Program Manager
Management has been the through-line of my whole career. It started on the RC-135 side — running training programs and simulator/VR systems development with industry partners — and grew into Program Manager and OT&E SME for programs across a $4B NC3 portfolio: Congressionally mandated operational testing that informed Department of War fielding decisions, where I delivered 32 national-level test events and carried a $460M system test from requirements to fielding decisions. From 2020 through today I've managed the unit's project portfolio end to end: internal projects, system updates, process improvements, and coordination with external agencies. The mission changes — managing it well is still my thing.
The Management Record — One Continuous Arc
Program and project management didn't start with a title in 2020 — and it didn't stop in 2022. Read bottom-up or top-down: it's the same discipline, applied to bigger and bigger portfolios.
Special Projects Lead · Resource Advisor · Operations Leadership
- Managed the unit's project portfolio — 85+ active efforts spanning internal projects, system updates, and process improvements, including 7 IT modernization initiatives delivered end to end.
- Program-managed the money side: $2.4M operating budget plus $4M in contracts supporting 21 contractors and 52 C2/ISR test programs, with 100% accountability.
- Built and defended 12 unfunded-requirement packages securing $202K across 6 lines of accounting — requirements writing, justification, and follow-through.
Operations Superintendent · Unit Training Manager
- Coordinated 197 workflow tasks with group and wing staff and orchestrated 52 operational test requests — the unit's interface to external agencies and higher headquarters.
- Project-managed a full squadron reorganization (45 personnel realignments) and a training-management transition to contractor support with zero continuity loss, then redesigned the process to recover 800+ labor hours annually.
Operational Test Program Manager — NC3
- Managed Congressionally mandated operational test planning and delivery across a $4B NC3/C3 portfolio, executing 32 national-level test events with stakeholders spanning operators, engineers, and senior decision-makers.
- Owned a $460M mobile NC3 system test end to end — requirements, test design, execution, reporting — feeding the fielding decisions that put the system in service.
- Test execution captured 113 adversary threat messages, directly strengthening a $1.2B nuclear warning mission set.
- Carried Unit Training Manager duty for 187 members across 4 locations in parallel with the program portfolio.
Where It Started — RC-135 Projects & Training-Systems Programs
- Directed RC-135 Mission Crew Training Simulator and VR training-systems capability development alongside Leidos, L3Harris Technologies, and Booz Allen Hamilton under Big Safari — industry-partnered program work years before the formal PM title.
- Coordinated training and mission schedules in the Air Force’s largest formal training unit — 5,700+ training events and 348 missions producing 366 qualified aircrew for 11 squadrons and 7 combatant commands.
- Led teams of 12–73 personnel and modernized evaluation tooling that was adopted as institutional standards — delivering projects on schedule inside continuous 24/7 operations.
How I Run Programs
Methodologies
- Predictive, milestone-and-gate planning for high-consequence programs
- Agile and hybrid delivery — Agile Fundamentals (ICAgile) certified
- DAU Test & Evaluation Foundational — formal test-program discipline
- PMP candidate — in progress
What I actually manage
- Scope, schedule, and risk across national-level test events
- Stakeholders from operators to headquarters decision-makers
- Budgets, contracts, and unfunded-requirement advocacy
- Contractor coordination — 21 contractors across 52 programs
Military → Civilian
What “Operational Test Program Manager” means in your organization
An operational test program manager runs the same job a civilian PM runs — charter to closeout, with a governance gate at every phase — except the sponsor is national leadership and the acceptance criteria are written in law and policy. The civilian equivalents are Program Manager, Senior Project Manager, or PMO lead. The transferable core: integrated master schedules, risk burn-down, stakeholder management across wildly different audiences, and the habit of making the status honest before making it pretty.
Program-management résumé
ATS-ready PDF tailored to program and project leadership — one click, no forms.