Resume - 2000 to present

Laura L. Martin

Corporate & Technical Resume

2000 to present

Click here for work experience prior to 2000

Email: techbyLLM@gmail.com         

Website: TechbyLLM.com         

LinkedIn: Linkedin.com/in/LauraMartin1

PROFILE

Over 30 years of experience strategizing and delivering corporate solutions in a variety of disciplines.

Extensive experience in the fintech sector, in roles including knowledge management, process analysis and improvement (business and software processes), business analysis and requirements gathering, content management systems (Confluence, SharePoint, others), documentation/technical writing, product/project management, training, and customer support. Additional experience in business development, business continuity, marketing, and commercial advertising production.

Proven results in process improvements, revenue growth, cost saving initiatives, and improving the client experience at all levels.

Current and former positions include: 

• • Assistant Vice President in Technology Knowledge Management (LPL Financial)

  • Vice President in Technology (Merrill Lynch)

  • Product Manager (Merrill Lynch)

  • Business Analyst (Merrill Lynch) 

  • Documentation Manager (Bankers Trust)

  • Technical Writer (numerous companies, consulting positions)

  • President/Owner of LMA Business Solutions and Tech by LLM

LPL FINANCIAL   LPL.com

Remote (company hubs in NC, CA, TX, other)   Sep 2021-present

Assistant Vice President, Technology Knowledge Management
Knowledge/Content Management, Repository Design, Confluence SME

• Building big picture strategy for knowledge management across all technology groups.

• Launched Knowledge Mapping initiative to use Confluence as a crowd-sourced intranet, working to establish informational homepages/storefronts for all groups. Increased content visibility across the enterprise. Reduced siloed, duplicated, and out-of-sync content.

• Developing multi-path navigation to destination content. Leveraging multiple automations for link collection, cross-linking, embeds, data aggregation, reporting, content labeling (metadata tagging), and more.

• Assisting with building knowledge bases for groups across the enterprise.

• Working with developers, system architects, technology business leads, and product managers.

• Researching AI solutions for knowledge capture and content management.

• Providing coaching/training to all users on KM best practices, and how to implement those best practices in various repository tools (Confluence, Box, SharePoint, etc.).

Process Improvement

• • Performing process analysis as needed/observed. Contributing to improving processes and procedures through step-streamlining and automation.

  • Developed guides for existing processes/procedures, to provide guidance and clarify steps not fully explained by existing reference material.  Results: Faster process execution.

TECH BY LLM

Remote   Jan-Aug 2021

Documentation, Content Creation & Management, Web Design

• • Freelance work in documentation, portfolio web design, content creation, and marketing/social media consulting for individuals and small businesses.

CLOUDFRAME, INC.   CloudFrame.com

Remote (company based in NYC)   Sep 2020-Jan 2021

Documentation Specialist, Repository Design

Short-term contract position performing documentation conversion, migration and redesign.

• • Worked with Chief Architect to gather information on the company's software product offering, in order to convert existing documentation into an online format, and to determine the scope of product information not yet documented.

  • Worked to develop taxonomy for content.  Developed standards for documentation style, delivery and voicing.  Organized and edited content as needed.

  • Developed navigation structure for wiki.  Created new pages and links as needed in the wiki.

  • Migrated/converted content from existing Word documentation, Trello cards, screenshots, and other materials to browser-based wiki format (MediaWiki).

  • The version of MediaWiki provided for this project did not include the GUI editor plug-in, so the formatting for each page in the wiki was hand-coded by me, using MediaWiki syntax and HTML. 

HARGROVE ENGINEERS+CONSTRUCTORS and TORMOD (a Hargrove subsidiary)

Mobile, AL          Oct 2011-Sep 2020

Project Management

• • Managed internal and client documentation project deliverables, with teams of varying disciplines - mechanical, electrical, operations, IT and others.  (Tormod: Commissioning & Startup Group)

Document/Content Management

• • Analyzed and gave reports of pros/cons on various document management systems and supplemental apps/tools. (Hargrove: Procedure Writing Group)

  • Designed, built and maintained SharePoint sites and pages for team collaboration, document storage, document life cycle management, metadata management, and informational/educational purposes.  Developed taxonomies/hierarchies for content organization. (Tormod: Commissioning & Startup Group)

  • Built new online employee handbook and document library/knowledge center in SharePoint. (Tormod: Commissioning & Startup Group)

Procedure Writing

• • Developed/wrote/compiled procedures for the maintenance of equipment used in power plants throughout the Southeast. Equipment included pumps, fans, motors, conveyors, instrumentation, etc. (Hargrove and Tormod)

  • Helped to develop writing, content and formatting standards. (Hargrove and Tormod)

DAUPHIN ISLAND RESTORATION

Dauphin Island, AL   2009-2011

Nonprofit Organization

Grant Writer, Proposal Writer, Social Media Manager

• • Co-writer for grant applications and proposals to seek funding for shoreline restoration and environmental protection for the island and surrounding wetlands.

  • Designed and managed website and social media presence.

  • Designed presentations, and co-presented proposals to Alabama state legislators.

  • Attended hearings on proposed legislation as a representative of the organization.

MERRILL LYNCH

New York and New Jersey      Multiple projects of varying lengths, 1989-2008

Vice President     2006-2008

VP in the Enterprise Content Management group, a technology division supporting Global Wealth Management/Global Private Client.

• • Functional role: Client Relationship Manager and CMS Project Manager.

  • Developed SharePoint site for group data.

  • Conducted business analysis and requirements gathering for internal clients.

  • Managed migration of a DocuShare repository to Documentum.

  • Marketed solutions to potential internal users.

  • Trained new users.

Product Manager     2005-2006

PM for a firm-wide CMS offering, built on Open Text/Livelink. In-house name: Knowledge Exchange (also known as “KX”).

• • Conducted requirements gathering and business analysis.  Recommended and oversaw implementation of product enhancements.

  • Supported 10,000 users.

  • Developed new process models.

  • Managed cross-organizational staff, including developers, project managers, and support personnel.

  • Marketed product offering to departments firm-wide.

  • Developed training programs, conducted bi-weekly training sessions for users.

  • Designed and developed support website.

Business Analyst & Technical Writer     2003-2005

BA on the B2B Services team

• • Assisted in solutions strategy, requirements-gathering, documentation, and development of business and marketing plans.

Business Analyst & Technical Writer     2001

Short term position with the Cash Equity Trading Systems group.

• • Created a procedures playbook for business continuity, as well as diagnostics and recovery during trading systems outages.  Position was booked and billed through my company, LMA Business Solutions.  I also managed three consultants hired through my company for other documentation projects for the Cash Equity group.
    
    

Highlights/Achievements at Merrill Lynch

Business/Process Analysis and Reengineering

• • Designed web-based workflows, surveys and forms to automate manual processes previously accomplished via phone, fax and email. (KX system)

  • Slashed problem ticket queue by over 90%, by creating online knowledge center/support website, and designing and implementing new support procedures. (KX system)

  • Implemented reorg-proof process model for support team to eliminate downtime and delayed response during personnel turnovers, and to eliminate inaccurate and non-standard responses to user queries. (KX system)

  • For details on this work, see Slashing the Support Ticket Queue.

Revenue Growth, New Business Development

• • Doubled department revenue by increasing document management service subscribership by 100%+ (100-150 new users per month vs. 50 historically) via improved support and sustained marketing efforts. (KX system)

Product Design

• • For a software upgrade initiative, designed prototype of a new web interface for the system. Prototype improved workflow and cut in half the number of clicks required to execute steps from the custom front-end previously designed. (B2B Services internal product)

Cost Saving Initiatives

• • Led a consolidation initiative to streamline content repositories for savings on licensing costs, support and server hosting, with each decommissioned system to result in savings for the firm of $25,000 to $1 million annually.  (Global Assets group)

  • Cut support costs in half by implementing self-service support model for users through new intranet help website. Site received 15,000 hits in the first 90 days. Within six months, site began averaging 20,000 hits per month.  (KX system)

Business Continuity

• • Created a procedures playbook for business continuity, as well as diagnostics and recovery during trading systems outages, which helped save millions of dollars in lost trade transactions.  (Cash Equity Trading Systems group)

Marketing, Advertising, Client Engagement

• • Designed marketing/informational websites to educate clients on service offerings. Wrote all content, conceived and designed layouts, published and maintained sites.  (Global Assets group)

  • Engaged new clients, presented solutions and product options in sales meetings, conducted training demos of tools, provided customer support.  (all groups)

Security Enhancements

• • Created new security policies for support personnel to reduce corporate liability.  (KX system)

Content Management Systems

• • Designed Microsoft SharePoint team sites and document repositories. (Enterprise Content Management group)

  • Developed taxonomies, content types, etc.  (all groups)

  • Converted unstructured documents into structured, indexed lists with metadata.  (all groups)

  • Took the lead in encouraging team members to use online collaboration and best practices for content management.  (all groups)

LMA BUSINESS SOLUTIONS (L. Martin Associates, Inc.)

New York and New Jersey    Multiple projects of varying lengths, 1996-2002

President/Owner of this small consulting firm. Contracted for roles such as Supervising Manager, Project Manager, Business Strategist/Analyst, Marketing Consultant, Knowledge Manager/Technical Writer and Software Trainer. Trained, placed and managed technical writing consultants and office assistants at client firms.  Clients included Fortune 500 companies and small businesses, in the market sectors of finance, data management, data security, communications and more.  More details on LMA projects here: Work experience prior to 2000

PM METHODOLOGIES

Project Management experience in waterfall/linear methods.  PM course in Franklin Covey (2020).  One-on-one coaching in Agile (2023).

PUBLICATIONS

• Editor of six published books.

• Author/Editor of numerous proposals, manuals, requirements documents, etc.

Click here for a complete list of publications.  This links to a spreadsheet in Google Drive.

SOFTWARE EXPERIENCE

• Microsoft: Office, Project, SharePoint

• Content Management Products: SharePoint, Livelink, DocuShare, Documentum 

• Click here for a complete list of software applications experience.

EDUCATION

California State University-Dominguez Hills

Master of Arts (M.A.), Interdisciplinary Humanities

• Academic: Observing and analyzing the interconnectedness of all things discovered by or created by humans - science, social structures, the arts - and how each of these disciplines influences the others.

• Business Application: Big Picture thinking, grown organically from awareness of all inputs and influences, some of which may not seem connected at the macro level, but nevertheless have an upstream, downstream, or sidestream impact on output.

New York University

Professional Diploma, Film Production and Directing

• Business Application: Storytelling, sales, marketing for all industries. See film/video resume for commercial video production and advertising experience.

Florida State University

Bachelor of Music (B.M.), Music Composition
Minor Studies in English Creative Writing and Astronomy

• Academic: The study of music composition teaches how to build a cohesive underlying structure for multiple elements and voices, to be performed by instruments of wildly-different architecture, which must work together to create a harmonic whole.

• Business Application: Running a project, or building a business process or workflow, where an architectural framework must support and engage with differing structural elements (teams and/or software systems), all of which must work together and are vital to the success of the effort.