Rick A. Sulz

Program Management

Consistently delivering a wide range of complex, enterprise-wide technology projects for 18+ years. 


With my foundation in IT infrastructure, software engineering, support and eCommerce, I currently specialize in: software engineering (SDLC), IT infrastructure and cloud migration. I’ve mastered working with highly technical project teams, business partners, functional teams, vendors, independent contractors and executives to plan, manage & deliver quality work within an optimal schedule.

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EXPERIENCE

PROGRAM MANAGER, Software Eng & Technology

CoreLogic, Irvine, CA (July 2021 – Current)

Specializing in cloud (GCP) migrations and high-profile enterprise technology programs.

  • Plan and monitor program execution
  • Coordinate projects and interdependencies
  • Manage cross-project resources
  • Manage stakeholder communications, negotiations, and problem-solving
  • Regularly facilitates implementation, status and milestone meetings with cross functional groups

 

SENIOR PROJECT MANAGER, Software Eng & Technology

CoreLogic, Irvine, CA (January 2020 – June 2021)

Responsible for managing the largest BU portfolio migration to cloud (GCP), resulting in $3M+ annual cost savings, improved performance, tighter security and rapid scalability.

  • Successfully migrated (168) deployable units, (416) databases, (250 TB) data within schedule
  • Coordinated project pre-work including PCF migrations and database upgrades
  • Develops project plans specifying goals, milestones, strategy, staffing, scheduling, identification of risks, contingency plans, budgets, and allocation of available resources
  • Regularly facilitates implementation, status and milestone meetings with cross functional groups
  • Captures data, takes minutes, and tracks action items. Also determines needs and facilitates ad hoc meetings to resolve issues as required by project status
  • Uses metrics and data to determine risk at the beginning of each project and assesses risk throughout to identify situations that may cause risk to the project and its completion

SENIOR PROJECT MANAGER (Contractor), eCommerce

CoreLogic, Irvine, CA (December 2018 – December 2020)

Responsible for managing multiple projects from conception through final implementation which grew a brand-new eCommerce platform into a $500k+ channel in under one year. Served as a single point of contact for product owners, functional SME’s, stakeholders and TPM’s ensuring functional team alignment so that activities and deliverables would be executed on time, on budget and at the highest level of quality possible.

  • Partners with end users, sponsors, and/or business leaders to review, understand and prioritize business goals and information needs related to each project
  • Develops project plans specifying goals, milestones, strategy, staffing, scheduling, identification of risks, contingency plans, budgets, and allocation of available resources
  • Regularly facilitates implementation, status and milestone meetings with cross functional groups
  • Captures data, takes minutes, and tracks action items. Also determines needs and facilitates ad hoc meetings to resolve issues as required by project status
  • Uses metrics and data to determine risk at the beginning of each project and assesses risk throughout to identify situations that may cause risk to the project and its completion

IT SPECIALIST, Project Delivery

Macy’s Systems & Technology, New York, NY (February 2017 – May 2018)

Appointed to special role focused on delivering complex projects within our Critical Selling Segment (CSS) environments. Coordinated internal teams with vendors and app teams.

  • Consistently managed the success and delivery of a wide range of projects:
    • Application upgrades and system migrations
    • Software development (SDLC)
    • Enterprise-wide OS upgrades
    • Enterprise-wide security improvements
  • Responsible for overseeing IBM delivery (Project Managers, Architects and specialists)
  • Acting program manager for marketing & advertising systems (DAM, MRM, CMS)
  • Reported project health to EPMO using Jira and Confluence
  • Worked with technical teams by submitting CR’s and tickets inside ServiceNow
  • Facilitated “Tiger Team” to resolve complex technical issues as a special project

 

IT MANAGER, Marketing Systems

Macy’s Systems & Technology, New York, NY (April 2012 – January 2017)

Promoted to manage marketing systems, IT budgets, roadmaps, vendor contracts and Tier 3 support. Delivered enterprise-wide projects consistently while maintaining outstanding support and stability.

  • Oversaw system performance, backups, disaster recovery and configuration management
  • Managed Tier 3 support team of system admins (VMware, RHEL, Apple, Windows, Oracle)
  • Managed IT budgets (OPEX and CAPEX) exceeding $1M
  • Managed vendor sourcing, vendor relationships and vendor contracts (Apple, Oracle, Xinet)

 

IT PROJECT MANAGER, Enterprise

Macy’s Systems & Technology, New York, NY (July 2009 – April 2012)

Successfully delivered 100+ projects for systems team, support team and application team. Improved overall project delivery by introducing and enforcing standard project management practices.

  • Successfully delivered 100+ IT projects for Macy’s & Bloomingdales
  • Ensured quality of requirements, scope, schedule & project workflow for all projects
  • Improved project delivery through growing/enforcing a standard PM system and processes
  • Reported project portfolio status weekly to IT Director, VP’s, SVP’s and EVP’s.

 

SENIOR IT MANAGER, Suppport

Macy’s Homestore, New York, NY (April 2008 – July 2009)

Promoted to oversee support team, IT budgets and vendor relationships with Apple, Oracle and Adobe. Appointed program manager for divisional marketing systems.

  • Managed IT support team (Tiers 1-3 support)
  • Managed IT budgets (OPEX and CAPEX) exceeding $1M
  • Managed vendor sourcing, vendor relationships and vendor contracts (Apple, Oracle, Adobe)
  • Program manager for marketing & advertising systems (DAM, MRM, CMS)
    • Worked with business units and BA’s to build roadmaps
    • Partnered with support and admin teams to maintain customer satisfaction
    • Actively worked with Q&A teams on requirement gathering and testing

 

IT MANAGER, Support

Macy’s Homestore, New York, NY (February 2006 – April 2008)

Promoted into role to help build a new divisional IT environment. Successfully prepared new office technology, built new IT team and helped deliver several new divisional systems.

  • Managed support team (Tiers 1-2 support) and departmental projects
  • Responsible for managing all software assets and hardware assets
  • Core team member introducing MS SharePoint to Macy’s organization

EDUCATION

BACHELOR’S DEGREE (BFA)

New York Institute of Technology, New York, NY

  • BFA, majoring in Computer Graphics/Graphic Design

ADDITIONAL COURSES

SKILLS

Project Experience

  • Active Directory Management Projects
  • Automation Projects
  • Backup Upgrades & Migrations
  • Cloud Migration & Deployment Projects
  • Company/Division Consolidation Projects
  • Dashboard & Monitoring Projects
  • Data Center Management Projects
  • Data Center Migration Projects
  • Digital Asset Management Projects
  • Disaster Recovery Planning & Testing
  • Network Management Projects
  • Office 365 Adoption & Deployment
  • Security & Audit Projects
  • Software Deployment Projects
  • Software Development (SDLC)
  • Storage Upgrades & Migrations
  • System Documentation Projects
  • System Upgrades & Migrations
  • Workspace Expansion (IT) Projects

 

Project Management

  • Agile, Waterfall and Hybrid
  • requirements gathering & analysis
  • costing and budgeting
  • project scheduling
  • issue tracking, resolution, mitigation, avoidance
  • cross-functional supervision
  • systematic tracking & reporting
    • Atlassian Jira & Confluence
    • MS Project / Project Online
    • Trello, Monday, etc.

IT Operations

  • ITIL® based approach
  • licensing & audit compliance
  • configuration management
    • Puppet
    • Git, Github, Bitbucket
    • Jamf Pro
  • monitoring, alerting, trend review & capacity planning
    • Opsview
    • Munin
  • security & patching
    • 2-Factor
    • CyberArk®

Systems & Applications

  • Servers (VM or Bare Metal) Linux, Win & Mac
    • Linux (mostly RHEL)
    • Windows
    • Mac
  • Storage/Cloud
    • Oracle
    • 3PAR
    • QNAP
    • MS OneDrive
    • DropBox
    • GCS/Google Drive
    • AWS
  • Virtualization
    • VMware, vSphere, vCenter, ESXi
    • VirtualBox
  • Marketing Resource Management (MRM)
    • English Comp JobCharge
    • Homegrown systems
  • Content Management (CMS)
    • WordPress
    • Filemaker Pro
  • Digital Asset Management (DAM)
    • Xinet, WebNative, Portal
    • OpenText
  • Soft Proofing
    • Aproove®
    • ConceptShare
  • Font Management
    • Extensis Universal Type Server, UTC
  • Database Management
    • Oracle
    • MS SQL Server
    • MySQL
    • Filemaker Pro / Filemaker Server
  • Backup & Version Control
    • Archiware P5
    • FlashNet
  • Collaboration
    • SLACK
    • Atlassian Confluence
    • Microsoft Office 365
    • Microsoft Teams
  • Creative Tools
    • Adobe Creative Cloud
    • Draw.io
    • MS Visio
    • MS PowerPoint
    • Apple Keynote

RECOGNITION

★ MACY’S “MAKE MAGIC” AWARD (2015)

Recognized for planning and executing the complex relocation of an entire data center.

★ MACY’S LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT (2009)

Chosen as a top 50 performer to be part of a special mentoring program.

★ RECOGNITION FOR OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE (2008)

Recognized for creating and delivering an innovative advertising proof system “vWALL”.

★ MACY’S “YOU COUNT” AWARD (2006)

Recognized for planning and executing a successful IT environment for 500+ employees relocated to a new location.

★ RECOGNITION FOR OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE (2006)

Recognized for outstanding performance in supporting the advertising creative teams.