Portfolio & Program Leadership

Leeann
Lauter

MBA · PMP · Enterprise Portfolio Strategist

Transformational operations and portfolio leader with a track record of building enterprise PMOs from the ground up, driving measurable delivery improvement, and aligning cross-functional teams to strategic objectives — delivering 20–82% performance gains across fintech, SaaS, and enterprise organizations.

Leeann Lauter — Professional Portrait
10+
Years of Leadership
82%
OTD Improvement at DailyPay
3
Enterprise PMOs Built from Scratch
$200M+
Capital Programs Led
2
Master's Degrees · MBA + MS · ASU

Bridging Strategy
& Execution

With over a decade of experience driving transformation across industries, I specialize in aligning business strategy with technical execution to deliver scalable, lasting results. My expertise spans leading cross-functional teams, optimizing operations, and guiding enterprise portfolios through change and growth.

Whether advising leadership through complex transformations or orchestrating large-scale SaaS initiatives, I'm focused on creating measurable impact through clarity, collaboration, and strategic execution. I consistently translate complex, fragmented roadmaps into focused, high-impact programs — and develop the teams that sustain results long after the foundation is built.

Based in the Dallas / Fort Worth, TX area and open to strategic advisory, fractional leadership, and enterprise consulting engagements.

💼
Consulting Services

Strategic advisory for enterprise portfolio governance, PMO buildout, and organizational transformation. Tailored engagements for leaders navigating scale and complexity.

Schedule a 30-Minute Strategy Session
🌱
1:1 Coaching

Personalized coaching for program managers, PMO leaders, and aspiring executives looking to accelerate their career trajectory and sharpen strategic thinking.

Schedule Your Coaching Intro Call
Core Competencies

Areas of Expertise

01
Enterprise Portfolio Strategy & Governance

Building portfolio frameworks that align initiatives to strategic objectives and enhance executive visibility.

02
Program Delivery at Scale

Leading enterprise-wide initiatives that drive measurable business impact across product, design, and technology functions.

03
Operations Optimization

Improving organizational efficiency through streamlined processes, tooling, and reporting cadence.

04
Process Improvement & Change Management

Transforming workflows using Agile methodologies and continuous improvement practices to reduce bottlenecks and accelerate outcomes.

05
Strategic Planning & Market Readiness

Partnering with Finance, Legal, and Investor Relations to strengthen governance and prepare organizations for future growth.

06
Cross-Functional Leadership

Driving alignment across business, product, and engineering teams to ensure cohesive delivery and accountability.

07
Growth Strategy & Business Development

Collaborating with leadership to define go-to-market strategies and craft investor-ready materials that communicate value propositions.

08
Agile Transformation

Scaling Scrum, Kanban, SAFe, and OKR frameworks across engineering and product organizations to dramatically improve velocity and predictability.

Programs & Partnerships

The Work That
Defines This Practice

This site highlights the programs and partnerships that define my work — named initiatives, measurable outcomes, and the strategic context behind each one.

Enterprise Portfolio · Fintech
DailyPay · 2025–Present

EPMO Build-Out & On-Time Delivery Transformation

Rebuilt portfolio operations from the ground up at a high-growth fintech — introducing PMO standards, templates, and governing frameworks that transformed roadmap planning org-wide and drove an 82% improvement in on-time delivery.

82%OTD improvement (33%→60%)
79%waste reduction in stopped work
100%initiatives on hold eliminated
Product Program · Fintech
DailyPay · 2025–Present

Secured Card & Marketplace Programs

Served as primary owner and driver of the Secured Card initiative from inception through multi-vendor development and sponsor alignment. Stood up the Marketplace program from conception — including business case, process operationalization, and PM framework — before successfully transitioning ownership.

2programs built from zero
Google Sheets → Jirafull workflow migration
Startup Operations · Energy
Badwater Solutions · 2024–2025

Oil & Gas Water Recycling Venture Launch

Fractional Director of Operations for an early-stage oil and gas water cleanup startup, building the entire operational, financial, and go-to-market infrastructure from day one — investor materials, pro forma financials, brand collateral, and project execution frameworks.

First-to-marketwater recycling initiative
0→1investor deck, financials, GTM
Enterprise PMO · Koch Industries
KBX, Inc. · 2023–2024

Enterprise PMO Foundation & SAP Integration

Built the Enterprise PMO from zero at a Koch Industries subsidiary, establishing governance, standardized processes, and the Program Manager role — while simultaneously directing a phased SAP implementation for Georgia Pacific across two platform instances with a custom bridge solution.

$100–200M+capital programs overseen
25%reduction in system downtime
20%improvement in delivery timelines
Agile Transformation · SaaS
ActivTrak · 2021–2023

Technical PMO & Engineering Transformation

Established ActivTrak's Technical PMO from inception, introducing Agile practices, OKR frameworks, and team health programs across 60+ engineers. Led GCP cloud cost optimization with the Chief Architect while driving measurable gains in velocity, quality, and employee satisfaction.

30%increase in team velocity
25%improvement in employee satisfaction
15%GCP cost reduction
Platform Architecture · SaaS
WP Engine · 2020–2021

EVOLV Platform Revamp & Zero Install Orchestrator

Led EVOLV — a full architectural revamp from monolithic to microservices — reducing downtime by 20% and enabling scalable infrastructure. Simultaneously launched the Zero Install Sign-Up Orchestrator, automating customer provisioning end-to-end, and implemented a global ingress/egress network via Cloudflare CDN.

50%reduction in manual provisioning
40%reduction in network latency
20%less platform downtime
Global Delivery · Enterprise
Indeed · 2017–2020

Agile Transformation, Guilds Program & CI/CD Automation

At the world's largest job site, led Agile transformation across 6 engineering teams and introduced OKRs across 30. Founded the Guilds program — adopted company-wide — to modernize tools and processes. Automated the CI/CD pipeline (Jenkins → Cloudbees + OpsMX) and rolled out global code review standards across 50+ teams.

42%reduction in release lead time
38%reduction in production lead time
30+transformational change projects delivered
Technology Consulting · Enterprise
CTG Inc. · 2014–2017

CallidusCloud, Netcracker BSS & Disaster Recovery Audit

Delivered high-impact technology consulting for GCI and Alaska USA Bank — transforming sales commission processes across six departments, aligning operational support systems with long-term growth strategy, and hardening disaster recovery preparedness through a comprehensive audit and improvement program.

35%faster disaster recovery (Alaska USA Bank)
20%increase in sales productivity (GCI)
15%reduction in service complaints
Signature Project · 2026

AI-Native PMO:
Kill the Supportive PMO

70% of PMO time today goes to admin, reporting, and coordination — manual note-taking, status report assembly, Jira babysitting. This execution package eliminates the supportive PMO model entirely through AI automation, leadership uplift, and team self-organization. The premise is simple: AI does the work. PMO leads.

✗ Supportive PMO — Eliminated
  • Takes notes in every meeting
  • Manually creates Jira boards & tickets
  • Collates status reports from all teams
  • Chases owners for updates
  • Sends weekly reports by hand
  • Manages Confluence pages manually
✓ AI-Native PMO — Activated
  • AI captures & synthesises every meeting
  • AI spins up Jira from playbook templates
  • AI generates weekly digest from all sources
  • Automated reminders & Slack nudges
  • Report delivered every Friday at 17:00 — zero assembly
  • Confluence auto-populated from meetings
Three Integrated Layers
Layer 01
AI Meeting Protocol

Structured meeting format → AI ingestion → notes generated → Jira tickets created → Slack posted. All without a human touching it. 4 formats, 11-field schema, 3 prompts. Ready today.

Layer 02
Weekly Digest Engine

Meeting notes + Jira data + Slack signals → AI aggregates → branded weekly report → delivered every Friday at 17:00. Zero human assembly. Branded template, generation prompt, auto-send.

Layer 03
Project Playbook System

PM submits intake form → AI reads playbook → Jira board + epics + Confluence space + Slack channel created automatically. PMO reviews in 15 minutes. 4 playbooks, full Jira setup, risk escalation.

Target Outcomes · 8-Week Pilot
10h+
PMO hours recaptured weekly
0 min
Report assembly time per week
<1hr
New project spin-up time
100%
Teams self-organising by Week 8
Full Stack Translation · Yes, It Works on Microsoft Too

The entire Zero Admin PMO system is tool-agnostic at the concept level. Every component has a direct Microsoft equivalent. The prompts, playbooks, and protocols are identical — only the API calls change.

Function
Atlassian Stack
Microsoft Stack
Project Tracking
Jira
REST API v3 · Full automation support · Boards, epics, sprints, custom fields
Azure DevOps
REST API · Work items, backlogs, sprints, pipelines · Full automation parity with Jira · Native Microsoft — preferred for .NET/enterprise orgs
Documentation
Confluence
REST API · Auto-create spaces, pages, decisions log
SharePoint / OneNote
Microsoft Graph API · Create sites, pages, lists · SharePoint API has more overhead — budget extra setup time
Messaging / Notifications
Slack
Incoming webhooks · Bot API · Channel creation
Microsoft Teams
Incoming webhooks work identically to Slack · Teams bot via Bot Framework · Adaptive Cards for rich formatting · Direct parity — same n8n node structure
Meeting Transcripts
Zoom
recording.completed webhook → n8n → fetch transcript · Requires Zoom Pro ($15/mo) · Clean push model · Works identically on both stacks
MS Teams + Graph API
Teams transcription via Microsoft Graph API · Requires Teams Premium OR custom Graph app · Teams Premium adds cost — Zoom is often simpler even for Microsoft orgs
Orchestration
n8n
Self-hosted or cloud · Free tier · Full API access
Power Automate
Native Microsoft · Built-in connectors for Teams, ADO, SharePoint · No-code flows possible · Often already licensed — zero additional cost for Microsoft shops
AI Engine
Claude API / OpenAI API
External API call via HTTP Request node
Azure OpenAI
Same GPT models, hosted in Azure · Enterprise security & compliance · Data stays in tenant · Stronger compliance story for regulated industries
Email / Reports
Sendgrid / Resend
Transactional email API
Outlook / Exchange + Graph API
Send via Microsoft Graph sendMail endpoint · Or use Power Automate's native Outlook connector · No additional vendor — simpler for Microsoft shops
Identity / Auth
Atlassian OAuth 2.0
API token or OAuth per service
Azure Active Directory
Single OAuth 2.0 / service principal covers all Microsoft services (ADO, Teams, SharePoint, Outlook) · One auth to rule them all
Microsoft Stack Advantages
  • Power Automate often already licensed (no extra cost)
  • Azure OpenAI keeps data inside the tenant (IT loves this)
  • Single Azure AD auth for all services
  • ADO has excellent REST API parity with Jira
  • Teams Adaptive Cards produce richer digest formatting than Slack
  • Better fit for regulated industries (finance, healthcare, gov)
Microsoft Stack Watch-outs
  • Teams transcript API requires Teams Premium or Graph app setup
  • SharePoint API is more complex than Confluence — allow extra time
  • Power Automate has execution limits on lower-tier licences
  • Azure OpenAI requires Azure subscription setup (not instant)
  • ADO project creation API differs from Jira — playbook prompts need tuning
The Pitch for Microsoft Shops

"If you're already on Microsoft 365, you may already have most of what you need: Power Automate for orchestration, Teams for meetings and notifications, Azure DevOps for tracking. We connect those tools you already pay for to an AI layer — and the same zero-admin PMO system runs on your existing stack. No new vendors. Data stays in your tenant. Your IT team will be happier."

Atlassian Stack
Claude API GPT-4o Jira REST API Confluence API Slack Webhooks n8n / Make
Microsoft Stack
Azure OpenAI Azure DevOps SharePoint / OneNote MS Teams Power Automate Azure AD Graph API
Request a Demo
Credentials

Education &
Certifications

  • Master of Business Administration (MBA)
    Arizona State University — W.P. Carey School of Business · Beta Gamma Sigma Honors Society
  • M.S. in Information Systems Management
    Arizona State University — W.P. Carey School of Business
  • B.B.A. in Entrepreneurship
    University of North Texas
Technical Proficiencies
Jira Confluence Smartsheet Asana
AWS GCP PowerBI Tableau
Scrum SAFe Lean Kanban
Professional Development
Arbinger Leadership Mindset Radical Candor Leadership
DataCamp AI Fundamentals Python for Developers Architecting on AWS
Certifications
Project Management Professional (PMP)
PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)
Certified Scrum Master (CSM)
AI Fundamentals (2024)
Board Experience
Board of Directors — Preserve International
Board of Directors — Austin Women in Technology
Founding Board Member — Indeed Women in Technology

Let's Work
Together

I'm passionate about leveraging my technical and business consulting skills to drive transformation. Whether you're navigating a complex portfolio challenge, building out a PMO, or looking for a strategic thought partner — I'd love to connect.

Beyond the Boardroom
🥾
Camino de Santiago

After a fulfilling career break, I embarked on a transformative journey hiking the Camino de Santiago — an experience that shaped my approach to problem-solving and long-term goal setting.

🥩
Cofresí Prime Meats — Puerto Rico

Founded and operated a farm-to-table butcher shop, scaling operations before successfully selling my stake to local partners. Entrepreneurship in action.