Benjamin Finn

I led a team of three people through an eight-month project to migrate the company from the G Suite to the Microsoft infrastructure and level up organizational IT security and processes.

Accomplishments:
• Increased the size of the company's tool suite without increasing cost by standardizing and performing thorough cost analysis.
• Crafted the company's SharePoint policies, thereby improving the quality of company-wide deliverables through collaboration.
• Analyzed the entire company's security and central IT topology.
• Recommended a series of improvements that substantially increased offerings and capabilities. Delivered a unified endpoint management (UEM) solution and the Microsoft Suite for employees.
• Installed a UEM solution that allowed the company to reduce its attack surface and instances of ransomware, which had been a regular occurrence.
• Taught the project team how to think, analyze, communicate, and work efficiently; two team members had limited IT experience.
• Drove the reorganization and its new tools while remaining under budget for the project.
• Reorganized how users and central IT were managed with ITSM tools and standardized all IT policies and procedures.
• Trained users at the company on IT security.

I managed a sprint team of over ten developers and three product owners who were unfamiliar with standard sprint practices and ceremonies. I trained and laid the foundation for improved organizational management around standard Scrum methods. I instituted and facilitated all Scrum ceremonies and oversaw a steady improvement in the quality of development, velocity of the team, and company-wide knowledge of Agile best practices.

I led a project involving five analysts to organize a document cache of roughly 500,000 electronic and physical files at Chevron's Appalachian Mountain business unit. I designed the repository, recruited the analysts, and drove the project. The analysts were located in India and we conducted virtual daily stand-ups. We iteratively built out the repository, successfully moving all documentation into an intuitive system that allows emergency responders to find critical well information that's required to save lives. Chevron's project discovery for future wells was reduced as a result of more data being available.

I performed technical project management and architecture tasks to deliver a project that reduced the lead time to get water to a well and improved reporting capabilities and logistics. The project utilized three components, a SharePoint front end to gather and process the data (using OOTB SharePoint tools and Web Parts), an SQL database, and a tool developed in-house for processing the data.

I took the lead in designing and developing the SharePoint and SQL database. For the in-house tool, I assisted the developer by performing code reviews. For the project as a whole, I designed the system architecture, applying enterprise best practices and industry standards.

Energy Components is a hydfrocarbon accounting software used by oil and gas companies. All business units in Chevron were required to deploy it.

Deliverables:
• Gathered all requirements from the employees in the Nigerian business unit, then translated the business needs into technical requirements.
• Performed user acceptance testing.
• Created templates and standardized some of the tools used across various Energy Component deployments, enabling future workload reductions.
• Conducted in-person training sessions in Escravos for almost two months.

A business unit had gone rogue and purchased a survey tool without involving IT in the decision process. I was tasked with ensuring it was the best tool for the job. During my thorough analysis, I discovered and resolved a contract issue, thereby reducing the cost of the tool by $300,000 per year. Additionally, I set up a series of SQL jobs to connect to and pull the data into our data warehouse, and I set up the tool to be supported in-house at the first level.

I uncovered the issue, led the project, performed all the analyses, and developed a series of reports for the permitting team. These reports allowed the permitting team to be more proactive in their activities on certain issues for which Chevron was getting hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines every year.

• Led a complex project connecting Indian farmers with banks through Yara's app, leveraging farmer surveys to assess financial risk and crop knowledge.
• Improved reporting turnaround time from several weeks to consistent weekly deliveries within 24 hours of the due date.
• Conducted a comprehensive process redesign, incorporating lean methodologies to streamline operations.
• Redesigned the entire database structure.
• Introduced automation at multiple stages, including the survey level, significantly reducing manual effort.
• Implemented conflict resolution strategies and meeting management techniques to improve team cohesion and productivity.
• Performed economic evaluation of the project, presenting findings about long-term viability to leadership.
• Enhanced data quality processes, eliminating low-quality reports sent to partner banks.
• Integrated data migration, integration, and management improvements throughout the project lifecycle.
• Documented processes and lessons learned, creating a knowledge base for future projects.
• Balanced the dual objectives of gathering valuable customer data for Yara's sales efforts while providing actionable insights for bank loan decisions.

Ran digital security training for reporters working in dangerous countries and wrote a series of blog articles for the international journalist organization, for example, training.rsf.org/journalists-should-use-signal-to-protect-themselves-and-their-sources/. Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF) regularly engaged me for additional security reviews and advisory practices.

• Transformed a project with potential financial loss into a significant cost-saving initiative, realizing over $700,000 in annual savings.
• Completed the project ahead of schedule despite timeline reductions, showcasing exceptional project management and adaptability.
• Achieved migration of less than 11% of original VMs, far exceeding initial cost-saving projections.
• Served as program and project manager for a large-scale cross-departmental data center migration initiative, overseeing the transition or decommissioning of 700 virtual machines to cloud infrastructure.
• Faced significant challenges, including unclear VM ownership, last-minute decision changes, and an accelerated timeline (reduced to 2/3 of the original duration).
• Implemented robust communication strategies, risk management protocols, and reporting to navigate complex stakeholder landscapes and technical hurdles.
• Developed and maintained comprehensive tracking systems for machine status, stakeholder responses, and migration patterns.
• Identified and eliminated hundreds of unnecessary VMs through meticulous analysis and stakeholder engagement, dramatically reducing the migration scope and substantially increasing cost savings.

• Served as program and project manager for IT, small apps, and miscellaneous apps in the wake of Alteryx's acquisition of Trifacta.
• Managed 30+ application rationalization projects directly and oversaw two other project managers handling an additional 20+ applications.
• Conducted comprehensive analysis of each application, including identifying owners, evaluating existing Alteryx alternatives, facilitating decision-making, and managing migration or decommissioning processes.
• Tackled complex challenges, most notably the migration of JumpCloud, Trifacta's active directory, and was integrated with numerous tools and laptops.
• Developed/implemented a strategic approach to unravel the AD without disruption.
• Managed tracking systems for multiple simultaneous projects, ensuring timely follow-ups and progress monitoring.
• Prioritized application migration based on contract renewal dates, maximizing cost-saving opportunities.
• Leveraged a unique combination of project management, solutions architecture, and business systems analysis skills to execute the program efficiently.
• Achieved estimated annual cost savings of $500,000 within the program scope.
• Completed the entire program six months ahead of the expected timeline.