Project Manager 3
2016 - PRESENTWestfield Insurance- Served as a scrum master for the digital transformation project which included re-writing the primary company website and implementing a customer portal.
- Mentored many junior project managers and was responsible for teaching project management principles and providing on-going leadership advice.
- Created and facilitated agile awareness training for several hundred IT employees.
- Led a large rating engine project responsible for implementing a new rating optimization tool.
- Managed multi-million dollar projects with teams averaging 20-30 members.
Adjunct Professor
2014 - PRESENTNorth Central State College- Taught Intro to Project Management to undergraduate students who are pursuing their associate degrees in Information Technology.
- Created the syllabus that explains the curriculum.
- Guided students through project work as well as realistic project management expectations.
- Developed the course material, including large projects and small fun learning exercises.
- Graded weekly assignments, projects, and essays.
Lead Technical Project Manager
2007 - 2016CenturyLink- Served as Program Manager over-seeing multiple programs, projects, and applications.
- Led an organizational-wide Root Cause Analysis process to identify the key areas for improvement and recommend solutions.
- Served as a trainer for the new Software Engineering Process (SEP) to train all Program Managers and Application Project Managers within the organization.
- Utilized SDLC methodologies to manage IT Application Development projects including design, development, testing, and deployment.
- Oversaw all phases of project management throughout the software development lifecycle from initiation through lessons learned including but not limited to: requirements gathering, budget management, resource allocation, design, implementation, and testing.
IT Project Manager
2005 - 2007Cardinal Health- Managed cross-functional teams responsible for IT Infrastructure projects, including hardware implementation, network connectivity, and server management.
- Facilitated Phase Gate reviews with senior management and project stakeholders.
- Leveraged PMI methodologies to accurately define project requirements and minimize risk impact.
- Primary manager for international merger, acquisition, and divestiture infrastructure projects.
- Served as the IT Project Manager for a 15 million dollar government compliance program.
Senior Project Manager
1998 - 2004Qwest Communications- Managed local infrastructure and software development projects.
- Planned, directed, and managed designated revenue generating.
- Managed the payroll for up to 15 vendors and eighty field installers.
- Supervised six to eight direct reports responsible for managing all field installation projects throughout the United States.
- Authored and edited eight standard processes and procedures and participated in quality audit document implementations.
Jon Thomas
Project Manager in Columbus, OH, United States
Member since May 30, 2018
Jon is an experienced project manager, scrum master, and agile leader of 20 years spread across multiple industries. He has a strong passion for leadership, with significant experience in several delivery methodologies, including Agile, Waterfall, and iterative. He specializes in projects requiring flexibility and adaptability to overcome ambiguity. His most recent experience includes Agile Coaching and a Scrum of Scrums master in an established and thriving Agile transformation.
Jon is now available for hire
Project Highlights
- Led the re-write of the primary company website, as well as adding portal functionality which expanded customer visibility.
- Successfully created a college level course for introducing undergraduate students to project management.
- Managed the hardware component of the RFID implementation to track prescription drugs and keep them in safe hands.
Expertise
- Project Management
- Scrum
- Scrum Master
- Team Leadership
- Team Mentoring
- Telecommunications
- Waterfall Delivery
- Waterfall Methodology
Education
- Ohio Dominican University
- Ohio Dominican University
Select Certifications
- Project Management Institute (PMI)
Employment
Project History
- Westfield Digital TransformationLed the re-write of the primary company website, as well as adding portal functionality which expanded customer visibility.
Westfield Insurance was a small insurance company with an outdated website and lack of digital presence to their customers. This effort was created specifically to allow Westfield the digital visibility to interact directly with customers and offer additional functionality for billing, policy, and claims management.
Release 1 scope was primarily focused on the company website re-write. The company was in the middle of launching a new brand, and the re-write was critical to accurately reflect the brand voice as it was the first external promotion of the new brand. This included extensive user experience research, design, content writing, development, and testing.
Release 2 scope centered around the customer portal experience, which included the functionality to view a bill, pay a bill, view claims status, print insurance card, and view policy.
The final aspect of the complexity was the delivery method. The digital transformation was the first formal agile project at Westfield. This included a large amount of process creation, team adaptation, and executive counseling. - North Central State College - Introduction to Project Management CourseSuccessfully created a college level course for introducing undergraduate students to project management.
In the fall of 2014, North Central State College was looking for a new course to introduce project management to their students majoring in networking, computer information systems, or software development.
The course was built from beginning to end, including finding the appropriate textbooks, building the grading scale, development of the class projects, and finding in-class teaching materials.
The course is taught using 3 primary tools in order:
1. Theory
2. Implementation Examples
3. Practical Application
Over the last 4 years, over 80 students have completed the course. - Cardinal Health RFID ImplementationManaged the hardware component of the RFID implementation to track prescription drugs and keep them in safe hands.
Cardinal Health is a Top 20 "Fortune" company that distributes thousands of drugs throughout the United States. Unfortunately, the prescriptions drugs can end up in the wrong hands, and even negatively altered. The company used radio frequency identification (RFID) to allow tracking of all drugs, ensuring they were handled and distributed accurately.
This included managing the hardware upgrades of multiple warehouse operation systems.
The project was successfully managed and delivered on-time and on-budget. - Rating Engine ImplementationDelivered the Rating Engine Auto Implementation, providing insurance agents with a new rating tool.
The Westfield Insurance rating tools had code that was originally built 40 years prior. The company was badly in need of a new system that provided agents with the ability to receive quick quotes, with new products, and adaptability while quoting company policies.
The "Ratabase" tool was purchased, and this project included the implementation of all 10 auto states and migration to the new tool.
This involved leading a team of 20-30 resources while managing a 7 million dollar budget.
The team was encouraged to think and react differently while the schedule was successfully pulled in 3 months and the budget was still met.
Education
- Master's Degree in Business Management2005 - 2007Ohio Dominican University - Columbus, Ohio
- Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration1999 - 2004Ohio Dominican University - Columbus, Ohio
Certifications
- Project Management Professional (PMP)NOVEMBER 2017 - NOVEMBER 2020Project Management Institute (PMI)
