My Professional Life

Who I Am

These days, everyone wants an elevator pitch. Who are you and what are you doing should be conveyed in a single sentence. It’s certainly possible, but I find that it leaves so much out. For example, I might describe my value statement with the following:

“A leader with the ideal combination of people skills, technology expertise and experience who will achieve organizational goals in an effective and efficient manner.”

Great. But that is just part of the story. How do I show up every day? Do I take long, 2 hour lunches? Am I perhaps best found in the company lunchroom, lazing about? Or am I a dedicated, hard-working, example-setting leader with a reputation of being approachable, reasonable and collaborative? (Hint: it’s the latter.)

It also doesn’t tell much about the challenges you face and over come over the course of 20 years. From these challenges, some folks learn and are able to incorporate these experiences into tangible, usable techniques. Others do not. This time, I am in the former camp.

Over the course of my career, I have developed many skills through training and experience. I have been able to synthesize solutions from that combination and apply them successfully to staff and business challenges.

Experience and Learnings

There is the joy of seeing someone achieve their goals - breaking through into a well-deserved promotion. Likewise, I have had to face the tragic opportunity of helping team members through traumatic life events and substance abuse. These are events that shape you and help you realize the importance of emotional intelligence. There is power in emotion that must be balanced by logic and careful interpretation of reality.

There is also the pleasure of achieving success in a project - moving the needle - whether that be revenue or reducing cost. I have a passion for improving everything I touch - nearly everything can be made better, faster, cheaper. I have had my fair share of challenges and failures with projects, but still find a way to achieve at least some of the goals, if not all. It might not always look like the original vision, but it is undoubtedly true that change is the only constant and the best laid plans have to be constantly evaluated in light of changing conditions.

Earlier in my career, I described myself as a technology professional. This was, of course, true at the time. I had been working in an IT infrastructure role for many years. It was a good fit for me as I learned how to analyze the needs of a situation and determine the best technological solution to achieve the goal - make it better, faster cheaper.

Significant Accomplishments

Throughout my career, I have been involved in a variety of different companies, situations and projects. Some highlights:

In my role as Director and Senior Director at the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), I joined the organization during a time of great change. I was tasked with building an entirely new operational team to support a massive increase in customers. The operational model was designed, staff were hired and the team was trained and now regularly meet and exceed customer expectations.
As the Chief Operating Officer of a privately owned software company, I lead the project to deliver of a new product. The subsequent launch increased the value of the organization significantly, triggering an acquisition at an attractive multiple. I was also a key participant in the due-diligence process which resulted in a successful acquisition process with no post-sale claims.
As the VP of Business Operations at the same organization, I led my team to modernize systems, revolutionize our approach to business problems and produce higher quality software for our customers.
As the Manager of Information Systems at a business unit of a Fortune 500 company, my team supported rapid growth through acquisitions of two other organization. We supported a nationwide organization with eight locations. We implemented systems that were standardized with a host of best practice implementation, monitoring and management.
As the Manager of LAN/Desktop at an eCommerce start-up, my team supported the relocation of headquarters and holiday peak support during which the supported staff grew by 67%.
As the Manager of Information Services at a small optical networking start-up company, I provided guidance in the creation of a fledgling WAN/VPN architecture, designed and implemented policies for user support and implemented an in-house mail/calendar system to improve communication and workflow.
As a Consultant for a global re-insurance company, I provided critical support during a nationwide desktop and server upgrade. Further, I converted tribal knowledge into documented policies and procedures for both technical staff and end users.

For more detail on any of these, I invite you to view my LinkedIn profile.

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