Director of Program Management
About Me
Greetings! I'm Bolanle F. Oke, a dynamic and results-driven leader with over 12 years of experience in managing programs, teams & customers to success. I'm known for navigating ambiguity with ease to drive efficiency, productivity, and revenue growth. I've successfully equipped teams with necessary skills and resources, launched impactful initiatives, and implemented process improvement strategies. I excel in guiding cross-functional teams to deliver innovative solutions that exceed expectations.
Core Values & Expertise
As an experienced Director of Program Management in the software industry, I bring a unique blend of strategic vision, technical acumen, and people-centric leadership to drive the successful delivery of complex, high-impact programs.
At the core of my approach is a steadfast commitment to aligning projects with the organization's overarching business objectives, fostering a collaborative and empowering work environment, and leveraging data-driven decision making to navigate challenges and capitalize on opportunities.
With a proven track record of managing cross-functional teams, optimizing resource allocation, and delivering measurable results, I am adept at translating lofty goals into tangible outcomes that propel the organization forward. My technical proficiency, organizational prowess, and adaptability allow me to seamlessly bridge the gap between business strategy and software engineering, ensuring that every program I oversee directly contributes to the company's long-term success.
I invite you to review my highlights below, and discover how I have led cross functional teams through transformational success throughout my career.
Highlights Of My Experience
Twilio
Head of Strategic Programs & Communications
May 2021 - Feb 2024
Led Strategic Programs & Communications in Twilio's Professional Services Business Unit (200+ employees), driving the creation and execution of impactful initiatives to meet organizational objectives.
Led the strategic planning, design and execution of over 50 complex programs, ensuring alignment with organizational goals and achieving a 98% on-time, on-budget delivery rate. Utilized advanced project management tools to optimize resource allocation and streamline workflows.
Steered Twilio PS Business Unit strategic initiatives (OKRs) from genesis to fruition.
Managed and Implemented programs pertaining to system enhancements, partner portal creation (UI), product upgrade initiatives, process improvement initiatives, etc.
Pioneered development and implementation of a robust Change Management Framework.
Successfully launched a global recognition program, resulting in a 25% increase in employee productivity and a 5% decrease in turnover rates.
Drove successful development and execution of comprehensive quarterly enablement plans, resulting in 85% increase in efficiency and alignment with organizational objectives.
Establish an ideation portal to submit ideas for process improvements, product enhancements, service offerings, etc.
Established a ticketing system for new requests, coupled with a dashboard to track status.
Developed strategic roadmaps and long range plans. Organized and hosted Team Events (such as Kickoffs, All Hands, AMAs, QBRs, Webinars, Offsites, Lunch n Learns).
Successfully established four Center of Excellence (COE) initiatives within Twilio's Professional Services Business Unit, each tailored to address specific organizational needs and strategic objectives.
Developed and maintained an innovative PS Governance structure, facilitating critical decision-making processes and fostering effective communication across multiple departments and external vendors. This initiative led to a 25% reduction in project bottlenecks and improved operational efficiency.
Presented periodic updates on detailed operations analysis via curated newsletters, presentations, monthly & quarterly business reviews (MBRs and QBRs) for C-suite leadership.
Led the design and implementation of onboarding programs, achieving a 100% completion rate and increasing sales and delivery team efficiency.
Partnered with executive leadership and cross-functional teams to develop strategic roadmaps, create comprehensive budgets, monitor financial performance, and recommend strategic adjustments. Successfully achieved a 15% reduction in project costs while maintaining high-quality standards.
Led cross-functional teams to create sales playbooks, equipping sales force with tools to exceed quarterly targets.
Developed a central information repository (team wiki).
Implemented a Skills Matrix, improving resource allocation by 20% and enhancing team proficiency for successful project delivery.
Act as point of contact for Professional Services to other Business Units and stakeholders.
Communicated complex concepts to diverse audiences, and facilitated training sessions to create actionable insights for the sales team.
Collaborated with global Delivery teams, demonstrating autonomy and driving alignment across diverse teams.
Ross Stores
Assoc. Director, Loss Prevention Technology
Feb 2016 - May 2021
Managed 5 operations teams, leading technology initiatives budgeted between $3M - $15M annually, resulting in enhanced operational support and collaborative digital workspace.
Expertise leading and managing Surveillance and Communication hardware and software technologies.
Engineered a robust ticketing platform (using the ITIL framework) used to provide operational support for service-related tasks, activities, and processes, using Smartsheets. This system used automation and API enhancements to integrate with other external systems (ie: service providers, logistics, e-commerce, fulfillment), thus creating an all-in-one hybrid solution for the end users (both internal and external partners) and a collaborative digital workspace.
Developed a root cause analysis script for agents to provide Tier 1 troubleshooting prior to dispatching a technician to a location. This provided a 45% reduction in vendor dispatch costs.
Implemented a depot exchange program, reducing service replacement resolution timeframe by 65%.
Present monthly and quarterly analytical reporting of capital and expense project metrics (budget, trends, SLA milestones, outliers) to the Executive Leadership team.
Built an FAQ site and developed several 100s of detailed process steps, checklists, videos and guides to foster a repeatable model approach for common resolution handling and technology training to ensure a culture of continuous improvement and eliminating wasteful processes.
Act as team’s subject matter expert (SME) for technology standards and industry trends.
Developed Key Performance Indicators (KPI) that provided business intelligence and performance metrics within the Service program to forecast and improve business performance
Kaiser Permanente
Sr PM, Portfolio Governance
Mar 2015 - Feb 2016
Single point of contact for Corporate Services Business Information Office Portfolio Approval Counsel Governance related initiatives.
Maintained the BI PAC SharePoint website.
Onsite Governance and oversight support to all projects within the Corporate Services Business Information Office sub-portfolio’s and serve as the conduit for providing executive status and integrated financial reporting to leadership.
IBM
Project Manager, IT Services
Sept 2011 - Jan 2015
Managed a complex infrastructure program.
Monitored resource workflow by developing resource plans, status reports, and ROI assessments to forecast scheduling, allocation and determine future upgrades to be added to pipeline.
Participated actively in 3 kaizen workshops and brainstorming events, reducing total server build timeframe from 22 days to 10 days, and reducing server decommission process human errors 15%.
Liaised between functional manager and account team. Generated all account-specific global resource requests for new resources, backfills and turnovers.
Created account desk procedure for account team to convey process.
Accomplished value-saving process (VSM) documenting life cycle of incoming client-related requests reducing overall onboarding timeframe for IBM resource on the account.
