Dr. Arden Dudek, PMP

Krum, TX 512-595-2602

www.linkedin.com/in/ardendudek ArdenDudek@PlanningMgmtConsulting.com

Fractional PMO Director & Scaled Agile Consultant

Collaborative servant leader and inspirational coach, facilitating organizational change through values-based leadership and effective project planning and delivery. Expert in SAFe, Agile, and Product Management frameworks.

Outstanding Accomplishments

Delivered major IT projects, including application modernization, public cloud, IT facility setup, and financial systems, utilizing project management best practices.
Contributed to PMBOK Guide, Fourth Edition.
In 18 months, led the Enterprise Unified Planning Team to manage 150+ requests for $12M of IT work, contributing to on-time, high-quality delivery of a financial systems merger for a firm with $8+ trillion in assets.
Founded, improved, and directed PMOs in banking and higher education, enhancing IT project planning and decision-making, and improving a PMO’s maturity rating by 30% in one year.
Selected for the Schwab Aspiring Leadership Program, assessing business agility maturity using a SAFe-based framework.

Professional Experience

Planning Management Consulting LLC, Hybrid FEB 2024 – Present

President + Principal Planner

Founded consulting firm to provide fractional and consultative services for PMOs, Project Management, and Leadership Agility coaching.

Clients: Texas state universities, DFW city governments, Small to Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs), executive leaders, etc.
Scopes: Strategic advising, information security improvements, organizational change planning, PMO improvements, and values-based leadership training.
Public Speaking: Delivered impactful talks on project management and values-based leadership, sharing insights and best practices at symposiums, lunch and learns, and networking events.

Charles Schwab Corporation - Enterprise Unified Planning (EUP), Austin, TX OCT 2019-JAN 2024

Director, People Leader, 2021 - 2024

Led the formation and development of a new enterprise planning team, driving strategic initiatives and fostering a culture of transparency and collaboration.

Team Leadership: Hired and coached seven leaders, transforming them into an effective, Agile-oriented thought-leadership team.
Award Recognition: EUP Team nominated for the Technology Champion Award in Q2 2023 for transparent communications and cross-team decision-making.
Strategic Vision: Cast and executed the EUP vision and strategy to support the firm's maturity into Lean Portfolio Management (LPM), in partnership with the Agile Transformation Office and Corporate Strategy.
Process Implementation: Implemented an LPM Intake Kanban to protect Development Teams' TD Integration capacity, supporting the CIO and STS senior leadership team.
Decision-Making: Sequenced work for transparent decision-making among Business, Operations, Technology, and Integration Management Office (IMO), reinforcing tiered priorities and managing trade-off decisions.
People Development: Coached the EUP team to become self-managing and cross-coaching within 18 months, and mentored two Directors and two Senior Managers into Product Ownership roles.

Central Project Management Office (CPMO) & Project Services

Sr. IT Project Manager / Agile Practices Lead, 2019-2021

Led the execution of the Agile Practices Vision, benefiting over 350 Agile Project Managers and fostering a culture of continuous improvement and collaboration.

Agile Thought Leadership: Guided SAFe-style Release Train Engineers (RTE) roles and responsibilities, partnering with Schwab Agile Project Managers.
Training & Development: Developed and delivered monthly classes on Agile Project Management for Schwab Technology Services and Project Services new employees.
Tool Utilization: Leveraged tools such as Confluence, Jira and Jira Advanced Roadmaps, MindManager, Mural, MS Teams, MS Project Online, MS SharePoint, and other MS Productivity Tools.
Leadership Transition: Joined Schwab as a contracted Senior Project Manager, leading projects in Public Cloud development and COBIT Process Improvements, then transitioned to a permanent role in the CPMO.

University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX SEP 2017- OCT 2019

Workday HR / Payroll Implementation Program

Sr. Project Manager, Governance

Directed senior planning and governance activities during the final development phases and Go-Live activities of a major program, recognized by a Big Four IT consultant for delivering the most effective systems implementation in his 40-year experience.

Governance Standardization: Standardized governance artifacts for the Steering Committee, managing cross-functional contributors to deliver accurate status and trending reports for senior-level decision-making.
Scrum of Scrums Facilitation: Facilitated the Associate VP and Directors' Scrum of Scrums, ensuring transparent and timely cross-Program communication and reprioritization of planned tasks.
Command Center Management: Hired and managed project management support staff for the Workday HR/Payroll Go-Live Command Center, ensuring clear communications and user support during 24-7 coverage. The Command Center was decommissioned several months ahead of schedule due to the Program's success.
Service Level Agreements (SLAs) & KPIs: Developed SLAs, KPIs, and policies to mature the Program's contractual management and development activities, transitioning to its Operational phases.

Southern Illinois University, Office of Information Technology, Carbondale IL JUN 2014 - JUL 2017

Project Management Office

Manager and Founder

Founded and led the Project Management Office (PMO) to align with the CIO's vision of implementing IT best practices, resulting in standardized IT project/portfolio planning, prioritization, trade-off decision-making, and tools utilization for a state research university with 17,000 students and supporting faculty and staff.

The incremental design and implementation of the organizational change resulted in the adoption by senior technology directors and leads with 20+ years of experience who were initially resistant to the transformation.

Operational Best Practices: Defined and implemented procedures to create, monitor, and manage trade-off decisions for the University's technology systems.
Senior-Level Leadership: Provided project management leadership in collaboration with the CIO and University administrators for campus projects, including the HireTouch SaaS HR solution.
Software Implementation: Successfully implemented the Registrar's DegreeWorks software, enhancing undergraduate program completion and auditability. Project management was rated 91% by sponsors.
Business Process Re-engineering: Re-engineered business processes for the Office of the Associate Provost of Academic Programs, improving user focus and compliance with state accreditation requirements.
PMO Maturity Improvement: Assessed and improved the PMO's Project Management Maturity Model rating by 30% in one year using a customized maturity model.
Staff Management & Coaching: Managed and coached operational staff into new Project Manager/Analyst roles, introducing PMI education and certifications to the University.

Additional Relevant Experience

Southern Illinois University, Division of Development and Alumni Relations, Carbondale

IT Project Manager / Financial Programmer

DHL, Scottsdale, AZ - Program Manager / SAP Interface Development Manager of Global Teams

First Banks / First Services, LP, Hazelwood, MO - Managing Director PMO; SR IT Project Manager

Electronic Data Systems (EDS) / GMAC Finance, Fairborn, OH - Technical Resource Manager; Technology Delivery Director; Systems Engineer (SE); Managed North American Retail Financial Reporting and Processing; Instructor of multiple programming languages and Data & Process Modeling

Education

Doctor of Philosophy, PhD, Higher Education Administration - Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL

Master, Computer Science - University of Avignon, Avignon, France

Master of Science, M.S., Business Administration - Kennedy Western University, Cheyenne, WY

Bachelor of Science, B.S., Management Science & Statistics - University of Maryland College Park, College Park, MD

Publications and Certifications Available upon request