Candidates About

 

Arvin Booker Kamau MBA, PMP

 

SR. PROGRAM/PORTFOLIO/PROJECT MANAGER

SENIOR MANAGEMENT/DIRECTOR

P&L / Strategic Planning / Business Process Engineering / Project Leadership / PMO / Balanced Scorecard Turnaround / Relationship Management / Team Leadership / Negotiation / Budgets / International experience

 

Experienced Senior Manager (SLT) and C-Level manager as well as a certified PMP Sr. Program Manager with more than 16 years of project management PMO and EPMO experience in large scale, high risk, or strategic projects. Offering a strong record of leading, planning, Business Solutions, developing, organizational change management (OCM), implementing and supporting successful projects as well as PMO governance. While developing a strong professional relationship with client and demonstrating knowledge of the client’s business processes. I cut project management staff turnover by 10% while improving project profitability by 5%. I quickly adapt to any industry through people skills. I achieve objectives through skilled interpersonal communications, meticulous planning, proactive risk management, motivational team dynamics and network of business and technical contacts.

• Setting program cost, schedule and productivity benchmarks
• Experience managing budgets (Opex, Capex, AOP, Projects)
• Enabling and overseeing teams to consistently provide contract deliverables
• Creating productive internal and external stakeholder relationships
• Leading programs and projects to consistently successful completion
• Mobile Money Product development, enhancement and Strategic planning.
• Lead the development and management of a strong organizational brand
• Working closely with the executive team to implement the vision, mission and strategies of the organization.
• Leading global high priority programs, integrating teams across North America, Europe (EMEA) and Asia.

Certifications and Training

Ø  Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Certificate Program, SAP HANA, Indiana University

Ø  Graduate Business Analytics Certificate, Southern Methodist University

Ø  Certified Project Management Professional (PMP), PMI- Project Management Institute

Ø  ITIL V3 Foundation Training and Certification

Ø  Agile Training Scrum Master

 

George Washington University

Ø  Project Management certification

Ø  Risk Management certification

Ø  Managing Projects certification

Ø  Project Leadership, Management and Communications certification

Ø  Negotiation Skills for Project Managers certification

 

SAP Product Life Management:

o    PLM300 Business Processes in Plant Maintenance

o    PLM310 Maintenance and Service Processing: Preventative

o    PLM315 Maintenance Processing: Operational Functions

o    PLM316 Maintenance Processing: Controlling & Reporting

o    PLM320 Work Clearance Management

 

SAP BI 7.0

o    Integrated planning, Enterprise Data Warehousing

o    Reporting and Query Design Extraction with UDI, XI and APD

o    Enterprise Reporting, Query and Analysis

 

SAP PROJECT MANAGEMENT:

o    ASA380 ASAP 7.1 Implementation Methodology in Details

o    BPM100 Business Process Management Methodology

o    E2E040 RunSAP End to End Solution Operations

o    SMI210 Solution Manager Implementation Methodology Overview

o    SMI310 Implementation Projects with SAP Solution Manager

o    OCM100 Organizational Change Management Fundamentals

SAP SD – AFS         

o    SCM600 Business Process in Sales and Distribution

o    ICP310 Sales and Distribution and Allocation Run

SAP MDM              

o    MDM100 Master Data Management – Fundamentals

o    MDM101 Master Data Management - Global Data Synchronization

 

SuccessFactors                      

o    JOY030 An Introduction to SuccessFactors Solutions

o    Employee Central Master

o    RCM, RMK and Onboarding

o    HR811 Administration Training Guide

Professional Education

Ø  MBA Conc. Information Systems Management, Keller Graduate school of Management

Ø  Bachelor of Science: Information Technology, DeVry University

Ø  Bachelor of Arts: Business Administration & Marketing (Double Major), Daystar University

 

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

 

American Airlines                                                                                                Dallas, TX

Sr. Project Manager (SAP SuccessFactors) HCM                                            June 2016 – Current

As the IT Project Manager/ Program Manager, I am accountable for the success of the Cloud HR solution project within the entire organization. Responsibilities included managing and leading project managers, SuccessFactors System Admins, both internal and external, stakeholder management, relationship building, escalation management, governance, vendor management, issue resolution, risk mitigation and coaching.  Phase 2 of the project involved merging 2 legacy HRIS systems through designing, planning implementation and deploying SAP SuccessFactors human resources solutions for employee profile, Employee Central (EC), compensation, performance management, Succession Planning, payroll, recruiting, recruiting marketing and onboarding.

Other duties involved                                                                                              

• Establishing the governance framework with the client

• Manage, develop and coach end User training for HRIS team members globally where AA has employees.

• Build client relationships during the sales cycle and continues until project closure
• Manages the executive relationship for delivery across all vendors Deloitte, American Airlines and SAP America
• Provides continuing leadership and reporting to the Core leadership team.
• Acts as the escalation point for project issues that need to be escalated beyond the project team
• Resolves project issues and mitigates project risks, bringing in additional American Airlines, SAP or Deloitte resources as needed

• Experience with SAP HANA Cloud enablement for SuccessFactors extensions for Employee history and seniority.

• Works with the stakeholders to sign off major changes to project timeline, resources, costs, scope, benefits and quality
• Provides coaching, guidance and training to project managers as needed.

• Build an enhancement and release calendar for quarterly SAP SuccessFactors updates and company enhancements with the system Admins.

• Established a Release calendar and release process with proper governance through CAB.

• Ensures the project is following PMP project management methodologies, tools and templates, Jira, Rally  ITIL V3, AGILE, SLA and   OLA, Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), Program/Project Management, Human Resource Management and Business Intelligence / Business Analytics systems.
• Establish and chair the monthly steering committee with the client and vendors SLT.

• Manage System Admins enhancement projects using Rally through Agile methodology.

• Design, Build and test on Premise SAP HCM and SAP SuccessFactors Integration to ensure payroll has no defects.

• Familiarity and knowledge of AWS, Ruby and JavaScript.

• Planning and implementing the process for HYPERCARE support after GO-Live. 

• Create Test Scripts (HPQC) to test the system integrations to ensure data upstream and downstream is accurate.

• Work with Business for E2E testing as well as UAT testing and Training across US, Asia Pacific, Europe and Latin America.

• Strong technical acumen, with basic knowledge of key technologies and tools including JSON, SQL, JavaScript, C/C++ and       Python among others , as well as experience working with enterprise software and modern cloud technologies AWS.

• Experience with HPQC, ABAP, Basis, Security, SAP NetWeaver Process Integration (PI), Portal, HANA Cloud Integration   (HCI), Dell Boomi, Fiori, ADP and iCims.

 

Highlighted Program/Project

• Lead a team to reengineer business process and System Architecture and implementation of OSHA Testing (Hearing, Vision, Surveillance and Respiratory) within SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central Module and Learning Hub.
• As an Implementation Manager, I lead a team in setting up Premise Health facilities in all American Airlines Major hubs so as to be compliance with HIPPA and Legal requirements.

 

 

Safaricom (Vodafone) Telecom                                                                         Nairobi, Kenya and London, UK

Sr. Program Manager Financial Services                                                         2015 -2016

Strategy Manager Mobile Money

This position was to build structure and streamline the newly formed Project Management Department. The position also involved creating a release Management department and project benefit realization department for the Mobile Money (M-Pesa).

• Responsible for the strategic planning of the Mobile Money (M-Pesa) Platform enhancements and improvements.

·         Providing oversight of the team including workload balance, removing barriers and improving collaboration with other departments and banking institutions.

·         Involved in M-Pesa Strategic regional expansion plans.

·         Created a clear roadmap for Mobile Money (M-Pesa) as well as Safaricom Strategic pillars for the financial Year.

·         Stakeholder Management between CEO, Directors and Partner organizations both locally (Banks) and Internationally (Vodafone and Sim card Vendors)

·         Envision the big picture and oversee the communication and collaboration of the Key stakeholders across the M-Pesa (Mobile Money) and payment partners (CBA, KCB)

·         Employee management, setting goals and quarterly reviews.

·         Create, plan and lead project governance including security and IT audit.

·         Vendor Management:- Sim card manufactures (Gemalto and G&D) , Analytics (IBM) , Partners (Vodafone)

·         Setup and trained the use of MS Project, Clarity PPM tool and SharePoint, Remedy.

• Set up trainings for change management processes using Remedy.
• Product Development & enhancement (Development of Sector/Customer segments products)
  
  
• M-Pesa Financial Services Role

o    Innovation and Value added services Management

o    Customer experience Improvement

o    Project/Program management

o    Merchant experience enhancement and product re-engineering

o    Development and management of innovations and Strategy roadmap.

o    Product testing and end to end to verification of user experience.

o    Post launch review and GO to Market plan.

 

 

McKesson Pharmaceutical (Healthcare)                                                          Carrollton, TX & San Francisco, CA

SAP Sr. Project Manager EPMO                                                                        September 2013 -2014

 

As a Sr. Project Manager of multiple concurrent projects with budgets ranging from $300 Thousand to $8 Million I Successful managed the projects from inception to completion of systems, software, Infrastructure and hardware and Security solutions supporting global Health pharmaceutical distribution company. I worked to Overseeing PMO and Release management department process improvement, overseeing development, testing, implementation and enhancement of enterprise-wide technology solutions in support of business strategies.

 

·         Chaperoned creation of $8 million SAP ECC application and infrastructure Upgrade roadmap and project planning efforts.

·         Managing and directing 250 cross-functional team members of a project team onshore and offshore (Mexico, India, Manila).

·         Actively cultivated relationships between partners, and established clear IT governance and transparency.

• Created detailed implementation project plan to leverage best practices.
• Experience in vendor Management and escalation management.
• Direct oversight of end-to-end solution architecture and integration of SAP system with external applications
• Proven SAP program delivery executive known for management of large SAP implementations with strategic and tactical approach with an average cost savings of 5-15% of the overall estimated program budget.
• Excellent knowledge of Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC), ITIL V3 experience and work knowledge of service now and SharePoint for Team, workflow and document Management through office 365 as well as on premises services.
• Scrum Meetings coordination in an agile environment. Teaching, training and setting up SAP modules demos and coaching End Users.

·         Knowledge of integration of Microsoft Dynamics CRM with SAP ERP SCM

• Worked with Incident manager, security, C-Level among other teams to ensure success in all projects.
• Worked with SANs Team leads for additional servers for the different path to production landscapes.

·         Functional and technical  SAP project management experience in SD/MM/FICO/BIBW/BASIS/CRM/SRM,HCM modules

·         10+ years of overall SAP experience in project lead initiatives.

• Managed the IT projects change process.
• CHARM experience for release management and managing changes through landscapes.
• Experience with SAP Solution Manager
• Reduced risk across the enterprise by planning, tracking, and delivering successful changes with Remedy Change Management

Highlighted Program/Project

SAP Vistex Upgrade from 60C to 60E for Global Incentive and Payback Module and Master Data Management on SAP ECC EhP6.

·         SAP Incentive Administration by Vistex – version 6.0E SP01

·         SAP Paybacks & Chargebacks by Vistex – version 6.0E SP01

·         SAP Data Maintenance for ERP Pricing by Vistex – version 6.0E SP01

·         SAP Data Maintenance for ERP Resources by Vistex – version 6.0E SP01

·         SAP CRM Sale order, Master Data Management, integration and middleware configurations.

·         T&E project  and Vertex tax Project

 

McKesson Pharmaceutical (Healthcare)

Sr. SAP Release Management                                                                           2014 -2015

These positions involved a perfect balance of strategic skills to structure and manage a large technology portfolio, Software Production Releases and tactical skills to plan, staff, execute and deliver it.

·         Responsible for the Release Management office with direct supervision of the IT project managers, the business analysts, and the Quality Assurance/Testing team to ensure proper requirements collection, documentation, and validation for production deployment.

·         Providing oversight in managing team workload, removing barriers in their day-to-day tasks.

·         Oversight and development of Build and Release process. Maintain and automate build processes.

·         Planning out the organization release calendar for the year so as to govern the production environment

·         Supported the Upgrade as a Full-fledged release manager covering the following:

o    determining the functional/ technical scope

o    meticulously scheduled the release approval process in agreement with change and/or product management processes

o    implemented quality assurance to monitor compliance with the criteria that were established for the creation of a release as part of the change and/or product management process

o    documented the scope and changes

o    Managed version histories and updated lessoned learned in Sol Man.

• Managed development projects following software development methodologies: Agile, Iterative, RUP, Waterfall, SEDM

 

 

 

Verizon Business                                                                                                                  Richardson, TX                                         

Sr. Project Manager                                                                                                            2012 to 2013

Verizon Immersive video project

·         Open Video Communications is the newest video solution now available to medium and large enterprises in Asia-Pacific as well as the U.S. and EMEA, allowing them to collaborate between disparate endpoints (equipment) via multiple carriers over both private and public networks.

Projected included leading a team of 5 -10 resources to:

·         Enables interoperability between Cisco and standards-based video conferencing equipment (Tandberg, Polycom, Life-size, etc.)

·         Increases access options by providing Public Internet access into the video conferencing infrastructure, in addition to Private IP.

·         Create robust ad-hoc capabilities via On-Demand Instant Video meeting subscriptions

·         Project management tools used Clarity PPM, MS project, Excel, SharePoint.

Duties

Budgeting and Cost Analysis              Team Building and Management      

Capacity Planning                                 Resource Staffing

Project Scope Design                          Consultative Sales               

Change Management                          Client Relationship Management     

Business Modeling                               Contingency Planning

Disaster Recovery Planning               SDLC methodology

Building Project Team                         Risk Management/ Security

·         Honored with company award ‘Best Innovator’ for introducing web-based project management tools for Vendor management and tracking project details.

·         Steering committee manager for User Experience Design of company sites.

 

Sr. Project Manager/ Portfolio Manager -Infrastructure                                                                            Richardson, TX

Verizon Switch Decommission 5 Year Project                                                                                              2009 – 2013

Lead multiple projects simultaneously.

Leading a team of 3 managers, we successfully orchestrated relocation and decommission of 50 digital telecom switches with a minimum of 100k customers in each switch. The program/project consisted of Infrastructure both real estate and resource migration as well as application (programmed customer to new hybrid digital switches.  This was a nationwide project progressing systematically from state to state with in challenging time frame and budget Responsible for Data center move with the project.

• Decommissioned Ericsson switches Infrastructure and moved customers to DMS Nortel switches.

• Manage Project issues and Risks while keeping the budget, scope and time on track.
• Program Manager for the Infrastructure projects, creating governance, standards, policies and procedures to standardize the PMO office.
• Held steering meetings with stake holders for infrastructure (real estate, telecom switches Hardware engineers, software engineers, etc)
• Vendor management Onshore and Offshore (Manila, India, Mexico, EMEA)
• Remote infrastructure Management of workstations, servers, network devices, IT security Management.
• Data Center Migrations
• Progressive Telco budgetary Savings for the program was $75 Million that I handled and reported on.

• Successful delivery of SLA for Program Management Office (PMO) for different departments spread out in different countries.

• Successful track record of leading large global teams through complex program and project tasks.  Project Management (PMBOK), Agile and Waterfall Methodology focusing on project planning, financial management, staffing, communication and scope management.   
• Knowledge in ITIL V3 foundations, which resulted in designing SAP incident management, Problem management, Health Checks and change management process of IT service delivery.

 

 

Sr. Project Manager

Verizon SAP Projects                                                                                                                                         2007- Dec 2012

Lead multiple projects simultaneously.

Lead a team of 8 people for SAP upgrade from ECC 4.6 to ECC 6.0 for various modules (SAP PM, MM,HCM, PLM, SD, EAM and BI 7.x). Project enabled company to leverage new SAP features and functionality that simplified administration for IT and also enhanced its value as an analytical tool for end users. With utilization of SAP’s ASAP methodology was able to successfully deliver and implement 5 SAP upgrade projects for my company.

Chaperoned creation of $3 million SAP Infrastructure and application Upgrade roadmap and project planning efforts.

·         Designed and implemented new training and management mentoring program

·         Preparation of “as-Is” and “to be” documents and preparation of Business Blueprint along with performing Gap analysis.   Preparation of Functional Specifications and their implementation.

·         Lead the  Procurement and Sourcing process - Created RFQ for the suppliers, led the MM and FICO team to customize FICO module involving P2P , Purchase Orders, both for AP,  AR, Invoices,  Contracts and scheduling agreements, documented all change management

·         System Configuration and process related training to end users.  Advising for optimization of SAP configuration for Business Process alignment.

·         Provided support in Unit Testing and Integration Testing. Preparation of Configuration manual and end user manual. Post Go Live (Hyper care support)

• Responsible for requirements gathering, Architecture Design, Physical and Logical data modeling.
• Defined a business process utilizing mobile solutions to improve efficiency and increase productivity in Operations.

Highlighted Program/Project

·         Supported Multiple Oracle’s JD Edwards ERP system Upgrades.

• • Followed the SDLC model, from Planning, Design, Building, Testing, Deploying and Maintenance.

 

 

Sr. Project Manager                                                                                                            2006 to 2007      

Verizon Telecom Engineer- Network Implementation Project

Challenges

• Perform the intricate process of Planning and Engineering Switch Re-home of customers Voice and Data from one switch being decommissioned to the new switch being activated in an effort of increasing productivity through efficiency and hence resulting in profitability for the comp