Katherice Burns
Verified Expert in Project Management
Project Manager
Dallas, TX, United States
Toptal member since April 24, 2025
Katherice is an experienced IT portfolio manager with a strong program and project management background. She specializes in aligning technology initiatives with business strategy, optimizing portfolio performance, and driving cross-functional collaboration. Focusing on delivering measurable value, Katherice helps organizations improve visibility, prioritize investments, and enhance execution across their IT landscape.
Project Highlights
Expertise
- Agile
- Agile Project Management
- Capacity Management
- Executive Reporting
- Portfolio Management
- Resource Allocation
- Risk Management
- Strategic Initiatives
Work Experience
IT Portfolio Manager
Harris Consulting Firm
- Optimized a $100 million IT project portfolio, identifying redundant efforts and reducing overall spending by 18% while improving delivery timelines and stakeholder satisfaction.
- Designed and implemented a portfolio intake and governance process that reduced project approval cycle time by 50% and improved alignment with enterprise strategy.
- Led the implementation of portfolio management tools, automating reporting dashboards and reducing manual reporting efforts by 70%.
- Developed a resource capacity planning model that increased visibility into workforce utilization, enabling leadership to make data-driven hiring and prioritization decisions, which led to a 25% increase in on-time project delivery.
- Built strong partnerships with CIOs, VPs, and the finance team, delivering quarterly portfolio health reviews, value realization insights, and strategic roadmaps that improved transparency and trust across the enterprise.
Senior IT Manager
Northwestern Mutual
- Migrated 70% of legacy applications to the cloud, reducing infrastructure costs by 35% and increasing system availability.
- Implemented cybersecurity best practices, resulting in zero critical vulnerabilities during two consecutive audits.
- Launched a data-driven portfolio dashboard, improving executive visibility and enabling faster decision-making.
- Rescued a failing $1.2 million program by realigning project scope, re-engaging stakeholders, and executing a recovery roadmap within 60 days.
- Built and led a high-performing team of seven IT professionals, increasing team productivity by 25% through streamlined workflows and regular coaching.
- Optimized CI/CD pipelines, reducing deployment time by 60% and improving release frequency without compromising quality.
- Integrated enterprise platforms (Salesforce, ServiceNow, Workday) via APIs and middleware, streamlining data flow and reducing manual errors by 50%.
Program Manager
Allstate
- Led Allstate's enterprise-level claims fraud prevention program, delivering key data analytics initiatives that improved fraud detection accuracy by 25% within the first year.
- Served as a Scrum Master for multiple Agile teams, facilitating backlog grooming, sprint planning, and retrospectives to drive the delivery of fraud detection models and dashboards.
- Managed a $5 million portfolio of fraud prevention and data analytics projects, ensuring on-time delivery, regulatory compliance, and alignment with business strategy.
- Identified and mitigated delivery risks across multiple projects by establishing a centralized RAID log and proactive risk response strategies.
- Enhanced Agile team performance by coaching team members on Agile best practices, increasing team velocity and sprint goal completion by 50% over six months.
- Reduced request intake cycle time by 40% by implementing a standardized intake, triage, and prioritization framework for fraud analytics project proposals.
- Contributed to millions in potential loss avoidance by launching predictive analytics models that flagged high-risk claims earlier in the lifecycle.
Project History
Global IT Intake and Prioritization Framework Implementation
Successfully designed and implemented a standardized intake and prioritization framework across global IT teams, increasing portfolio transparency and reducing project approval cycles by 30%.
Claims Fraud Detection and Prevention Program
Reduced fraudulent claims by 30% and accelerated detection and response time by 75% by implementing an AI-powered fraud monitoring system.
I developed and executed the strategic roadmap for fraud detection within claims operations, partnering with business, legal, risk, and cybersecurity stakeholders to align program goals and regulatory compliance. I integrated machine learning models into claims processing to flag suspicious patterns in near real-time. I delivered dashboards and reporting tools to enable proactive decision-making and fraud trend visibility. In addition, I oversaw vendor management and onboarding of fraud analytics platforms tailored for insurance claims and instituted a governance model to evolve fraud rules and model accuracy continuously.
Claims Fraud Analytics Program
Improved fraud detection by 25% using ML models, cut review cycle time by 30% with real-time fraud dashboards, and collaborated with data scientists and SMEs to turn fraud trends into actionable analytics that enhanced investigative efficiency.
Education
Master's Degree in Business Administration (MBA)
Dallas Baptist University - Dallas, TX, USA
Bachelor's Degree in Finance
Jackson State University - Jackson, MS, USA
Certifications
Professional Scrum Master Level III (PSM III)
Scaled Agile
Skills
Tools
Asana, Microsoft Power BI, Tableau, Jira, Confluence, Microsoft PowerPoint, Big Room Planning, Zoom, Rally, Salesforce, RAID Log
Paradigms
Agile Project Management, Capacity Management, Release Trains, Agile, Scrum, Change Management, Agile Delivery, User Acceptance Testing (UAT), HIPAA Compliance, Azure DevOps
Other
IT Project Management, Portfolio Management, KPI & Performance Tracking, IT Strategy, Strategic Initiatives, Scope Management, Risk Management, Resource Allocation, Budget Management, IT Program Management, Project Portfolio Management (PPM), IT Governance, Stakeholder Engagement, Strategy, IT Product Management, Portfolio Review, Agile Coaching, Data Analytics, Scrum of Scrums, PI Planning, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Data Governance, Jira Align, Sprint Retrospectives, Dashboards, Executive Reporting, BI Reporting, Intake, Issue Management, Agile Program Management, Scrum Master, Stakeholder Management, Project Management, Agile DevOps, Agile Sprints, Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), Project Portfolio Management Office (PPMO), Tableau Server, Business Intelligence (BI), Data Analysis, Project Planning, Functional Requirements, API Integration, User Stories, IT Business Analysis, Technical Program Management, Digital Health, digital safety, IT Portfolio Reviews, Technical Project Management, Technical Product Management, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Technical Requirements, Product Management, Objectives & Key Results (OKRs), Backlog Grooming, Sprint Backlog, Backlog Management, Sprint Planning, Sprint Reviews, Sprint Ceremonies, Design Sprints, Business Analysis, Business Logic, Business Requirements, Retrospective Techniques, GAP Analysis, Program Management Office (PgMO), Program Management, Business Transformation Program Management, Agile Transformation, Process Transformation, Digital Project Management, Budgeting, Data Science, SAFe 6, Pipelines, Compliance, Slack App, Finance, Clarity PPM, Workday, Global Strategy, Product Owner, Brand Strategy, New Products, Data Lakes, Employee Benefits, Health IT, Healthcare Software, Technical Writing, Healthcare Services, Machine Learning, Google API, Azure Cloud Services, Process Mapping, Process Optimization, ITIL, ServiceNow, Feature Backlog Prioritization, SOX Compliance, Regulatory Technology (Regtech), Fraud Prevention, Incentive Programs, Big Data, Predictive Modeling, IT Projects, Risk Analysis, Claims, Business Administration, RFPs, RFQs, ITTs, Responses, Proposals & Quotes, Product Benchmarking, Data Recovery, Compensation, Web Marketing, AWS DevOps, Feature Planning
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