akshatakaranth

<div>A seasoned agile enthusiast empowering teams to be self-organized. Over 15 years of progressive experience built on project management and different agile frameworks in various industries including insurance and financial services industries. A team oriented self starter who is passionate about continuous improvement in performance and productivity. Adept at channelizing team’s expertise and enthusiasm to in achieving set business goals. Regularly participate in local agile networks and events like Agile TO</div><div>Conference, Agile TO Open Space, Halton Agile/Lean Network Meetups and Regional Scrum Gathering.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>COMPETENCIES</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>● Team development, coaching and mentoring ● Continuous Improvement ● Effective Communication, Influencing and Facilitation ● Agile Methodologies like Scrum, Kanban</div><div>● Conflict resolution and problem solving ● Innovation and Change Management ● Cross-functional Collaboration ● Client and Stakeholder Relations ● Agile Team Leadership ● JIRA, Slack, Microsoft Office Suite</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>Lawyers Professional Indemnity Company (LAWPRO), Toronto Mar 2016 - Present</div><div>Agile Project Manager</div><div>● Introduced agile practices to a largely waterfall environment.</div><div>● Created and maintain delivery roadmap to ensure delivery is aligned to business goals.</div><div>● Introduced JIRA for user requirements and workflow management.</div><div>● Ensured delivery team received professional agile training and certification.</div><div>● Reduced System Support Request backlog by 80% by redefining purpose and process.</div><div>● Report project portfolio progress/metrics to the executive team.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>Selected projects include:</div><div>Reestablished the delivery team to resurrect an ailing inhouse Claims Management System build.</div><div>● Introduced role of Product Owner to ensure all user requirements and communication is funneled in the most effective manner.</div><div>● Facilitated a value proposition canvas workshop to better understand the claims roles and processes.</div><div>● Established shorter development cycles, regular releases and feedback loop. Successfully starting to deliver on commitments within 4 months.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>Improvised delivery framework to build a system to automate/manage customer suspensions reducing manual intervention.</div><div>● Due to complexity in stakeholder relationships and tight deadline, innovated a light-weight Sprint format including demos/feedback and delivered the project ahead of time and under budget.</div><div>● Improved department’s efficiency and channelized their efforts towards other priorities.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>Expanded delivery team to replace a legacy system to manage the processing of new applications.</div><div>● Coached a newly expanded team to move from ‘forming’ to ‘performing’.</div><div>● Facilitated a value stream mapping workshop to guide product owner and key users to provide inputs improve efficiencies in current process.</div><div>● Guided the delivery team to use a ScrumBan (Scrum + Kanban) approach to deliver on MVPs.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>Thomson Reuters Canada Corp. 2004 to 2014</div><div>Senior Project Manager</div><div>Progressive roles within the project management family in the organization. Managed all aspects of project/program management for large scale, top priority &amp; complex technology, content &amp; business initiatives &amp; involved leading cross-functional teams located across the globe. Communicated &amp; reported status to executives, global business partners &amp; all other key stakeholders.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>Selected projects include:</div><div>Instrumental in the launch of a revolutionary mobile application which delivered customized commodities content to agricultural communities over mobile phones. This product was funded by the Thomson Reuters innovation venture board headed by the CEO.</div><div>● Responsible for set up &amp; day-to-day delivery of content &amp; development operations.</div><div>● Worked with VPs of innovation, strategy &amp; product to establish different work-streams including goals &amp; business processes.</div><div>● Led a team of upto 30 people from internal cross functional groups &amp; outsourced vendors.</div><div>● Managed vendor relationships and vendor selection process through RFPs (Request For Proposals).</div><div>● Collaborated with lawyers for contracts &amp; with marketing, communications &amp; media editors for product launch plans &amp; related activities.</div><div>● Created periodic reports including status, forecasts &amp; other ad hoc requests for the office of CEO.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>Delivered a business critical project resulting from a Customer Service Forum escalation to create a 24/7 Thomson Reuters real-time data monitoring &amp; alerting tool.</div><div>● Achieved project goals with minimal impact during Thomson Reuters integration.</div><div>● Managed an infrastructure migration from Beijing technical centre to Global Data Centre in London, UK.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>Presented a white paper on desk-sharing to India executive board &amp; was accepted for operational rollout.</div><div>Groomed for leadership through Thomson Reuters' high potential program.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>EDUCATION</div><div>Kanban Management Professional, Lean Kanban University, USA, Aug 2019</div><div>Team Kanban Practioner (TKP), Kanban University, USA, Oct 2018</div><div>Advanced Managers Program, Schulich School of Business, Executive Centre, Toronto, Dec 2016</div><div>ScrumMaster® Certification (CSM), Bertieg Consulting, Canada, Scrum Alliance®, USA, Nov. 2014</div><div>Project Management Professional (PMP®), Project Management Institute, USA, Aug 2007</div><div>Post Graduate Diploma in Management Info Systems, Mount Carmel Institute of Management, India</div><div>Bachelor of Commerce (Business Studies and Administration), Mount Carmel College, India</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>MEMBERSHIPS</div><div>SCRUM ALLIANCE 2014 – PRESENT</div><div>PROJECT MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE (PMI) 2007 – PRESENT</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>OTHER ACTIVITIES</div><div>Contributed and led volunteer opportunities of Project Management Institute (PMI®)</div><div>Co-authored a chapter in Fifth Edition of PMBOK® of PMI®.</div><div>Participated in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities and events</div><div>Mentored individuals interested in pursuing PM career through Corporate Mentoring Program</div><div>Corporate Brand Ambassador at Thomson Reuters, an initiative showcasing career growth</div><div>Completed first level of Spanish language</div>