Oscar NIYONKURU

Dynamic transformation leader with a proven record in enterprise agility, governance, and cybersecurity across Canada and the Middle East. Skilled in bridging strategy and execution through data-driven leadership, scalable training, and value-focused delivery frameworks.

Key Leaderships Achievements:

• Built Agile, SAFe, and DevOps capabilities by designing and delivering enterprise-wide training programs (PSM I, PSPO I, Agile Leadership, SAFe, DevOps, Jira), enabling scalable and measurable transformation.
• Led Agile transformation at the National Bank of Canada, driving PI Planning readiness, portfolio OKRs, and governance KPIs to enhance visibility, alignment, and delivery performance.
• Directed an $89M cybersecurity and data protection program, ensuring full compliance with privacy, retention, and regulatory standards.
• Accelerated the shift from project-based to value-driven execution by embedding Lean Portfolio Management, and aligning strategic priorities with funding and delivery.
• Delivered advanced Atlassian training (Jira, Confluence, EazyBI), elevating team performance, reporting maturity, and enterprise transparency.

As a strategic leader within CGI's Agile Practice in Montreal, I have led agile transformations, driven business development, and enhanced team performance to maximize client success.

Key Achievements:

• Built, hired, and led a 20-person Agile delivery organization (coaches, Scrum Masters, RTEs), implementing structured 3-, 6-, and 12-month performance reviews and personalized growth plans.
• Collaborated with cross-functional teams to design comprehensive consulting frameworks tailored to client needs.
• Scaled CGI’s Agile Training Center generated $2.4M in new revenue and boosted profit margins from 34% to 44% through optimized delivery and training programs.
• Strengthened strategic partnerships with Scaled Agile Framework and Planview, enabling multiple RFP wins, and securing new enterprise clients.
• Delivered enterprise transformation for the National Bank of Canada—turning a critical program back to green, tripling delivery velocity, and coaching over 60 team members across Montreal, Toronto, and India.
• Led major transformation initiatives at Rio Tinto, CN, and the cities of Montreal and Laval, conducting Agile maturity assessments, running Value Stream Identification workshops, and shifting organizations to product-based delivery.
• Designed and executed PMO-to-VMO transition strategies, embedding Lean Portfolio Management with C-suite leaders (CIO, COO, CFO), and modernizing governance models.

Key leadership achievements:

• By optimizing agile practices, fostering high-performing teams, and driving business growth, CGI continues to elevate client agility, operational efficiency, and long-term strategic success.

Led a $52M regulatory transformation program at Desjardins in response to a data breach affecting 7M members, strengthening data security, and digitizing critical client transactions.

Key Achievements:

• Directed executive governance to ensure strategic alignment, regulatory oversight (AMF), and strict budget compliance across all workstreams.
• Drove team alignment through OKR workshops, proactive risk management, and value-based prioritization across cross-functional teams.
• Orchestrated the decommissioning of major Enterprise Content Management platforms (SharePoint, Documentum), ensuring a seamless transition across five departments, with minimal disruption.
• Managed capacity and performance reviews, coached project managers, and prepared teams for regulatory audits and high-visibility risk assessments.
• Served as Release Train Engineer (RTE), facilitating PI Planning, and coaching Product Owners on prioritization and backlog optimization.
• Achieved major operational improvements—cutting document processing times by 50%, and deploying digital remote-transaction systems that ensured continuity during COVID-19.

Directed a multi-million-dollar, defence-grade Identity-as-a-Service (IaaS) initiative—an advanced Identity & Access Management (IAM) platform safeguarding identities for armed forces, national security agencies, government entities, and global enterprises, hosted in hyper-secure Tier IV, anonymized, GDPR-compliant cyber bunkers.

Key Achievements:

• Defined and governed the end-to-end program roadmap—vision, operating model, capacity and risk strategy, and financial oversight—delivering 95% of milestones on schedule in a highly regulated and security-sensitive environment.
• Orchestrated the enterprise-wide shift from waterfall to Agile and Scaled Agile (SAFe), driving transformation audits, executing adoption milestones, and elevating delivery performance (throughput +40%, delivery variance –35%).
• Championed SAFe implementation at the executive level, leading PI Readiness workshops, coaching senior leaders on Lean-Agile governance, and securing C-suite and board sponsorship for enterprise-scale Agile practices.
• Strengthened vendor, procurement, and legal governance—managing major license/equipment renewals, ensuring 100% contract compliance, and mitigating supplier risk through Moody’s and CrediSafe–backed evaluations.
• Delivered executive reporting and decision-enabling insights via QlikView dashboards, with KPIs covering quality (defects – 30%), productivity (velocity + 45%), budget variance (< 5%), risk exposure, and delivery predictability (+ 25%).
• Led the enterprise change-management strategy, achieving over 85% organizational adoption of Agile/SAFe frameworks, and establishing a sustainable delivery governance model.
• Accelerated operational performance by enabling DevOps and continuous delivery pipelines, ultimately reducing time-to-market by 50% for high-security digital services.

The SINUS Program is a strategic technology transformation initiative supported by the United Nations, specifically the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the World Bank, and the armed forces of ten countries. Its primary goal is to combat terrorism and illicit drug trafficking in the West African region. The program has an $89 million budget and a team of 66 members.

Key Achievements:

• Assessed all PMO domains to ensure a smooth transition to the VMO (Value Management Office) and Agile Delivery model.
• Developed a strategic roadmap and a 5-year IT plan, aligning investments, risk management, and key milestones.
• Designed a project management framework to optimize resources, budgets, quality standards, and risk assessment.
• Established rigorous prioritization and selection frameworks that focused funding on the highest-value initiatives.
• Strengthened executive governance by coordinating steering committees and deploying KPI-driven reporting to track business value, cost-benefit, and delivery performance.
• Delivered major outcomes, including $1.8M in contract savings and a security indexing system that cut information retrieval time from one week to under one minute.

SogecashWeb Project: Led the decommissioning of a legacy cash-management platform and launched a scalable web/mobile solution (12M+ concurrent users) with enterprise-grade SSO across multiple countries.

Key Achievements:

• Directed Agile delivery (planning, reviews, daily scrums), increasing team engagement, and improving delivery throughput by +35%.
• Optimized cross-departmental coordination—defining milestones, managing risks, and ensuring budget variance of less than 5% across the program.
• Strengthened governance and transparency by deploying KPI-driven reporting, improving delivery predictability by 25%, and quality metrics by 30%.
• Accelerated team performance through workload balancing, targeted coaching, and continuous improvement practices.
• Achieved major security and operational outcomes, including a 20% fraud reduction in six months through a new traceability system, and improved IT–business alignment via a unified KPI and budget-tracking model.

Implemented a vehicle registration and stolen vehicle listing system for the French National Police and Interpol.

Key Achievements:

• Translated customer requirements into clear, actionable user stories, ensuring strong alignment between stakeholders and development teams before delivery.
• Implemented Agile/Scrum metrics (velocity, cycle time, burndown) to improve transparency and guide data-driven performance improvements.
• Facilitated all Scrum ceremonies—Sprint Planning, Daily Scrums, Reviews, and Retrospectives—enhancing team focus, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Partnered closely with Product Owners to refine backlogs, define acceptance criteria, and improve story estimation and prioritization.
• Coached and supported six Scrum teams, removing impediments, improving flow, and fostering adherence to Agile values and principles.
• Increased team delivery speed by 30% through coaching, workflow optimization, and promoting a culture of accountability, and iteration.

Led the HERMAILE WEB modernization project, upgrading the member-management system for three public-sector mutual insurers through an advanced IBM portal—improving service delivery and operational efficiency.

Key Achievements:

• Led requirement gathering, strategic workshops, and scope clarification to align all stakeholders on project vision, business value, and Agile delivery practices.
• Developed and governed the full project plan—scope, schedule, resources, risks, and financials—ensuring tight budget discipline and high-confidence delivery across all phases.
• Reengineered processes and optimized workflows, enabling smoother end-to-end delivery and improving system usability for business teams.
• Implemented structured capacity planning and streamlined reporting for leadership, improving visibility and accelerating decision-making by 25%.
• Drove continuous improvement by coaching Product Owners and teams on prioritization and Agile execution, resulting in a 10% increase in overall project efficiency.

Integration & Modernization Program (Natixis, Dexia, Sodexo, Accor, Group Berri): Led a large-scale modernization program connecting web apps, PeopleSoft ERP, and mainframe systems using a low-code integration platform, exposing CICS, IMS, Db2, and MQ services as SOAP APIs.

Key Achievements:

• Directed end-to-end project delivery—scope, scheduling, risk management, stakeholder engagement, and financial governance—ensuring consistent and predictable execution across all five enterprise clients.
• Designed the integration architecture for a portfolio of six major technical projects, coordinating cross-functional and vendor teams to ensure alignment with each client’s strategic roadmap.
• Developed and prototyped ITIL-based Problem and Incident Management processes to strengthen operational readiness and reduce disruption risks.
• Delivered high-level solution design and partner integration across heterogeneous enterprise ecosystems (PeopleSoft, mainframe, SeeBeyond, WebSphere, Oracle DB).
• Standardized integration and project delivery models, improving cost accuracy, and reducing solution delivery time by 50% through process automation and optimized data flows.

• Projet Tele@ctes: Tele@ctes is a digital transformation initiative launched by the French government. The initiative aims to digitize real estate transactions by enabling notaries to securely submit property documents online. This process reduces processing times, enhances compliance, and streamlines property registration.
• Expert in solution architecture and IT project management, led a multidisciplinary team on various projects, including:
• Designing a 3-tier architecture for a web services interface between notaries and the DGFiP.
• Drafting functional and Technical specifications.
• Automation web service deployments with a service catalog and orchestration scripts
• Establishment of a Banking audit trail aimed at detecting fraud in financial transactions
• Reporting to senior management (project progress updates)

• Java and .Net Developer / Solution Architect
• Product traceability from the repair stage to customer return (Application developed in Java/J2EE, .Net, and Cognos for reporting).
• Over 26 million products tracked annually across 16 production sites and 7 countries worldwide.
• Tools and Technologies: Java/J2EE, VB.Net, ASP.Net, Cognos.