Christopher L. Smith, MBA, PMP, ACP
678.612.7272 * clsmith13@gmail.com

Mission Statement


Seeking technology leadership opportunities where my experience can be leveraged
to build (or re-build) world-class IT teams via value articulation and team empowerment.

Professional Experience

Inspire Brands- QSR Industry
2022
Senior Consulting Program Manager (contracted via Vaco)
  • Program and project manager responsibilities for corporate-wide ERP system integration
  • Program and project manager responsibilities for workforce management implementation
  • Program manager responsibilities for Arby's Restaurant Technology
  • Program manager responsibilities for Buffalo Wild Wings Restaurant Technology
  • Program and project manger responsibilities for Jimmy John's Restaurant Technology
  • Program manager responsibilities for SONIC Drive-In Restaurant Technology


SA IT Services- IT Managed Services Industry 
2021
VP, IT & Managed Services Delivery
  • Managed & developed relationships with local SMB clients
    (delivering technology services including remote support, equipment procurement,
    network management, and information security)
  • Managed internal IT team (supporting ~100 employees)


Herschend Family Entertainment- Hospitality/Entertainment Industry
2013-2020
Director, PMO
  • Established & managed IT governance process & documentation templates
    for corporate HQ + 6 theme parks and aquariums
  • Managed & improved change management process across enterprise
  • Reorganized & consolidated annual R&R process
    (including laptop/desktop endpoints, POS systems, & IT infrastructure)
  • Planned & managed virtualization of corporate tech stack (800+ workloads)
  • Coordinated launch of 2nd remote data center
  • Designed & facilitated guest wireless network at two 100+ acre theme parks
  • Managed multi-million dollar OPEX budgets for IT and InfoSec organizations
  • Managed transition to new telecom service provider for multiple properties
    (resulting in $10K-$50K of annual operational savings)
Sr. Project Manager
  • Led technology construction efforts for Dollywood's DreamMore Resort (300+ rooms), 
    involving concurrent management of 25+ construction elements/sub-projects


InterContinental Hotels Group- Hospitality Industry
2007-2013
Regional Integration & Innovation Manager
  • Manage team charged with development & support of operations scheduling application
  • Manage support organization for systems related to hotel management (contract management, content management, CRM solution, etc.)
  • Manage regional integration efforts for systems related to hotel management
  • Manage major innovation and communications focus for systems related to hotel management
Development Manager
  • Manage team of developers, business analysts, and project managers (with matrix management of test engineers) who develop and support contracts database and UI
  • Manage team of developers, business analysts, and project managers (with matrix management of test engineers) who develop SOA-based services for back-end databases
  • Remotely manage support organization for multiple IT applications (including contract management, CRM, opening management, content management, and reporting tools)
B2B Project Manager
  • Project manage B2B partners (esp., partnerships focused on loyalty initiatives and performance marketing)
  • Project manage capital improvement projects (e.g., refactoring/revamping XML specs)
IT Program Coordinator
  • Provided program coordination/support for multi-channel development organization (including Web, call centers, B2B, and on-premises customer interfaces)
  • Provided program management (i.e., cross-channel coordination) for large multi-discipline projects
  • Assisted with resource planning & scheduling
  • Prepared and presented summaries for IT governance review
IT Project Manager
  • Project managed web development for corporate rewards program
  • Project managed various website development initiatives for corporate brands (e.g., InterContinental, Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza)
TeknoCoach™ is the premier "technology coaching" service for small/medium-sized businesses."Technology coaching" is slightly different than "technology consulting", which tends to be about locating a solution (usually involving a fairly large capital investment in new software and/or hardware) and selling (or reselling) it. "Technology consulting" also is something a "guru" comes in, provides, and then leaves (with maybe some outsourced ongoing support)."Technology coaching" is all about combining consulting with training; working with businesses to understand what they currently have in their possession, what they can do with it, and helping them identify a roadmap for how (and when) to move forward.The overall idea is to release at least some (if not most) of the client's ongoing IT anxiety (i.e., not knowing what works and what doesn't, not knowing what's new, not knowing what's reasonable, etc.) by helping them to become reasonably "tech savvy".

Assurant Solutions (acquired from Zurich, N.A.)- Insurance Industry
2002-2007
R&D Manager
  • Founded and managed research and quality improvement organization 
    (including a technology lab used for investigation and forecasting)
  • Led design, construction, and maintenance of large knowledge base
  • Led requirements specification and testing efforts for client-specific IVR implementations
  • Led requirements specification and testing efforts for client-specific website implementations
  • Led requirements specification, testing, and administrative functions for large customer contact database

Sonus Networks (formerly telecom technologies, inc.)- Telecom Industry
2000-2001
INIP PoweredSM Partner Program Manager
  • Managed relationships with over 66 business partners, such as Cisco Systems and InterVoice
  • Coordinated interoperability testing logistics

Nortel Networks-  Telecom Industry
1993-2000
Manager- CS3000 Systems Engineering
  • Hired and managed team of systems engineers responsible for statistical test data review and analysis
Manager- CS3000 Release Management
  • Managed a team of project managers, including data management and trending
  • Conducted weekly project reviews to senior management
Chief Strategist- Y2K Corporate Program Office
  • Conducted corporate business continuity planning with multiple teams, served as the corporate liaison to FCC and other industry groups and developed and delivered presentations of Y2K status and strategy
  • Contributed to monthly executive officer briefings
Project Manager- Broadband Carrier Networks Y2K Program Office
  • Performed project management duties for over 20 development teams (including DMS switches, AIN architectures, and Network Management Systems) and utilized business planning that included multiple business disciplines
Member of Scientific Staff
  • Technical design and documentation for DMS switches involving domestic & international signaling
  • Supervised code changes including intelligent network interactions, planning for migration to object-oriented implementation and call processing enhancements

Education

Bachelor of Science, Computer Science (College of Engineering)
Texas Tech University (1993) 

B.S. – Computer Science
Executive Masters of Business Administration
Kennesaw State University (2022)

Certifications

Project Management Professional (PMP)-
PMI (June 2020)

Agile Certified Practitioner (ACP)-
PMI (January 2021)

Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO)-
Scrum Alliance (November 2021)

Lean Six Sigma Black Belt
CSSC (July 2020)

ITIL Foundation Certificate in IT Service Management
AXELOS (July 2020)

Competent Leader (CL)-

Competent Toastmaster (CTM)-

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