Paul R. Williams, PMP

Current

• Sr. Manager-PMO & IT Innovation Champion at Thrivent Financial
• Executive Director at Think For A Change, LLC.

Past

• Technical Project Manager at Infinity Technology
• Director of Legal Technology at Liebmann, Conway, Olejniczak & Jerry, S.C.

Education

• University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point

Recommended

1 person has recommended Paul R.

Connections

138 connections

Industry

Management Consulting

Paul R. Williams, PMP’s Summary

* Author of “The Innovation Manager’s Desk Reference” published by Lulu and available on Amazon.com (ISBN: 978-0-557-05250-9)
* Featured in October 2009 issue of PM Network magazine, the official monthly periodical of the Project Management Institute, within the article titled, “Innovate or Die.” (Pgs. 58-63)

* Nine years of successful innovation management, organizational creativity, new product/service development and executive leadership experience
* Executive Director of Think For A Change, LLC, a private innovation think tank exploring idea development systems, innovation management programs and other corporate innovation initiatives
* 2000 Graduate of Disney Institute Program on Managing for Innovation and Creativity
* Process improvement leadership utilizing Six Sigma, Design for Six Sigma, DMAIC, TQM and TRIZ methodologies

* Fourteen years of proven successful information technology, business strategy and innovation project, program and portfolio management experience
* Effective and motivational leadership of project and functional teams with membership of up to 35 individuals
* Project management experience includes project, program and portfolio initiatives lasting up to four years in duration with budgets in excess of $20,000,000 in earned value
* Experience using Project Management Institute Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBoK), Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC), Rational Unified Process (RUP), and Rapid Prototyping (RaPro) project management concepts

* National conference speaking experience:
- 2009 Business Innovation Conference – Wheaton, IL
- 2009 Product Development & Management Assoc. Annual International Conference – Anaheim, CA
- 2008 Product Development & Management Assoc. Annual International Conference – Orlando, FL
- 2008 ProjectWorld/World Congress for Business Analysts Regional Conference – San Diego, CA
- 2006 ProjectWorld/World Congress for Business Analysts National Conference – Orlando, FL

Paul R. Williams, PMP’s Specialties:

Innovation Strategy & Management, Idea Management Systems, Ideation Session Facilitation, Project/Program/Portfolio Management, New Product Development, Innovation Management Maturity, Customer Ethnography

Paul R. Williams, PMP’s Experience

• Sr. Manager-PMO & IT Innovation Champion

  Thrivent Financial

  (Non-Profit; Financial Services industry)

  April 2005 — Present (4 years 8 months)

  Responsible For:
  
  IT Innovation Management Office:
  * Innovation & Idea Management Process Development
  * Innovation Research, Analysis & Development
  * Development of Metrics & Systems of Measurement
  * Design & Maintenance of Innovation Reward/Recognition System
  * Management & Oversight of Budgets and Portfolios
  * Organizational Innovation & Creativity Culture Change Management
  
  Project, Program and Portfolio Management Responsibilities:
  * Project portfolio leadership for IT Operations and Regulatory/Compliance Divisions to include technical infrastructure and operational risk management strategy-related projects/programs
  * Program leadership for collection of projects launched to improve IT effectiveness and process/project delivery
  * Directed development of project management governance “right sizing” process
  * Developed joint business and IT leadership team to facilitate knowledge sharing, business need/IT requirement alignment sessions and project prioritization

• Executive Director

  Think For A Change, LLC.

  (Privately Held; Management Consulting industry)

  May 2000 — Present (9 years 7 months)

  Responsible For:
  
  * Focused innovation, organizational creativity and idea generation consulting services for clients ranging from small, non-profit organizations to Fortune 500 corporations
  * Organizational innovation management maturity assessments
  * Innovation and idea management system development, establishment of innovation-related metric systems and creative/innovative culture assessments
  * Idea Center/War Room and Innovation Center of Excellence design and development services
  * Keynote, workshop and other presentation services on the topics of corporate and personal creativity, innovation systems, and idea management
  * Author of the following business models: Tactical Idea Generation, Continuous Innovation and IM2 – Innovation Maturity Model
  * Author of the Think For A Change Innovation Blog: http://blog.thinkforachange.com
  * For more information, please see: http://www.thinkforachange.com

• Technical Project Manager

  Infinity Technology

  (Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Information Technology and Services industry)

  February 2003 — April 2005 (2 years 3 months)

  Responsible For:
  
  * IT project leadership for Networking and Telecommunications Divisions to include project integration, scope, time, cost, quality, resource, communications, risk and procurement management processes
  * Networking Division project success rate improvement from 75% to 92% in twelve months
  * Telecommunications Division project success rate improvement from 44% to 87% in twelve months
  * Formation and management of the Project Management Office to develop lessons learned, best practices, documentation, templates, forms and training/sales material
  * Strategic planning for client based network infrastructure solution

• Director of Legal Technology

  Liebmann, Conway, Olejniczak & Jerry, S.C.

  (Partnership; 51-200 employees; Law Practice industry)

  June 1997 — February 2003 (5 years 9 months)

  Responsible for:
  * Introduction of IT project and risk management principles to the data networking and telecommunications operations of the firm
  * IT business unit administration to include budgeting, strategic planning, leadership vision of technical infrastructure, and responsive internal/external technical support services
  * Network resource availability improvement from 73.25% to 99.75% in the span of six months
  * Administration, development, documentation, and troubleshooting of a 7 server, 60 node Local Area Network (LAN) to include groupware, email and voicemail systems
  * Novell NetWare and GroupWise, Microsoft Windows2000 Server, and Citrix-based network administration
  * Hardware and software troubleshooting, training and maintenance
  * Design and maintenance of corporate web presence, intranet, and extranet portal

Paul R. Williams, PMP’s Education

• University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point

  Bachelor of Science , Political Science & Public Personnel Administration , 1986 — 1990

  Activities and Societies:

  Model United Nations, Political Science Student Organization, College Republicans

Additional Information

Paul R. Williams, PMP’s Interests:

Innovation and idea generation, organizational creativity, fishing, waterfowl hunting, birding, gardening and home improvement

Paul R. Williams, PMP’s Groups:

Product Development & Management Association (PDMA), Project Management Institute (PMI), PMI-New Product Development Special Interest Group (PMI-NPDSIG), PMI-Financial Services Special Interest Group (PMI-FSSIG), PMI-Information Services Special Interest Group (PMI-ISSIG), PMI-IT & Telecom SIG (PMI-IT&TSIG), LOMA Society of Greater Wisconsin

•    Executive Suite
•    Product Development and Management Association
•    KIVA
•    Killer Idea Developers (KID)
•    Innovation People Expert Innovators Creative Network
•    Project Management Link - www.pmlink.org
•    Global Program and Project Networking Group (9400+)
•    Igniting Innovation
•    Bright Ideas & Entrepreneurs
•    Consultants Network
•    Creativity Champions
•    Innovation Management Group
•    Front End of Innovation
•    Speakers and Panelists
•    PMI NEW
•    Innovative New Product & Service Innovators & Inventors
•    MindManager Enthusiasts
•    Innovation and Entrepreneurship
•    Business & Strategy Consulting
•    Killer Innovations
•    PM Professional Network
•    ProjectWorld & The World Congress for Business Analysts
•    IT Innovation Council
•    BrightIdea Innovation Experts
•    Management Consulting Professionals
•    New North Connection
•    Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Employees and Alumni
•    UWSP- University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point
•    twitter innovators Innovation & Creativity Network of Tweeters
•    TFCN
•    Innovation Immersion
•    Sustainable Innovation
•    Creative Solutions
•    Wired Wisconsin
•    PMI New Product Development
•    Innovation Management Institute
•    PDMA Wisconsin Chapter - Product Development and Management Association
•    De Pere Area Chamber of Commerce
•    Board Of Innovation
•    New Product Development, Innovation and Growth
•    Innovate the Future
•    Continuous Innovation
•    PMI Information Systems Specific Interest Group (PMI-ISSIG)

Paul R. Williams, PMP’s Honors:

Project Management Professional, IT Project+, Disney Institute Program on Managing for Creativity & Innovation, Novell CNE, Novell CNA, Citrix CCA, Microsoft MCP

Paul R. Williams, PMP’s Contact Settings

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