Chapter Officers

 

  

Aaron Whittenberger has over 35 years of Business and Information Technology experience, including 19 years of business analysis and 15 years as a Consultant. He earned his Certified Business Analyst Professional^TM (CBAP^®) certification in 2008, his Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO^®) in 2018, his IIBA^® Agile Analysis Certification (IIBA^®-AAC) in 2019, his Certificate in Product Ownership Analysis (IIBA^®-CPOA) in 2021, his ICAgile Certified Professional - Agile Product Owner (ICP-APO) in 2022, and his Advanced Certified Scrum Product Owner (A-CSPO^®) from Scrum Alliance in April 2024. Aaron is the Founding President of Bluegrass IIBA Chapter, as well as has served the IIBA^® as Regional Director of the Americas Eastern Region and the Chairperson of the Role Delineation Committee, responsible for the relevancy and validity of the IIBA^® certification program. He is a 2016 Inductee into the Bluegrass Business Analysis Hall of Fame.

Aaron lives in Independence, KY and has four children. Just a few years ago he participated in his first ever game of cricket with his co-workers. For himself, Aaron enjoys a good round of golf, we’ll see if he ever has one.

Aaron hopes that the Bluegrass IIBA Chapter brings a business analysis educational program to the area to spark innovation and creative thinking and raise the level of business analysis performed for organizations in the Bluegrass area. This will raise the awareness of the value of business analysts as change agents to allow organizations to gain competitive advantage in the marketplace.

 

      

 

Stephanie would like to grow the chapter’s community outreach to ensure all professionals know they are welcome to be part of our community. She will provide unique events and activities to build the sense of belonging to a community.

 

  

Will Powers graduated from Northern Kentucky University (NKU) in May 2022 with a Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology with a minor in Information Systems. He currently works at Fidelity Investments and the NKU Museum of Anthropology. He has held positions of responsibility with he Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity in member retention, finance, growth and alumni relations.

Will would like to provide his marketing and digital expertise to see the Bluegrass IIBA Chapter to continue to grow and provide excellent events and service to its community. He plans to grow the chapter’s presence both online and offline, with targeted social media messaging as well as look for potential new social media platforms that can be utilized to grow the chapter’s presence. As a recent college graduate, Will will be happy to help develop connections with local universities to grow the chapter college-age presence.

 

  

Bronson Zell is the Business Analyst Manager for the Business Continuity at Republic Bank & Trust in Louisville, Kentucky. He has a decade of business analysis experience, and specializes in process improvement, data analysis, data visualization, and both informal and formal documentation. He considers himself an Efficiency Specialist with experience in Project Implementation, UAT, QA, Experienced Customer Service Manager, Professional Writer, Payments Processing, Banking, Claims Adjudication, Graphic Design and Layout, and Technical Support.

Bronson obtained his Certified Business Analysis Professional™ (CBAP®) certification in August 2018; and his Agile Analysis Certification (IIBA®-AAC) in December 2021. Bronson is currently Director of the Kentuckiana Branch for the Bluegrass IIBA Chapter. He would like to see the Bluegrass IIBA chapter further grow and develop the Business Analysis discipline within the corporate culture of Kentucky.  There are several companies with robust, mature BA practices, but there are also many that do not have a formalized BA team nor a PMO.  I believe we have the opportunity to promote the profession and to improve the strength and health of business in Kentucky. 

 

     

 

      

Sarah Poynter is currently a Software Engineering Manager for the Core Systems at USBank, where she has been employed for 23 years.  She started her career in the branches in 1999, then moved to a Branch software help desk role until 2002. She moved into a Business Analyst role at that point in Tech Services when USBank and Firstar merged.  That was the beginning of her journey as an IT Business Analyst. At one point she was in a Programmer Analyst role for 3+ years before moving back into a Senior Business Analyst on her team since working with both the technical folks and business lines is her passion.  She loves being the ‘bridge’ between those two groups.   Sarah has an Associate’s Degree in Applied Science (Computer Science) from Southern Ohio College where she took two Cobol coding courses. Those two courses alone have served her well the past 20+ years while working on USBank’s Core Systems team.  Sarah has been CBAP® certified since October 2015, and earned her IIBA®-CBDA in 2022.

When she isn’t working or participating in IIBA functions, she enjoys down time with her 3 dogs, Fancy, Hay Hay and Neno, catching up on the latest episodes of her favorite TV programs and putzing around the house and yard.  She and her family are based in Florence, KY.  Sarah is very thankful for the growth and development in business analysis that IIBA® has provided over the years and would like to utilize her time in this new role to share that knowledge with other business analyst professionals in the Greater Cincinnati/ Northern Kentucky area and beyond.  She is is looking forward to helping launch the NKY/Cincy branch of the Bluegrass IIBA chapter along with her fellow chapter leaders.