Karen S. Simmons
Summary
- IT professional with proven background in leading complex IT projects.
- Expertise in integrating new technologies and optimizing project workflows.
- Highly focused on team collaboration and achieving project goals, known for adaptability and reliability. Skilled in project management methodologies and stakeholder communication.
- Skilled at identifying or anticipating problems and providing solutions.
- Excels through mentoring, training and empowering team to excel in performance.
Overview
25
25
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
IT Project Manager (Contract)
Alkermes
03.2023 - Current
- Streamlined project delivery by implementing Agile methodologies and improving collaboration among team members.
- Facilitated communication among team members to solve complex technical challenges efficiently and effectively.
- Managed cross-functional teams to ensure efficient allocation of resources and successful project completion.
- Led technical upgrade projects for clients by working and coordinating with consultants and developers for integrations.
IT Project Manager (Contract)
Insulet
05.2022 - 03.2023
Sr. IT Project Manager (Contract)
MarkedForged
10.2021 - 05.2022
- Manage an Adobe Implementation of Workfront, DAM, Marketo using Scrum with Vendor
- Manage Phase 2 of the Commercial Data Catalog with the Data Governance team
- Manage the implementation of the Commercial Data Catalog implementation working with an Integrator and Product Vendor
- Create, maintain, and report against a cross-project schedule and resource management plan
- Maintain IT PMO document, change and regulatory standards
- IT Projects included retirement of Snap Logic integrations to MuleSoft platform and technical debt projects
- IT projects included integrating budget Excel sheets into Accounting SaaS application
- Drive the Discovery, Design, and Implementation and own the project
- Provide oversight of the project and work collaboratively with a broad team
Sr Project Manager (Contract)
Medtronic
12.2020 - 09.2021
- Facilitate team meetings, including team, vendor, and stakeholder meetings
- Ensure quality of all program and project outcomes, deliverables, and products
- Establish and maintain EPMO standards in line with Business Owner and Project Sponsor needs
Sr Project Manager (Contract)
National Grid
02.2020 - 12.2020
- The IT Project included moving the Call Center to off-site representatives and Third-Party Vendors using VDU technology
- Facilitate meetings with internal teams, vendors, and external teams to meet project objectives and deadlines
- Create and maintain all project communication from meeting minutes, status reports and dashboards for team, department heads and weekly stakeholder meetings
Sr Project Manager/Scrum Master (Contract)
TJX Companies
04.2019 - 11.2019
- Scrum Master to a single team that included Solution Engineers, Developers, QA, and Security
- Created and maintained the project JIRA board including stories, sprint, and metrics
Scrum Master/Agile Coach/Sr. Technical Program Manager
Iron Mountain
03.2018 - 04.2019
- IT Projects include a new application to allow clients to upload documents, video, or photos for future retrieval
- Scrum Master for five separate workstream teams; coaching, product backlog scrubbing, daily scrums, demos, and planning sessions
- Functioned as a System Admin for Jira, Confluence, GSuite and Zoom applications used exclusively by the project team
Software Division SaaS Program Manager
Micro Focus, Hewlett Packard Enterprises
01.2017 - 02.2018
- Created project plans and schedules to align goals and expectations among executive sponsors and stakeholders for simultaneous projects
- Communicated shared understanding of direction and objectives in multiple domains
- Interacted comfortably in one-to-one meetings with individual technical contributors, product managers, sales, and senior leaders in the technology and business departments
Principal IT Project Manager
DELL/EMC
05.2015 - 01.2017
- Successfully managed a large global User Acceptance Test program with over three hundred Subject Matter Experts to integrate end-of-life platforms with ServiceNow (Post Dell Acquisition)
- Successfully managed the MVP roll out of ServiceNow ITaaS Platform
Business Project Manager
FIDELITY INVESTMENTS, SOLUTION DELIVERY
01.2014 - 05.2015
- Managed multiple work streams of a larger program with a team of IT and Business members to successfully implement a CRM application to Plan Sponsors and Advisors
- Provided leadership and support to business and system partners through requirements gathering, process development and training programs
Sr. Program Manager
AKAMAI TECHNOLOGIES
12.2013 - 12.2014
- Managed multiple Web Performance programs with a Core Team of cross-functional members to successfully release products within agreed scope, schedule, and quality requirements
Global Program Manager
RSA SECURITY
06.2010 - 09.2013
- Managed product release process for major releases, service packs and patches with a Core cross-functional project team using Agile Scrum techniques
- Partnered with Agile Evangelist to help move the organization from Waterfall to Agile development
Project Manager
EMC CORP
09.2009 - 06.2010
- Directed day-to-day development and testing activities across functional teams both on-shore and off-shore to successfully roll out a Global Travel and Expense application
- Developed and centralized project and resource plans, monitored and controlled project expenditures against approved budget while successfully managing end to end solution delivery processes for one or more medium scale IT projects
Project Manager
FIDELITY INVESTMENTS
09.1999 - 02.2009
- Managed client data flow from vendor sites through internal Single Client Feed and all file output to downstream applications
- Created project plans by facilitating requirement and planning sessions that built consensus among project team members regarding task definitions and sequencing for benefit product planning, feature set selection and deployment
- Collected data and created graphs for metric analysis for Chief Information Officer Scorecard and Key Performance Indicators
Education
Bachelor of Science - Computer Information Systems
Bentley University
Waltham, MASkills
- Project/Program Management/Risk management
- Lean Six Sigma Process Redesign/Improvement
- Agile/Iterative/Waterfall processes (Scrum/Kanban)
- Stakeholder Relations/Stakeholder management
- Cross-functional team leadership/Team Collaboration
- Business analysis
- Software development life cycle/Software testing
Certification
- Six Sigma Certified Green Belt, 2008, Fidelity Investments
- Certified Scrum Master, 2010, Lithespeed
Accomplishments
- Google Suite
- Jira
- Confluence
- MS O365
- Teams
- MS Project
- MS PowerPoint
- Visio
- SharePoint
- PlanView
- AgilePlace
Timeline
IT Project Manager (Contract)
Alkermes
03.2023 - Current
IT Project Manager (Contract)
Insulet
05.2022 - 03.2023
Sr. IT Project Manager (Contract)
MarkedForged
10.2021 - 05.2022
Sr Project Manager (Contract)
Medtronic
12.2020 - 09.2021
Sr Project Manager (Contract)
National Grid
02.2020 - 12.2020
Sr Project Manager/Scrum Master (Contract)
TJX Companies
04.2019 - 11.2019
Scrum Master/Agile Coach/Sr. Technical Program Manager
Iron Mountain
03.2018 - 04.2019
Software Division SaaS Program Manager
Micro Focus, Hewlett Packard Enterprises
01.2017 - 02.2018
Principal IT Project Manager
DELL/EMC
05.2015 - 01.2017
Business Project Manager
FIDELITY INVESTMENTS, SOLUTION DELIVERY
01.2014 - 05.2015
Sr. Program Manager
AKAMAI TECHNOLOGIES
12.2013 - 12.2014
Global Program Manager
RSA SECURITY
06.2010 - 09.2013
Project Manager
EMC CORP
09.2009 - 06.2010
Project Manager
FIDELITY INVESTMENTS
09.1999 - 02.2009
Bachelor of Science - Computer Information Systems
Bentley University
Similar Profiles
Brooke DehneBrooke Dehne
Territory Business Manager at AlkermesTerritory Business Manager at Alkermes
Kimi SlaterKimi Slater
Associate Director, Key Accounts at AlkermesAssociate Director, Key Accounts at Alkermes
Thomas SchwartzThomas Schwartz
Data Science Intern at AlkermesData Science Intern at Alkermes
Sajuan PettifordSajuan Pettiford
Sr Project Manager (Contract) at KeyBank Corp.Sr Project Manager (Contract) at KeyBank Corp.
Douglas BrownDouglas Brown
Senior Project Manager – Contract at Ballard Spahr, LLPSenior Project Manager – Contract at Ballard Spahr, LLP