David H. Skolnick

Seasoned technical manager excels in the face of difficult,
complex technical management opportunities

Skills & Capabilities

Program Management: Strategic planning; budget development and justification, project definition and management, stakeholder relations, and resource management. Management of multiple complex projects and supervision of subordinate project managers. Applied to development of new wireless telecommunications system products deployed worldwide in compliance with regional standards. Responsible for supervision of twelve project managers managing fifteen to twenty projects contributing to three programs; project values ranged from $500k to $42M expended at $50M to $70M annually. Established reputation for successful completion of moderate to high risk, schedule-driven projects.

Project Management: Project planning, monitoring (with earned value), and control; risk management; identification and implementation of corrective action; configuration management; and communication for high technology efforts. Applied to development of unique remote sensing systems developed domestically for installation in overseas facilities designed and constructed by host country; also applied in oversight and managerial role for development of general-purpose telecommunications systems for installation internationally.

System Engineering: Requirements definition, allocation, and decomposition; specification development; interface definition and control; system and lower level integrated test planning and traceability; and validation and verification. Applied to development of special purpose telecommunications, remote sensing, telerobotic systems, and U.S. Navy and Marine Corps amphibious assault craft.

Systems Development: Intelligence and collection requirement processes, federal acquisition processes (military and civilian), Congressional budget process, specification development. Successful development, production, and deployment of telecommunications and remote sensing systems. Applications ranged from development of custom hardware (e.g. ASIC development) and software to integration of commercial hardware and software to meet project requirements. Delivered custom and modified legacy software to specification on or before schedule.

Strategic Planning: Definition and promulgation of goals and objectives, implementation of plans to achieve strategic ends, and performance measurement. Applied to new initiatives including re-capitalization of mission-critical information systems and global wireless communication products.

Personnel Management: Communication, definition of performance goals and expectations, performance evaluation and feedback, recognition, motivation, and organizational behavior.

Telecommunications and Information Systems: Network analysis and development, data formats, routing, switching, equipment development and selection, and signal processing.

Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering: Intact and damage stability, structures, command and control, power and propulsion, hotel services, combat systems engineering, and construction.

Experience

Delivered products and capabilities needed by internal customers, and the customers of customers while in technology and engineering organizations in government and industry. Successfully meet expectations through understanding and responding to the needs of stakeholders from different organizational and national cultures. I have been responsible for projects and programs with or for military and civilian organizations in the United States, Europe, Scandinavia, South America, the Asian Pacific, the Far East, the Middle East, and the former Soviet Union. In each instance, cultural assumptions have been recognized, and great care exercised to ensure clear and thorough communication. Communication mechanisms have been implemented to accommodate work patterns and time differences, balancing opportunities for consultation with schedule expedience.

Recognized and accommodated organizational cultures; worked effectively and successfully delivered required products integrating efforts of development organizations, operational elements, service providers, and consumers with different priorities and expectations. Communication mechanisms were selected to maximize understanding and transfer of information.

Maintained personal contact as a critical component of delivering a product that responds to stakeholder needs. Frequent interaction and consultation with customers contributed to identifying and capturing undocumented expectations beyond initial requirements. Similarly, direct contact with staff, consultants, and sub-contractors supplements formal status and reporting with additional in-depth insight to ensure that issues are identified early and resolved. Consistent and regular personal contact with staff and customers has made a substantial contribution to success of every project assigned.

Security concerns are an integral portion of the requirements for every project with which I have been associated. Sensitive information is controlled, provided to those who use it to the benefit of the project, and restricted from those who do not need access.

Demonstrated the ability to explain programmatic issues, methods, and tools to others in a number of supervisory and managerial positions. For the past two years I have been invited to function as programmatic counselor for an internal engineering and development organization, in addition to my other duties; in that capacity I provide guidance and instruction on project management and product development. During regular project reviews, I provide insight to interpretation of metrics, identification of appropriate corrective action, and forecasting of results. Senior management continues to invite my participation as a result of improved performance of projects and staff stemming from my contribution.

Membership

Project Management Institute, American Management Association, American Society of Naval Engineers, Software Program Managers Network

Education

Security

TS SCI ISA (Current extended background investigation and lifestyle polygraph)