Ken Zych LinkedIn Profile

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Ken Zych
Application Development # Continuous Improvement # Project Management # IT Operations #
Technology Evaluation # MBA
kenjzych@gmail.com
Summary
kenjzych@gmail.com 847-274-0441
Information technology and people leader with expertise in designing, developing, implementing and
maintaining diverse array of business applications and IT infrastructure. Natural talent building, leading and
motivating global teams and instilling accountability, customer focus and quality. Well-honed organizational,
communication and analytical skills.
Specialties:
• SAP application development
• Project management
• Process improvement, continuous improvement
• Team building and leadership
• IT operations management
• Change management
• Release management
• Budgeting, long-range forecasting and planning
• Talent management, talent development, training, coaching and mentoring
• Disaster recovery, business continuity
• Consultant management
• Vendor relationship management
• Information lifecycle management (ILM)
• Business analysis
• Cross-functional team leadership for global matrixed distributed environments
• Large-scale SAP system integration and implementation
• Time reporting, resource capacity planning and metrics
• Kanban process development and improvement
• Application lifecycle development (SDLC)
• PMO experience
• Quality assurance (QA) test planning, execution and defect resolution
• Agile and scrum methodology
• Technology evaluation and selection

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Skills & Expertise
Project Management
IT Management
Process Improvement
Management
Business Analysis
Team Leadership
Cross-functional Team Leadership
Integration
Vendor Management
SAP
SDLC
ERP
Visio
Business Process
Business Process Improvement
Business Intelligence
Software Development
Operations Management
IT Strategy
Change Management
Program Management
Project Portfolio Management
SharePoint
Supply Chain Management
Supply Chain
PMP
CRM
HP Quality Center
JIRA
Tempo Timesheets
Excel VBA
Leadership
Cross Functional Team Building
Microsoft Office
SAP Products
Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
Virtualization
Communication
SAP Application Development

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Experience
Senior Manager Business Systems | Senior Project Manager at W.W. Grainger
2013 - Present (3 years)
Responsible for ABAP, Business Warehouse and EDI application development on multi-year international
SAP implementation, leading 2 teams of 50 local and offshore IT professionals.
• Completed project to remove hard-coding from 80 objects in all SAP modules, enabling support for
Unicode, and multiple companies, currencies and languages
• Managed translation partner to provide Spanish and French translations for application development,
training materials, and transitioned maintenance process to support team
• Improved quality, decreased cycle time and reduced defects 20% by implementing quality audit
• Trained in and implemented Agile Methodology for Leaders, and led Kanban training sessions
• Built business partner relationships to balance priorities and accomplish program milestones
• Partnered with Technical Architect on BW and HANA upgrade strategy, estimates and plan
• Ensured downstream milestones were met and minimized risk of delivery delays by championing increased
priority for report development
Platform Operations Manager at W.W. Grainger
2009 - 2013 (4 years)
Led team of 14 IT professionals to design, build and support hardware platforms and operating systems for
diverse portfolio of mission-critical business applications.
• Managed 2300 physical and virtual OS images distributed across 4 US and Mexican data centers, utilizing
Windows Server, VMWare ESXi, HP/Intel and Cisco UCS technology
• Reduced staff’s non-business hours and improved work/life balance by creation of standard work for
monthly server patching process and transitioning 20% of effort to Operations
• Improved server security audit process among 3 departments, using continuous improvement to effect 50%
reduction in effort and improved tracking of open software vulnerabilities
• Decreased server build cycle time 70% using continuous improvement and Kanban workflow

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• Implemented strategic change to offshore support model by redesigning department
• Enhanced capacity and capital forecasting through virtual environment capacity metrics
Information Lifecycle Manager at W.W. Grainger
2005 - 2009 (4 years)
Provided leadership for information life cycle processes, enterprise content management, SAP archiving and
records management technologies.
• Defined and implemented strategy, goals, budget, and processes for Information Lifecycle Management.
• Implemented SAP data archiving projects which reduced ECC system by 4TB enabling company to defer
$5.5MM capital investment in new disk frame
• Completed 15 SAP data archiving projects resulting in 8TB (36%) database capacity reduction, $1MM in
storage savings and 60% reduction in daily system growth
• Eliminated $1MM annual hardware/software maintenance contracts by leading 4-team, 40-person, 100,000+
hr. program to decommission 7 legacy systems
• Consulted chief legal counsel and CIO on electronic record retention and authenticity for several high-
profile audits and lawsuits
• Implemented Company’s first electronic records management policies working with Records Management
Information Systems Manager at W.W. Grainger
2001 - 2004 (3 years)
Led IT function of 12 IT professionals for product sourcing business unit, including SAP applications,
desktop, server and operating systems.
• Led project to replace legacy quotation system with SAP SD, defining scope, milestones and budget and
contracted offshore development partner; project success measured by 15% increase in quotation volume
with constant resources and increased quotation productivity goals
• Supported ISO 9001 certification efforts, establishing and documenting department standards

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• Led project to consolidate Oracle and Unix infrastructure providing stable, economical web-based
applications platform; converted web application from Jrun platform to IBM Websphere
• Led project to replace manual ordering process with SAP’s Sales & Distribution module which enabled 12
customer service resources to be redeployed to value-added activities
E-Commerce Integration Manager at W.W. Grainger
2000 - 2001 (1 year)
Led application development team responsible for customer and supplier integration, including e-
procurement providers, EDI providers and internal SAP ERP system.
• Primary contact point for all external partners on all integration issues.
• Led project that developed e-commerce document exchange system that was primary revenue system for
business; personally designed the architecture, developing portion of system in Java
• Technical spokesperson for investor meetings with distribution and technology partners
• Developed technical portion of supplier integration manual; defined standards for supplier integration
Certifications
ITIL Foundation Certificate in IT Service Management
PEOPLECERT License GR750065746KZ July 2013
Education
Roosevelt University
MBA, Operations Management
DeVry University
Bachelor of Science (BS), Computer Information Systems
Volunteer Experience
Homeless shelter volunteer at PADS Lake County
January 1996 - Present
Languages
English

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Ken Zych
Application Development # Continuous Improvement # Project Management # IT Operations #
Technology Evaluation # MBA
kenjzych@gmail.com
6 people have recommended Ken
"I have had the pleasure to work on/off with Ken for approx. 20 years. He was the first manager I worked for
at Grainger as a Progress 4GL consultant where we implemented several complex application systems. From
2013 thru early 2016 I reported to Ken on a large international SAP project. He came in and brought much
needed focus, structure and efficiency to the operation managing a diverse team. I highly recommend Ken for
leading projects and application development teams. He is the type of man that will get it done,, somehow.
One could not ask for a more mission conscientious manager. Whoever his employer is - is fortunate to have
him. "
— Vince Ashby, Applications Engineer, W.W. Grainger, reported to Ken at W.W. Grainger
"I've had the pleasure of working with Ken for the last several years at Grainger. In the time I've come to
rely on Ken for his attention to detail and his enthusiastic support of any project or initiative that he has
been involved in. Ken does a great job in leveraging his multi-faceted experiences to bring a solution to
any problem he is addressing. He has shown the ability to think strategically and tactically in a number of
situations and approaches each new opportunity with the goal of providing the correct answer to each unique
challenge. I would welcome any opportunity to work with Ken in the future."
— G. Lane Cavalier, Sr. Manager, Solution Delivery Core PMO, W.W. Grainger, managed Ken at W.W.
Grainger
"Ken was my client counterpart on the SAP Americas Program 2014 and 2015 where we managed a team of
30+ developers on and offshore. We were tasked with over 450 objects to build and update operating using
the Agile framework methodology. As a leader, Ken is very result driven and one of the best conductor that I
have worked with, bringing the teams together and resolving issues / dependencies with the utmost efficiency.
With a technical and developer background, Ken is always anticipating issues before they arise, allowing the
team ample time to react and adjust. I am honoured to have the opportunity to work with Ken and delivering
a highly complex program on time and within budget. I would highly recommend Ken for his experience,
thoroughness, dedication and leadership."
— David Ng, Senior Manager, Accenture, was a consultant or contractor to Ken at W.W. Grainger

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"I worked closely with Ken Zych from 2014 to 2015 in the context of the major W. W. Grainger international
SAP rollout projects to Mexico and Canada (Americas Project). Ken's role was senior SAP manager. In all
our interactions Ken demonstrated outstanding skills: - Highly focused with regard to achieving project goals
- Pragmatic problem solver when required - Extremely responsive in all communications and interactions -
Able to work and deliver under stress - Strong motivator and, if necessary, driver of project team members -
Excellent communication skills upwards and also downwards - In-depth SAP knowledge and extensive SAP
experience - Pleasant to work with – team player I would highly recommend Ken for any management role
that requires strong execution capabilities and strategic focus. Christopoher Hearn Senior Consultant and
Director Business Development Lucy Software and Services GmbH "
— Christopher Hearn, Director Business Development, Lucy Software and Services GmbH, was a
consultant or contractor to Ken at W.W. Grainger
"Ken is a very driven and ethical leader within our organization who has consistently delivered results. Ken
and I have worked together for a dozen years on various IT initiatives covering several IT competencies;
including infrastructure, operations, applications and data management. Throughout our work history, Ken
has been depended upon to establish direction and lead teams to deliver on expectations. As a resourceful
leader Ken has developed an extensive network of colleagues from which he can all upon to assist in
difficult / critical situations. Ken’s assets are many; personally I appreciate his creating a culture of openness
and transparency within his teams. I highly recommend Ken as an intelligent, charismatic and dedicated IT
professional. "
— Patrick ONeal, ERP Manager, W.W. Grainger, reported to Ken at W.W. Grainger
"I have had the pleasure to work on/off with Ken for approx. 20 years. He was the first manager I worked for
at Grainger as a Progress 4GL consultant where we implemented several complex application systems. From
2013 thru early 2016 I reported to Ken on a large international SAP project. He came in and brought much
needed focus, structure and efficiency to the operation managing a diverse team. I highly recommend Ken for
leading projects and application development teams. He is the type of man that will get it done,, somehow.
One could not ask for a more mission conscientious manager. Whoever his employer is - is fortunate to have
him. "
— Vince Ashby, Applications Engineer, W.W. Grainger, reported to Ken at W.W. Grainger
Contact Ken on LinkedIn