Denise Esteves-Hicks

About Denise Esteves-Hicks

Strategic and results-oriented Program Manager with 20+ years of experience leading…

Experience

1. Senior Program Manager, Store Associate Technology

   Kroger Technology & Digital

   Feb 2021 — Present · Blue Ash, OH, US

   Lead cross-functional programs across business, marketing, in-store, and technology domains, delivering scalable solutions aligned with strategic goals.• Provide servant leadership to Agile teams, applying Lean principles to drive delivery and continuous improvement.• Manage multiple concurrent initiatives, including LIFO ($3.5M), Health & Wellness Encryption ($4M), Manufacturing Modernization ($13M), Task Manager ($20M), Order Ahead ($5M), and Associate Mobile Experience ($19M).• Partner with Portfolio Management to oversee budgets, capacity planning, and outcome alignment.• Mentor project managers, fostering a culture of ownership and accountability.• Establish repeatable processes adopted across other pillars to improve delivery consistency.• Early adopter of Microsoft Copilot 365, leveraging AI tools to enhance productivity and streamline program delivery.• Led Shared Services RFP – QA and Support initiative, aligning cross-functional teams to define requirements, evaluate vendors, and finalize SOWs—resulting in a scalable solution with outcome-based SLAs and improved vendor accountability.• Leading a multi-workstream initiative to enhance performance visibility and associate productivity at Kroger’s Fulfillment Ocado Centers, driving improvements in transparency, coaching, and operational efficiency.• Direct cross-functional delivery of AuthN/Token Exchange migration to UKG IDP, smarter pickup logic via Punches/Webhooks, and fulfillment reporting through PowerBI.• Confluence Admin for Store Associate Technology site• Communications Manager for In Stock and Core Services• Program contact for MS Teams, processes and general questions• Member of Associate Experience PMO CoE