What am I Doing?
Online Chat
Use the window below to chat with me (if I'm online ...)
Use the edit nick field above to let me see your name.
Resume (CV)
James P. MacLennan
Summary
Seasoned IT leader with a broad background in strategic visioning, tactical & operational
planning and management, and effective & relevant system/process design. Focused on delivering
timely, measurable, and sustainable results that support business objectives. Recognized for
creative, high impact performance with consistent delivery of strong results through formal
and advisory leadership.
Education
MBA, Marketing Concentration, DePaul University, Chicago, IL, 1992
BS, Electrical Engineering, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 1985
Experience
2005-Present
Executive Director, Information Technology
Direct responsibility for these functional areas within IT:
- Supply Chain Systems: SAP, Manugistics, and other custom systems in support of R&D,
Procurement, Product Engineering and Commercialization, Planning and Inventory Control,
Manufacturing, and Logistics (Warehouse & Transportation).
- Information Management: Providing data warehousing & analytics solutions on the SAP BW
platform, along with supporting tools and custom development for SQL Server and Oracle database,
using multiple reporting & analytics platforms.
- SAP Application Support: Operational and break-fix support of all SAP modules; this role
manages the ABAP developer pool, plus all external resourcing relationships. This role also
owns the company's vendor relationship with SAP and Manugistics.
- International IT: The company has a presence in Europe and Mexico; the IT organizations
for these wholly-owned subsidiaries report up through me.
Within IT, I manage seven direct reports, and a total team size of over 40. Total operating budget
of these groups is in excess of $10M.
In addition to these organizational groups, I also have responsibility in these areas:
- IT Director, Foodservice: The company has two major business units; I am the “account manager”
for the larger of these ($2B annual revenue), and own the overall relationship between IT and
this organization.
- Project Management Office: Corporate IT is grappling with the traditional challenges of
balancing IT resources against ongoing “run-the-business” support and projects that drive the
business forward. I am leveraging my experience at Searle and Culligan to implement
process & procedure, metrics, and knowledge capture tools, in support of our
Resource Portfolio Management initiatives.
Strategic IT
- Initiating a comprehensive Enterprise Architecture review of the company's strategic application
portfolio, in preparation for our next major SAP upgrade.
- Developing a complete set of performance metrics and TCO calculations to accurately
illustrate the cost of customizing our enterprise software.
- Developing innovative ways to drive IT alignment with the business, and business understanding
of resource tradeoffs and critical change management issues and opportunities.
- Completed a strategic analysis of the RFID technology and business environment; the company has a
large investment in process and technology supporting customer requirements for RFID tagging of
products, but was having difficulty characterizing the cost / benefit challenges. This effort allowed
the company to respond effectively to key customers requests; we continue to monitor the critical
factors that define our ongoing support in this area.
Tactical IT
- Driving IT tactical planning and integration for recent acquisitions.
- Rationalizing technology platforms and toolsets in our Information Management group;
eliminating redundant technologies to simplify the portfolio and drive down support costs.
- Took over project management responsibilities for a high-visibility, time-sensitive project
in the Logistics area; project was significantly behind schedule and dysfunctional.
Drove alignment between key IT teams and business units that owned the processes;
rejuvenated project team and delivered on original schedule.
- Providing real opportunities for staff growth and advancement through structural reorganization
and introduction of cross functional project and requirements reviews; our “S&OP for
Supply Chain Systems” process.
- Facilitating resolution of international design and implementation issues as
the company reworks our entire global network infrastructure.
Project Management
- Automated and streamlined the IT Project Forecast process, which provides an integrated,
forward-looking summary of resource requirements and constraints for all IT projects.
- Leading the technical and user-interface design for project portfolio management toolset;
we are providing opportunities for internal developers to learn new development skills while
upgrading the quality and timeliness of our project tracking data.
- Pioneering the use of collaborative knowledge management tools; implemented and introduced
a wiki platform; driving the use of blogs and discussion forums.
Culligan is a $700M global provider of water treatment products and services.
2000-2005 Director, Information Technology
- Assumed lead IT role in October, 2004, after departure of CIO; managed annual North American
IT budget of $5M; responsible for 30+ member global IT team, including internal / external
resources.
Strategic IT
- Drove IT strategic planning for 2004 divestiture from Veolia / USFilter, including work plan and
master budget ($2M) for all IT projects.
- Developed a Business Architecture that captured a vision of an IT-enabled business model,
and created the Technical Architecture that directly supports that model.
- Developed strategic approaches for Sales Life Cycle Management and integration of
Commercial Services Networks.
Tactical IT
- Coordinated operational support of multiple ERP systems, including detailed issue / resolution
management, and implementation / management of business-driven prioritization process.
- Implemented the eBusiness Integration Hub; a "Center of Excellence" approach for facilitating
electronic transactions between external trading partners and internal business systems.
Supported 20 trading partner relationships, estimated monthly cost savings $25K.
- Created concept and high-level architecture for the Channel Partner Locator, a web service that
leveraged our existing investment in geographical software. Processed 35,000 requests per month,
estimated monthly cost savings $150K.
- Consolidated web application development under IT; introduced project management, asset control,
development methodologies.
Business Change
- Held the lead IT role for major (>$10M) ERP implementation, coordinating internal &
external IT resources; managed integration partners and hardware & software vendors.
- Managed multiple projects in support of the corporate divestitures, including the consolidation
of call centers, transfer of customer service and support for select product lines.
- Initiated and mentored project to implement Hyperion Financial Management for corporate
consolidated financials; second-generation effort includes groundwork for Sarbanes-Oxley
compliance.
Project Management
- Standardized project proposals, approvals, tracking, and prioritization; these efforts have
evolved into the IT Project Management Office (PMO), featuring process and metrics that help
Culligan maximize the value of our IT investments.
- Implemented an issue tracking system, with comprehensive management reporting, that
proved invaluable in managing complex projects with limited resources.
- Created the corporate intranet site, with supporting process and documentation that enables
site creation, document sharing, and content management without IT involvement.
- Created a comprehensive "boilerplate" Master Services Agreement for technology projects,
which affords excellent protections while streamlining the vendor approval process.
Vendor Management
- Multiple (>$5M) software / hardware contract / purchase negotiations for technology projects;
often called in by legal group for input on technology discussions in different business units.
- Drove professional services contracting in support of multiple projects, including creation
of proposal, specifications; budget / arrangement negotiations, and ongoing monitoring.
Pharmacia was created in 2000 through the merger of Pharmacia & Upjohn with Monsanto Company
and its G.D. Searle pharmaceutical unit ($3.9B in sales).
1999-2000 Associate Director, Strategy Development
- Completed impact analysis of eBusiness concepts & technology on the pharmaceutical industry,
with focus on driving R&D productivity, and developing relationships with prescribers,
key influencers, and the distribution chain.
- Introduced improvements to the Long-Range Planning process, tightening the connection with
corporate IT. Improved visibility of total IT spend; highlighted opportunities for
productivity improvements & alignment with corporate strategic direction.
- At the end of 1999, the Pharmacia & Upjohn merger converted my role to support integration
of two complex IT organizations; developed IT architectural requirements in support of eBusiness.
1996-1999 Associate Director, IT Relationship Management
- Primary liaison between multiple business units and IT, including Global Medical Marketing and
Managed Care organizations, Strategic Communications, Marketing, and Field Sales, and the corporate
(Monsanto) Human Resources / Staffing group.
- Took over troubled projects in Managed Care, supporting the validation of contract purchasing
claims. Adjusted goals & tactical plans, managed multiple teams to common objectives, and
delivered effective short-term results while supporting a strategic data warehousing vision.
- Defined overall architecture for a Call Center / Document Management system; worked with IT
and business project managers to make sure projects came in on time / under budget. Involved
in technical specifications, vendor evaluation, and contract negotiations.
- IT support for Monsanto’s corporate Knowledge Management initiatives; designed and
implemented localized projects applying these concepts to pharmaceutical marketing processes,
including cross-corporate work with a strategic partner.
Adams is a $28M manufacturing & distribution company serving the elevator industry.
1993-1996 Director, MIS
- Responsible for 10+ member IT team, including internal / external resources.
- Led a large business re-engineering project, introducing a significant business process change
while downsizing technology platforms. This effort included multiple technology projects,
upgrading the front-end business processes for an important SBU. Duties included all user
interface design, data modeling, technical specifications, evaluation, selection and management
of external consulting resources, plus coordination of the testing and rollout phases.
- Other development projects included an EIS implementation consisting of custom applications
for the unique data constraints at Adams. The first module, an "animated P&L", allowed drill-down
analysis that identified over $100,000 of problem spending within minutes of it's introduction.
- Developed an automated link between Adams’ AS/400-based job tracking system and a number of
finite shop scheduling packages. The system incorporated work center modeling & capacity
planning, daily work schedules, and automated customer follow up & status reporting.
TenMan Systems, Inc Des Plaines, IL
TenMan was an $8M software & services provider, focused on Real Estate/Property Management.
1985-1993 Manager of Product Development
- Responsible for design & development of AS/400 and PC-based products.
- Managed 10+ member development, implementation and customer support teams.
- Specific projects included one of the first PC-to-midrange data communication
products, a number of separate finance, accounting, and management modules for
the System/36 and AS/400, and the conversion of a suite of System/36 products
to native code on the AS/400. In addition, designed and programmed three
PC-based Property Management systems.
Publications
www.cazh1.com - Professional web site / selected essays,
plus blog; on Business,
Information, and Technology, 2004-Present
Resistance is Futile (ThinkWrap column), Datamation Magazine, Cahners Publishing, Feb 1995
SQLWindows 5.0 (Product Review), Software Development Magazine,
Miller Freeman Publishing, Jan/Feb 1995
Contributing author, Financial Applications in Windows,
Windows Connectivity Secrets, IDG Books Worldwide, 1994
Skill Sets
Vertical Markets
Consumer Package Goods, Consumer Durable Goods, Consumer Products, Financial, Foodservice,
Franchise, Manufacturing, Pharmaceuticals, Professional Services, Property Management, Real Estate
Global Markets
North America (Canada, Mexico)
Europe (France, Germany)
Business Training / Practices
Balanced Scorecard, Business Process Re-engineering (BPR), Knowledge Management (KM), Lean Manufacturing,
Mergers Acquisitions & Divestitures, Organizational Change Management, Portfolio Management,
Project Management Office, Scenario Planning, Strategic Planning, Total Quality Management (TQM)
Technical Methodologies
Client/Server Design/Architecture (n-tier), Configuration Management (SCM), Data Modeling,
Information Engineering (IE), Internet/Web Design/Architecture,
Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL), Object Oriented Analysis & Design (OOP),
Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), Software Metrics, Software Quality Assurance (SQA),
Unified Modeling Language (UML)
Functional / Operational Areas
Audit, CAD/CAM/CIM, Customer Call Center, Channel Management, Communications, Customer Service,
Distribution, Electronic Commerce, Engineering, Finance, Help Desk, Human Resources, Legal,
Logistics, Manufacturing, Marketing, Payroll, Procurement, Production and Inventory Control,
Property Management, Research & Development (R&D), Recruiting / Staffing, Sales Management,
Sarbanes-Oxley, Supply Chain Planning, Transportation, Warehousing
Application / System Disciplines
Collaboration Platforms, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Data Warehouse,
Decision Support Systems (DSS), Distributed Databases, Document Management,
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), Enterprise Application Integration (EAI),
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Executive Information Systems (EIS), Groupware,
Material Resource Planning (MRP), RFID, Sales Force Automation (SFA), Workflow, Web 2.0,
Web Hosting Services, Web Standards
Computer Languages / Standards
C, CSS, Gupta SQLWindows, HTML, Java, JavaScript, Lotus Notes, MS Access, MS Visual Basic / VBA,
Pascal, Perl, PHP, Powerbuilder, Progess/4GL, Python, RPG/CL, VBScript, XHTML
Relational Databases
DB/400, MS Access, MS SQL Server, Oracle, Progress, SQLBase, Sybase SQL Server, Watcom SQL
Development Tools / Environments
Adobe Acrobat, Apache, AutoCAD, Blackberry, Cold Fusion, Documentum, Eclipse, Front Page,
mod_perl, MS Index Server, MS Office, MS Project, MS Visio, MS Web Server (IIS),
S-Designor, Visual Interdev, Visual Studio, WebTrends, Windows Help System
Operating Systems
HP/UX 11i (Unix), Linux, Novell Netware, OS/2, OS/400, Palm OS, Windows CE,
Windows NT Workstation/Server, Windows 2000 Workstation/Server, Windows 2003 Server,
Windows XP/Server
Application Suites
Baan (light), Hyperion Enterprise, Hyperion Financial Management (HFM), MAPICS, Manugistics,
Peoplesoft (light), PRMS, QAD MFG/PRO, SAP
