Holly Ramirez: The Digital Era's IT Project Manager
By Akbar Ali
As director of IT project management for Jenny Craig Inc., Holly Ramirez oversees the backbone of the industry leader’s innovative technological approach to keeping its clients informed and motivated: the Jenny Craig Talent Management System (LMS), which can be accessed by all company employees nationwide and serves as both content-provider and trainer for those looking to reinvent themselves.
Act Now! Activate a FREE three days trial to InformationTechnologyCrossing.com, because you know how important it is to know about all the jobs.
"I thrive on coordinating and participating in large projects with multiple people, teams, and dependencies."
Ramirez has a long history as a project management leader, supervising other project managers, software developers, and quality assurance personnel, while maintaining responsibility for everything from rollout scheduling to coordinating professional teams which make company vision a reality for consumers.
Though she is undoubtedly a highly accomplished leader in her field, Ramirez wasn’t always set on a career in technology. She attended college in Los Angeles and majored in art, hoping that life as an artist would satisfy her career goals.
“I had no desire or interest in technology in my early college years. My passion and desire was to become an artist and an illustrator of small children’s books. I soon realized this was not a lucrative career and that I could end up a ‘starving artist.’”
Looking for an alternative career, Ramirez asserts that it wasn’t so much technology as it was her innate tendency toward orderliness and discipline which led her into her current line of work.
“I am an extremely organized person that loves to coordinate, make lists, and plan projects and events. I thrive on coordinating and participating in large projects with multiple people, teams, and dependencies. I also enjoy watching all the pieces come together for a successful end deliverable.”
These rare skills have also brought benefits for Ramirez outside the office. “Not only do I enjoy project coordination in my career, but also in my personal life when coordinating parties, fundraisers, and events for family and friends,” she asserts.
It was after college that Ramirez began to consider a career in technology, looking for a way to be a part of the technological wave and still utilizing her strong organizational skills.
“Project management was not as popular or recognized as a ‘career focus’ back then. I knew I was good at coordinating and organizing [and knew] I enjoyed working with technology focused people. I knew that this was a field I would enjoy, but after several digital imaging and multiple media courses and certificates, I knew I did not want to be a programmer but still loved working with programmers and network engineers. I started to lean toward managing and the management of technology, rather than becoming a programmer myself.”
Of course, working as a project manager for a company like Jenny Craig isn’t simply about bringing professionals together; it entails a great deal of individual introspection which connects her daily tasks with a common personal struggle.
“My father passed away at the young age of 47 after a massive heart attack which was related to weight and poor eating habits. His death left my mother, who was a homemaker, with three children and no full-time career of her own to support the family. I decided that I would work as hard as I could to build a career of my own no matter what it took.”
The death of her father compelled Ramirez not only to define her future professional goals, but to reclaim control of her health as well.
“I had a weight problem as a child and struggled with being overweight. After my father passed away, I finally decided to lose weight and I knew that by losing weight and improving my appearance it would help me get ahead. I lost 65 pounds and then decided I wanted to help other people lose weight too. I started as a weight loss consultant at Jenny Craig in order to follow this dream.”
In spite of her personal success, Ramirez arrived at the realization that counseling others through lifestyle transformation was not the best use of her abilities.
“As a weight loss counselor I soon realized that this would not be a lifetime career for me, so I switched my interest to computers and multi-media digital imaging. Computers and technology was a field that was continually growing, and I believed it would allow me to make a good living.”
Ramirez successfully used her experience at Jenny Craig to reorient her career in the technological direction she now wanted to pursue, proving that it’s never too late to form — and achieve — new goals.
“I started my career at Jenny Craig which was the stepping stone that lead to my project management and technology career. I left Jenny Craig in 1999 to pursue other opportunities in IT project management for several years and most recently came back to Jenny Craig as their director of IT project management. With beginning my career at Jenny Craig and using my weight loss consulting knowledge, I was able to start working in their IT department on the technical help desk. It was during this period that I was able to study and learn new technology and management skills. I was able to both work and go back to school for continued education courses in IT and project management.”
Among her most memorable career accomplishments have been the various leadership positions she has assumed at different companies, honing her management skills and using her technology know-how to bring new services and products to the market.
“I served as the vice president of operations at ISD Corporation, which is a software development company. I joined the company and helped lead the company to increased revenue and efficiencies in 2006, which was its first profitable year in over 8 years.
“This experience taught me how to run a business and got me involved in all aspects of the business including sales and marketing, which was a new learning experience. At this company, I personally project managed the creation and implementation of an electronic filing product for the Superior Courts of California. This project was focused on the specific needs of complex litigation and general civil case filings and received electronic civil filings from law firms through several third parties.
“I also served as the director of technology services at New Horizons Computer Learning Centers. I personally project managed the development and deployment of a Learning Management System (LMS). The system is an ASP model accessed internationally and customized to provide content and training for over 2.5 million students per year.
“This project was a first for me in coordinating and changing vendors and project focus mid-stream due to company directives. Switching a project focus and a vendor mid-project without changing the project delivery date took a lot of team effort, risk management, and tough decision making in order to successfully meet company objectives and timelines. This particular project gave me a lot of experience in the detailed management of third party vendors and risk management.”
Notwithstanding the weight of her achievements, Ramirez’s story — of a successful woman in the technology business — remains an anomaly, highlighting the industry need to recruit more women into high profile positions and for established professionals to mentor those who follow them. Fortunately for Ramirez, she has had just that.
“I had two women that greatly influenced and mentored me. Both women were my managers at certain points in my career. One was a strong and opinionated woman that showed me how to always speak my mind and follow my heart. She taught me how to be a strong and proud business woman. The second was a woman who really showed me how to respect and manage people. She led by example and showed me how to mentor, listen, guide, and empower others to be successful and to believe in themselves.
“Both of these women and their different management styles taught me how to connect with people, respect myself and others, and to always show honesty and integrity when working and building teams.”
It’s fair to say that Ramirez has built more than professional teams — she’s created a distinguished career out of sheer ambition, motivation, and will.
Q. What do you do for fun?
A. I enjoy spending time in the mountains with my husband and dogs. I really enjoy wine tasting trips to Napa Valley, Paso Robles, and Santa Barbara. I like to entertain and throw parties for friends and family. I also enjoy attending rock concerts and coordinating charity events whenever possible.
Q. What CD is in your CD player right now?
A. Aerosmith’s Greatest Hits
Q. What is the last magazine you read?
A.Wine Enthusiast
Q. What is your favorite TV show?
A. I love Forensic Files on Court TV. I would have loved to have gotten into forensic science, but have too weak of a stomach to do that kind of work in real life. I find forensics and DNA fascinating.
Q. Who is your role model?
A. Both my mother and my father served as role models for me growing up. My father worked very hard his whole life, without acceptation. He always put his family before everything else, no matter how tired he was, or how sick he may have felt, he got up and went to work every day. My mother has always shown me how to help and give to others less fortunate than I. Because my family did not have a lot of money, her focus was always around donating her personal time. She would work fundraisers, canned food drives, and meals on wheels for the elderly. Her hard work to help others has always set such a great example for me then and now. My mother taught me that you are never too busy or never too poor to stop and help someone else less fortunate than you are.
Q. What makes you laugh?
A. My husband’s silly jokes when he is trying to cheer me up. Also, small children’s observations and candid feedback of the world from their eyes.
Maribeth , Mason, MI
The best thing about EmploymentCrossing is that some of its job listings just cannot be found on any other job site. Incredible performance!
Todd , Nashville, TN
I feel that everything on EmploymentCrossing is so attractive to the users. Advance search, speed search, online applications, newsletter, archives, career corner, audio room, and other features are just fantastic!
Matthew , Cary, NC
The best thing about EmploymentCrossing was the job alert feature. The newsletters are also very good.
Debra , Alameda, CA
EmploymentCrossing is the most informative and relevant job site. Studded with newsletters, market updates, archives, and other press notes, EmploymentCrossing is truly the best job site in the world.
Julie , Miami, FL
EmploymentCrossing is the most convenient and user friendly job site that I have come across. It provides users with a truly user-friendly approach in their job search.
To compare InformationTechnologyCrossing with other job sites
Bring Order and Structure to Your IT Job Search
You have perseverance and can accomplish anything you put your mind to and finding the ideal IT job is no exception. We have a tradition of helping our members accomplish anything they set their mind to. With complete information about every IT job in the market at your fingertips you are going to go far.
You have very high standards for the sort of employer you are working for and also for yourself. You are not afraid to work hard to fulfill your duties because you value security and peaceful living. We give you the tools to pursue your dreams for you and your family.
Become part of a tradition of research excellence that has elevated the careers of countless IT professionals just like you.
Complete the sign up process today and become part of our site today.
Tell us where to send your access instructions:
Total Jobs on InformationTechnologyCrossing
248,525
New Information Technology Jobs This Week
66,868
Jobs on EmploymentCrossing Network Available to Our Members
SQL Developer -- The Knot Inc. United States-TX-Austin
--Jo Ann Miller, Local Account Executive
employee since 2002
There is a lot of opportunity to work on a variety of projects for a variety of brands...
If you are one of the people out there looking for a new job, you are not alone. However, instead of that being a comforting fact, many people who are looking for IT jobs in York are fearful because they are afraid that there will not be enough work to go around.
See Every Information Technology Job We Can Find on the Internet!
Unlike other sites, InformationTechnologyCrossing works for you and does not charge employers to post jobs and actually goes out and researches jobs for you. The jobs you see are the jobs we find for you and not the ones employers are paying us to post.
To compare InformationTechnologyCrossing with other job sites
Top 101 Reasons to Sign Up for InformationTechnologyCrossing
Reason 54: InformationTechnologyCrossing's advanced search feature allows you to narrow down your search by location, area of specialization, and more!
Start doing things the way they should be done.
Make objective career decisions with unbiased research, facts and information about IT jobs. Your perseverance, follow through and dependability will all pay off when you have access to:
IT jobs from every company employer career webpage we can find.
IT jobs from every professional job source we can find.
IT jobs from every job board we can find.
IT jobs from every newspaper classified ad we can find.
IT jobs from every specialized IT publication we can find.
IT jobs from every federal, state and local government career page we can find.
IT jobs from every public interest, nonprofit and other career page we can find.
Tell us where to send your access instructions:
Today at InformationTechnologyCrossing
13,311 - Jobs found in last 24 Hours66,868 - Jobs found in last 7 Days248,525 - Total Jobs Found
Your privacy is guaranteed. We will never give out, lease, or sell your personal information.
InformationTechnologyCrossing - #1 Job Aggregation and Private Job-Opening Research Service — The Most Quality Jobs Anywhere
InformationTechnologyCrossing is the first job consolidation service in the employment industry to seek to include every job that exists and not charge employers to post jobs on its site.
InformationTechnologyCrossing uses sophisticated technology and manual work to comb employer websites and other job boards for jobs and bring them all to its site.
