Resume — Gary Thomas George

Gary Thomas George, CSPO

Product Owner • Product Manager • New York

garythomasgeorge@gmail.com • LinkedIn Profile

Summary

Results-driven product owner/manager with 12+ years of diverse experience in technology consulting, product management, and software development. Proven success as product management consultant and exposure to different domains in B2B SaaS ERP products in EdTech and Learning, HCM and Payroll, E-commerce as well as social media and event ticketing domains. As the first product manager at Foradian, led the product growth of two SaaS education technology products, student ERP and LMS, used by 14000 institutions and school districts across Indian subcontinent, the Middle East, and the United States. An integral part of the core team as it transitioned from a bootstrap model to venture funding, I brought in a product led growth approach that led to increase in revenue with the products contributing directly to about 80% of the annual revenue. Strong bias towards action and entrepreneurial mindset - can efficiently drive development projects to conclusion through proactive planning and high attention to detail. Hands on experience in formulating digital strategy, requirements research, UI/UX design, data analysis and reporting. Prior experience as developer in Ruby on Rails, Python, HTML/CSS/JS, and SQL. Exposure to APIs, API based web development as well as reading and testing APIs. Approved US work permit (H1B visa) and available to join on Corp to Corp (C2C) basis immediately.

Expertise

Conduct discovery activities with stakeholders, including the customers, business SMEs, architects, and engineers and to then create features around these discovery sessions.
Build product features ideas from such activities by brainstorming and collaborating with sales, marketing, engineering leads and management.
Refine high level feature ideas to wireframes and product backlog level items that ensure a steady set requirement for design & engineering leads.
Work with the UX designer to create wireframes and prototypes for the features to create the flow for the customer journey. Review the XD or Figma designs and then conduct sessions with the stakeholders and customers where possible, to validate the flow.
Experience in analyzing and breaking down of features into clear and concise user stories that are at a level for developers pick up for development.
Work with the development and quality teams to conduct grooming sessions on the backlog and run sprint scrum ceremonies in scaled agile Framework.
Perform QA and acceptance testing of features (UAT), conduct regular sprint reviews to evaluate performance of the cycle.
Experience in building and presenting product strategy and roadmap plans that align with business goals, getting stakeholder buy-in for projects, as well as conducting product & prototype demos to the Executive Leadership for approvals.
Lead product demos of completed features to showcase the progress of work to involved customer facing teams like sales & support.
Experienced in leading and creating Gap analysis, Data Analysis, Risk Analysis, Business Process Improvement (BPI) and Systems Integration as well as functional and nonfunctional, data dictionaries and other documents required to describe system changes.
Write appropriate KPIs and OKRs for the team to measure success and make recommendations to develop new or improve existing features. Contribute to the Agile Release Train (ART) level OKRs.
Experience in web development and writing scripts in languages and frameworks like Ruby, Python, Ruby on Rails, React, Foundation etc. Well versed with version management tools like GitHub and GitLab and usage.
Worked both in independent and team-oriented environments; excellent organizational, interpersonal and communication skills.
Excellent skills in Office productivity tools like Microsoft - Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Visio, Project.
High adaptability and technology focus to quickly learn new technologies and processes. Experience with building new tech like Google Dialogflow API based food delivery chatbot, Fitbit watch face using weather and location APIs.
Interest in learning new technologies like Generative AI and used to tools like ChatGPT & Google Gemini. Experience with using prompt engineering for achieving tasks around development and automation of tasks for productivity.
Experience with building, testing, and using REST APIs including reading JSON/XML responses, testing APIs on Postman/Swagger, discussing with engineers, as well as conversing with engineers on advantages and trade-offs of different tech solutions.
Worked and analyzed different products in sectors like - ERP and HCM platforms like Workday and Paylocity; learning management and educational products like Banner, Canvas and PowerSchool; E-commerce and CMS apps like Shopify & Wordpress; Payment platforms like Stripe, PayPal; Twilio for IVR and WhatsApp Messaging.

Work Experience

GroundUp Works

Product Owner, New York January 2024 – Present

Design, formulate and manage the product development and enhancements for an upcoming stealth startup building a professional social network for blue- collar contractors and construction workers in North America.
Align offshore developers and designers to scrum based sprint system by creating epics and breaking them down to appropriate tasks and subtasks. Run sprint ceremonies and analyze performance with sprint velocity and other reports.
Formulate and advice on technology strategies, read & test JSON APIs for the backend app, evaluating data sent as requests and received as responses on Postman and Swagger.
Worked closely with the product head on the product strategy and the foundational roadmap for building 0-1 features required for the MVP and future improvements including user messaging, managing work projects and invoicing. Formulating the Go-to-market strategy to take the product to the end users and actively gather feedback for next versions.
Conducted user research using the MVP and Figma prototypes to gather valuable insights from contractors and construction workers in New Jersey and New York to build subsequent versions.
Configure metrics based on product goals and use Google Analytics for analyze behavior across deferent segments of users to optimize signups, post creations and engagements.

WebServes Inc Business Analyst (Volunteer), New York January 2022 - December 2022

Lead cross-functional team on multiple web development projects for non-profits and educational institutions, targeting 100% completion and proactively managing project risks using strategic data insights.
Designed support policies for projects, conducted prototyping, and mockups for the client websites and web apps on Figma.
Researched and introduced project tracking tools and systems like Intervals and Freedcamp for agile tracking and quality assurance, generated weekly reports to the board members and to refine processes.
Versatile Project/Delivery Manager: Led multifaceted projects in Business Intelligence and Data Practice for multiple clients, managing end to end development projects and compliance initiatives.
Strong Documentation: Created essential project documents like RACI charts, WBS as well as analyze RFPs, RFCs, and PFCs, support policies and design documents. Maintained transparent progress with regular reporting.
Quality Focus: Adhered to rigorous quality procedures throughout the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) and assessed performance with a focus on cost and schedule.

Practically
Product Consultant, Remote October 2021 – January 2022

Worked with the product and growth head to set up processes, and design workflows for agile development using Jira and Confluence for the Augmented Reality video learning education web and mobile apps.
Create documents PRDs for features to increase onboarding and referrals, build new lesson plan module and assignments to transition into a full-fledged learning management system (LMS).
Advised the core team regarding the integration with the Fedena Student Information System to augment the capacity for schools.

Foradian Technologies
Product Manager, Bangalore, India September 2018 – October 2021

Overview

Led the end-to-end product lifecycle management of two EdTech products, - Fedena (multi-tenant SaaS Student Information System) and Uzity (SaaS Learning Management System), used in over 40,000 institutions, from scope and design to implementation.
Started as the first product manager and later hired & mentored a product team consisting of 3-members. Along with the 2 engineering leads and UX lead, worked with a 20+ member Engineering and UI/UX team to build and launch features.
Introduced a data-based decision-making culture by using product analytics like Heap and Google Analytics as analyzing raw data to take decisions around product features and their usage.

Fedena Connect Mobile App

Solved for the problem of teachers not having access to desktops outside of school and of parents needing to access their student’s data including alerts, reminders, and grades.
Directed the strategy, planning & successful launch of the Fedena Connect Mobile app on Android and iOS, achieving a 30% increase in product adoption as well as expanding the user base to new customers.
After the MVP version, moved to more advanced feature launches including gradebook mark entry, gate management for visitors with Barcode/QR Code scanning and the Dashboard for the owner to see quick insights of their schools.
Adopted an API first web development strategy by connecting to the main application backend using APIs and using the hybrid IONIC platform for the frontend of the apps.

Gradebook Module

Conceptualized and built the Gradebook examination module from scratch, addressing the problem of having differences in the examination systems from customers of over 10 countries.
New solution led to reducing customization requests by over 50% through a fully configurable grading and reporting module. Built the template reports gallery that schools can buy from as well as request additional customization from.

Finance, Online Payments & Integrations

Redesigned the finance and fee payment module in Fedena to handle different school fee payment plan scenarios across different markets including direct payment, postdated check payment, fee payment plans, loans, and online payment using payment gateways.
Planned and designed the integrated online payment solution that allows users to configure multiple credit card payment and online payment solutions from within the platform meeting PCI compliance and other regulatory requirements.
Worked with various external vendors, overseeing initiatives ranging from integration of over 15 Payment gateways like Stripe, PayPal among others.

Other projects and features

Rebuilt the Fedena Transportation module from scratch as a mobile app feature allowing schools to integrate GPS based bus tracking solutions, be notified from the app when the bus reaches near the pickup spot and designated points in the school. Detailed reporting and management features allow the transportation supervisor to review and manage routes and student assignment.
Solved for the problem of fragmented messaging system by launching the Integrated messaging and IVR module that allows schools to use all their outbound messaging services in one place that allows to configure and send both external and in-app notifications. Integration with Twilio and GupShup for IVR, SMS and WhatsApp with AWS Simple Email Service (SES).
Designed the new admissions dashboard and the school group portal dashboard for the school owner for an at-a-glance view of the operations of the school by including graphical as well as tabular details.

Foradian Technologies

Software Engineer/Product Owner, Bangalore, India August 2012 – August 2018

Developed and tested multiple features for Fedena Student Information System and conducting thorough research to enhance the product.
Built the document manager plugin for Fedena on the lines of Google Drive, performed bug fixes and provided technical support.
Led the development of the API Playground, a sandbox environment for developers of the Fedena APIs. This led to the development of new innovative plugins by partners for the Fedena Marketplace. Winner of the quarterly Fedena innovation award.
Later transitioned into proxy business analyst/product owner role analyzing requirements from customers and turning them into product requirement documents by working with the CTO and engineering leads in an agile environment.

Education

M.S in Information Systems

New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, New Jersey, 2023

GPA 3.9/4.0

Master of Business Administration (Executive MBA)

Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Bangalore, Karnataka, 2017

GPA 3.6/4.0

B.S in Computer Science Engineering

Biju Patnaik University of Technology, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, 2012

GPA 7.61/10.0

Certifications

Certified Scrum Product Owner, Scrum Alliance, License 1886389