Don Gleason

PROBLEM: Poorly executed implementations threatened company financial performance.

ACTIONS: Interviewed stakeholders (internal / external / regulators); Identified + cost-effectively closed multiple skills, process, and tool gaps; galvanized management support; established repeatable and dynamic methodology; integrated best practices; automated processes; improved governance & metrics reporting. Leveraged collaborative PMO model to facilitate management & reporting.

RESULTS:… Show more

PROBLEM: Poorly executed implementations threatened company financial performance.

ACTIONS: Interviewed stakeholders (internal / external / regulators); Identified + cost-effectively closed multiple skills, process, and tool gaps; galvanized management support; established repeatable and dynamic methodology; integrated best practices; automated processes; improved governance & metrics reporting. Leveraged collaborative PMO model to facilitate management & reporting.

RESULTS:

• Decreasing startup from 2 months to 1 week; and Boosting customer sat (NPS) by 40 points over 9 months

• Achieving project success rates never before experienced by clients

• Raising CEO,CFO,CIO, and Board of Directors' confidence in PPMO ability to deliver strategic projects and process improvements. Show less

Business expanded into new markets but lacked traction of landmark clients.

Brokered key relationships with client leadership, identified individual needs, developed economic model, formalized RFX responses, assembled solution presentation teams, and led negotiations with contracting team.

• Keane: Opening new territory where others had failed resulting in over $250M in new business over 3 years.

• UHG: Winning largest new external accounts that valued at $50M-$80M… Show more

Business expanded into new markets but lacked traction of landmark clients.

Brokered key relationships with client leadership, identified individual needs, developed economic model, formalized RFX responses, assembled solution presentation teams, and led negotiations with contracting team.

• Keane: Opening new territory where others had failed resulting in over $250M in new business over 3 years.

• UHG: Winning largest new external accounts that valued at $50M-$80M per annum and sustained new growth for 5 years running,
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Craft a comprehensive Mass Fatality Plan (MFA) that includes Intergovernmental & Interagency coordination - leveraging prior draft submitted but not completed (Chief stated: “those things will never happen here”)… After the Lewiston-Maine Mass Shooting and after using the draft, it was determined to prepare a comprehensive MFA, that dovetailed with sister agencies’ Mass Casualty Plans. Coordinated & facilitated preparation of an All-Hazards plan, ensured reviews & testing to assure its… Show more

Craft a comprehensive Mass Fatality Plan (MFA) that includes Intergovernmental & Interagency coordination - leveraging prior draft submitted but not completed (Chief stated: “those things will never happen here”)… After the Lewiston-Maine Mass Shooting and after using the draft, it was determined to prepare a comprehensive MFA, that dovetailed with sister agencies’ Mass Casualty Plans. Coordinated & facilitated preparation of an All-Hazards plan, ensured reviews & testing to assure its completeness & usefulness. Show less

Mass Fatality Planning for a State Agency (Maine State Office of the Chief Medical Examiner - OCME). Drove the process of developing a formal Mass Fatality Plan to complement Mass Casualty Plans - integration of multiple support & response agencies and stakeholders.

Earlier draft was used to support the 2023 Lewiston Maine Active Shooter Incident - enabling professional response to the disaster. Subsequently invited back to formalize the plan under the new Chief.

Joining a mission-critical core system replacement in Month 30 of what should have been a 12-month project. The MSP supporting the health plan staffed the project will available people and failed to listen to the client regarding their concerns about this $12-15M initiative. Applying my standard method & framework, I was able to gain executive sponsor & key stakeholder support within the MSP & (more importantly) the client’s SLT. Trust is earned, so extraordinary effort was needed to gain it… Show more

Joining a mission-critical core system replacement in Month 30 of what should have been a 12-month project. The MSP supporting the health plan staffed the project will available people and failed to listen to the client regarding their concerns about this $12-15M initiative. Applying my standard method & framework, I was able to gain executive sponsor & key stakeholder support within the MSP & (more importantly) the client’s SLT. Trust is earned, so extraordinary effort was needed to gain it ounce by ounce.

With minimal disruption, we needed to quickly understand the gaps and close them using a prioritization schema that didn’t descope, but rather accelerate unfinished development & ensure extensive testing was actually being done.

Driving a 60+ MSP resource team and interfacing with the client c-suite and key process owners was not a easy undertaking.

Within 2 weeks I established new baselines and made procedural & personnel adjustments. Since bad habits are not always quickly uncovered there were a few instances where key MSP personnel needed to be adjusted (executives, and especially contracted leads & management).

Working through this adversity was challenging due to the pandemic & no-direct face-to-face access to client leadership.

Leveraging budding relationships, I earned trust daily and owned the relationship - bring others into my core leadership circle - giving them roles they could grow into.

We quickly got the program on a stable footing and completed the effort to many stakeholders’ satisfaction.

Applying proven methods to complete complex programs is essential; equally important is team building & adaptability. Show less

Poorly rated business-IT platforms threatened client financial performance. Identified critical applications, electrified business + technical support, enhanced work streams, automated support processes, and streamlined client-centric migrations. Boosting productivity by 50% and Reducing wasteful IT costs by ~34% ($40M+, over a 2-year period)

✔ Led extensive Application Portfolio Rationalization initiative to strategic cost reduction, re-position for future growth, simplification / modernization, and compliance & security.

✔ Over 800 inventory items - insights should reduce costs by double-digit millions and when coupled with suggested process improvements reduce Run (KTLO) spend (by a shocking 37%) to enable investment in Grow & Transform.

✔ Prepared Executive Reviews, Business Case, Program Launch Guide and… Show more

✔ Led extensive Application Portfolio Rationalization initiative to strategic cost reduction, re-position for future growth, simplification / modernization, and compliance & security.

✔ Over 800 inventory items - insights should reduce costs by double-digit millions and when coupled with suggested process improvements reduce Run (KTLO) spend (by a shocking 37%) to enable investment in Grow & Transform.

✔ Prepared Executive Reviews, Business Case, Program Launch Guide and Program Management Plan Show less

✔ Led comprehensive Enterprise IT Value Assessment for CEO and CIO to gain understanding of IT Spend and how to repair and foster inter-divisional collaboration & cooperation.

✔ Established a roadmap of Business-IT improvements and quantified ShadowIT - provided comprehensive review of findings and recommendations to align business & IT, focused on business value, created a new culture, & applied best practices and standards.

Assured quality of 5 major replacement business systems when led rescue of $1.5MM Health Insurance Exchange QA-UAT project to complete on-time & within-budget with zero (%) defects in production (Horizon BCBS) through effective problem resolution, stakeholder management, communications and reporting, team leadership, and a strong track record of success.

Led large diverse team of BCBSNJ FTE and Contractors and delivered services on-time and under-budget.

✔ Executive overseeing strategic planning, design, configuration, training, and implementation of health information analytics for WHIO (non-profit)

✔ Establishing the first truly sustainable All-Payer Claims Database in the USA (as recognized by NAHDO in 2011).

✔ Worked with the CEO and Board of Directors, crafting a strategic plan that provided clarity of purpose for all involved and served as a valuable tool to support increasing sales (membership / subscription of the WHIO… Show more

✔ Executive overseeing strategic planning, design, configuration, training, and implementation of health information analytics for WHIO (non-profit)

✔ Establishing the first truly sustainable All-Payer Claims Database in the USA (as recognized by NAHDO in 2011).

✔ Worked with the CEO and Board of Directors, crafting a strategic plan that provided clarity of purpose for all involved and served as a valuable tool to support increasing sales (membership / subscription of the WHIO model). Show less

✔ Manual processes led to inflated cycle time and labor costs.
✔ Interviewed key stakeholders (int. & ext.), formulated models, set governance & teams, standardized templates.
✔Identifying critical applications, galvanized technical & customer support, deployed work streams, automated processes & reporting.
✔Lowering costs 25%; Increasing win rates from 10% to 70%; and, Eliminating reschedules (by planning & estimating correctly) within 6 months.

✔ Rapid expansion and unprecedented growth led to inefficiencies, lost opportunities, and low customer satisfaction.

✔ Interviewed stakeholders, analyzed operations and offerings, identified gaps, streamlined processes, educated partners, improved customer experience, and oversaw integration, implementation, and quality assurance.

✔ Achieving $8M in 1st year savings
✔ Raising productivity
✔Securing wins - over $250M ($50M+ Year Over Year - for 5 years)

Reducing waste, fraud and abuse in Medicaid expenditures has proven crucial to effectively managing costs. These successful implementations of Optum solutions have exceeded expectations, saving each state more than $20M per year for over five years running.

Teams were managed by my directors, were dispersed across the country, and involved more than 40 people in each effort.

Complete due diligence and ‘blue wash’ SOA application for commercial use.

Led strategic initiatives providing strategies and successful programs setting up a State Data Center, effective Governance Model, fundamental IT Service Improvements, and key PMO Optimizations.

Influential in assuring success of more than $250M in projects & programs.

Crafted strategies, direct candidate solution evaluations, select and contract system solutions, installed, loaded, tested, implemented, and transitioned to Patriot Mutual staff.

✔ As a Senior Engagement Director and Acting CIO, I performed IT Efficiency Review and Corrective Action Planning, and Business/IT Operations Improvements.

✔ Started with bloated staff levels, reduced staffing by 50% while tripling customer satisfaction!

Joined struggling program in month-30 of what should have been a 12-month initiative. Fragment initiative with limited stakeholder engagement. Immediately assessed, closed gaps, and corrected underlying problems. Built strong stakeholder support through open communications and proper governance.