Resume | Mark Razo's Career Portfolio

PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY

Strategic planning and portfolio management leader with 15+ years of cross-functional experience in higher education, technology, and manufacturing. Built and lead Sheridan College's enterprise project management office (PMO) and strategic initiatives governance, connecting the institutional Strategic Plan and Academic Plan to investment governance, business cases, funding, delivery, benefits realization, and Ministry reporting for a $31M+ portfolio of 36 initiatives. Certified Project Management Professional (PMP), Prosci Certified Change Practitioner, Kotter Certified Change Leader, SAFe 6 Agilist, and ITIL 4 Foundation.

CORE COMPETENCIES

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Manager, Integrated Planning and Projects | Sheridan College, Integrated Planning and Analysis (IPA) | Oakville, ON | 2024 – Present

Built and lead Sheridan's enterprise PMO and Strategic Initiatives Committee (SIC) governance model, connecting the Strategic Plan and Academic Plan to funding, delivery, and reporting; portfolio peaked at $31M+ across 36 strategic initiatives (currently $10M+ across 15).
Co-chair the advisory committee recommending funding approvals and in-year strategic reserve reallocations to Vice Presidents; advise sponsors and VPs on prioritization, funding trade-offs, and benefits realization using a scoring framework, business case and charter templates, and change requests.
Co-authored Sheridan's Critical Response Plan (institutional strategic plan) and contributed to its metrics framework, aligning the strategic initiative intake process to strategic plan priorities.
Lead the Yearly Divisional Business Planning process and quarterly KPI-based status reporting on divisional objectives, integrating institutional and unit plans with the college-wide budgeting cycle.
Lead institutional Ministry of Colleges and Universities (MCURES) reporting, including the Institutional Business Plan and Annual Report.
Redesigned the strategic initiative intake-to-closeout process using Lean Six Sigma (SIPOC, DMAIC), PMI, Prosci, and Kotter frameworks; established the Business Case Template as the single entry point and delivered a gap analysis for continuous improvement.
Deliver monthly and quarterly dashboards on portfolio performance, fund status, risks, and dependencies to the Executive Leadership Team; built the portfolio tracker, standardized status-report generator, process infographic, and IPA Resource Centre supporting 15+ initiative leads.
Lead the IPA client service model, providing guidance, training, facilitation, and coaching to business leads; manage, coach, and recruit the Planning Specialist direct report.
Manage vendor and consultant engagements, including the RFP for institutional strategic planning work; handle confidential and politically sensitive information with discretion.

Project Portfolio Manager | Sheridan College, Information Technology Services (PPMO Digital Transformation and Innovation) | Oakville, ON | 2023 – 2024

Led a portfolio of 31+ enterprise transformation projects ($8M) aligned to the organizational strategic plan; presented quarterly portfolio performance to the President, Vice Presidents, and Executive Leadership Team, informing $8M+ in annual budget allocation; led reviews of challenged initiatives with continue, change, hold, or discontinue recommendations.
Built and coached a team of 4 project managers and 3 business analysts, raising project management capability maturity from CMMI Level 1 to Level 3.
Developed, implemented, and facilitated the organization-wide change management framework (Prosci ADKAR) with the Organizational Development team across 12 initiatives, achieving 78% stakeholder adoption; led stakeholder workshops on portfolio, project, and change management.
Monitored dependencies across pan-institutional projects, resolving or escalating conflicts; led portfolio dashboards and Gantt charts in Adobe Workfront.
Partnered with senior business and IT executives and vendors (Cisco, AWS, Adobe) to identify technology opportunities.

Adjunct Professor, Project Management Graduate Certificate | Sheridan College, Pilon School of Business | Mississauga, ON | 2023 – 2024

Facilitated the Project Management Graduate Certificate program (scheduling and risk management, business process management, change management) using active learning for 120+ practitioners annually, maintaining 4.5+/5.0 evaluation ratings.

Project Manager, Digital Transformation | Sheridan College, Information Technology Services | Oakville, ON | 2020 – 2023

Managed up to 9 concurrent enterprise technology projects ($300K average) across the full solution development lifecycle (SDLC), including scheduling, resourcing, scope, and costs; achieved 92% on-time delivery and $370K+ in savings.
Coordinated milestones across planning, development, integration, SIT, and UAT with pan-institutional business and IT teams; presented business cases and ROI analyses to the CIO and IT Governance Committee.

Technical Project Manager, Experiential Marketing | Christie Digital Systems | Kitchener, ON | 2013 – 2016

Directed a $3M+ annual portfolio of 20+ tradeshows, sponsorships, conferences, and exhibitions ($25,000 to $1,500,000 each), managing procurement and external vendors to deliver in scope, on time, and on budget with 8% cost optimization and 97% client satisfaction.

ADDITIONAL EXPERIENCE

Audio Visual Technologist, Conference Services , Sheridan College, Oakville ON, 2018 – 2021; Assistant Automation Coordinator, Elections Canada, Oakville, ON, 2022; Service Technologist and Event Coordinator, KPMG / AVI-SPL, Toronto, ON, 2017 – 2018; Cinema Solution Specialist, Cinematronix, Scarborough, ON, 2016 – 2017; Exhibition Event Coordinator, Toronto International Film Festival, 2016; Event Coordinator, Giant Screen Cinema Association, 2016; Technical Support Technologist / Technical Trainer; Manufacturing Technologist, Christie Digital Systems, Kitchener, ON, 2010 – 2013

EDUCATION

Business Analysis Certificate, Sheridan College, Oakville, ON, 2023

Junior Business Analyst Micro-Credential, Sheridan College, Oakville, ON, 2023

Project Management Certificate (Honours), Sheridan College, Oakville, ON, 2020

Mechanical-Electronics Engineering Technology Advanced Diploma, Durham College, Oshawa, ON, 2009

CERTIFICATIONS

Portfolio & Agile Management: PMI PMP® (2022) | SAFe® 6 Agilist (2023) | PMI Organizational Transformation (2023) | Wicked Problem Solving (2024)

Change & Innovation: Prosci® Certified Change Practitioner (2023) | Kotter Advanced Certification (2024)

Leadership & Strategic Planning: SCUP Emerging Leaders (2023-2024) | Leadership Excellence - Colleges Ontario (2024) | CivicAction Board Governance (2023)

Professional Practice & Facilitation: Certified Professional Facilitator (FKA, 2013) | Adobe Education Institute Fellow (2024-2025) | eCampusOntario Empowered Educator (2023)

Technology & Methodologies: ITIL® 4 Foundation (2020)

BOARD LEADERSHIP, COMMITTEES, AND PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

Executive Advisory & Board Governance: President's Advisory Council (Sheridan College) | Finance Committee Chair (Toronto Ward Museum) | Governance Committee Member (Toronto Ward Museum)

Professional Practice Communities: EDUCAUSE Review Advisory Committee (2023-2026) | EDUCAUSE Ambassador (2023-2026) | PMI Toronto Chapter Member (2022-2026) | SCUP Member (2025) | CivicAction Emerging Leaders Network | Adobe Education Institute Conference Panelist (2025)

Recognition: 2× Emerging Leader Award (Sheridan College, 2018 & 2024) | Service Excellence Team Award Nomination (2024)