Karen Ballinger

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Olde West Chester, Ohio, United States

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Timeline
About me
Agile Coach & Scrum Master, MBA, SPC4, PSM 2, ICP-ACC, ICP-ATF
Education
- MBA - Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey
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  Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) International Business - Japanese 3.5
  Activities and Societies: Capstone project and business plan for fiber optic company looking to globalize, organized study groups, worked on campus in student affairs, cross-country skiing, ballroom and Lindy Hop dance The Middlebury Institute (formerly Monterey Institute) "focuses (sic) on business management in the context of global issues with a focus on languages and cross-cultural studies. Students graduate with practical professional skills, as well as invaluable hands-on experiences in the global management field to launch their next career move."Admission requirements include strong foreign language skills and an emphasis on having lived/studied abroad. My area of expertise was Japanese… Show more The Middlebury Institute (formerly Monterey Institute) "focuses (sic) on business management in the context of global issues with a focus on languages and cross-cultural studies. Students graduate with practical professional skills, as well as invaluable hands-on experiences in the global management field to launch their next career move."Admission requirements include strong foreign language skills and an emphasis on having lived/studied abroad. My area of expertise was Japanese business, culture and language. Show less
- The Ohio State University
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  Bachelor’s Degree International/Global Studies 3.7
  Activities and Societies: Air Force National Guard - 60% tuition paid, plus GI Bill. Worked on campus at the library. Interned at the Chamber of Commerce in Columbus. Worked a summer at a political party headquarters (telemarketing) in Washington DC. 6-week study abroad program to Toledo, Spain. Football, Hockey. My specialization was International Policy Study and Cause and Prevention of Warfare, with a Spanish language minor.
Experience
- LexisNexis
  Jun 2001 - May 2017
  *Led the Innovation Working Group to change the culture into a problem-solving, innovative organization with a learning mindset. Focus:**Outreach and raised awareness of pockets of innovation**Monitored the shift in mindset using surveys and other methods**Supported the planning and facilitation of large and small innovation activities*SAFe Agile change agent for UX , Product and business units in North America and Europe. Advised and assisted Program Portfolio Managers in 11 quarterly planning sessions across 4 countries.*Trained/coached Agile and Lean best practices, including RITE testing, Scrum, SAFe, KanBan*From vision to release, collaborated with business units on top priorities and aligned resources across multiple projects, synchronized all tasks and stories, milestones, issues and risks with Engineering project managers Show less * Program managed and reported on all aspects of User Research and Interaction Design on the flagship products: LexisAdvance US, LexisAdvance Australia/New Zealand, QuickCite (Canada), Shepard’s, including new products coming in UK. Project managed some legacy products: LexisLibrary (UK), Lexis for Microsoft Office, LexisPSL (UK), Nexis (global)* Led Waterfall, Agile, “Wagile”, and Interative processes and intensive UX projects, monitored 3 pilot agile projects to determine best practices to agile for UX in software development* Ensured Global Design Standards and Styles were followed. Reduced churn by analyzing design review processes and consolidating reviews from 8 to 3. Created Global Design budget plan for continual improvement* Mentored, trained and developed newcomers or junior designers/researchers (appx. 50) and coordinated activities globally* Planned and forecasted resources with front-line managers/colleagues Show less * Set up dev, test, and production servers for online user assistance, streamlining content delivery * Hired and mentored talent, represented group to management during transitions, 5 managers in 6 years* Created an in-house translation database and translation process for all LexisNexis products in 2003 that continues to house all labels and messaging for over 20 products in at least 15 languages. Project managed translation efforts with in-house translators and business units, with seemless flow to engineering resource bundles and components* Expert knowledge in globalization, internationalization, localization, and translation decisions and issues in software development * Wrote online help and co-created XML-DITA-based help system for all LexisNexis products, tested and released help systems and content in coordination with, but independent of, the engineering release Show less
  - Program Management and Scaled Agile Coach
    Feb 2015 - May 2017
  - UX Program Management
    Aug 2009 - Mar 2017
  - Lead Technical Writer and Translation Manager
    Jun 2001 - Aug 2012
- Great American Insurance Group
  May 2017 - now
  Senior Scrum Master
  *Drove asset migration (DBs, applications, servers, etc.,) from subsidiary IT to corporate IT*Kept product development activities transparent and on schedule under challenging timelines and conflicting initiatives*Coached 5 scrum teams and led, planned, and participated in quarterly planning*Shifted anti-Scrum mindset to pro-Scrum mindset*Adapted teams to other Agile approaches (Kanban, paired programming, etc.,) where needs arose*Prioritized and balanced work between critical production support tickets and product development Show less
Licenses & Certifications
- Professional Scrum Master 2 (PSM II)
  Scrum.org
  Oct 2019
  View certificate
- Professional Scrum Master 1 (PSM 1)
  Scrum.org
  Sept 2016
  View certificate
- Prince 2 Foundation
  Https://www.prince2.com/usa
  Mar 2012
- ICAgile Certified Professional in Agile Coaching (ICP-ACC)
  ICAgile
  Dec 2016
- ICAgile Certified Professional in Agile Team Facilitation (ICP-ATF)
  ICAgile
  Dec 2016
  View certificate
- SPC4 Certified Consultant
  Scaled Agile, Inc.
  May 2016
Honors & Awards
- Awarded to Karen Ballinger
  Innovation Award LexisNexis Jun 2004 Envisioned and implemented an internal translation "memory" database for all LexisNexis labels and error messages, across over 20 products in 15 languages. Included history logs, customized permissions to edit, onscreen UI, search, filter, and sort, and seamless integration with engineering resource bundles.