Education

Bachelor of Science, Business Administration (Marketing), Summa cum Laude 1989
Lawrence Technological University, Southfield, MI  

Work Experience

·         2005 – present - Consultant retained on a Pro Bono basis by CyberMichigan (www.cybermichigan.org) to assist in preparing grant proposals for funding an initiative to develop, in cooperation with the Ann Arbor Business Accelerator, a web-based curriculum to aid in the education of high-technology startups. I have been assisting them in identifying and evaluating the various technology options to meet the pedagogical requirements as well as the ancillary support and communication needs of the organizations they hope to serve. I have also worked closely with the team developing the educational content, which is preparing technology entrepreneurs to develop sound business plans and seek private equity investment.

·         2004-2005 – Consultant Retained by Kellogg Community College and Battle Creek Unlimited to launch a new, non-profit entity intended to market a vocational education product (web-based industrial training curriculum materials) developed by Kellogg Community College. Succeeded in moving this enterprise from a concept to reality, with new product under development and paying customers in less than six months. Formulated both long-range and short-term strategic plans, developed and implemented a marketing and sales plan, maintained relationships with vendors and partners who were involved in the initial product development, acquired and established relationships with new partners, supervised and directed technical work critical to product marketability, including curriculum modification, software enhancement and server hosting. Supervised and actively participated in design and development of a new web based learning management system for delivery of training curriculum. Engaged in field sales aimed at both educational institutions and private industry.

·         2001- 2004 - Partner, Geeks and Gurus, Inc. Detroit, MI, a software development and IT services company serving a wide range of businesses. Actively involved with all aspects of company management including marketing, sales, supervision, strategic planning and policy making. Specific activities include contract negotiation, liaison with clients to gather requirements, create specifications and manage projects, and responsibility for technical work including data modeling, database design, object modeling, application architecture, design and coding. Projects included a wide variety of LAN/desktop, and web-based applications.

·         1999 - 2001 - Director of Technology, Kirtland Associates, Inc., Troy, MI. Responsible for client management, project management, requirement gathering and specification of software systems for this software development company, as well as technical leadership and training. Contributed to development of systems to perform worker's compensation insurance administration, order-entry, manufacturing process monitoring and control, industrial coatings formulation, packaging and labeling and telemarketing systems. Participated in education and training of development staff in object oriented, client/server database and n-tier development architectures.

·         1997 - 1999 - Director of Development, The Ruiz Group, Novi, MI. Responsible for management of a development team engaged in producing a vertical market application for the community mental health industry. The application provided practice management, billing (both private and public insurance) and management functions. Responsible for customer relationship management, project management, requirements gathering, training of technical staff in object-oriented programming and creation of an object oriented application framework

·         1990-97 - IT Manager and Marketing Manager, KarCal Company, Inc., Detroit, MI. Dual responsibilities included writing and maintaining the company's line of business software systems, and providing sales and marketing support to both customers and the company's independent sales representatives. Marketing duties included supporting and evaluating the activities of independent sales representatives, hiring new sales representatives, providing guidance for product development and marketing decisions, performing data analysis to aid in decision-support, and producing sales, marketing and cataloging materials.

Industry Experience