Profile
I am a Senior Technical Business Analyst, UX Designer, and Certified Scrum Master from the Greater Boston area. I enjoy helping teams solve complex problems with technical solutions.
Curtis' diverse skill set and experience includes serving as a Certified Scrum Master (CSM), Technical Business Analyst, Project Manager, and implementing web solutions. He has an MS in Information Technology from Southern New Hampshire University (GPA: 3.945). Curtis has five years of full time business/systems analysis and project management experience for leading global information technology companies. Including another seven years’ full time experience project managing and developing web based solutions for well-known organizations.Skills
Experience
Senior Technical Business Analyst and Certified Scrum Master (CSM) @ Amadeus IT Group
July 2015 - Present
As a Scrum Master:
- Leading daily standups (10-15 minutes each) to clarify what each team member worked on the prior day, plans/accomplishments for current day, and if there were any blockers. Follow up and escalation of blockers as necessary.
- Leading grooming sessions to review and size stories.
- Compilation of a sprint demo slide deck, and presenting sprint progress/metrics to Product Owners and Scrum of Scrum at the end of the sprint. Developers present stories in this demo.
- Leading a retrospective at the end of every sprint to identify items that went well/not well. Creation of action items and assignment of owners for any items to improve.
- Working with the Product Owner to plan sprints, and suggest stories to move out/in depending on capacity restrictions and priorities. Confirm the plan with the team, and communicate commitment to Scrum of Scrum (SoS).
- Serving as a primary point of contact for the team for questions/issues, while working with the Product Owner.
- Certified ScrumMaster® (CSM) since August 2016 for an Amadeus UI development team.
- Assisted/advised a second UI development team from June 2017 - January 2018.
Sr. Technical Business Analyst
- Writing stories, and assigning epics and dependencies to those stories. Confirming requirements with various teams, including Product Management.
- Primary responsibilities entail defining product requirements (UI focus), rapid prototyping/wireframe creation, UML diagram creation, and supporting Developers while liaising with other teams.
- Documentation was highly technical – for example: System Sequence Diagrams showing end user activity, API/back end service requests and responses, and describing the purpose of such activity. In other cases, documentation included business flow diagrams, concept diagrams, and data dictionaries.
- Customer facing role (working with Intercontinental Hotel Group, a.k.a. IHG).
- This was a regular, full time role on site with Amadeus through a consulting firm called XDIN Technology, Inc. (an Alten company). With XDIN, I was a Senior Solution Architect.
- Role is within Amadeus' Strategic Growth Businesses (SGB) division, Overall User Interface (OUI) team.
IT Business Analyst @ Thunderhead
April 2012 - July 2015
- Authored a detailed training document and 100+ page SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) for a new sales and customer onboarding process implemented in Salesforce.
- Designed, built, and documented a bulk user upload tool that enabled the organization to on-board multiple accounts in a customer community. This tool used the Jive REST API, JSON, and Curl.
- Project managed office IT expansion and ultimately, an office move. Ensured all ISP services and office infrastructure was fully moved and implemented on time.
- Managed and helped implement a centrally-managed Kaspersky end-point protection system (network agents, workstation and server clients, policies, user support).
- Evaluated HCM/HRCM/HRMS solutions. Assisted HR with technical implementation of an HCM (Vana, now FinancialForce HCM).
- Tech lead for a customer community portal implementation (Jive).
UI Designer @ Thunderhead
August 2011 - April 2012
- Responsible for creating user interfaces for a cutting-edge cloud application from Balsamiq wireframes/Photoshop mock-ups (HTML, CSS and using jQuery components).
- Ensuring coded designs match wires and mock-ups with pixel-perfect precision.
- Research and implementation of cutting-edge technology, frameworks, etc. (i.e. HTML5 Boilerplate, 960.gs, fluid and responsive web design/development, LESS/SaSS, web fonts, CSS3, HTML5, best practices).
Web Developer @ Tarsus Ventures, a division of Tarsus Group plc
December 2008 - August 2011
- Responsible for the technical project management and web development for the following web sites: TSNN.com, OffPriceShow.com, OffPriceNews.com, RecruitingTrends.com, TheRecruitingConference.com.
- Innovative email marketing and campaign management for small to large outbound email campaigns.
- Reviewing web site metrics and implementing creative strategy for improving Tarsus’ web sites.
- Advising/implementing SEO and social media strategy.
Web Marketing / Communications Manager @ Vicon Publishing, Inc.
January 2007 - August 2008
- Managed web marketing/administration for the company’s corporate web site, ViconPublishing.com in addition to their trade publication web sites.
- Introduced new advertising channel using Google AdSense.
- Redesigned e-newsletters for Forensic Magazine®, Lab Manager Magazine® and Controlled Environments Magazine® for optimal exposure to ads while providing a more visually appealing newsletter.
- Managed email marketing initiatives for company.
- Web traffic analysis and reporting (via Google Analytics).
- Created sales support documents (print and electronic), content preparation of misc. marketing pieces, etc.
Webmaster @ Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE)
January 2006 - January 2007
- Managed CIEE’s web platform, including corporate intranet, client extranets and public web sites (CIEE.org, etc.)
- Published various new CIEE marketing material on the web and editing existing material as necessary.
- Managed email marketing campaigns via Lyris ListManager, web-based surveys using Questionmark and online training/orientation sessions via WebEx Meeting Center.
- Responsible for web traffic analysis and reporting (via WebTrends Analytics 8).
- Implemented successful Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing strategies.
Education
MS, Information Technology @ Southern New Hampshire University
GPA: 3.945
BS, Web Management & Internet Commerce @ Plymouth State University
English Minor @ Plymouth State University
Services
UX Design
Creating wireframes for new applications/system enhancements (experience using Axure RP 8 Team Edition, and Balsamiq Mockups).
Technical Business Analysis
With nearly 6 years full time experience.
Project Management
As a Certified Scrum Master (CSM).
Certifications
Testimonials
If you want something done, Curtis is your man. I’ve been working with Curtis on a massive hospitality project, and I saw his evolution as he became more knowledgeable on the different functionalities and tools. He’s very professional: taking care of all responsibilities, sticking to the plan, and making things advance in the right direction. Highly recommended!
Alessandro Trezzi - UX Designer at Amadeus IT Group
Curtis was a part of my direct team for more than a year in Thunderhead. He has many abilities and I am happy to recommend him in terms of being a Team player, having an Eye for detail and the Ability to learn new skills in a short period of time. Curtis demonstrated significant growth during 2014-2015 in terms of technical project management and stakeholder management skills while also ‘wearing many hats’ during the course of projects delivery. Curtis gets along with the rest of the team – be it internal stakeholders or managing the vendor delivery teams. I wish him All the Best for the Future.
Brajesh Chandra - Principal Business Architect at Thunderhead
I am pleased and privileged to write this recommendation for Curtis. Curtis and I worked very closely on a number of projects for the desktop support team. He has always been willing to help out and learn new things as well as use his skills to contribute positively to the projects he managed. He always managed our relationship with upper management well and ensured that we met all of management's business requirements. His writing and organizational skills are extremely valuable and his leadership truly helped us meet our goals. I know that Curtis has an amazing career ahead of him as a business analyst because of his tenacity and willingness to help the enterprise meet its goals by having a smile and finding solutions to complex problems. A great colleague to work with!
Victor Ramirez - IT Service Delivery Engineer at Thunderhead