Programs are inherently are risky endeavours. A primary factor causing this situation is that most organizations have at best, weak to moderate project execution frameworks, and virtually nothing driving program delivery. A further complication is that program delivery is has received far less exposure in the industry, and as a result, far fewer standards and best practice models exist.

This presentation first discusses what constitutes a program and how it was applied to the Basel II challenged faced by the financial industry. From there, the discussion then turns to the early phases of program delivery and the need to get the structure and methodology right from the onset to enhance the probability of success. A particular focus is placed upon the establishment of priorities, program processes. The presentation also places emphasis on getting the right infrastructure in place and finding ways to build teamwork and momentum.

Dag Alfheim

Basel II Program Director

Banque Nationale Groupe Financier

Mr Alfheim, has been the Basel II Program Director at BNC since May 2005. He holds responsibility for the execution of all projects within direct authority of the Basel program. This initiative has represented investments by BNC of over $100MM over four years with 20 – 30 projects, and over 150 – 200 employees/consultants involved. He has also been responsible for coordination with other BNC initiatives affecting Basel II.

Mr. Alfheim has been a consultant since 2000, and has been involved in many capacities in large programs over the last 15 years. In particular, since 2002, in four successive programs (each with expenditures well into the hundreds of millions) with multiple Financial Industry clients, he has held SME, design, planning and management roles. His mandates have been with some of Canada’s largest Financial Industry companies.

His twenty 20 years experience in Financial Industry experience have provided him with experience with global implementations, M&A activities, IT/operational management, ERP implementations, financial systems, and performance measurement and of course large scale project/program implementations.

Mr. Alfheim holds CGA and MBA designations.