Velika Ivanova - Senior Program Manager - Data Enablement, Client Experience Office

Q: Where is Velika based?

Velika is based in Munich, Germany .

Q: What languages does Velika speak?

Velika speaks the following languages: Bulgarian (Advanced), English (Advanced), Spanish (Intermediate), Russian (Intermediate), French (Elementary) .

Q: How many years of experience does Velika have?

Velika has at least 12 years of experience. During this time, Velika has worked in at least 3 different roles and for 2 different companies . The average length of individual experience is 4 years . Note that Velika may not have shared all experience and actually has more experience.

Q: What is Velika's latest experience?

Velika's most recent position is Senior Program Manager - Data Enablement, Client Experience Office at Sun Life Financial .

Q: What companies has Velika worked for in recent years?

In recent years, Velika has worked for Sun Life Financial .

Q: Which industries is Velika most experienced in?

Velika is most experienced in industries like Insurance .

Q: Which business areas is Velika most experienced in?

Velika is most experienced in business areas like Project Management , Business Intelligence , and Information Technology (IT) .

Q: Which industries has Velika worked in recently?

Velika has recently worked in industries like Insurance .

Q: Which business areas has Velika worked in recently?

Velika has recently worked in business areas like Business Intelligence and Project Management .

Recommended expert

Munich, Germany

Experience

Mar 2020 - Sep 2025

5 years 7 months

Toronto, Canada

Senior Program Manager - Data Enablement, Client Experience Office

Sun Life Financial

Managed a $30M digital portfolio, integrating strategic goals with technological solutions to personalize and enhance customer experience across business units, increasing engagement and satisfaction.
Collaborated with client experience office leadership and cross-functional teams to define business value, driving digital transformation initiatives and digital practices organization-wide.
Championed the "Unified View of the Client (UC360)" initiative by leading four agile squads to integrate disparate client data across business units into a single analytics platform, expanding client insights, marketing engagement, and journey analytics.
Managed an $8M annual budget, promoting adherence to a +/- 5% budget variance, and conducted quarterly incremental planning to synchronize cross-team dependencies.
Drove a $26M increase in sales and retained assets by utilizing UC360 platform to implement targeted marketing strategies and client outreach, facilitated by predictive models and deep insights, boosting analytics team productivity and speeding up market delivery.
Resolved misalignments and data inconsistencies by coordinating a third-party assessment to define a new data and analytics target state and operating model, including a governance framework, enabling timely project completion and cross-functional collaboration.
Administered detailed reporting on key performance indicators (KPIs), financial forecasting, and resource planning for five agile teams, ensuring projects met objectives and generated quantifiable returns on investment, maximizing efficiency and impact across key business areas.

Oct 2017 - Mar 2020

2 years 6 months

Toronto, Canada

Senior Project Manager - Client Experience Office

Sun Life Financial

Supervised cross-functional project teams comprising 20–30 members, partnering with Information Technology Services to drive successful project outcomes and maximize business value through strategic IT solutions and project management practices.
Spearheaded a $5M initiative to centralize critical data models (client, advisor, and product), facilitating management of client profiles and preferences across multiple channels.
Executed needs discovery, requirements gathering, and execution phases, increasing client engagement with data-driven strategies for over six million clients in Canada.
Led migration of 82 legacy mainframe datasets containing crucial client and product asset management information, including financial and health data, to an on-premises data lake and subsequently to AWS cloud infrastructure, achieving streamlined data access and minimizing manual data wrangling efforts while ensuring the project's completion aligned with strict schedule and budget constraints.

Oct 2013 - Oct 2017

4 years 1 month

Toronto, Canada

Project Manager - Project Management Office, Information Services

RSA Canada

Managed a $5M program within a sweeping $300M transformation initiative aimed at revamping personal, commercial, and global specialty insurance lines across diverse business verticals, enhancing operational frameworks and advancing technology integration.
Developed and implemented a business case, managing rollout of miscellaneous vehicle quotes using a leading online broker tool, expanding reach to 1200 broker offices across Canada, leading to an 80% surge in quote requests and 57% increase in gross written premium.
Steered deployment and integration of an automated data transmission solution that linked broker BMS systems with the company's core database, refining operations and improving data accessibility for eight major program business brokerages in British Columbia.

Toronto, Canada

Project Manager - Management Consulting, Corporate Tax, Financial Institutions and Capital Markets

Ernst & Young

Coordinated execution and delivery of complex tax projects, fostering alignment with project management practices and the requirements of top financial institutions, boosting client satisfaction and operational efficiency in a highly regulated corporate tax setting.

Toronto, Canada

Senior Project Coordinator

Interac Corporation

Directed development and maintenance of project plans and status reports, optimizing communication flows for diverse initiatives.
Fostered seamless cooperation among cross-functional teams and analyzed project data to identify and implement strategic upgrades.

Industries Experience

See where this freelancer has spent most of their professional time. Longer bars indicate deeper hands-on experience, while shorter ones reflect targeted or project-based work.

Experienced in Insurance (12 years).

Insurance

Business Areas Experience

The graph below provides a cumulative view of the freelancer's experience across multiple business areas, calculated from completed and active engagements. It highlights the areas where the freelancer has most frequently contributed to planning, execution, and delivery of business outcomes.

Experienced in Project Management (12 years), Business Intelligence (8 years), and Information Technology (6.5 years).

Project Management

Business Intelligence

Information Technology

Summary

Enterprise program leader with 15+ years of experience driving digital transformation and customer experience innovation across financial services and insurance. Known for delivering large-scale initiatives with measurable business outcomes, operational excellence, and a stakeholder-first mindset.

Skills

Agile Project Management
Team Collaboration And Leadership
Vendor Management
Budget Management
Financial Oversight
Risk Management And Mitigation
Resource Allocation
Knowledge Sharing And Training
Cross-cultural Competence
Technical Leadership
Operational Excellence
Process Improvement
Stakeholder Management
Jira
Confluence
Ms Project
Microsoft Office 365
Ms Teams
Trello
Figma
Miro
Slack
Sap Ariba

Languages

Bulgarian

Advanced

English

Advanced

Spanish

Intermediate

Russian

Intermediate

French

Elementary

Education

Southwest University

Master of Arts in English · English · Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria

Queen's University

Master of Digital Product Management · Digital Product Management · Kingston, Canada

Certifications & licenses

Certified Agile Project Manager

Project Management Association of Canada

General Issuance Essentials Certificate

Insurance Institute of Canada

Project Management Certificate

University of Toronto

Project Management Professional (PMI-PMP)

Project Management Institute

Profile

Created

November 2025

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Frequently asked questions

Do you have questions? Here you can find further information.

Where is Velika based?

Velika is based in Munich, Germany.

What languages does Velika speak?

Velika speaks the following languages: Bulgarian (Advanced), English (Advanced), Spanish (Intermediate), Russian (Intermediate), French (Elementary).

How many years of experience does Velika have?

Velika has at least 12 years of experience. During this time, Velika has worked in at least 3 different roles and for 2 different companies. The average length of individual experience is 4 years. Note that Velika may not have shared all experience and actually has more experience.

What roles would Velika be best suited for?

Based on recent experience, Velika would be well-suited for roles such as: Senior Program Manager - Data Enablement, Client Experience Office, Senior Project Manager - Client Experience Office, Project Manager - Project Management Office, Information Services.

What is Velika's latest experience?

Velika's most recent position is Senior Program Manager - Data Enablement, Client Experience Office at Sun Life Financial.

What companies has Velika worked for in recent years?

In recent years, Velika has worked for Sun Life Financial.

Which industries is Velika most experienced in?

Velika is most experienced in industries like Insurance.

Which business areas is Velika most experienced in?

Velika is most experienced in business areas like Project Management, Business Intelligence, and Information Technology (IT).

Which industries has Velika worked in recently?

Velika has recently worked in industries like Insurance.

Which business areas has Velika worked in recently?

Velika has recently worked in business areas like Business Intelligence and Project Management.

What is Velika's education?

Velika holds a Master in English from Southwest University and a Master in Digital Product Management from Queen's University.

Does Velika have any certificates?

Velika has 4 certificates. Among them, these include: Certified Agile Project Manager, General Issuance Essentials Certificate, and Project Management Certificate.

What is the availability of Velika?

Velika is immediately available for suitable projects.

What is the rate of Velika?

Velika's rate depends on the specific project requirements. Please use the Meet button on the profile to schedule a meeting and discuss the details.