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Mr. Richard Tesmer Consulting, Coaching, and Speaking

Summary of Richard Tesmer's Project/Portfolio Management Skills

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Strategic Project/Program Planning

Created measurable KPIs for the accountability of the enterprise programs for SAP, Salesforce, and SAP eWMS to drive decisions, exceeding budget targets by 20%.
Documentation of management strategy through SWOT and GAP analysis.
Support the creation of the project or program charter, project initiation documentation, project planning documents, and business processes aligned with expectations.
Skills in talent management through recruitment and strong relationships with developers (on and offshore), IT professionals, security specialists, logistics, and procurement resulting in teams with the lowest turn over rates in the companies history.

Budget Management and Cost Reduction

Expertise in increasing sales targets by 10-20% through creating and using collaboration platforms.
Managed five major programs simultaneously, ensuring all deliverables met timelines and quality
standards; established effective feedback loops with clients, improving project alignment within
strategic direction by over 30%.
Highly skilled at managing active projects portfolio valued at $15M annually, with medium ($500K
to $1.5M) to large-sized projects/programs ($1.5M to $5M).

Team Leadership and Development

My plan to overcome resistance to Agile, was overcome by creating a hybrid approach called ScrumFall. This allowed an iterative approach while working within the project's triple constraints.
I am a specialist at implementing new technologies, improving projects, automation, customer engagement, customer relationship management, and performance.
I lead local and global project teams as shepherd leader, a servant leader, and a mentor.
I have built PMO teams of twelve senior-level project managers, paired with six junior project managers, four business analysts, and onshore/offshore development teams, elastically sized to high of 90 programming resources.
I excel at leading self-organized, agile, high-performing teams with a hands-on approach to building relationships, supporting end-to-end customer success stories, and resolving real-time issues.

Silos and Collaboration

With technology changing so quickly, Agile's use of Kanban and Scrum was added to replace most Waterfall projects, which led to smoother collaboration between matrixed teams.
I take pride in the development of global multicultural staffing of project resources with a high cultural empathy and sensitivity, which contributed to a 90% year-over-year retention rate of clients.
Through the combination, I was able to lead the combined efforts of Professional Services with Project Management teams. Resulting in an improved environment for custom applications, business units breaking down silos, and collaborating for improvement in communication.

Change Management

Custom solutions using COTS and/or customized Power Apps for data warehousing, defining and executing infrastructure plans, and working with projects leads to controlling scope and maintaining business priorities.
I place emphasis from day one on a project that Project Sponsors and stakeholders will need to create a Change Control Committee.

Risk Management

Balanced all project crises and, as needed, escalate executive leadership.
Using historical data analysis, complex project risk registers are part of project coordination, management, data integrity, directory services, business processes, mitigation strategies, and escalation points.

Stakeholder Management

As a leader filled with intellectual curiosity, on top of customer risk management, I led the teams to keep all project timelines under control.
Meeting business needs with solid customer feedback loops to build upon user experience and create alignment with strategic direction.
Managed teams in a matrixed environment using cross-functional collaboration to build and maintain various projects and technologies.

Center of Excellence

I dealt with daily prioritization by monitoring the PMO dashboard: a pipeline of 300 NGO, NPO, and For-Profit clients with an average of 65 active projects.
I ensured all team members, especially project managers, continue developing skills with additional training.
I analyzed workflows and established priorities for daily operations.
Commercial software such as Nintex Workflow and Microsoft Power Platform tools in Microsoft 365 are used for continuous improvement and future-proofing.

Richard Tesmer's Biographical Resume

26Nov

Anew Technology Partners: Project Managment Office

I was approached by a group of professionals I had previously worked with. They were creating a new start-up company in Houston, TX, and knew about the name I owned but was using- Anew Technology Partners. They made me a great offer, which, after much thought, I accepted. I gave my notice, sadly, to MadWolf Technology. I started with no staff and no PMO, so my work was cut out for me. Fortunately, my volunteer efforts made several friends at the Houston PMI chapter. I quickly added them to the PMO and Professional Services. I contacted two shore teams I previously used - Armenia and Argentina.

Unfortunately, the problems started almost immediately. Funds were limited, and payroll would be delayed. None of the partners had direct sales experience, and none were very good at it. I tried to help where I could with the RFPs, but I had made it clear during the early meetings that I was not a cold-calling salesperson.

As I led my teams of project managers and offshore developers, I practiced being a Shepherd Leader. I was there to help anyone on the team who needed mentoring or additional training and possible certifications. I was also the Servant Leader, which would mean taking off the tie, hanging up the jacket, rolling up the sleeves, and working with anyone that needed help- it might be project related or development or engineering- the whiteboard was our best friend in drawing out possible solutions.

Almost two years later, the partnership folded; I had to let the offshore teams go and help the Project Managers I had hired to find new positions. By June 2024, I was done; the office was closed, the website was down, and the domain name was released. And I was owed several paychecks that I know I will never see. While a start up can be exciting, this proved how risky they can be as well.

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