Cindy Johnson

Current

• Owner and Principal at Make IT Pay Consulting

Past

• Senior Managing Consultant, IT Strategy and Change Management Practice at IBM Global Business Services
• VP and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at infoUSA.com
• WW Program Executive, Outsourcing and Professional Services Division at Hewlett Packard

• VP and Chief Information Officer (CIO) at LSI Logic
• Executive VP, CIO, and Officer, Business Information Management -- resps. broader than CIO at Husky Oil (Company sold)
• Director, Server & Worldwide Network Operations & Security at Apple Computer
• Director, Server & Worldwide Network Operations & Security; Customer Support Mgr. at Amdahl

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Education

• University of California, Berkeley
• University of Arkansas
• University of Arkansas

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Recommended

4 people have recommended Cindy

Connections

166 connections

Industry

Information Technology and Services

Websites

• My Company

Cindy Johnson’s Summary

Established in 1996, our focus is improving IT & Product Development delivery success through Interim Executive & Consulting Services. See www.makeITpayconsulting.com

Cindy Johnson has 25+ years experience creating & implementing winning business & technology strategies across various industries from Hi-Tech, to oil & gas, to leading edge manufacturing & semiconductor companies.

For IBM, HP, Apple Computer, Amdahl, as well as Silicon Valley .coms -- she has held positions such as:

• IBM Global Business Services (GBS) IT Strategy Engagement Lead

• HP Professional Services & Outsourcing Executive (P&L)

• Owner & Principal, Make IT Pay Consulting (since 1996)

• EVP/CIO ($2B, $6B)

• CTO (Web)

• Data Center, Networking, IT Security Executive

Major achievements include: Led average staff size of 260, $65MM budgets; delivered critical enterprise software ($5 - $20 million) -- project teams of 150+, many in 75% less time than forecast; ran some of the West Coast’s largest data centers.

Johnson has consulted with Fortune 500 companies such as Applied Materials ($8B), Business Objects ($1B, acquired by SAP), Network Appliance ($2.7B), Cadence Design Systems ($1B) -- to name a few. Sample engagements include:

o Interim Executive

o Triggered by the merger of two $500MM companies completed the integration of IT, delivering 40% greater savings than forecast.

o CIO adviser on outsourcing strategy & implementer of opportunities that met "outsourcing readiness criteria". In one case saved 55%.

o Engagement team lead -- assessed over 100 IT applications proposing a re-architecture & consolidation into an enterprise suite.

o Worked with the EVP, Customer Service to discover why there was poor customer adoption of a critical hardware diagnostic tool. Conducted large enterprise customer satisfaction survey delivering 40+ software product changes including resolution of enterprise security & Sarbanes Oxley risks.

Cindy Johnson’s Specialties:

CONSULTING ENGAGEMENTS www.makeITpayconsulting.com

• Cost Takeout

• Sourcing

• Program Management

• Preventing/Remedying Delivery Failure

• Vendor or Organizational Delivery Effectiveness Assessments

• Interim Executive

• Product Management -- Remedy poor customer adoption/retention

• Assess & Improve Customer Satisfaction

• Competitive Bidding

• Merger Integration of Organizations & Assets

• Strategic Planning

Cindy Johnson’s Experience

• Owner and Principal

  Make IT Pay Consulting

  (Privately Held; Management Consulting industry)

  January 1996 — Present (13 years 11 months)

  Consulted with Fortune 500 companies such as Applied Materials, Business Objects (acquired by SAP), Network Appliance, as well as a variety of small to medium sized businesses.
  
  Below is a summary of key deliverables from my most recent engagement:
  
  Interim Program Executive, Global Infrastructure Operations -- $1B Business Intelligence Software firm -- completed the merger of two large IT organizations.
  
  o Saved $12.5 MM or 55% of the in-scope budget by outsourcing the Wide Area Network and rebidding voice & wireless services while avoiding over $3 MM in termination fees.
  
  o Led data center consolidations (from 9 to 2) reducing total server count from 1625+ by 27% (i.e. 366 servers), avoiding the purchase of 65 new servers by redeploying existing. Avoided running out of Data Center Space and avoided the need to acquire an additional 7200 square feet of new space.
  
  o CIO adviser on potential outsourcing opportunities in various phases of initiation/award/implementation.

• Senior Managing Consultant, IT Strategy and Change Management Practice

  IBM Global Business Services

  (Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; IBM; Information Technology and Services industry)

  March 2007 — December 2007 (10 months)

  Most recent engagement: Performed as the Engagement Lead for a $1.6B Electronic Design Automation firm: Applications and Business Process assessment.
  
  o Led the team that assessed over 100 IT applications and identified all level 1, 2, & 3 business processes in-scope for this set of applications.
  
  o Recommended a new enterprise architecture leveraging the existing enterprise suite, as well as identified critical business process improvements based on "industry leading best practices".
  
  o Delivered a combined road map of improvements to accomplish the new "desired state". Also made improvement recommendations in IT Governance, IT staffing and organization, IT strategy, and other areas of IT where observed.

• VP and Chief Technology Officer (CTO)

  infoUSA.com

  (Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; IUSA; Marketing and Advertising industry)

  May 2000 — November 2000 (7 months)

  Company closed doors due to lack of funding
  
  Spearheaded all web site, and wireless software development, as well as responsible for hosting decisions, and delivery of internal information systems.
  
  o Re-architected a high transaction volume web site (1.5 million page views/day), circumventing web sales losses of $500,000 a month by resolving serious and time critical scalability, performance and capacity issues. Evaluated and selected a Java™ technology-based Web application server product (i.e. BEA, Websphere…) to replace custom code that could not scale. By prioritizing technology investment, maximized delivery of on-time technology projects, with higher quality results and greater revenue impact, while lowering technology and development staffing spending.

• WW Program Executive, Outsourcing and Professional Services Division

  Hewlett Packard

  (Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; HPQ; Information Technology and Services industry)

  November 1998 — May 2000 (1 year 7 months)

  Action-driven leadership of cross-functional team of sales, marketing, finance, and technical project management resources that developed and delivered new worldwide web hosting services business (P&L).
  
  o For this services business, led the development of the business and product plan, determined pricing, did competitive analysis, performed extensive market research, provided sales support and training, wrote customer RFP responses and designed technical solutions. Key speaker at product launches.
  - Earning $40 million, exceeded targeted revenue goal in the first partial year of delivery.
  - Determined the organizational delivery capabilities of the internal HP Data Centers, Networks, Technical Support, and Security & Disaster Recovery staffs’ to be able to meet the delivery requirements of this new web hosting business.
  
  o Led the division’s strategic plan.

• VP and Chief Information Officer (CIO)

  LSI Logic

  (Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; LSI; Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing industry)

  June 1992 — October 1995 (3 years 5 months)

  Challenged to redesign and rebuild Information System and Technology (IS&T) delivery, overseeing staff of 200 worldwide employees, budget of $38 million.
  
  o Prevented up to $400 million in revenue losses, during a crisis, by rewriting 600,000 lines of code for a mission critical software application used in LSI’s Japanese wafer FAB. Delivered critical software applications for a savings of $65 million/year and loss avoidance of $92 million/month in revenue. Rebuilt information systems, implementing ERP, CIM, Peoplesoft HR, CRM (Siebel),Disaster Recovery, and rebuilt the software development staff to align with new business strategies and new technology skill requirements.
  
  o Working with the LSI executive team, drafted the LSI Corporate Strategy -- presented it for executive approval. Delivered an IS&T three-year strategic plan.
  
  o Skilled at writing RFPs and competitively bidding large outsourcing and “Big 5” SI contracts ranging in size from $5 million to $100 million.

• Executive VP, CIO, and Officer, Business Information Management -- resps. broader than CIO

  Husky Oil (Company sold)

  (Privately Held; 1001-5000 employees; Oil & Energy industry)

  March 1991 — June 1992 (1 year 4 months)

  16 month assignment (company sold), reported to the CEO as one of five executive officers. Led a staff of 160, total combined budget of $50 million, with responsibilities broader than CIO.
  
  o Delivered Board of Director presentations on corporate financial results, led the corporate strategic plan, led business process benchmarking & transformation, on cross functional team prioritizing & selecting corporate investments. After benchmarking Husky’s key business metrics, led an executive improvement team that saved more than $20 million in the first nine months.
  
  o Successfully re-bid and delivered $20 million of information systems & technology for a new, multi-billion dollar, joint venture refinery that was among the most sophisticated in the world. This project involved the selection and implementation of a complete set of Hydrocarbon and business systems (i.e. SAP), in 7 months, in 75% less time then originally forecast. Current yearly revenue for this refinery is $1.2 billion.

• Director, Server & Worldwide Network Operations & Security

  Apple Computer

  (Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; AAPL; Computer Hardware industry)

  June 1988 — May 1990 (2 years )

  Specially recruited by Apple’s CIO as one of four architects to redesign the IS&T delivery organization. Responsibilities encompassed seven of Apple’s largest global data centers, and a worldwide voice and data network, managing 238 employees and a budget of $64 million.
  
  o Rebuilt technical staff as well as hired and promoted 15 new managers, re-setting direction to provide leadership in delivering financially responsible customer service. Created a three-year strategic direction, developing a state-of-the-art infrastructure to replace seven computing architectures, 17 data centers and 18 communication networks. Saved $9.4 million through contract re-negotiation and by “reigning in” spending on consultants. Challenged to cut the IS&T budget by 10% to 25% every quarter.

• Director, Server & Worldwide Network Operations & Security; Customer Support Mgr.

  Amdahl

  (Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; AMD; Semiconductors industry)

  March 1979 — June 1988 (9 years 4 months)

  Led 4 data centers, staff of 220, $63 million budget -- considered among the largest and most complex on the West Coast. The data centers were:
  
  o Worldwide production data center & global network staff of 180. These responsibilities included: 40 technical support programmers, global voice & data network & data center operations, client support help desk, security & disaster recovery. Led designing and building a new data center.
  
  o Other three data centers were: Customer benchmarking, UNIX software development, Engineering product certification center.
  
  MANAGER, TECHNICAL SUPPORT SERVICES - Managed 40 Technical Support programmers. 1982 to 1985
  
  CUSTOMER SUPPORT MANAGER, STAFF SOFTWARE INSTRUCTOR (MVS INTERNALS), AMDAHL 1979 to 1982
  
  Earned recognition as the "Top Customer Service Manager in the U.S.", helping to close in excess of $16 million of server business -- responsible for large accounts in the San Jose to San Francisco, CA territory.

Cindy Johnson’s Education

• University of California, Berkeley

  Certificate , Internet Business and Technology, Web Development speciality , 2002

  300 hour Certificate program.

• University of Arkansas

  MSIE , M.S. Operations Research in Industrial Engineering – emphasis in Computer Science

• University of Arkansas

  BS, School of Business , B.S. Public Administration – emphasis in Business

Additional Information

Cindy Johnson’s Websites:

• My Company

Cindy Johnson’s Groups:

•    HP Alumni
•    The Greater IBM Connection: IBM's alumni program for past and present IBM employees
•    Worldwide Management Consultants (23,000+ members)
•    CEO Club
•    CXO (CEO, COO, CKO, CFO, CMO, CAO, CVO, CDO, CRO, CLO, CSO & CTO) Community
•    CIOs.com: Chief Information Officer Network
•    IBM co/ex workers independent group
•    IBMers
•    Amdahl Alumni
•    HP Connections
•    Consulting Opportunities

Cindy Johnson’s Honors:

o Amdahl (9 year tenure) -- Honored to be in the “key employee program”, a special recognition awarded to the top 1% of all employees; Top Customer Service Manager in the U.S. based on Customer Satisfaction rankings; Summit Super Achiever for development and delivery of a revenue producing Customer Training curriculum