Resume of Laura
Leff, PMP
SUMMARY
15 years of in-depth experience in Program, Project and
Vendor Management, insuring on time and on budget delivery of a wide range of
technology products. A thought leader in the Vendor Selection and
Management arena, creating new vendor selection processes that reduce selection
time from months to weeks and insure optimal vendor selection based on the
customer-specific requirements. These tools and processes have been
effective in saving companies millions of dollars through better vendor
selection, negotiation, and implementation.
Areas of expertise include:
|
Requirements gathering |
System design |
|
Process engineering |
Vendor evaluation & selection |
|
Managing internal/external development |
System testing |
|
Training and documentation |
System maintenance/troubleshooting |
PROFESSIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Program/Project Management and Leadership
- Led development and deployment of over 50 software and telecommunications
systems, with budgets up to $26 Million. Skilled in a variety of
Project Management techniques, including Agile.
Served as consultant Program Manager for a $26M PeopleSoft ERP upgrade
with a team of over 150 people, impacting hundreds of employees and tens of
thousands of temporary and permanent staff. Developed the project’s first consolidated effort-based project
schedule and budget representing the activities of all Program areas, which
drove the deployment of a project that had taken over six years to deliver.
Led the replacement of an Epicor financial system with Microsoft Dynamics
AX, including an internal team and an external Systems Integrator.
Managed the definition, development, and deployment of a Project Management
system that revolutionized the build out of NextG’s telecommunications
networks. Led a team that interacted with over 25% of the company staff
to define current business practices and pain points, then translated them
into product requirements and vendor selection criteria. Based in
SharePoint and Microsoft Project Server, this system provides a centralized
solution for managing project progress, company assets, and document
libraries. Delivered the system on time and 40% under budget.
Implemented three upgrades to a company-wide Time and Labor Reporting
System within 3½ months, providing faster performance and streamlined Web
interfaces. These projects were recognized by the company’s Leadership
Council as being among the best-managed in Corporate Information Technology.
Renewed and rehabilitated relations between corporate and market teams
during product development; empowered the market team to influence the
product direction, resulting in a sense of ownership and an on-time, quality
deployment.
Managed internal development of Web tool for receiving orders from
national corporate accounts; delivered product on time and 40% under budget.
Vendor Selection and Negotiation
- Established Vendor Management Office for Fortune 50 company and created
templates focused on vendor selection, contract creation, and ongoing vendor
scorecarding and performance management.
- Vendor scorecarding resulted in significant performance and
relationship improvement in 20 major vendors within 1 month of each
scorecarding exercise.
- Negotiated 30+ contracts, resulting in savings of over $3M within 6
months.
- Reduced average contract processing time from over 2 months to 2 weeks.
- Created and implemented process for vendor evaluation and standardized RFI/RFP
formats, reducing decision time from months to weeks.
- Analyzed over 400 vendors in a single year, evaluating their value and
applicability to corporate needs.
- Translated and consolidated concept input from Marketing, Technical, and
Billing personnel into RFP-ready Alerting requirements in less than two
weeks. Resultant vendor selection produced one of the smoothest vendor
integrations in the history of the division, finishing three weeks ahead of
schedule.
- Led a large cross-functional team in an RFP effort to identify a long-term
replacement for the Time and Labor Reporting System, including focus groups
with all major areas of the company. Completed Voice of Customer
requirements gathering to vendor recommendation in two months.
Process Engineering
- Managed the Procurement-to-Payment team of 22 people for an SAP ERP system
deployment, reducing 24 ordering processes to 4 and consolidating 10 systems
into a single package.
- Conducted Finance and AP process redesign meetings to identify issues
causing millions in invoices to remain unpaid. Improvements are targeted to
reduce open invoices by 80%.
- Rehabilitated performance of Prepaid vendor utilizing techniques such as a
vendor report card, consolidating national forecasts, improving system
integration, and enabling personnel on both sides to better understand
mutual needs.
Communication, Documentation, and Training
- Bridged the technology gap between groups with varying levels of
understanding, helping programmers to understand customer requirements, and
Marketing to understand the technical impact of their needs.
- Created documentation and training for a software tool to enable
corporations to analyze their cellular phone usage. This tool and
documentation were recognized as being very clear and user-friendly,
resulting in almost no calls to Tier 1 support.
- Led training for various software tools, and was recognized by students
for keeping people enthusiastic and focused on learning.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
(Wireless telecommunications company)
Project Manager, ERP Systems
(Contract)
|
2010 to 2011 |
(IT consulting company)
Director, Professional Services and Senior
Program & Project Management Consultant
(World's top staffing company)
Senior Program and Project Manager (Contract)
|
2007 to 2010 |
(Fortune 50 retail company)
Director, Vendor Management Office
|
2006 to 2007 |
(Electronics/General technology company)
Senior Project Manager, Developing Technologies
(Contract)
|
2005 |
|
(Biotechnology company)
Senior Project Manager, Procurement and Corporate
Information Technology
(Contract)
|
2003 to 2005 |
(Wireless telecommunications company)
Senior Project Manager, Investigative Engineering
|
2001 to 2003 |
(Satellite telecommunications company)
Manager, Network Planning and Development
Engineering
|
2000 to 2001 |
|
(Wireless telecommunications company)
Manager, Network Planning and Development
Engineering |
1998 to 2000 |
| Project Engineer |
1996 to 1998 |
Technology
Analyst
|
1993 to 1996 |
(Biotechnology research company)
Clinical Systems Analyst |
1991 to 1993 |
EDUCATION/CERTIFICATION
M.B.A., Finance/Economics, Indiana University
B.S., Mathematics, Minors in Business and Radio/TV/Film,
Purdue University
P.M.P. (Project Management Professional), Project
Management Institute
ITIL
(Information Technology Infrastructure Library) Accreditation, APM Group Limited
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Authored a book on vendor selection and management (currently
awaiting publication).
Listed in Strathmore's Who's Who 2005-2006 Edition.
ADDITIONAL LEADERSHIP EXPERIENCE
Founded and grew a non-profit organization devoted to the
research and preservation of classic media; membership is currently over 3,500
people in 30 countries. Authored
several books on vintage media. Organized
a conference in cooperation with the National Comedy Hall of Fame and the Museum
of Television and Radio (now the Paley Center for Media), featuring discussion
panels, show recreations, screenings, and professional entertainment.
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© Copyright 2012, Laura Leff
Innovative Project and Vendor Management, Inc.,
Oakland, CA
+1-510-914-3257