SVP Process Improvement and Quality Management

Specializing In
Process Improvement | Quality Management | Organizational Change Management | Tr
aining | Appraisals
Action Planning | Coaching | Deployment | Setting Vision and Business Objectives
| Measureable Results
Passionate, but pragmatic, with an unswerving dedication to quality, I lead proc
ess improvement / quality management initiatives with organizational change prin
ciples in large and small organizations within multiple industries, exhibiting m
ultiple cultures, to measurable results.
Organizations achieve measureable results including streamlined processes, immed
iate ROI, reduced cycle time, higher product quality, increased operational capa
city, greater employee satisfaction, and greater customer satisfaction.
My management skills have come from my experiences of being a Manager of Softwar
e Development, a Manager of Hardware and Systems Development and a Manager of Qu
ality Management that encompassed software, hardware, systems, and manufacturing
. C-level management, sales, and marketing skills have come as a result of ownin
g and managing my own international consulting business for the past 20 years.
Areas of career focus include:
o Providing strategic direction not only to the Engineering organization but to
all departments supporting business development to ensure maximum productivity a
nd minimal sub-optimization
o Implementing international best practices to solidify process superiority and
compliance.
o Improving processes to produce quality products/services linked to measurable
business objectives.
o Providing supporting activities to help the Project Manager to manage and cont
rol his/her project better
o Developing outsourcing training, mentoring and coaching to enable a smoother p
artnership between acquirer and supplier
o Integrating organizational business processes to produce high-quality products
and services.
o Developing and instructing over 20 managerial and technical workshops around t
he needs of Management, Engineering, IT, and Organizational Change

Industries I have worked in as an employee, manager, or management consultant in

clude: Telecommunications, IT Systems Services, Finance, Insurance, Engineering,
Defense, Aerospace, Process Automation, and Manufacturing.

Key Skills
Key Skills: Analyzes Business Needs and Capabilities Rapidly. Provides guidance
to bring order out of chaos. Process oriented. Quality Minded. Fact Based. Techn
ology transition specialist. Public Speaker. Published author. Motivator. Interm
ediate language capability in German and Dutch.
o Culturally diverse (Worked in 26 countries on three continents with multiple c
ultures including, North American, South American, European, Asian, and Middle E
ast).
o Models and Standards - I utilize multiple models, standards, and methods inclu
ding CMMI-DEV, CMMI-ACQ and CMMI-SVC, ITIL, PMI, ISO 9001:2008, LEAN, Six Sigma,
and Agile to help organizations reach measureable results from their process im
provement efforts
Career History and Accomplishments
Accomplishments
o Led the evolution of software process assessment industry from the Software En
gineering Institute (SEI) that was commercialized in October 1990
o Contributing author to the development of the SEIs Capability Maturity Model f
or Software (CMM)
o Launched the CMMI and CMMI-based process improvement in Israel. Trained 400 pe
ople over 6 years working in Israel. Supported 3 top Israel aerospace and defens
e firms through CMMI training, assessments and process improvement. This helped
them to keep their US contracts and find ways to use their new capability to fin
d related commercial business as well.
o Institutionalized use of peer reviews in Chinese corporate culture. Overcame c
ultural barrier of losing face when a colleague would be presented with major de
fects in his/her lifecycle work product. The CIO declared this the most signific
ant process improvement in his Chinese culture. Hong Kong housing development bo
ard asked the Singapore IT shop to teach them Peer Reviews and provide consultin
g support.
o Designed software quality management best practices for US government. Develop
ed Software Quality Management Manual (process architecture) used to govern all
software development in a 9000 person Group / 4 divisions, focused on DoD projec
ts such as radar and missile fuses. Declared Best in the Southwest by DoD Qualit
y Assurance representative.
o Responsible for all quality management functions in 800 person manufacturing-o
riented Motorola division. Reduced System Testing passes (1 Pass = 1 Calendar Mo
nth) from 7 passes to 2 passes before Motorola Microsystems Systems Products cou
ld be put on Distributors shelves
Career History
CEO and Principal Consultant, Kasse Initiatives LLC, July 1999 to Present. Prov
ided process improvement and quality management consulting services in the form
of trainings, assessments, action planning, supplier management, and organizatio
nal change across multiple industries and cultures.
Chief Quality Officer (PRT Group), April 1998 to June 1999. Directed quality man
agement functions as well as external quality management and process improvement
consulting. Customers included Fortune 500 companies such as Chase, JP Morgan,
and The Hartford, Alcatel, Nokia, Siemens. Managed budget of $5M.
CEO and Principal Consultant, Institute for Software Process Improvement ISPI,
Inc., Dec 1991 to April 1998. Provided vision, business objectives, measurement
objectives and quality goals for the company. Directed efforts of 25 employees a
nd independent consultants throughout 8 countries. Grew company to one of two to
p start-up process improvement companies in the world.
Project Manager Assessment Project, Software Engineering Institute, Jan 1988 De
c 1991. Led a small, highly innovative team to evolve the Process Assessment Me
thod to support the DoD in determining an organizations process capability for c
ontract award. The SEIs assessment method was commercialized worldwide in Octobe
r 1990. Major contributor to the development of the Capability Maturity Model f
or Software (CMM) that was released in August 1991.
Quality Management Manager, Motorola Microsystems. Responsible for all quality m
anagement functions in an 800 person manufacturing-oriented Motorola division in
cluding: software quality assurance, hardware and systems quality assurance, con
figuration management, integration and systems testing, peripheral qualification
, environmental testing, performance evaluation, process improvement, and qualit
y management training,
Education and Additional Information
Undergraduate Degree:
University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona. BS, Systems Engineering.
Graduate Degrees:
Southern Methodist University, Dallas Texas. MAS, Computer Science.
Professor & Research Institute Experience
o ISS Visiting Fellow Professor Institute of Systems Science / National Univers
ity of Singapore (ISS/NUS) (2001 Today)
o Taught portions of the Masters of Technology Programme (MTECH) for the ISS/NUS
o Visiting Scientist Software Engineering Institute / Carnegie Mellon Universit
y (2000 Today)
o Led the development of the Software Engineering Institutes Intermediate CMMI W
orkshop for Lead Assessors.
Developer and Instructor
Developed and provided instruction for over 20 Systems / Software Engineering Wo
rkshops (2-5 days) including: Requirements Engineering, Configuration Management
, Quality Management, Peer Reviews, Risk Management, Measurement, Supplier Manag
ement and Organizational Change Management.
Publications
Authored three technical books on assessment and process improvement and was a c
ontributing author to three others. My latest book, Practical Insight Into CMMI
Second Edition, was published by Artech House in September 2008. Been the autho
r or co-author of numerous process improvement and quality management technical
papers including:
o Tim Kasse, People The Critical Corporate Asset, SEPG 2000, Seattle, Washingto
n, 20-23 March, 2000
o Tim Kasse, Dr. Patricia McQuaid, Entry Strategies into the Process Improvement
Initiative, Software Process Improvement and Practice, Wiley InterScience, Vol
ume 4, Issue 2, June 1998
Credentials:
o Authorized Instructor for SEIs Introduction to the CMMI-DEV v1.2
o Authorized Instructor for SEIs Introduction to the CMMI-ACQ v1.2
o Authorized SCAMPI Class A, B, & C (CMMI-DEV v1.2) Lead Appraiser SEI SCAMPI
Transition Partner
o SEI Certified High Maturity Lead Appraiser
o Authorized SCAMPI Class A, B, & C (CMMI-ACQ v1.2) Lead Appraiser SEI SCAMPI
Transition Partner