Phyllis Poole

About Phyllis Poole

Visionary technology executive with 15+ years building and scaling enterprise PMOs and leading multi-million-dollar portfolios in complex, engineered-to-order and mission-critical environments and mission-critical infrastructure programs across public and private sectors. Known for turning fragmented work into disciplined, predictable delivery and aligning technology investments with executive strategy and mission outcomes.Trusted advisor to C-suite leaders and commissioners, with a track record of statewide and enterprise modernizations, 100M+ portfolios, and governance that boosts on-time delivery into the 90%+ range while improving budget accuracy and reducing overruns. Core strengths include PMO and CoE build-out, mission-critical IT and infrastructure programs, and financially disciplined, KPI-driven execution.Leads with clarity, transparency, and shared ownership—creating structures that surface risk early, enable confident execution, and deliver measurable value to customers and communities, while building high-performing, inclusive teams.

Experience

1. Director Program Management & Quality Assurance

   Commonwealth Of Virginia

   Jul 2024 — Present · Richmond, VA, US

   Direct enterprise-level program management strategy and provide leadership across sprint and UAT testing teams to meet 25-month implementation timeline. Mentor cross-functional team members accountable for sprint planning, test case development, execution, and defect resolution across all SDLC phases. Collaborate with project leadership team, IV & V, QA, and design & development vendor teams to manage project scope, risks, dependencies, and quality metrics. Oversee project progress tracking, metrics reporting, and stakeholder communication, including defect analysis, sprint outcomes, and executive reporting dashboards. Develop and manage traceability of requirements to ensure federal and state compliance (OCSS, VITA). Support change initiatives, aligning QA efforts with evolving business priorities and ensuring all testing aligned with service delivery goals. Foster collaboration across legal, program, and technical teams to prioritize project goals, test scenarios and ensure validation of high-impact business processes.• Built robust project management framework, introducing scalable testing methodologies and implementing tools, such as Copado and Jira for end-to-end defect tracking and project oversight.• Led $86M statewide modernization project, keeping on track within three months through decisive project management leadership and strategic cross-team alignment.• Created comprehensive user testing management and training plans defining roles, test execution standards, entry/exit criteria, and issue management processes.• Served as member of Change Control Board (CCB) and Project Leadership Team (PLT); participated in executive-level steering and risk management meetings.

Education

• University of Richmond

  Leadership Development

• Saint Paul's College

  Business Administration and Management

• William & Mary

  Executive MBA, Business Administration

Skills

• Program Management
• Software Project Management
• Earned Value Management
• Project Turnaround
• Project Portfolio Management
• Master Scheduling
• Technology Alignment
• Cost Engineering
• Process Improvement
• Project Management
• Integration
• Pmo
• Project Planning
• Proposal Writing
• Business Intelligence
• Software Documentation
• Enterprise Architecture
• Testing
• Pmp
• Disaster Recovery
• Systems Engineering
• Government Contracting
• Cross-Functional Team Leadership
• Dod
• IT Management
• Software Development
• Management
• Analysis
• Requirements Analysis
• Sdlc
• Leadership
• Business Analysis
• Business Process Improvement
• Information Technology
• Training
• Vendor Management
• Project Management Office (Pmo)
• Agile Methodologies
• IT Strategy
• Business Development