·Project manager, Project Management Officer, training expert, instructional
designer, curriculum manager, process champion
·Many years of experience developing and delivering IT skills and
productivity enhancement programs to major corporations as instructor,
facilitator and coach
·Improved project management of IT application
development, maintenance and support in numerous organizations
·Multi-regional - India,
Japan, Hong Kong and London, as well as many U.S. locations
·Training clients as independent provider include Federal Reserve Bank,
Central Intelligence Agency, Union Carbide, Boeing Aircraft Corp. and MCI
Professional Qualifications
·Certified Kepner-Tregoe Project Management workshop leader ·Certified Kepner-Tregoe Problem Solving/Decision Making workshop leader ·Approved Kepner-Tregoe Instructor Trainer ·Certified Jackson System Design Methodology instructor ·Adjunct Professor, Briarcliffe College ·Member of the British Computer Society
Employment History
Benson Associates, Company President
August 2010 – present
Consultant, Instructor ·Providing guidance, consulting, coaching and facilitation services to project managers and project management offices
·Delivering workshops on project management and problem solving/decision making under contract to Kepner Tregoe (KT)
Barclays Capital, VP, Finance IT
November 2008 - July 2010
Project Management Officer · Established and managed the logistics of multiple projects as part of the integration of Lehman and Barclays financial systems · Structured information flow between project managers, business users and senior management as to project objectives, deliverables and status · Positioned the Project Management Office as a source of guidance to the project teams and as a link to the corporate reporting process · Provided coaching and consulting to project managers and team members in project definition and planning
Lehman Brothers, VP, IT Professional Development
April 2005 - November 2008
Senior Instructor, Coach, Relationship Manager ·Established project management (PM) and problem solving/decision making (PSDM) as core training requirements in the IT organization by teaching workshops and providing on-job coaching to project managers ·Delivered 50 workshops to over 600 prospective or actual project managers in four regions ·Drove the incorporation of PM tools into the project management office as Lehman IT standard ·Changed the behavior of senior IT managers to improve the definition, estimation and progressing of IT projects ·Pioneered the project management training of personnel in Mumbai, Tokyo and London, as well as Chicago and Denver ·Managed the relationship between IT training department and various IT business units and India region ·Redesigned and segmented the project management workshop for remote delivery in a blend of e-learning, video and Webex presentation to meet increasing demand for service and flexibility ·Achieved dramatic improvements in the firm’s crisis management process by teaching problem analysis to the Technology Operations Command Centers in New York and London ·Shifted the focus of the training group from an instructional to a more consulting role to enable coaching of the most experienced and highly technical project managers and teams in real time, on their own projects.
Benson Associates, Company President
August 2001 – April 2005
Consultant, Instructor ·Presented courses on the evolution of technology, computer fundamentals and systems analysis at Briarcliffe College, Bethpage, NY ·Delivered workshops on project management and problem solving/decision making under contract to Kepner Tregoe (KT) ·Became the only outside instructor to present public KT courses and to train KT's own instructors
Problem-Solving Process Manager ·Achieved widespread improvements in efficiency and quality by rolling out and coaching the Kepner Tregoe rational thinking process throughout Chase Retail Banking Systems and Operations division ·Trained over 700 managers and staff, personally presenting over 40 workshops, while managing Chase's relationship with the vendor Project Officer ·Implemented a system of accountability for system development time and cost, which resulted in significant improvement to the department's management of project expenses. ·Played a large part in the early design, prototyping and installation of a Project Workbench-based reporting system throughout Chase Retail Banking Systems, presenting over 50 workshops to technicians and managers in its use Training Facility Founder ·Launched RBS University, an on-site education facility dedicated to the technology training requirements of Chase Retail Banking Systems IT Startup Manager ·Established a new IT department for an Investment Services company that found itself in a business-threatening IT situation. ·Developed and trained the senior user staff in the running of an IT group. ·Managed outsourcing of the back-office operations and handed off the stabilized operation to a new manager
Salomon Brothers, Project Manager
December 1990 – January 1994
Project Manager ·Managed and facilitated a senior-level task force, composed of 16 managers from throughout the organization, to plan the move of the company’s technical, human, organizational and financial systems, to its new Product Support Organization in Tampa, Florida ·Designed, built and installed an enterprise-wide project measurement and reporting system that replicated all existing functionality, rationalized and unified measurement and projection standards ·Defined and introduced organization-wide standards for project development methodology ·Performed the feasibility study and produced the initial resourcing plan for migration of the company’s systems from mainframe-based legacy systems to client/server architecture
Benson Associates, Company President
July 1978 – December 1990
Consultant, Instructor ·Presented public and in-house courses, seminars and tutorials in a variety of subjects including: project management, systems analysis, structured design, Jackson methodology, introduction to information technology, problem solving & decision making and interpersonal skills ·Serviced clients in banking, insurance, commerce, industry, government, medicine and academia ·Performed feasibility, requirements and methods analyses for clients including: Manufacturers Hanover Trust, American Express Corporate Card, Cantor Fitzgerald, Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine, Magna Software Corporation, General Foods, Northwest Industries and Union Carbide ·Organized, assembled and managed a highly skilled, multi-discipline team to perform a $1.5 million strategic business systems analysis for MCI. Built a unified network capacity model and a PC-based prototyping environment to generate a working specification for the system, which was later successfully implemented Personal Details Citizenship UK, US Education University College School, London, England Languages Conversational French and German
