James (Jim) Canter

Ft Worth, Texas 76244

C: 602-686-9138

jimcanter73@gmail.com

Senior Director Software Quality

Global Team Leadership | Software QA SME | Quality Practice Innovator | Test Design Automation | Resource Management | Team Building |
Policy & Process | Metrics | Audit | Agile | Center of Excellence | Industry Standards | Road Mapping | Test Services Sourcing | Programs

20+ years experience in Software Quality Leadership

16+ years experience in Financial Services
SME in every aspect of Software Quality standards and practice
Expert in establishing QA teams & Practice Centers, road-mapping industry standard practice
Led and mentored leaders in global practice groups (>500) and application QA teams (200+)
Developed corporate sourcing for QA services
Extensive plans and estimations for the establishment of QA teams and programs
Fostered continuous improvement programs and collaborative cultures
B.S. in Engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis MD
Retired Commander, US Navy, Honorable Discharge

CAREER TRACK
ASSOC DIRECTOR, PROGRAMS
COGNIZANT

2013-Present

2015-Present Program Manager for portfolio of 7 agile development projects for mortgage loan
origination software division (Cloud SaaS) serving major banks and mortgage institutions. Primarily
heading delivery for development of core critical regulatory compliance effort upon which 5 of the 7
projects depend for successful delivery (170 on/off shore resources).

2013-2014 Recruited to lead and turn around $8M testing program with top 20 US auto insurer
pursuing system modernization. Streamlined testing program, successfully winning an additional $1.5M
in test automation business and the merger of a $5M property policy administration testing effort into
the automobile program (220 total resources). Drove innovations which shortened regression test
timelines by 46%, established fully automated time-point testing, eliminating dependence upon manual
batch runs ($300K annual savings), decreased environment dependency by 30%, and increased
environment availability from 73% to 97%. Trimmed combined $14M program after successful auto
product delivery to $10M.

SENIOR MANAGER, IS QUALITY ASSURANCE AND TEST COMPETENCY CENTRE

INSURANCE COMPANY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

2010 - 2013

Establish quality practice and standards for the Information Systems Division, including Test
Environments, Full Test Lifecycle, Test Tools (procurement & implementation), Defect Management,
Requirements Management, Functional Test Automation, Services (SOA) Testing, and Test Data
Scrubbing. Led 5 year, $5M QA capability initiative to successful completion as Business Prime.

SENIOR DIRECTOR, GLOBAL TEST STRATEGY & TECHNOLOGY PRACTICE

UST-GLOBAL

2006 - 2010
Aliso Viejo, California

Provide senior expertise in ramping up standardized development, quality assurance, testing, and
assessment projects. Headed quality practice with over 500 resources globally.
Ramped up and led development and testing effort for $17 Billion retailer green field $2 Million ecommerce project
Sold, initiated, led, and completed >$3 Million in specialized test projects, proving ROI, increasing
test coverage by 2x, & discovering significant production risks for: UPS, HEB Stores, Lehman
Brothers, and H&R Block
Recruited, initiated, & ramped QA team at H&R Block, reversing quality of customer-facing
Internet tax e-filing application. The application received adverse national media coverage about its
quality in 2006. In 2007 & 2008, no production defects were reported.
Provided critical training support for aggressive staff growth (60%/year) as leader of BA &
Testing CoE:
Led definition of BA & quality processes & practices, standards

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Initiated break though quality practice, completing business case justification for investment,
& demonstrating client successes
As Head of Center of Excellence, Defined standards, & metrics for QA practice engagements
Led qualification standards review & definition of competencies for 500+ person global
testing & BA organization.

SENIOR PARTNER & PRINCIPLE CONSULTANT

ALARAS

2000 - 2006
Kingwood, Texas

Designed and introduced industry first automated software quality testing product. Led product launch
from concept. Sold Alaras Service Practice to US Technology Resources, LLC.
Ramped up & led QA efforts for 5 major clients including Aurora Loan Services (Lehman Bros),
Pulte Homes ($9 Billion national home builder), Argent Mortgage ($51 Billion mortgage provider),
Wells Fargo Bank, SPL World Group.
Recruited automation team and led development & architecture of test automation framework
supporting >10K maintainable tests in 4 months. Defined SDLC for 3 dev teams of 100+
developers.
Organized, recruited, established and led test analyst & functional automation, performance, and
CM team of 25 for $51 Billion mortgage provider
Oversaw training program development for BAs in use case authorship to achieve testable
requirements
Eliminated 50% software scrap & rework, shortened UAT phase by 78%, system test phase by
75% while reducing UAT average defect count by 70%
Demonstrated savings of $1.5M in testing expenses and 15%reduction in dev costs for Wells
Fargo

SENIOR DIRECTOR, QUALITY ASSURANCE & ENGINEERING

EGREETINGS NETWORK, INC.

1999 - 2000
San Francisco, California

Established the Quality Assurance Department, Project Office, Use Case Requirements Group.
Introduced UML O/O disciplines. Mentored coworkers and senior executives in quality process and
practices. Launched largest ATG installation in the world. Managed 17-25 direct reports.
Became key contributor to growth of company, from <$3 Million to $9 Million+ per year in 1
year.
Built and implemented software processes / teams, facilitating make-or-break B2B product
release for Microsoft.
Slashed defects from 40+ to <1 per release, while website hits grew from 300,000 to 5 Million+
monthly.
Yielded 100% ROI within 9 months after launching revolutionary Extreme QA product that cut
regression testing costs by 76% and decreased time-to-market.
Instituted and led performance team consisting of application and operations engineers,
achieving increase in capacity by over 500% to 100K concurrent users.
Introduced Unified Process, Rational Rose, Interwoven, Doors, RBT, Alaras Accelerate, and Web
Monitoring tools.

QA MANAGER
WELLS FARGO BUSINESS OBJECT SERVICES

1995 - 1999
San Francisco, California

Established and directed Quality Assurance Department supporting Fortune 500 SOA Services
application group (largest SOA platform in the world). Led thrust, developing quality infrastructure for
both client and server development groups (120+ developers). Managed 17 direct reports.
Established innovative QA technology supporting telephone / Internet banking and online
customer services. Mentored quality managers in major client development groups.
Achieved 100% functional test coverage and zero production defect rate, while volume
catapulted from 50,000 transactions daily to 4,000,000+ per hour, supporting 60,000 new
customers monthly.
Enabled post-merger of Wells Fargo and Norwest Bank integration of accounts in 6 weeks.

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Appointed to Wells Fargos Y2K Standards Committee, representing all client / server
development groups bank-wide.
Led team in designing & implementing Rationals Clear Case and Clear Guide servicing
environments that supported 120+ developers and 60+ SQA professionals.

INFORMATION SYSTEMS DIRECTOR

INDIAN WELLS WATER COMPANY

1991 - 1995
Corte Madera, California

Led design of HW/SW infrastructure, propelling startup to $5 Million annual revenue. Managed 1-20
direct reports.
Turned loss to breakeven, enabling 281% average annual sales growth for 4 consecutive years.
Delivered 80% improvement in customer satisfaction.
Saved 75% in costs and reduced A/R 95% with systems solution.
Composed and conducted technology presentations to investors, securing $2 Million+ in
additional capital.

VICE PRESIDENT, ENGINEERING

CORBIN, WILLITS SYSTEMS, INC.

1982 - 1991
Fremont, California

Quickly promoted to partner of software development firm specializing in government accounting

systems. Managed 10-15 direct reports.
Achieved the endorsement of the California Association of Special Districts.
Led design / launch of products that drove expansion into vertical markets, generating $3
Million+ in new sales, and grew customer base 250% annually for 4 consecutive years. Key role in
achieving 5-fold growth to $1.5 Million annual revenue.
Architected and managed development of ERP application for fund accounting. Modules included
Payroll, Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, Personnel / HR, Inventory, Email, Cash
Management, Purchase Order, Calendar / Appointment.

EDUCATION
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE ENGINEERING

United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland

Naval Logistics & Supply Management
U.S. Naval Supply Corps School, Athens, Georgia

PUBLICATIONS
A Case Study in Extreme Acceptance Testing, Journal of Software Testing Professionals, June 2001.
Caliber RBT by Technology Builders, Inc. Journal of Software Testing Professionals , Sept 2000.

MILITARY SERVICE
US Naval Reserve
Managed 5-man development team, 50-man detachment, and 200-man inter-service battalion.
Formed and led software team toward development of software that streamlined and reengineered missioncritical operations at the Military Sealift Command, saving $70 Million in Desert Storm support.
Established software team and led development of Advanced Supply Base operations software ultimately
used in disaster relief efforts for Hurricane Andrew and other relief efforts.

Navy Commendation and Navy Achievement Decorations.

Retired with Honorable Discharge.

INTERESTS & ACTIVITIES

Hiking Biking US history Film Biographies Non Profit Volunteer