Kathleen Swirski

I am described as the “glue that holds things together.” I love to connect people and systems, leading individuals and organizations to achieve the strategic value they envision through implementing useful products, processes and services that customers adopt.

Senior Program, Project, Operations Manager – I bring you 15+ years of experience managing IT services implementations and culture changes, ensuring strategic business goals become results realized.

Relationship Champion – I cultivate partnerships based on loyalty not “just satisfaction.” I leverage diverse perspectives and strengths to focus teams on a common purpose.

Change Leader – I drive the “people side” of change” through iterative communications and user adoption validation.

Career Transition Coach and Instructor – I guide individuals in career pathway discovery using Appreciative Inquiry, resume & profile co-creation, and interview and networking skills practice.

Industry Exposure: High-Tech, Health Care, Banking, Telecommunications, Academia, Energy, Retail, Food Services, Transportation, Government, Public, Private and Non-Profit

Specializations: Program, Operations & Project Management, Customer Obsession, Systems Thinking, Scrum Master, Organizational Development, Long-term Relationship Building, Change Leadership, Continual Performance Improvement, Strategy Execution, Agile & Waterfall, Process, Tools, Services & Apps Implementation, Cloud Data Center Relocation and Services * PMP (Project Management Professional) certified * CMP (Prosci Change Management Practitioner) certified * SCRUM Master (Scrum Alliance) certified * ITIL V3 (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) certified * TQM (Total Quality Management) – Hewlett Packard Company *

Graduate certifications in Organizational Dynamics and Integrated Skills for Sustainable Change * Masters of Arts Degree in Organizational Development * Bachelor’s Degree in Business Admin, Management with Computer Science concentration

Kathleen L. Swirski, CMP, PMP, CSM, ITILV3, Vr TAD, M.A. OD
   Mobile: 1-415-596-4772                kathleen.swirski@outlook.com                    www.linkedin.com/in/kathleenswirski
 

Senior Project and Program Management Specialist, Change Leader and Customer Advocate with more than 15 years of experience successfully focusing business enterprises on customer loyalty. Manage and consult on strategic planning and initiatives implementations ranging from $22,000 to $8.5 million, from two-week duration to more than 36 months. Systemic thinker, bridge the gap between business vision and execution.  Recognized for expertise in project management, building strong cross-functional stakeholder teams, external partner relations, transitional change leadership, operational readiness facilitation, training delivery and project mentorship.

Industry exposure: High Technology, Telecommunications, Health Care, Retail Point-of-Sale, Banking, Academia and non-profit, private and public sector organizations.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
SEIU (Service Employees International union) 775 Benefits Group, Seattle, WA         May 2015 – Sep 2016

Director and Program Manager – Project Management Office (PMO)

§  Directed PMO team for emerging nonprofit Training Programs and Health Benefits startup, providing change leadership direction, project management mentorship and portfolio oversight for more than 60 projects, annually.

§  Introduced methodology, tools, metrics and templates, through exemplary project management practices and on-the-job illustration, to an organization in constant change, enabling company growth and continued success.

§  Led process redesign efforts to improve business outcomes effectiveness and efficiencies in cross-functional communications and work flow. Managed Training Program implementation and Facilities Change projects.

§  Advised Senior Leaders on strategic planning and tactical execution, aligning project work with organization vision, mission and business objectives.

Retail Payments Consulting Group (RPCG), Kirkland, WA                   Feb 2016 – Apr 2016

Partner Manager (Consultant) – Electronic Payment Services (EPS) for Google

§  Managed partner relationships with Latin America partners who process statutory invoices for Google.

§  Tracked, negotiated and facilitated signatory completion of Services contracts, working closely with Google Legal, Support, and Engineering leadership and Partner Management teams.

§  Researched and drafted partner management step-by-step Desk Top Procedures for operational work transitioning from Partner Management to Partner Operations.

adaQuest, Inc., Bellevue, WA                          Oct 2014 – Jan 2016

Change Management Consultant

§  Advised on and contributed to incorporating Prosci Change Management tools, methodology and thinking into company TAD (Think Act Deliver) Practice line and Partner Program.

§  Designed and implemented Partner Program TAD Change Guides, developed and reviewed TAD Partnership Certification series training materials and co-facilitated Partnership Program workshop.

Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA           Mar 2008 – Dec 2014

Operations Program Manager 4, Senior Project Manager, Global Human Resources (HR) Operations

§  Led key HR infrastructure projects, such as U.S. Benefits Open Enrollment for 65,000 employees, Retirement Services and Leave of Absence tools implementations, Venture Integration Alternative Integration Strategies design and implementation, International Captive Insurance migration, Performance and Development tool deployment, working closely with external vendor, Customer Tiered Support, Legal, Finance, Payroll, Global Procurement, SAP, and backend applications Leads. Enhanced Services offerings to employees through successful data conversion, implementation and post-launch issues impact analysis and resolution.

 §  Project managed $8.5 million multi-year implementation of Microsoft’s Living Well Health Center for employees in the Redmond/Seattle, WA area, with on-budget, on-time opening day.

§  Mentored junior project manager during CRM implementation of self-service centralized support model worldwide, advising through initial UK implementation, lessons learned improvements applied to next locations.

§  Program managed the U.S. Benefits Health Care Plan Conversion, a high-visibility multi-year project requiring significant cultural change and health care consumerism communications (nearly 150,000 members impacted).

§  Project managed Global Mobility Framework project, creating the Mobility Center of Excellence for consulting services to track and support mobile employees and enable operational efficiencies across subsidiaries.

§  Co-designed and piloted HR PMO framework and introductory project management class suite and delivered Learn over Lunch briefings about project management topics and standard templates to junior project managers.

Right! Systems, Incorporated, Seattle, WA        Jan 2007 – Jan 2008

ITIL Process – Change Management Consultant

§   Led cross-functional teams in existing process review and design and documentation of new process flows for ITIL-based Best Practices in Incident and Problem Management for Simplot and State of Idaho.

§   Consulted on ERP implementation, schedule review for Renton School District.

IBM Global Services, Armonk, NY                 Aug 2006 – Mar 2008

Advisory Project Management Consultant and Transition Manager, Transition and Transformation Delivery Services

§  Directed 18 Cloud Hosting Services projects, including software upgrades, managed client escalations to resolution, and facilitated process improvements with customer and global third parties.

§  Planned and facilitated Lessons Learned and documentation from data center and server relocation efforts as input into Corporate Service Improvement Program (SIP), part of overall customer-vendor Executive Governance.

§  Managed de-installation and shipping logistics for data center move, including over $300,000 in transportation arrangements and global team’s systems cutover planning. Facility closure completed ahead of schedule.

Hewlett- Packard (HP), Palo Alto, CA Nov 1999 – Oct 2005

Account Services Manager, Escalation Manager, Americas TSG Heartland Area

Services and Support liaison, oversaw large Telecommunications client’s high availability, $11 million business application base encompassing 63 systems in 11 locations.  Managed Professional Services projects from inception through closure.  Enhanced client relationship momentum despite multiple corporate culture changes.

§  Led systems relocation and upgrade Services projects, value nearly $1mil in product and services revenue.

§  Analyzed systems performance trend data, created and delivered presentations and metrics based on ITIL fundamentals for customer’s Directors’ quarterly review. Recommended data-based improvements.

§  Interfaced extensively with Global Customer Support Center (“follow the sun 24X7) to design and initiate customer-specific support processes, resolve escalated issues and improve existing partner-interaction procedures.

§  Co-created Consulting & Integration (C&I) “Commercial Based Services” statement of work, resulting in $3.7 million in new services, product sales and follow-on software migration phased projects.

§  Managed customer issues escalation and performed down system events root cause analysis and remediation.