Information Technology executive specializing in business analysis and project management is seeking senior management opportunity. I have acute business acumen, ability to get things done, leadership and people management ability. My broad industry experience, deep understanding of software development, and knowledge of technical infrastructure will be of significant value to my employer.

EDUCATION

University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI
1983 - 1989
MBA degree, operations management emphasis.

Central Michigan University
Mt. Pleasant, MI
1977 - 1981
BS degree, computer science major, business and administration minor. Graduated with Honors.
 
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

PLAN DATA MANAGEMENT. New York, NY
Plan Data Management is an Information Service Provider for the healthcare industry. PDMs products help insurers manage their Medicare membership, research fraud and abuse, and improve care through predictive modelling. Technologies: VB.net, c#, MS/SQL Server, Visual Studio, Visual SourceSafe, Windows 2000/XP, MS Exchange, Veritas Backup System, Active Directory.
2005 to Present
Director of Technology
Managing IT staff for Plan Data Management including all software development, quality assurance, and network administration. Technical leader in all strategic relationships with industry partners and customers. Responsible for entire IT budget.

EYEWEB INC. New York, NY
Eyeweb provides technology to EyeCare Professionals to improve the processes necessary in dispensing glasses and contact lenses. Eyeweb’s products are distributed through global lens labs and national retail chains to EyeCare Professionals.
2004 to 2005
Director of Technology
Manage all IT staff for Eyeweb including software development, quality assurance, and network administration.

• Changed architecture of core product allowing for customization and branding. Reduced time to produce a branded product suite from 60 days to 2 weeks. Reduced the expense of these releases from $40,000 to $10,000.
• Successfully completed six product rollouts in first 60 days of employment.
• Reduced expense of network administration by 50% through outsourcing and staff reduction.
• Developed business and technical requirements for next generation of technology. Managed development of the next generation technology.

ELITE TECHNOLOGY PARTNERS INC. NJ
Elite Technology Partners is a start-up developing software solutions for direct access and intelligent order routing systems to financial markets.
2002 to 2004
General Manager and Partner
Formed company with six (6) other previous Blackwood employees with the intention of building a software product similar to Blackwood’s. Company has evolved into loosely-connected consulting company with each member using his deep experience in technology and financial systems to produce revenue.

• Wrote complete business plan including pro-forma financial statements. Formed and negotiated terms for strategic partnerships. Managed sales efforts through partners and personal network. Developed monthly newsletter and company website. Generated lead, wrote proposal, and gave pitch for a potential $1.2 million project including software, professional services, and support.
• Consulting CTO/CIO for CASHPOINT, a New York-based payment processing company with web-based Electronic Bill Payment and Presentment solutions for utilities, banks, telecommunications and city/county government, and, 2000 agents/terminal sites for in-person or phone-based payment collection.
  
  Contractually hired in the midst of serious management change and key employee turnover that put the company at risk of halting operations. Have restored smooth operations company-wide. Successfully recruited a new technical infrastructure and software development staff very cost-effectively for Birmingham, AL Network Operations Center, with excellent teamwork / morale now in place. Establish and manage project plans, communicate and manage expectations, and serve as point of contact and accountability for New York office. Very involved in making critical technology changes for stability, high availability, scalability, speed, and cost-containment.
• Consulting CTO for small start-up in the development of a software solution to trade mutual funds. Performing some hands-on development work and guiding small team of contract developers in the design and development of solution. Established and managing relationships with clearing firms and hosting vendors.

BLACKWOOD INC. New York, NY
Blackwood was a $17 million, 60-employee financial technology firm, Application Service Provider, and Broker-Dealer providing direct access and intelligent order routing to equities markets for professional and institutional traders.  Produced and sold Equities Trading Floor and two (2) Basket Trading applications (Index Arbitrage and List Trader), and B2B Trading Service.
2001 - 2002
Director or Software Development
Full accountability for all aspects of software product development, including assessment of market needs and design of products with key competitive advantages; software compliance with SEC, NASD, and regulatory guidelines; product technology, architecture, design and delivery; recruiting / selection, team-building, and management of 19-member software development and QA team; budget management / cost reduction; and vendor management. Actively involved with business development and prospective clients, consisting of institutional buyers, money managers, American Stock Exchange, and broker-dealers.

• Attracted and built a very talented and cohesive team of developers, despite extreme negative pressures facing company, while reducing pay of developers by over 50% and saving the company over $1MM annually.
• Overhauled chaotic software development by adding structured processes and reduced time-to-market for new product improvements from 6 months to 2 months.
• Implemented FIX (Financial Information Exchange) technology in first 90 days which generated an immediate $4MM in additional revenues with quantitative trading groups and opened the doors for B2B trading.
• Effectively managed $ 1.5 M budget. Re-negotiated all vendor contracts gaining as much as 50% improvements and reduced recruitment fees by 25%.
• Authored response to RFP, participated in all levels of negotiations, and helped land deal with American Stock
  Exchange, Blackwood’s most strategic and key institutional relationship, despite extreme financial and legal pressures facing Blackwood.
• Through talking with customers and strategizing with very talented team of developers with an equally phenomenal understanding of the business needs, developed the concept and led development of a very intricate, unique, patentable algorithm and “super smart” technology platform enabling competing firm’s to submit their own proprietary trading strategies to run on Blackwood’s smart order algorithm.
• Technologies used: Microsoft Visual C++, real-time messaging, Win sockets, SQL Server repository.

• Established standards and a structured Project Management process, implemented a Project Management staff
  development program, turned around chaotic projects, improved communications and ownership with internal divisions, to construct a Project Management organization that drove the launch of DoubleClick products and services under deadline, under budget, and adhered to CMM Level 3 standards of software engineering.
• Organized and effectively turned-around Dart for Publishers product. Accountable for complete software development lifecycle, design and architecture decisions for wide array of technologies and platforms. Trimmed group and turned around group into very productive, cohesive team.
• Learned the science and business model behind Internet Advertising.

• Successfully negotiated Asian product delivery and achieved on-time delivery of product updates.

• Overhauled previous 2-year stalled effort and accomplished company’s ISO 9000 certification in just under 9 months.
• Made development process improvements, including the construction of an Intranet system for cross department collaboration, improved agreement on project requirements and communications, and, established staff training system focused on key areas for improvement. The development process improvements resulted in an increase in on-time delivery by almost 50%, reduced customer returns to ?3% of sales, and reduced training expenses.

• SLed and championed successful completion and release of FOCUS Seven product, now WebFOCUS Desktop, to
  worldwide market, requiring coordination of array of issues with 3 programming divisions, strategic and competitive planning, publishing product collateral, plus managing all technical issues and customer expectations associated with major technology change affecting 40,000 desktops.
• Reorganized and centralized development teams resulting in cost savings of $250,000 and greatly improved ability to deliver quality software products.
• Served as product evangelist, including travel to Japan and the Canary Islands. Managed relationships with key Asian and European OEM partners, and played key role in successful product launch of WebFOCUS Desktop, with particular success in Japanese and European markets. The product generated $5MM+ in global revenue and produced in excess of $10MM additional annual revenue.

• Negotiated contract for WebFOCUS Graphing component, saving approximately $50,000 annually while adding a key competitive feature.

Senior Consultant (1994 - 1996) – Designed, built and implemented custom data warehousing repositories, sales
forecasting and reporting solutions on top of IBI’s FOCUS technology for manufacturing clients. Served as Lead Technical Developer and managed small teams to accomplish goals in short time frames. Became instrumental in company’s business development efforts in the region. Initially joined company as contract software developer for short-term engagement and turned 6-week engagement with client into 1.5 year-long engagement.

COMPUTER TASKFORCE INC. Southfield, MI
Computer TaskForce was a boutique custom software development and technology training firm.
1987 to 1994
Founder/ Software Developer/ Business Development- Founded custom software development and PC computer
training firm in response to tax law changes affecting contract technical workers. Performed multiple roles for the company, including business development, account management, strategic planning, business management, while also serving as revenue-producing software developer, producing code for mainframe and Unix platforms using Pascal, SAS, PL/1, and C.

• Grew company to a team of ten revenue-producing technical professionals.
• Provided extensive software development work on Michigan Bell/Ameritech’s long distance billing systems due to previously earned reputation. Provided custom software development work for smaller clients in insurance, food service, telecommunications, and even bail bonds industries.
• Developed successful custom PC computer training niche.

BUICK MOTOR DIVISION. Flint, MI
Automobile manufacturer
1981 to 1985
Systems Analyst / Lead Software Developer- Initially hired as Programmer Analyst in support of Buick’s sales and order
processing systems using COBOL, PL/1, MFS, IMS, and DBDC. Promoted to Systems Analyst and then Lead Developer,
responsible for leading system design/development and managing small team of two (2) programmers responsible for parts sampling and quality assurance systems.