BORA ASHA

Professional Summary
Seasoned Technical Program Manager with extensive experience in leading Agile transformations and optimizing supply chain and software development
processes across renowned tech giants. Expert in driving product innovation through effective leadership of cross-functional teams. Ten plus years of work
experience working in Strategy, Operations Management, Continuous Process Improvement, Supply Chain, New Product Launches, Leading multi-million
capital projects, Cost reduction projects globally. Demonstrates a strong ability in designing and deploying chatbot flows, enhancing customer interaction and
support. Skilled in process re-engineering to streamline software release cycles, resulting in substantial cost savings and efficiency improvements. Proven
track record of managing complex programs, from inception to completion, aligning with business objectives and exceeding stakeholder expectations. Lead
multiple strategic, operational process improvement initiatives, end to end supply chain optimization projects using Lean, Six Sigma & Supply Chain and
Agile methodologies.

Selected Accomplishments

 Technical Vision Execution: Successfully led the Agile transformation for engineering teams, directly aligning with Kindle's innovative and
dynamic product development ethos.

 Product Launch Strategy: Spearheaded the implementation of Alpha and Beta testing, resulting in a 90% reduction in production defects, echoing
Amazon's commitment to technical excellence.

 Scheduling/Planning and Cost Management: Proficient in developing and executing comprehensive scheduling plans to optimize supply chain
operations and ensure timely project completion. Skilled in cost management strategies, adept at maximizing resource utilization and minimizing
expenses to drive efficiency and enhance profitability.

 Cross-functional Team Leadership: Led cross-functional teams through A/B testing phases, enhancing product strategies and customer
engagement, mirroring the collaborative environment of Kindle's development process.

 Release Management Expertise: Managed the deployment of monthly software releases, maintaining strict adherence to schedules and budgets,
demonstrating the ability to execute Kindle's roadmap effectively.

 Innovative Solution Design: Designed and deployed chatbot flows to enhance customer interactions, showcasing the ability to improve user
experience and support, aligning with Kindle's customer-centric approach.

 Process Optimization: Initiated a comprehensive process re-engineering project, reducing dependencies by 62%, reflecting Amazon's culture of
continuous improvement and operational efficiency.

 Stakeholder Engagement: Developed and governed KPIs, providing visibility to senior leadership, exemplifying the role's requirement for clear
communication and alignment with diverse stakeholder perspectives.

 Agile Backlog Management: Led 30+ IT scrum teams across distributed locations, delivering Agile backlogs efficiently, demonstrating the
organizational and dynamic project management skills essential for the Kindle team.

Work History

Release Train Engineer 02/2022 to Present

Ettain Group: Bank of America Client – Charlotte, NC – Remote

 Strategic Release Train Management: Successfully managed release trains for 11 teams, overseeing projects with 290+ members and a $70M budget,
ensuring the timely delivery of high-quality outcomes.
 Agile Methodologies Leadership: Spearheaded SAFe Agile Methodologies training and execution, fostering team agility and enhancing product
delivery efficiency, resulting in streamlined processes and improved project outcomes.
  Managed end-to-end supply chain processes, including procurement, logistics, and inventory management, to support Bank of America's operational
needs, resulting in a 15% reduction in procurement lead times.
 Coordinated with internal stakeholders and external vendors to ensure timely delivery of goods and services, while maintaining cost-effectiveness and
quality standards, achieving a 10% decrease in supply chain costs.
 Managed release trains for 11 teams, overseeing projects with 290+ members and $70M budget, ensuring timely delivery.
 Spearheaded SAFe Agile Methodologies training and execution, enhancing team agility and product delivery efficiency.
 Adopted key engineering practices like continuous integration and test-driven development, improving deliverable quality.
 Conducted cost modeling and industry analysis, developing product roadmaps for program increments across applications.
 Integrated projects with government-funded organizations, deploying applications upon budget analysis and assessments.
 Led program management, from design to delivery, enhancing product development lifecycle with hands-on leadership.
 Established Product and Tech OKRs, achieving over 70% of objectives in last 6 quarters through review and analytics.
 Facilitated planning sessions and bi-weekly leadership calls to track readiness of Epics/Features and review project progress.

Supply Chain Program Manager & Scrum Master - NPI 02/2021 to 02/2022
M|I GSO PCubed - GAP Inc (Client) – Pleasanton, CA
Teams/Projects: Data Governance, SAP S/4 HANA, ServiceNow, Supply Chain - NPI
 NPI Project Management: Proficiently oversee New Product Introduction (NPI) projects, including meticulous budget forecasting and control,
scheduling, and ensuring adherence to project milestones. Lead cross-functional teams to achieve project objectives set forth by the main project,
ensuring efficient progression and successful delivery.
 Program and Project Management Experience: Demonstrate a strong background in program and project management, particularly within the realm of
new product introductions. Skilled in collaborating with multifunctional teams to shepherd products from the research and development phase through
to production, ensuring seamless transitions and successful launches.
 Quality Improvement Through Testing: Spearhead Alpha and Beta testing initiatives for GAP Inc, resulting in a remarkable 90% reduction in
production defects within supply chain operations. By implementing rigorous testing protocols, contribute to enhanced product quality and operational
efficiency.
 Workflow Automation and Efficiency: Implement innovative workflow automation solutions for release processes, dramatically reducing deployment
pipeline lead time from 60 minutes to under 6 minutes. Through automation, streamline processes and accelerate project timelines, driving increased
productivity and efficiency.
 Cost-saving Initiatives and Mentorship: Achieve significant resource cost savings of over $8K per month by mentoring teams in the automation of
supply chain management workflows. Through guidance and automation strategies, optimize resource allocation and minimize expenses, contributing
to overall cost efficiency.
 Scrum Team Management and Product Integration: Successfully manage 5 scrum teams to facilitate the seamless integration and rollout of new
products on GAP’s website. Coordinate team efforts to ensure alignment with project goals, driving successful product launches and enhancing
customer experience.
 Manufacturing Process Improvement: Lead a Six Sigma Green Belt manufacturing process improvement project, resulting in a notable increase in
rolled throughput first-pass yield from 20% to 70% on sustaining products with major Design for Excellence (DFX) issues. Through data-driven
analysis and process optimization, drive significant improvements in manufacturing efficiency and product quality.
 Responsible for overseeing the comprehensive supply chain management of PCBs and PCB assemblies (PCAs), navigating the complexities of
component procurement, material sourcing, and assembly processes to ensure efficient and timely delivery within electronic product manufacturing."
 Production Ramp-up Readiness and Cross-functional Coordination: Spearhead efforts to drive production ramp-up readiness, coordinating with cross-
functional teams to ensure manufacturing readiness of chip design and specifications, new equipment, process flows, documentation, and test database
infrastructure. Through proactive coordination and collaboration, facilitate smooth production ramp-up processes and minimize potential delays.
 Customer Engagement and Design Review: Engage customer design teams early in the design phase to conduct manufacturing reviews, driving design
changes and alerting customers to potential rework expenses. By fostering early collaboration and feedback, enhance product manufacturability and
mitigate potential issues, ultimately improving customer satisfaction.
 Process Optimization for Profit and Loss Improvement: Improve Profit and Loss (P&L) performance by implementing process optimizations, including
reducing Engineering Change Order (ECO) process cycle time from weeks to 48 hours, loading forecast demand weekly, and implementing bid-for-
 buy raw materials aging reports within 2 weeks. Through process streamlining and optimization, drive significant improvements in operational
efficiency and financial performance.

Program Manager 07/2020 to 02/2021

Kaiser Permanente (Client) Clarity Consultant – Pleasanton, CA
Teams/Projects; Command Center (eMail, Chatbot, Telephone), Remote Patient Monitoring, CXDB, AWS
 Streamlined Backlogs with Product Owners: Collaborated closely with Product Owners to streamline backlogs, eliminating code duplications, and
ensuring timely feature launches, thus optimizing development processes and enhancing product delivery efficiency.
 Performance Improvement Strategies: Implemented a performance-based goal-setting strategy, resulting in an 8% improvement in program completion
rates within the first quarter. By setting clear objectives and incentivizing performance, drove increased productivity and project success.
 Responsible for leading change management initiatives, facilitating smooth transitions, and fostering organizational readiness to adapt to new
processes, technologies, or organizational structures.
 Team Leadership and Stakeholder Communication: Led 3 teams totaling 51 personnel, enhancing Return on Investment (ROI) and maintaining
effective stakeholder communication to ensure strategic alignment and project success.
 Utilization of Scrum Metrics for Productivity: Utilized Scrum metrics to identify and eliminate bottlenecks, achieving a notable 30% increase in
productivity and facilitating timely releases of features for iOS and Android platforms, thereby enhancing team efficiency and project delivery speed.
 Program Increment Planning and Dependency Management: Coordinated 3 Program Increment Planning sessions, strategically planning 20 features
across 6 teams to minimize dependencies and optimize resource allocation, ensuring smooth project execution and alignment with business objectives.
 Cloud Transformation Projects Leadership: Spearheaded 4 cloud transformation projects using Microservices and AWS, resulting in a significant
increase in customer satisfaction and sales by 25%+, demonstrating strategic vision and technical expertise in driving organizational growth and
innovation.
 Quality Improvement Initiatives: Increased unit testing coverage to 98%, enhancing product quality through Joint Application Design (JAD) sessions
for cross-functional teams, promoting a culture of quality assurance and continuous improvement.
 Development of Command Center and Chatbot Applications: Played a key role in developing Command Center and Chatbot applications, enhancing
remote monitoring and support capabilities, thus improving operational efficiency and customer service.
 Effective PI Planning and Risk Mitigation: Managed PI Planning sessions, ensuring seamless collaboration across teams, and effectively mitigating
risks and dependencies, fostering a culture of transparency and accountability in project execution.

Supply Chain Program Manager – Supply Chain/QA 07/2019 to 07/2020

Apple, Inc (Client) – Cupertino, CA
Team/Projects. Marketing Db for Apple LOB’s
 Strategic Team Oversight: Directed and mentored 15 engineers across 3 product teams, driving enhancements in supply chain efficiency for Apple's
diverse Lines of Business (LOBs), fostering collaboration and innovation to meet organizational goals.
 Program Management and Stakeholder Communication: Spearheaded overall supply chain process readiness, defining and maintaining the program
Plan of Record (POR), ensuring alignment with key stakeholders, and communicating status updates effectively. Prepared project dashboards and
facilitated escalations as needed to keep programs on track with POR milestones and goals.
 Process Re-engineering for Efficiency: Led a successful process re-engineering initiative, reducing supply chain dependencies by an impressive 62%
and streamlining software release cycles, resulting in improved operational efficiency and faster time-to-market for products.
 Cross-functional Collaboration for Growth: Collaborated with Sales, Marketing, Operations, and Tech teams to drive a 38% increase in profits through
strategic promotional campaigns, leveraging cross-functional expertise to maximize revenue opportunities.
 KPI-driven Performance Management: Tracked key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure program impact on supply chain outcomes, ensuring
alignment with business goals and driving continuous improvement initiatives to optimize performance.
 Automation and Global Expansion Initiatives: Spearheaded automation efforts, expanding Apple Books, Music, and Arcade services to 12 new
countries, driving global expansion and enhancing customer reach and engagement.
 Cross-functional Coordination and Stakeholder Management: Coordinated cross-functional teams, including marketing, engineering, quality assurance,
and third-party stakeholders such as contract manufacturers and investors, fostering collaboration and ensuring alignment towards common objectives.
  Technical Project Delivery and Debt Reduction: Delivered technical projects across multiple portfolios, effectively reducing technical debt by 40% and
cutting support workload by half, optimizing resource allocation, and enhancing operational efficiency.
 KPI Governance and Project Visibility: Implemented and managed KPI governance, enhancing project visibility and decision-making for senior Apple
leadership, ensuring transparency and accountability in project execution.

Scrum Master / Program Manager 12/2017 to 07/2019

PayPal (Client) – San Jose and India, CA
Teams/Projects: Taxation, Mobile Application (Android and iPhone)
 Increased team productivity by 60% through integrating capacity planning in sprint sessions, enhancing overall effectiveness.
 Managed a $1M budget, ensuring collaboration with Product, Design, and Engineering teams for optimal resource use.
 Led weekly defect triage meetings, significantly reducing open defects from 20 to 5 per week, improving product quality.
 Achieved a 25% reduction in development costs by strategizing product consolidation into a singular, streamlined offering.
 Conducted regular development demos for stakeholders, implementing zero regression defects in new code releases.
 Delivered 14 monthly releases, introducing new features on schedule, aligning with set budgets, milestones, and deadlines.
 Facilitated the training and onboarding of 500+ users, securing full adoption within a year, and establishing strong user trust.
 Played a pivotal role in enhancing cross-functional communication, ensuring alignment with senior executives.

Scrum Master/Program Manager-Quality 09/2016 to 12/2017

Facebook (Client) – Menlo Park, CA
Products/Teams: Facebook Portal, CRM tools, Chatbot implementations, Workflow creation,
 Directed full SDLC for the Facebook Portal project, collaborating with cross-functional teams for successful delivery.
 Provided critical feedback on UX designs, ensuring alignment with functional requirements and project objectives.
 Developed the Product Roadmap and designed Chatbot flows, optimizing customer interactions for a seamless experience.
 Implemented quality and testing cycles, identifying defects prior to product launch, ensuring high-quality releases.
 Utilized Selenium for application testing, establishing parameters to evaluate behavior in a data-driven framework effectively.
 Authored and approved comprehensive Test Scripts and Test Cases, overseeing QA processes to uphold product standards.
 Trained and guided project teams on the Scrum framework, facilitating sprint releases and enhancing team agility.
 Introduced an employee incentive program, significantly increasing staff engagement and motivation by 21%.

Business Analysis Intern – Blue Cross Blue Shield, San Jose, CA 01/2016 to 08/2016
 Developing and documenting business requirements: Analyzing business processes and identifying opportunities for improvement, gathering, and
documenting user requirements, and creating process models and diagrams.
 Analyzing data: Collecting, organizing, and analyzing data to identify trends and patterns, and to develop insights and recommendations.
 Designing solutions: Developing solutions to address business needs and creating detailed specifications for implementation.
 Developing test plans: Developing and executing test plans to ensure that solutions meet business requirements.
 Supporting implementation: Supporting the implementation of new solutions and providing training and user support.
 Managing projects: Defining project scope and objectives, developing project plans, and managing project resources.

Claims Manager – United Health Group, Wisconsin and India (2010-2014)

 Managed a team of 10 Claims Specialists, increasing efficiency by 22% through targeted training and developing streamlined workflow processes.
 Implemented new caseload management software, reducing claims processing time by 25%.
 Analyzed 500+ claims monthly, uncovering 3% of fraudulent claims and successfully saving $200K every quarter.
 Pioneered a customer service initiative that improved policyholder satisfaction scores by 30%.
 Exceeded target claim closures by 15% for three consecutive quarters while maintaining a 98% satisfaction rating from policyholders.
Technical Skills

 SQL, Jira, Tableau Dashboards, PowerBI, Confluence, MS Excel (Portfolio Roadmap), smart sheets, Asana
 Azure DevOps / CI-CD
 MS Office Suite & Google Workspace
 SAP S4HANA
 Test Driven Development, User Acceptance Testing
 Ethnio, Qualtrics, Azure DevOps
 Multiple Project Tracking tools
 Expertise in Excel formulas and creating Pivot Charts with realistic data.
 Tableau Dashboards
 Autocad Designer

Training & Certifications

 Advanced SAFe Scrum Master – SAFe,  PMP – Project Management

 SaFe – SPC Certified  Release Train Engineer. – SAFe
 Agile Certified Practitioner – PMI  Supply Chain Management, ERP
 SAFe DevOps – SAFe  Vendor Management.
 Lean Six Sigma  PgMP Certified – Program Management

Education

San Jose State University (Silicon Valley University), Master of Science in Computer Science, San Jose, CA – Graduated in 2016