Pronjal Chowdhary

• Senior IT Project / Program Manager, managing P&L of 35-50 MM portfolio with highly satisfied customers.
• Worked with fortune 500 clients and led global teams to execute large scale strategic projects.
• Executed several Business, Technology and Digital Solutions, enabling clients to achieve innovation and competitiveness. 
• Collaborated with CIO’s, CTO’s and Senior leadership to translate strategic business needs to IT initiatives, rationalized applications portfolio and successfully delivered large transformation programs.
• An experienced leader with a strong background in disciplined project processes. Advocating best practices and continuous improvement. Implemented COBIT (Control Objectives for Information and Related Technologies) framework to deliver value, enable better risk management practices associated with the IT processes.
• Expertise in Agile transformations, organizational change management and project leadership. Implemented both Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), Kanban and Scrum methodologies with Agile toolset (JIRA, Confluence)
• Expertise in ITSM and ITIL methodology, ServiceNow CMDB, incident, problem, and change management, feasibility study, Dynatrace monitoring, Discovery monitoring.
• Experience in leading the DevOps pipeline implementation for Java, Dot Net and Mainframe.
• Led team of Project Management professionals with continuous focus on regular coaching and mentoring. 
• 8 years of experience in building/leading agile teams. Experience in transforming into agile teams with success. 
• 15 years of experience with leading teams across countries and 3rd party vendors. 
• 20 years of extensive technical experience including software architecture, design, development, implementation, infrastructure, and operations. 

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

Program Director/Sr. IT Project Manager, TD Bank (CONTRACT)                                                        Nov 2019 – Current

Managed payments projects in the Channels Personal Banking space. In the past have managed a currency portfolio with focus on troubled projects, participated in advisory and steering committee reviews and managed the intake process for the portfolio. Established/refined the communications and strategic framework to manage the project portfolio. Implemented strategies to increase controls on the projects, reducing timelines/financial variances and controlling project changes. Key highlights below:

• Managed Online and Mobile PODs of Overdraft Grace Period project for TD US Bank as SM
• Led the payments domain project of personal banking application EasyWeb and successfully executed Tier 1 (Payments Plan) and other enhancement projects later. This workstream managed Electronic Payments with TD vendor API’s (Visa Rail, Interac, Western Union for global transfers)
• Managed federal government initiatives of wage subsidy for businesses and recovery benefits. This integration involved providing the integration for funds transfer to accounts.
• Successfully managed the Cloud migration (Azure) of 12 major applications in the bank to the VMC infrastructure and paving the way forward for public cloud Azure migration. This involved both application side as well as data migration.
  • Managed vendors for this initiative following the standard operating guidelines.
  • Implementation involved critical decision points which were brought forward to the Steering Committee and Advisory Governance Committee for vetting. Led the reviews and implemented the decisions. 
  • Pilot was run in which internal banks folks participated and the feedback was taken. Also, other learnings during implementation were documented and maintained as standard operating procedures (SOPs).
  • Technology Operational Readiness (TOR) steps were completed to ensure smooth transition to operations and applications fully operational in CMDB.
• Engaged TD Auto Finance business and successfully led their integration project with EasyWeb. This significantly reduces call volumes to the contact center and causing huge direct benefits to the bank.

Director, Capgemini                                                                                                                                                    May 2018 – Nov 2019

Managed services delivery in Manulife. This being the new account for Capgemini, I successfully ramped up the team of consultants in a few months. The account continued to grow with more work in the pipeline. Key highlights below:

• Work involved interfacing with several BUs of Manulife in the Canadian Division – Core Engineering, Investments and Deposits, Banking, Group Benefits and Group Retirement Services. 
• Lead the implementation of Java, Dot-Net and Mainframe DevOps pipeline. Was instrumental in Agile transformation where teams followed Waterfall traditionally. Implemented Kanban with Agile toolset (JIRA, Confluence) for the four divisions of Manulife. For the core engineering, scrum methodology was implemented.
• Managed large ITSM program involving management of the B2B front door, project execution (enhancements, integration and migration), management of the business cases for the different business lines and executive reporting. 
  • Integration of Phone/IVR with ServiceNow, integration of ServiceNow with downstream WFM applications and backwards integration via JMS (messaging services)
  • Management of ServiceNow branding portal and knowledge management portal for the external clients and their enhancements.
  • Management of integration of ServiceNow with monitoring systems – Dynatrace, Azure Discovery and ScienceLogic
  • Recommended business solutions that satisfy sponsor/stakeholder needs continually exploring and assessing options for value-add for clients.

Apart from managing the services, was also involved in the pre-sales activities. Was presenter in the RBC roadshow for Enterprise and International Applications (EIA) - NextGen delivery pitch focused on DevOps, Agile and Architecture Modernization. And led Organizational Change Management to implement Agile and DevOps transformations.

Program Director/Sr. IT Project Manager, TD Bank                                                                                  Apr 2011 – May 2018

Worked in the Digital Channels and managed the delivery of many applications – OSO (Online Sales and Onboarding), EW (EasyWeb), WBB (Web Business Banking), Mobile (Smartphone and Tablet apps), Payments and Credit Cards.

Drove an extensive project portfolio, managing and maintaining an ongoing pipeline for projects intake, managing, and ramping resources, coordinating project solutions delivery through bank's internal partners/vendors, organizational planning, providing project leadership and governance. Conduct comprehensive vendor management and control governance – from selecting the right partner, to contract negotiation, quality assurance and strategic leadership. Key highlights below:

• Staffed a team of mobile resources and project leaders for smooth execution. Provided coaching/mentoring.
• Led Real Time Rails (RTR) initiative in Payments which was significant in size. Thereafter, also led International Remittance initiative in payments domain.
• Piloted the deployment of the next generation tablet app for iOS and Android (Digital Transformation), leading TD’s mobile team and external vendors, including IBM and Cognizant. Drove the $5M project end-to-end, planning and stewarding it through two phases – banking and wealth – while ensuring compliance with budget. The app was released on time and hit the 1000 iTunes downloads mark within just three days after launch, receiving positive user comments.
• Slashed time to market for TD’s newest smartphone app (budget - $12M) by pioneering the adoption of Agile methodology, thus, improving communication and issue resolution efficiency between partner teams.
• Over the last three years have orchestrated several implementations with budgets ranging from $0.5M to $12M, including Online Sales and On-boarding (OSO) Phase 2 in continuation of the OSO base product, OSO New2Bank Identity Proofing, WBB Company ID – TDCT, Credit Card BOAT Enhancements, Secure Key, Sitelobby – Wealth Management, and Datamart Upgrade.
• Led Agile Transformation with Agile toolset (JIRA, Confluence) in the channel’s delivery. Both Kanban and Scrum implementation on project’s needs.

IBM                                                                                                                                                                                         Oct 2003 – Apr 2011

Business Programs Manager, TD Bank Toronto | People Manager - 12 direct reports                    Apr 2010 – Apr 2011

Spearheaded the delivery of a $50+M Tier 1 Online Sales and On-boarding (OSO) Program for TD Bank (Organizational Change), driving the SDLC to deploy OSO Webservices and Foundation Consent Management solutions (aggregate value of $12M) on schedule, on budget, and in line with the client’s requirements. Key highlights below:

• Galvanized and trained a multifaceted team of IBM and TD resources, reinforcing it with highly specialized consultants and contractors to facilitate smooth execution of each phase – from solutioning to release.
• Forged a collaborative network of external partners to propel integration in a highly complex tech environment. 
• Streamlined the solution’s release strategy.
• Having successfully deployed the OSO that complemented the bank’s infrastructure and optimized financial service delivery, was asked to lead Phase 2 (budget of $5M), as well as to deploy a tablet version of the software. 
• Conceived, built and integrated a total of 13 innovative enterprise Webservices, which are currently used by many IT groups in TD and leveraged by the bank in the U.S. space.

Business Programs Manager, Bell Canada | People Manager - 10 direct reports                               Sep 2007 – Apr 2010

Directed Revenue Assurance (Organizational Change) and OrderMAX programs, paving way for several software releases aimed to optimize Bell’s business operations. Guided local and offshore teams, coordinated subcontractor and vendor activity, controlled project financials, and served as the client’s liaison to ensure smooth integration of each solution. Key highlights below:

• Shepherded problem-free delivery of multiple fixed price projects with cumulative worth of $11M, including Revenue Assurance Postpaid Implementation (went live in 2009), Enterprise SMB Implementation (released in 2010), Credit Screener OMR 21, Bell Residential Services R3, Express Service OMR 19, Bell Residential Services R6.
• Executed IBM’s and Bell’s first Revenue Assurance implementation, maximizing the project’s success by initiating and leading several extensive discovery phases to document all system requirements before deployment.
• When IBM’s Israeli subcontractor, cVidya, turned out to be a bottleneck in the delivery process due to work style that didn’t merge with Bell’s, revamped communication, and issue mitigation processes. Delivered project milestones in line with client’s expectations, inducing Bell to outsource five projects to IBM. 
• Won Bravo Leadership Award 2008 for successfully managing Bell’s initiative of the year

Senior Project Manager, IBM | People Manager - 15 direct reports                                                           Oct 2003 – Sep 2007

Managing a diverse set of projects/programs, directed scope, planning, tracking, change, financial, resourcing aspects of each product development and integration. Jumpstarted service and tool enhancement initiatives to expand IBM’s CRM Pricing business. Guided, supported and motivated in-house and off-shore teams in the delivery. Key highlights below:

• Led the organizational change management and Release 1.0 (full development release) of ePricer Comparative Analysis Tool (CAT), with receiving a Bravo Client Award.
• In tandem with company management in France and USA, built a cohesive workforce of 100+ operating out of India, and positioned it to effectively conduct maintenance releases and production support of ePricer CAT.
• Streamlined project delivery across the NCR-Delhi region by establishing Rational Portfolio Management as the go-to project management and reporting tool (drove system deployment, organized compulsory training, and fostered consensus among departments). Commended by Project Management Centre of Excellence (PMCOE).
• Received a 2005 Bravo Award for outstanding contribution to Pricing Applications Portfolio and was rated “exceptional” (above worldwide in all competence areas) in the 2006 Manager Feedback Program.

INDUSLOGIC                                                                                                                                                                          Oct 2002 – Sep 2003

Project Leader | People Manager - 8 direct reports

Managed the Engenia Software account, driving development of enterprise solutions that used intelligent software agents to integrate planning, execution, and reporting functions of complex corporate processes. 

• By exceeding client’s expectations, prompted Engenia to double contract revenue and outsource another vendor’s work to Induslogic.

VEDARIS - Project Leader                                                                                                                                                Jul 2001 – Oct 2002

CHARTER GLOBAL, INC. - Systems Analyst                                                                                                               Oct 2000 – Jun 2001

TATA INFOTECH LTD. - Software Engineer                                                                                                               Jul 1998 – Sep 2000

MBA (Executive)                                                                                  Smith School of Business, Queens University, Kingston, Canada

Bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering                                                                   Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Roorkee

Certified ScrumMaster® (CSM®)                                                                                                                                                Scrum Alliance

IFPUG Certified Function Point Specialist (CFPS)                              International Function Point Users Group, New Jersey, USA

Project Management Professional (PMP)                                                 Project Management Institute (PMI), Pennsylvania, USA