshore/offshore) and contract development.
American Express - American Express Technologies (Feb 2003 – Jan 2010)
Director American Express Interactive, Service Delivery and Management
Responsible for maintaining availability of critical American Express applications including personalized home page offerings and applying for credit cards leveraging a team of ~70 highly skilled onshore and off shore workers
Restructured organization and service contracts, streamlined operations, and reduced costs by 20% while delivering better services and greater, more predictable availability of applications.
Led my organization with continuous improvement following six sigma practices of identifying problems, establishing measurements, analyzing and identifying root cause, implementing improvements and controls, and driving down defects to achieve a superior level of system stability
Director Global Corporate Technologies, Service Delivery and Management
Responsible for defining and meeting service levels for system availability, problem management, and change management for global corporate systems including HR (Peoplesoft), Intranets, payroll, and finance applications.
Contracted and managed on shore and off shore teams supporting applications
Responsible for contracts and relationships with suppliers of technology services
Implemented standard support processes and best practices including portions of ITIL framework
Managed six sigma initiatives to improve internal customer experience
Director of Software Integration, American Express Tax and Business Services
One of three direct reports to the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for a $350M accounting and consulting organization. Our management team was responsible for reducing costs from $24M annually to $18M while improving overall technology for 3,000 workers.
Responsible for all software including identifying needs, selecting software, documenting standards, vendor management, and contract negotiations. Identified ~$1M in annual savings and was able to reduce costs annually by $330,000 within the first nine months.
Implementation projects typically budgeted at $1-$2M dollars were performed with the end user in mind ensuring that proper communications, training, support as well as technical implementations were planned to minimize down time and frustration while managing overall costs, budgets and time lines. Examples of enterprise wide projects include consolidation of 56 separate financial systems to one company system and standardization of revenue generating software applications, web based tax return tracking systems, secured messaging, wireless messaging, and electronic messaging.
Partnered with key leaders across the organization, assessed needs, and implemented solutions to meet their business needs, including solutions for geographically disperse and remote workers
Directly responsible for the development of a technology strategy to improve workers ability to operate outside the office. This strategy included assessing needs and determining solutions for mobile work groups, virtual workers, telecommuters and “road warriors”.
Aligned business needs with technology initiatives by working with IT and business governance boards and department technology committees.
Consolidated acquired business units’ time and billing systems and properly invested in billing system to match system performance with the needs of the organization.
Designed, developed and implemented national training solutions to provide classroom and virtual technology training.
Plante & Moran, LLP (December, 1997 – February, 2003)
Director of Technology Solutions
Worked with CIO to define the IT function in order to support a 1,200+ person organization
Lead three of five functional areas that provided service oriented technology solutions
• Workstation Management - Defined and implemented new workstation configurations, testing and updating processes that significantly increased reliability of ~1,500 workstations resulting in an estimated annual productivity gain of $1.1M. Streamlined purchasing function and leveraged volume-licensing programs reducing annual software costs by $150,000. Managed four direct reports, several contractors, and budget of $1.5M.
• Application Development – Managed a five-person team that conducted needs analysis and lead development for Intranet and Internet applications and web sites. Defined and implemented development methodology resulting in higher quality, on time and on budget project completion.
• Business Analyst – Acted as technical advisor and liaison to seven major business units representing the majority of the organization. Served as consultant and project manager, conducted needs analysis, selected technology solutions and developed business case and cost models. Managed two direct reports and project with budgets up to $2.5M dollars. Keeping projects on time and on budget resulted in project savings up to $800,000.
Played major role in developing and documenting organization’s strategic technology vision and preparing the annual technology plan and budget.
Managed a number of key technology initiatives including Year 2000 conversion, migration of desktop operating systems, messaging systems, workflow solutions, and migration of network operating systems with budgets ranging from $1-2M dollars per project.
Participated on a number of technology committees including Technology Strategic Direction Committee, Knowledge Management and Sharing Committee, and various Technology User Groups.
Lead technology enterprise wide initiatives encompassing workstations, servers, HR and email systems.
Education and Certifications
Product Management Essentials - 2010
ITIL Certified – Service and Support - 2006
Microsoft Certified System Engineer (MCSE) 1997; Certified Netware Engineer (CNE) 1991
University Of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan; Bachelor of Science, Economics 1986. Specialty courses: CIS/MIS, Statistics, Calculus, Physics, Chemistry, Business Law, Accounting, and Engineering
Contact this candidate