Director Enterprise Data Analytics, AI and Robotics,  BMO Financial Group

Penka Bocheva

Over 19 years of Strategic Leadership in Financial and other industries. Proven professional who aligns business goals with technological solutions to drive best client experience and competitive advantage. Solid research credentials and experience in Data Science, Natural Language Understanding, Machine Learning. Knowledge of broader AI landscape. Ten-year academic tenure. Guess speaker to internationally acclaimed AI and Robotics conferences. PMP certified; trained in Agile Methodology framework and Organizational Change Management. Leading various transformation initiatives.

As a Director of Enterprise Robotics, I am managing a team of global resources (Canada, US, Asia) to deliver RPA solutions for BMO enterprise – all lines of business across both regions – Canada and US. I am accountable for end-to-end delivery of program and projects for Smart Process Automation. I contribute to the evolution of Robotics infrastructure platforms strategy and  interface with ML&AI team to deliver integrated solutions with AI capabilities.

Director Enterprise Data Analytics, AI & Robotics

Provided oversight across Robotic Automation and Artificial Intelligence initiatives and enabled Next Generation Solution Delivery for RBC Wealth Management.

Sr. Manager, Robotic Automation & AI

As a Senior Manager, Business Analysis, I was responsible for the business analysis capability within the Project Delivery Office, Wealth Management Technology group. I provided transformation and operational leadership to 37 Business Analysts in alignment with RBC Technology strategy.
Transformation Leadership:
•	Transformed the BA team by streamlining the BSA and BA roles in a consolidated BA role and effectively defined new roles & responsibilities, processes, and documentation best practices; 
•	Introduced efficient resource models leading to increased productivity;
•	Coached and mentored team through the transformation to ensure successful project delivery in the new model;
•	Transformed  BA delivery process from Waterfall to Iterative and Agile to achieve greater speed to market;
•	Ensured BA team is focused on delivering Business Value;
•	Grew the capacity of the team from 20 to 37 BAs, to meet evolving project demand;
•	Restructured the team by creating a BA Leader position which was an effective way to groom future leaders for the company, provide succession planning for my role, and allow the team to run more efficiently;
•	Trained the  BA resources to utilize Modeling and Prototyping techniques;
•	Partnered with QA Senior Management to develop a strategy that evolves QA and UAT practices into a consolidated Testing practice with increased test automation.

Sr. Manager, Business Analsys, PMO

Consulting for D+H in the role of Director of Project Delivery and PMO, provided leadership to project managers and business analysts. Reporting to the Vice President, Payment Solutions took responsibility for planning, execution and delivery of a portfolio of projects and managing a team of Project Managers and Business Analysts working on transformational and continuous improvement initiatives. Successfully worked with key players to maximize resources and improves profits as well as to calibrate strategic goals into scorecards and fiscal year plans.

Responsibilities included:
•	Monitoring the progress of projects within the portfolio and using judgment assessing risks and recommending remedial actions;
•	Assigning and leveraging PM and BA resources among projects and resolving resource constraints;
•	Facilitating Steering Committee Meetings where stakeholders/heads of LOB and PMs are gathered together to discuss project statuses and address risks and issues;
•	Assessing and WAG estimating new requests for delivery work and realigning priorities among projects;
•	Managing the team budget and contributing to budget management of Payment Solutions LOB
•	Conducting capacity planning and resource optimization;
•	Conducting recruitment activities – preparation of job descriptions, review of resumes, interviewing candidates, making hiring decisions and on-boarding new employees;
•	Performance Management and calibrating strategic goals into individual scorecards for professional development.