Craig Harper
Whitby, Ontario, Canada
About Me
Accomplished IT project and program manager with a demonstrated ability to drive successful change in challenging environments. Specialized in Agile methodologies, enterprise infrastructure, application development, integration, and process improvement across organizations including Sun Life Financial, Direct Energy, Deighton Associates, and Enbridge.
Proven track record in delivering high-value change within matrixed environments, minimizing operational impact through strategic project management, effective change management, business analysis, and Agile techniques. Proficient in establishing new teams and implementing Agile ways of working at scale — from Scrum and Kanban to SAFe PI planning.
Agile & Waterfall
Team Leadership
IT Infrastructure
Cybersecurity
Services & Expertise
Delivering results through proven methodologies and hands-on experience
Project Management
End-to-end delivery using PMP, PRINCE2, and Agile frameworks. Initiation through closeout with full lifecycle governance.
Program Management
Coordinating multiple projects to achieve strategic outcomes. Benefits realization, stakeholder alignment, and governance at scale.
Agile & Scrum
Certified Scrum Master and SAFe Agilist. Leading Agile transformations, coaching teams, and scaling across the enterprise.
Cybersecurity
Leading cybersecurity initiatives, risk assessments, and security infrastructure deployments in enterprise environments.
Vendor Management
Procurement strategy, vendor selection, contract negotiation, and performance management for technology service providers.
Enterprise Governance
PMO frameworks, portfolio management, and governance structures aligned with TOGAF and ITIL best practices.
Professional Certifications
Industry-recognized credentials across project management and IT governance
PMP
SAFe 6 Agilist
MSP Practitioner
PMI-ACP
Certified Scrum Master
PSPO
TOGAF 9.1
PRINCE2 Practitioner
ITIL Foundation
KMP1 Kanban
AWS Cloud Practitioner
Career Highlights
Sr. IT Project Manager — Risk Operations
- Co-led E-21 Operational Resilience program as first Corporate initiative fully integrated into Agile Place, establishing OKRs, metrics, and delivery frameworks from ground zero.
- Pioneered AI/GenAI adoption by leveraging tools to analyze SOWs, policies, and business cases for OKR creation, positioning role as forward-thinking enabler of continuous improvement.
- Delivered Value Realization Review reporting in Agile Place within 2 weeks and standardized development/testing/defect/promotion processes across two SOWs — earning Corporate IT leadership recognition.
- Managed OFSI compliance action plans as stretch goal performing responsibilities of Program Manager; coordinated SOW amendments and resolved critical technical blockers.
- Coached teams on conflict resolution and decision-making while supporting Global Maturity assessments and budget planning across multiple delivery teams beyond assigned scope.
Sr. IT Project Manager — SAP Centre of Excellence
- Led execution of SAP CoE Technical Currency Roadmap including DevOps automation with CHaRM implementation, disaster recovery testing achieving 4-hour recovery time, vulnerability remediation, and test automation across S/4HANA and EFDW platforms.
- Deployed Stage and Production SAP environments and transitioned them to BAU operations while securing stakeholder buy-in and funding for multi-year Technical Delivery Roadmap.
- Improved system reliability through capacity analysis enabling critical processes to run 6× daily (increased from once daily), delivering significantly faster report performance for Asia-based users.
- Established scaled Agile delivery model across SAP CoE with platform-wide metrics (cycle time, throughput, velocity, lead time) — presented at 3 Community of Practice events.
- Designed Agile ways of working for SAP S/4 and BW technical stacks, expanding to GL, EFDW, and Ariba teams, achieving “Thrive” score for Team Allocation.
- Spearheaded infrastructure enhancements including EFDW high-availability upgrade, S/4HANA and B4/HANA lifecycle refreshes, and CTRL-M to Autosys migration preventing multi-month delivery delays.
Sr. IT Project Manager — Cloud Centre of Excellence
- Established and coached 3 Agile squads within Cloud CoE, leading teams through 10+ sprints while serving as Scrum Master for IT Asset Management and Kanban coach for Finance workstreams.
- Spearheaded Agile transformation by delivering training to 20+ stakeholders, pivoting steering meetings to SAFe system demos that earned executive recognition, and developing reusable frameworks adopted across the PMO community of practice.
- Pioneered Kanban implementation for Cloud CoE Finance workstream applying KMP and SAFe certifications to achieve reduced lead times and streamlined processes.
- Key contributor in the implementation of SAFe Scaled Agile Program Increment planning process.
Sr. IT Project Manager — Enterprise Services PMO & IT Asset Management
- Delivered three enterprise security programs achieving 4.6–5.0/5.0 satisfaction scores: Asset Management Phase 2, Breach Readiness (3-year program), and Endpoint Protection/EDR global rollout.
- Led Cisco Network Access Control deployment managing $3M+ budget, coordinated vendor partnerships, and orchestrated first annual rapid containment recovery test recognized for flawless execution.
- Agile transformation lead and Scrum Master for IT Asset Management Squad and Cloud CoE Finance squads; established reusable Agile practice assets adopted across PMO community of practice.
IT Project Manager — Enterprise Services
- Managed projects within Enterprise Services specializing in global network and telecommunications infrastructure.
- Led Data Center relocation program, Perimeter zone load balancer deployment, and Global Network Monitoring solution.
Project Manager
- Accountable for managing projects and coordinating resources for infrastructure asset management software and professional services.
- Initiated Agile/Scrum concepts and practices for higher productivity and team engagement.
Senior Project Manager / Project Manager / Software Analyst
- Sr. Project Manager (Jun 2011–Aug 2013): Accountable for corporate IT projects including SAP Business Objects/BPC application development. Chaired the company-wide IT resource demand management forum (Project Discovery).
- Implementation Manager — Texas Utility Billing Platform Consolidation (Jan–Jun 2011): Developed and coordinated a cross-functional deployment plan for the largest and most complex initiative Direct Energy had ever delivered.
- Sr. Project Manager (Jan 2008–Jan 2011): Delivered high-profile projects including Electronic Bill Payment, Payment Card Industry compliance, and offshoring Customer Care operations.
- Project Manager (Jan 2005–Jan 2008): Led multiple IT project deliveries across the organization.
- Software Analyst & Team Lead (Jan 2003–Jan 2005): Led software analysis and development initiatives.
Business Analyst
- Delivered business analysis for building management technologies and HVAC service operations.
Software Designer
- Designed and developed software solutions at the Canadian Software Development Centre.
Education
Ontario Tech University
Centennial College
Centennial College
Ready to Deliver Your Next Project?
Let’s discuss how I can help drive your technology initiatives to success.
Get In Touch
Available for project management consulting and program leadership opportunities
Location
Whitby, Ontario, Canada