Melinda Harrington
Project Controls Manager/Cost Engineer
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About
Throughout my career, I have consistently demonstrated my ability to lead and innovate. At CosTrack Project Controls, I spearheaded the development of a new controls process at a client facility, showcasing my capability to manage complex projects. As a Corporate Project Control Manager at RECON Engineering & Construction, I led a team of 12 professionals, driving organizational development and stakeholder engagement.
My tenure as a Financial Controller at ILERA Holistic Healthcare further honed my skills in financial stewardship and resource allocation.
I am eager to bring my strengths and capabilities to a company and role where I can contribute to your success through the following initiatives:
- Developing and managing new project and cost controls processes, especially when there are none currently
- Working in concert with the facility TAR leadership team, schedulers, and planners to coordinate a fully functional controls plan where none has previously existed.
- Implementing a budget development and review process, a contractor timesheet management and audit process, designing and utilizing a cost reporting plan with a Power BI reporting base for daily forecasting and dispersal of information.
Thank you for considering my application. I look forward to the opportunity to discuss how my skills and experiences align with the needs of your team.
Experience
WORK EXPERIENCE
CosTrack Project Controls, Casper, WY 2024 - present
Cost Control Lead
- Developed a controls process at client facility, establishing oversight systems.
- Implemented enhanced budget process ensuring financial accuracy and accountability.
- Designed and utilized an innovative cost reporting plan with Power BI, dramatically enhancing daily forecasting capabilities and comprehensive information dissemination processes.
- Led daily controls meetings; delivered data analysis for accurate cost forecasts.
- Collaborated with the facility TAR leadership team, schedulers, and planners to meticulously coordinate and implement a fully functional strategic controls plan from scratch.
Financial Controller
- Led facility maintenance staff while simultaneously managing the Controller role during 2022 – 2023 with strategic foresight to ensure seamless operational continuity.
- Oversaw financial operations including payables, receivables, and ledger management.
- Managed a small accounting team delivering accurate bookkeeping and financial analysis.
- Established and managed banking accounts and credit lines to bolster liquidity.
- Developed internal procedures and spending controls ensuring financial stability.
- Coordinated with external CPAs and consultants to address immediate issues, annual reporting needs, and intricate end-of-year tax filings expeditiously and effectively.
Corporate Project Control Manager
- Managed $111M Smelter Rebuild for ASARCO, completing the project within budget and schedule.
- Assisted in drafting a corporate action plan for a $130M rebuild in Arizona.
- Led a team of 12 project control professionals, training and overseeing operations.
- Developed Standard Operating Procedures for Project Controls to improve efficiency.
- Collaborated with the Board to implement cost controls and streamline operations.
- Worked with CFO to track costs and produce GAAP-compliant reports, enhancing integrity.
- Coordinated with HR to ensure labor law compliance and accurate employee hour coding.
- Collaborated with AP and AR to secure timely payments, ensuring robust cash flow.
- Implemented multiple ERP systems while training teams to boost productivity.
- Led comprehensive training initiatives after SOP approval, boosting staff retention.
Refinery Turnaround Cost Manager
- Managed project totaling $50 million at Suncor Energy, including a $36 million Turnaround Maintenance Project, including budgeting, rigorous cost tracking, and reporting operations.
- Achieved cost control targets within 2% for the Turnaround Maintenance Project and maintained similar success rates of 5% for Capital Projects and 2.5% for Major Maintenance Projects.
- Created a robust and innovative SAP Project Builder that rigorously, precisely and consistently aligned project budgets with actual expenditures for enhanced financial performance.
- Developed and implemented comprehensive and robust Cost Tracking and Reporting process systems at Suncor Denver Refinery to enhance corporate financial oversight.
- Oversaw cost analysis team for coding, requisitions and materials to boost operations.
- Supervised Timekeeping personnel using Doctronx for accurate labor management.
- Adhered to daily cost reporting protocols that included project actuals, planned vs. actual curves, and precise forecasting of Estimates at Completion across all projects.
AN Engineering & Shutdown Cost Engineer
- Implemented SAP for cost tracking and reporting, enhancing accuracy on projects.
- Managed SAP work orders; trained managers and engineers to boost operations.
- Created labor, rental requisitions for TA and capital projects to expedite procurement.
- Generated requisitions for TA and capital projects, ensuring timely resource availability.
- Audited invoices against PO limits to enforce budget controls and safeguard integrity.
- Managed change order processes to rigorously assess the quantifiable impact of individual costs on budgets, thereby maintaining fiscal discipline throughout each project phase.
- Developed an integrated capital project work breakdown structure (WBS) designed to organize tasks and ensure robust accountability, significantly boosting efficiency.
- Oversaw Engineering Cost Center overhead charges management to optimize resource allocation.
- Instituted overhead cost allocation for projects, enhancing budgeting transparency.
- Directed project journal reclassifications ensuring accurate financial reports at closure.
- Produced comprehensive monthly CapEx reports on actual spend and projections.
- Analyzed daily cash flow updates for turnaround projects, promptly distributing vital information.
Education
Villanova University, Villanova, PA
Master’s Certificate in Project Management
Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA
Accounting - CPA
McNeese State University, Lake Charles, LA
Bachelor of Arts, Business Management and Business Marketing


