Teresa Opalka, PMP

Greater New York City Area

Current
Past
  • VP, Senior Project Manager at Citi
  • Consultant at NESC, National Executive Service Corps
  • Senior Project Manager at American Express
Education
  • Pace University - Lubin School of Business
  • Pace University - Lubin School of Business
Recommended
Teresa has 10 recommendations 10 people have recommended Teresa
Connections
177 connections
Industry
Insurance

Teresa Opalka, PMP’s Summary

PMP Certified Project Management Leader with MBA and 15+ years of experience in the Insurance and Financial Services industry. Knowledge of General Ledger and Financial Reporting Systems. Solid history of successfully delivering solutions, managing development, enhancements, process improvements, implementing new tools and capabilities. Proven experience managing geographically diverse teams and/or matrix project team organization. Team player with strong ability to work independently with various business / non technical and technology resources. Ability to effectively manage time, prioritize work, and multi task across several project assignments. Effectively interacts and communicates with all levels of staff, management and vendors. Established / implemented standards and best practices which led to reduced costs, improved productivity, minimized risk, and/or reduced cycle times to improve the bottom line. Instructor and facilitator for Best Practice Project Management internal training.

Teresa Opalka, PMP’s Experience

  • Sr Project Manager/Process Engineer

    Swiss Re America Holding Corp

    (Public Company; RUKN; Insurance industry)

    October 2007 — Present (2 years 2 months)

    As member of internal consultancy group, support and deliver on a variety of engagements to internal customers through various roles including project lead, project consultant, project team member, process engineer. Partner with sponsors and business team leads in managing the business of their projects. Enable client teams to focus on work of an engagement by being responsible for managing the business and operations of the project. Manage virtual onshore / offshore project teams and resources. Deliver projects in line with business counterparts' expectations and strategic vision. Create and drive project status reporting for team communications and management tools. Manage relationships with multiple teams to ensure alignment in delivery of project objectives and goals. Ensure project/process discipline is adhered to and executed, ensure appropriate documentation and reporting quality based on internal Best Practices Project Management (BPPM) methodology, provide process expertise. Instructor and faciltator for BPPM training.

  • Member and Quality Committee Member

    PMI NYC Chapter

    (Non-Profit; Program Development industry)

    January 2002 — Present (7 years 11 months)

    NYC Chapter Member, volunteer on Quality Committee. Maintain and administer surveys to membership at monthly meetings, special events and annual chapter information gathering. Execute special projects as needed. Organized and facilitated focus groups with Chapter Board Members and Program Managers to solicit input and feedback to improve chapter membership and attendance at meetings and events; assessed results and presented to Board.

  • VP, Senior Project Manager

    Citi

    (Public Company; Financial Services industry)

    January 2003 — June 2007 (4 years 6 months)

    Spearheaded and led large strategic project testing specialty customer service team to respond to specifically routed incoming calls to improve customer performance and satisfaction. Created strategic Needs Assessment process that established a business specific plan for effective and influential learning that built upon practical experience. Created and facilitated focus groups with management teams and analysts to gather insights and requirements. Developed specialized business training materials. Identified and created communications for policies and guidelines. Accelerated business community training and development by delivering new tools and capabilities. Business System Administrator for Sharepoint. Conducted financial data analyses to identify process improvements. Enhanced policies, procedures, programs that communicated credit card pricing policy and positively influenced card member behaviors.

  • Consultant

    NESC, National Executive Service Corps

    (Non-Profit Organization Management industry)

    January 2002 — December 2002 (1 year )

    Consultant. Assisted non-profits to solve operational problems, strengthening management and technical capabilities. Provided recommendations on solutions for case study to resolve internal operations gaps of Westchester organization. Collaborated with President to create internal computer training workshop for consultants.

  • Senior Project Manager

    American Express

    (Public Company; Financial Services industry)

    August 1978 — August 2001 (23 years 1 month)

    Successfully allocated budgets for manpower and system resources to lead MIS reporting improvements: reducing mainframe unit costs, run times, labor hours. Automated repeat processes; standardized / created cost efficiencies; reduced annual system costs. Led development and implementation of new electronic data file transmission process which reduced cycle time, eliminated physical media, and produced cost savings. Successfully managed outsourcing of direct mail list processing to external vendor. Managed new product line development with external vendor that resulted in lower priced product for merchants. Initiated and managed development and testing of demo point of sale terminal; eliminated need for sales force to carry multiple terminals and active telephone lines; simulated authorization system responses for transactions.

Teresa Opalka, PMP’s Education

  • Pace University - Lubin School of Business

    Masters , Innovation, Technology and Quality Management , 1999 — 2001

    Activities and Societies:
    Selected to be inducted to Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society

  • Pace University - Lubin School of Business

    BA , Management Information Systems , 1984 — 1987

    Activities and Societies:
    Graduated Cum Laude

Additional Information

Teresa Opalka, PMP’s Groups:

Project Management Institute, Member and Quality Committee volunteer, PMP Certified

  •    Pace University Alumni,Faculty, Staff and Students
  •    Project Management Link - www.pmlink.org
  •    Project Manager Networking Group
  •    Citi Network
  •    New York Yankees Fans
  •    Certified Project, Program & Portfolio Managers
  •    Project Management Institute NYC Chapter (PMI NYC)
  •    American Express Network
  •    Women For Hire
  •    Right Management - Alumni and Employees
  •    Beta Gamma Sigma - The International Honor Society Recognizing Business Excellence
  •    Swiss Re

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