Shailesh Thakkar, SAFe SPC4, SA, CSP, CSM, CSPO, PMP

Accomplished and experienced Agile Leader, Coach, Trainer, Mentor, Practitioner, Consultant, Agile Change & Transformation Strategist, and Agile Implementer with all aspects of Agile, Scrum, and Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) Team, Program and Portfolio Management. Proven skills in the areas of developing and coaching high performance teams, and acknowledged for outstanding leadership ability.

Over 20+ years of experience (8+ years using Agile methodologies – Scrum, SAFe, Kanban) leading teams on projects and programs within IT/IS domain and Financial services, Banking, Life Insurance, Mortgage Insurance, Retail, Consulting, Logistics/Transportation, and Manufacturing industries. Worked with the Leadership and Management at the strategy level and with stakeholders at the implementation level. Lead organizational change through the introduction and adoption of Agile values, principles and practices. Trained, coached and empowered executives, managers and development teams to frequently deliver improvements that provide value to the business served. 

Experienced at helping organizations implement Scrum, Kanban, SAFe, and Continuous Improvement practice. Extensive experience in Agile transformation (from waterfall to agile) and rolling out scrum to teams. Coached and trained project teams about Agile –Scrum, SAFe, and Kanban framework, roles, adoption, transition, and managing/monitoring progress of the projects using agile tools – JIRA, Version One, and Rally.

Key skills/interests/specialties: 

★ Agile Framework - Scrum, Kanban, SAFe, XP 
★ Large scale and Distributed Scrum implementations
★ Coaching/Mentoring/Facilitation of Agile 
★ Agile Assessments 
★ Leading Agile Projects and Teams 
★ Connect Execution to Strategy  
★ Coach Scrum Masters 
★ Continuous Improvement/Value Stream Mapping 
★ Agile Project Management 
★ Scrum of Scrums 
★ Agile Transformations
★ Change Management  
★ Agile tools (JIRA, Version One, Rally)
★ Project/Program Management, PM
 

Professional Credentials/Certifications

CSM [Certified ScrumMaster] from ScrumAlliance
CSPO [Certified Scrum Product Owner] from ScrumAlliance
CSP [Certified Scrum Professional] from ScrumAlliance
Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) Agilist [SA]
Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) Program Consultant 
PMP [Project Management Professional] from PMI
PgMP [Program Management Professional] from PMI
PfMP [Portfolio Management Professional] from PMI
CSSGB [Certified Six Sigma Green Belt] from ASQ
ITIL v3 Foundation from EXIN
ITIL v3 Expert from CSME
CISA [Certified Information System Auditor] from ISACA
CISM [Certified Information Security Manager] from ISACA
CGEIT [Certified in the Governance of Enterprise IT] from ISACA
CRISC [Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control] from ISACA
Master's Certificate in IT Project Management from GWU
CobiT 4.1 Foundation from ISACA
CSOE (Certified Sarbanes-Oxley Expert) from SOXCPA
ITSM according to ISO/IEC 20000 Foundation from EXIN
Foundation Certificate in MOF 4.0 from EXIN
Information Security Foundation based on ISO/IEC 27002 from EXIN
MCTS: Managing Projects Project 2007 from Microsoft
CAQ-PMO [Certificate of Added Qualification-PMO] from PMI
CAQ-ITS [Certificate of Added Qualification-ITS] from PMI
CCE [Certified Cost Engineer] from aace International