Donald L. Coles

dlcoles@gmail.com · 713-503-6456
linkedin.com/in/donaldcoles · aeon.ghost.io
The preceding pages make the case. This is the official record.

Experience

Platform Architect & Product Owner · Aeoncore

September 2025 – Present · Independent Project

Designed and built a self-hosted AI and services platform end-to-end: architecture, backlog, iterative delivery, operations, and ongoing maintenance – solo, no budget, production standards throughout

• Full-stack hands-on fluency across virtualization, containerization, AI/LLM integration, networking, and security – applied to a system in daily active use
• Built for real reliability: automated backups, monitoring, redundancy, and upgrade paths equivalent to production-grade infrastructure

Delivery Program Manager · Sonic Automotive

July 2024 – November 2024 · Remote · Contract

Inherited a multi-site IT refresh in active distress across 100+ dealerships; diagnosed failure points across six regional leads and 50+ field technicians and rebuilt delivery around clear ownership, sprint cadence, and formal validation checkpoints

• Designed SMS-first workflow for frontline technicians operating in low-tooling environments, replacing an inconsistent verbal process that was the primary source of delays and rework
• Reduced escalations 50%+; closed full program scope a full month ahead of revised schedule

Senior Program Manager · United Airlines

July 2023 – November 2023 · Houston / Remote · Contract

Enterprise program lead across infrastructure and facilities modernization; bridged operational, technical, and executive stakeholders across distributed initiatives

• Directed discovery and early planning for a 500,000 sq. ft. aircraft parts distribution hub; took over and stabilized a major hangar retrofit at PDX mid-execution
• Partnered with analytics teams on TSA compliance reporting at Newark; developed custom PMO toolset providing visibility across disparate workstreams

Senior Program Manager · Sysco

September 2022 – April 2023 · Houston / Remote · Contract

Led program management for Omni, Sysco's strategic initiative to realign restaurant customers across its regional OpCo network – a multi-year migration affecting hundreds of thousands of customer relationships

• Co-designed the multi-year migration roadmap with regional leadership: wave sequencing, dependency management, milestone governance, and quality checkpoints across the full delivery lifecycle
• Facilitated cross-functional discovery with stakeholders across operations, finance, sales, HR, and technology; built Smartsheet-based reporting connecting regional leadership to corporate PMO governance

Technical Program Manager · CVS Health

February 2022 – August 2022 · Remote · Contract

Led enterprise endpoint modernization across CVS Retail, Aetna, and PBM: three distinct organizations, 18,000+ devices, nationwide – 100% on schedule and under budget

• Synchronized delivery across all three business units, managing separate change management requirements and technical constraints under unified program governance
• Applied hybrid delivery: Agile sprint cadence for execution and prioritization; waterfall milestone reporting for executive, compliance, and audit stakeholders

Program Manager, Digital Transformation · BP

August 2018 – March 2020 · Houston

Directed global M365 rollout for 100,000 users; designed the Champion Network, training, communications, and governance frameworks that increased Teams adoption from 25% to 66% within six months

• Built adoption metrics and feedback loops connecting real-time engagement data to rollout decisions, enabling evidence-based program management across worldwide regions
• Scope expanded based on demonstrated performance: transitioned into infrastructure readiness and data remediation leadership for multi-billion-dollar M&A divestitures, coordinating technical, legal, and operations stakeholders under active compliance constraints

Cloud Practice Manager · InterDyn BMI

February 2017 – December 2017 · Houston

Led practice operations and delivery management for a Microsoft Dynamics partner during a leadership transition; owned full practice P&L across 30–40 concurrent client projects

• Delivered 60+ Azure-hosted Dynamics implementations within nine months; maintained delivery accountability, quality standards, and team morale through organizational transition
• Served as delivery authority in client-facing and pre-close engagements; provided vCIO advisory services on cloud strategy, migration, and cost optimization

Education & Certification

University of Houston-Downtown

Bachelor of Science, Interdisciplinary Studies (2013)

Project Management Professional (PMP)

Project Management Institute (2016 – current)

Six Sigma Yellow Belt / Lean

International Association for Six Sigma Certification

Core Competencies

Delivery & Program Management

Agile · Scrum · Kanban · Hybrid Delivery · SDLC · Release Management · Sprint Planning · Backlog Management · Roadmapping · Dependency Management · Risk Management · Stakeholder Management · Change Management · PMO Governance

Product & Systems Thinking

Platform Thinking · Product Discovery · Requirements Definition · Iterative Delivery · Metrics-Driven Decision Making · User-Centric Design · Technical Tradeoff Analysis · Architecture Planning

Technical Fluency

Python · JavaScript · HTML/CSS · SQL · Linux · Docker · Kubernetes · Git · Azure · Microsoft 365 · SharePoint · Proxmox · AI/LLM Platforms · Self-Hosted Infrastructure

Tools

Jira · Confluence · Notion · Smartsheet · Microsoft Project · Visio · Teams · Excel