Donald Palmer
Verified Expert in Project Management
Project Manager
Rockwall, United States
Toptal member since June 10, 2026
Donald is an executive leader with 25+ years of experience in enterprise AI, cloud transformation, and technology modernization. His expertise spans AI strategy, cloud platforms, and workflow services, with notable work at Toyota, Indorama Ventures, and Cognizant. Donald led a cloud transformation at Ardent Mills that consolidated 360+ applications to 37 and achieved a 99.98% order success rate across 475,000 weekly transactions.
Project Highlights
Expertise
- Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Business Communication
- Cloud
- FinOps
- PMO
- Program Management
- Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC)
- Workflow
Work Experience
Senior Engineering Program Manager, AI, Cloud Platforms, and Operational Transformation
Toyota Motor Corporation
- Led Toyota's AI, cloud, and workflow transformation agenda across the Chofer platform, a cloud native developer ecosystem built on Backstage that supports products for professional developers and engineers across eight capability domains.
- Designed and implemented an Agile pod-based operating model, improving cross-functional collaboration, workflow efficiency, ownership clarity, and delivery execution.
- Led FinOps and auto remediation efforts, delivering $2.23 million in cost reduction, $15.6 million in cost avoidance, and $1.97 million in realized auto remediation savings, with quarterly remediation savings potential averaging $6.4 million.
- Founded and operationalized a PMO center of excellence (CoE) to standardize planning, governance, prioritization, and execution frameworks across engineering programs, improving consistency, transparency, and delivery discipline.
Senior Technical Program Manager, Global Procurement 4.0 Transformation
Boston Consulting Group, Indorama Ventures (Contract)
- Led the launch and execution of an enterprise PMO supporting Indorama Ventures' global procurement 4.0 transformation.
- Standardized governance, introduced Agile delivery, and drove measurable outcomes across procurement, sustainability, and data modernization initiatives.
- Established and scaled an enterprise PMO to govern global procurement transformation programs.
- Integrated Agile delivery practices and Lean portfolio management, increasing delivery velocity by 15% across procurement workstreams.
- Oversaw a $250+ million procurement portfolio, optimizing resource allocation and contributing to $104 million in cost savings within 6 months.
- Led AI-enabled process improvement initiatives for contract lifecycle automation and supplier forecasting, reducing review cycle times by 25% and generating $1.2 million in projected savings.
- Embedded ESG goals into procurement operations, improving compliance and supporting sustainable sourcing practices.
- Directed a zero-downtime SAP S/4HANA upgrade across procurement systems, improving performance, stability, and security.
- Secured executive and global stakeholder alignment for transformation priorities.
Management Consultant | Program Manager, Technology Modernization and Cloud Advisory
Cognizant
- Led digital transformation and cloud modernization initiatives for Fortune 500 clients across finance, healthcare, retail, and manufacturing.
- Delivered enterprise migrations, cloud adoption strategies, operating model improvements, and cost optimization aligned to executive priorities.
- Directed a $35 million PepsiCo cloud program spanning 8 regional SAP workloads, enabling a 31% reduction in IT spend through migration optimization and cloud native redesign.
- Designed scalable and secure cloud architecture to support PepsiCo's SAP S/4HANA modernization strategy.
- Governed infrastructure migration workstreams across compute, storage, networking, and VMware virtualization layers for 8 regional data center environments, coordinating third-party vendors and cloud engineering teams.
- Developed and executed a business-aligned Azure adoption roadmap for BMO, resulting in a 40% reduction in IT operations cost.
- Assessed on-premises Windows Server Active Directory (AD) and virtualized infrastructure workloads to define migration disposition wave sequencing and cloud-readiness criteria supporting BMO's enterprise Azure transition.
- Led the end-to-end migration to Google Cloud for CVS Health, achieving 99% data accuracy and a 25% improvement in processing time while shaping the roadmap for AI/ML-driven population health solutions.
- Coordinated infrastructure migration of distributed open systems, storage, and network environments across regional CVS data centers, managing vendor alignment and cutover sequencing to support the Google Cloud Platform transition.
- Delivered a $2 million ServiceNow and Navvia rollout for Knights of Columbus, improving ITSM workflows by 30%.
M&A Integration Program Lead, Salesforce and AWS Cloud
Salesforce (Contract via Robert Half)
- Led post-acquisition systems integration initiatives across Salesforce, AWS, ERP, and customer operations platforms.
- Delivered Salesforce and AWS integrations, reducing operating costs by 25% and improving process consistency.
- Integrated NetSuite with Salesforce ERP, improving data accuracy and enterprise workflow efficiency.
- Migrated Tableau's ServiceNow environment to Salesforce Service Cloud, reducing service times by 20%.
- Deployed Sales Cloud and Service Cloud solutions for 500+ users, increasing team performance by 35%.
- Directed M&A due diligence activities that improved strategic decision-making and integration readiness by 30%.
- Launched AI-driven recommendation capabilities that increased user engagement by 20% and sales conversions by 15%.
- Improved customer satisfaction by 15% through coordinated change management.
- Increased employee engagement by 20% through operational alignment.
Program Manager, Cloud Delivery and Modernization
Wipro
- Led cloud transformation programs across regulated and commercial environments.
- Directed PHEAA's first AWS production go-live while supporting FedRAMP compliance requirements.
- Led SAFe Agile PI planning to improve resource alignment and delivery execution.
- Implemented FinOps practices that generated 10% savings within 3 months.
- Assessed legacy environments and defined modernization pathways to support cloud readiness.
Senior Manager, Product and Customer Experience (MVision CASB)
McAfee (Contract via Kelly Services)
- Owned product strategy and customer experience for a CASB and SaaS security platform.
- Defined roadmap priorities for Skyhigh and MVision CASB aligned to enterprise business goals.
- Led a 28-person team to launch a new SaaS offering, increasing MRR by 20%.
- Drove $14 million in subscription revenue while reducing implementation time by 70%.
- Established customer feedback loops that increased CSAT by 10%.
Senior Program Management Advisor
IBM (Contract via Vigilant)
- Managed complex transformation programs across defense and retail sectors.
- Oversaw $10+ million worth of programs using Deltek Cobra for EVMS compliance.
- Advised on Microsoft Dynamics transition efforts for digital modernization.
- Achieved 25% cost savings through vendor optimization and process automation.
- Developed an Agile PMO strategy for the Navy Exchange Service Command.
Cloud Migration Program Director | Practice Manager
Tata Consultancy Services
- Headed global cloud transformation programs and practice operations across enterprise accounts.
- Managed a $45 million P&L, added $12 million in bookings, and doubled cloud delivery capacity.
- Reduced sales costs by 37% through tighter delivery management.
- Reduced operating costs by 25% through commercial discipline.
- Led Azure and Salesforce transformation work for Ardent Mills, improving adoption efficiency.
- Directed a joint venture transformation to build a cloud-enabled Azure solution, reducing IT expense, consolidating applications from 360+ to 37, and improving order management reliability to a 99.98% success rate across 475,000 weekly transactions.
- Managed end-to-end data center exit decommissioning, VMware migration, Windows Server consolidation on-premises storage elimination, network decommission, eliminating real estate costs, and reducing app footprint from 360+ to 37 Azure workloads.
- Built a cloud adoption/migration strategy for Dow/DuPont, targeting decommissioning of 3,497 applications with projected NPV savings of $87-$102 million over 5 years through Azure/AWS modernization.
- Governed a physical infrastructure disposition strategy across applications, including server decommission sequencing, storage rationalization, VMware inventory, network topology assessment, supporting data center exit, and hybrid cloud transition.
Project History
POD Acceleration Framework Operating Model
- $2.23 Million — Actual Cost Reduction Achieved
- $15.6 Million — Cost Avoidance
- $1.97 Million — Actual Savings Captured Through AI-triggered Remediation Workflows
- $6.4 Million — Ongoing Run Rate for Remediation Savings per Quarter
A global automotive OEM running 15+ programs across 60+ cloud accounts had no operating model to match its scale. Teams worked on disconnected cadences with unclear ownership. AI experiments stalled in a pilot with no path to production. Cloud spend was invisible at the team level and reconciled quarterly, not in-cycle. The tools existed, but the operating model didn’t.
I designed and implemented:
• The Pod Acceleration Framework, a 3-layer operating model built for enterprise AI delivery
• Cross-functional pods with clear ownership
• A 4-stage AI lifecycle from experiment to production
• FinOps governance at the team level across 60+ cloud accounts
• Governance embedded in delivery, not bolted on after
We achieved $2.23 million in cost reduction, $15.6 million in cost avoidance, $1.97 million in auto-remediation savings, and a $6.4 million quarterly run rate. 40+ teams gained cost visibility and 15+ programs aligned under one delivery framework.
Global SAP Cloud Migration and IT Cost Transformation
- 31% — Reduction in IT Operating Costs Following Migration to Azure
- 8 — SAP Workloads Migrated to Azure Within Program Timeline
- $35 Million — Program Budget for Global Cloud Migration Engagement
- 100% — Completed Workloads with Zero Unplanned Downtime
8 on-premises SAP workloads were straining under high infrastructure costs, limited scalability, and inconsistent governance across global operations. Without a clear modernization path, IT spend continued to climb while supply chain, finance, and operations remained exposed to platform risk.
SOLUTION
• Led a $35 million global migration of 8 SAP workloads to Azure using a structured wave-based delivery model with application assessment, dependency mapping, and governance gates at each phase.
• Built cutover protocols with rollback readiness and business sign-off requirements to protect supply chain, finance, and operations continuity.
• Implemented FinOps controls to right-size cloud architecture and eliminate on-premises overhead.
• Maintained alignment across IT, finance, and operations stakeholders, keeping a complex multi-region program on schedule and within budget.
I migrated 8 SAP workloads to Azure with zero unplanned downtime, delivering a 31% reduction in IT spend across global operations on schedule and within a $35 million program budget.
Enterprise IT Simplification and Azure Cloud Transformation
- 360+ to 37 — Reduction in Total Application Count
- 90% — Reduction in Application Footprint Through a Structured Disposition Model
- 100% — of Retained Workloads Migrated to Azure
- 99.98% — Order Management Transaction Success Rate Post-migration
- 475,000 — Weekly Order Management Transactions
A newly formed food manufacturing joint venture launched with no unified IT foundation, inheriting 360+ applications from 2 Fortune 500 parent companies. Building a modern, scalable platform while operating a live business required rationalizing massive redundancy across 2 distinct technology environments.
SOLUTION
• Designed and led a full enterprise IT simplification program on Azure, reducing 360+ inherited applications to 37 through a structured disposition model.
• Built a loosely coupled, tightly integrated cloud architecture that unified 2 parent company environments into a single scalable platform.
• Designed a Lean IT operating model aligned to business growth, customer experience, and supply chain operations, delivering 100% cloud adoption and 99.98% order management reliability across 475,000 weekly transactions.
We reduced the application portfolio by 90%, achieving 100% cloud adoption and 99.98% order management reliability across 475,000 weekly transactions, delivering a scalable IT foundation for a newly formed Fortune 500 joint venture.
Education
Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Management Information Systems
University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration
University of Maryland - College Park, Maryland, USA
Certifications
The Complete AI Guide: Learn ChatGPT, Generative AI & More
Udemy
AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner, Essentials
AWS
Project Management Professional, PMP
United States Navy | PMI
Skills
Tools
Jira, Salesforce, VMware, Asana, Microsoft Dynamics, NetSuite
Paradigms
Machine Learning Operations (MLOps), Agile Project Management, User Acceptance Testing (UAT), Implementation Project Management, Change Management, Agile
Industry Expertise
Technology
Platforms
Azure, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
Other
Workflow, FinOps, PMO, Procurement, Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC), Business Communication, Business Analysis, Program Management, Agile Program Management, Project Management, Stakeholder Management, RAID, Delivery Management, Sourcing, Vendor Negotiation, Enterprise Project Management, Project Timelines, Agile Sprints, Agile Product Delivery, Release Management, Business Requirements, Sprint Planning, Waterfall Methodology, Capacity Planning, Scope Management, Quality Assurance (QA), Business Transformation, Process Transformation, Business Processes, Consulting, Technical Project Management, Managed Services, Delivery, Governance, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Cloud, Google Cloud, ServiceNow, Amazon S3 (AWS S3), SaaS, Financial Decision Making, Operations Management, Total Quality Management (TQM), Market & Competitive Analysis, Accounting & Financial literacy, AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner, Content Management Systems (CMS), ERP Implementation, SAP, Vendor Management, Stakeholder Alignment, Executive Communication & Reporting, IT Program Management, Engineerig Program Management, Product Delivery, Cloud Platforms, Enterprise Program Leadership, Application Portfolio Rationalization, JV and M&A Integration, Order Management & Transaction Integrity
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