Expert Details
Travel Technology, Enterprise Architecture, SOA, ESB, Java, Oracle, CTO, Development Process
ID: 728749
Florida, USA
Over the course of his career he has worked with a broad array of technology and has been a leader in technology and a teacher of technology. He has been a guest speaker at events such as IBM’s Impact, as well as an authority in several areas of information technology. He has worked in several industries and has broad knowledge of several markets as well as how to apply technical solutions to those markets.
Having worked in small, mid-size and fortune 500 environments, from start-ups to Marriott, he has broad-based executive and technical experience in roughing it, as well as managing multi-million dollar budgets and contracts. From servers on a shoestring to 1000 node server farms that require 99.99% uptime and rapid scalability, he has seen it, lived it and commanded fast and precise decision-making in every situation, even in times of crisis; he scales with business.
As the lead technologist, he has worked with 3 executive teams to design targeted technical platforms that would help build and sell growth potential companies to entities such as Hotels.com and TUI travel. Each had successful multi-million dollar exits and where examples of early stage and mid-growth companies that his direct involvement helped excel, via targeted technology, to meet the board’s and investor’s objectives.
Accompanying his executive experience is a deep understanding of technology at a development and engineering capacity. In relation to technology, it is his held belief that it becomes more difficult to manage when one is not versed in the nuances and details of such a complicated art. He thereby keeps his technical skills current by working alongside his teams to envision solutions and to work through problems. It is his ability to lead technical people, that has been his greatest asset.
The greater portion of his career has been concentrated on web technologies, enterprise systems and business integration, with early career experience in military simulation and artificial intelligence. He has experience with web platforms from the days of CGI / POST to the current trends with rich Internet Applications of which he is considered an industry expert and leader. He has experience in the major web platforms (Java, .NET and LAMP) as well as SOA and ESB platforms. He has performed multiple legacy integrations with a variety of enterprise systems as well as exotic technology. As well, given his experience in all company sizes, he knows when to apply technology to meet the technical and budgetary requirements. He is deeply familiar with Open Source offering and know how to analyze the benefits and risks of applying low and mid-cost solutions.
Set record revenue generation from web technologies year over year in excess of $300 million annually.
Refined software delivery process to align to SCM best practices.
Lead initiative to move all content into a content management system.
Ported all web properties to Web 2.0 and Rich Internet Applications.
Managed a support budget of $3 million annually as well as a much higher, variable project budget.
Responsible for reducing employee position turnover to less than 2% in the lifetime of his position.
Worked with multiple vendors to augment workforce through selective outsourcing of technology projects.Systematically phased out legacy systems while maintaining business initiatives, through IT planning and change management.
Implemented Linux based server farm to reduce overall IT systems investment.
Implemented network and VPN system for B2B integration.
Designed and implemented an internal ESB and external SOA (via SOAP based web services) for B2B system integrations with leading travel web site systems (hotels.com, Travelocity).
Responsible for repairing and decommissioning IT systems that lead company to record profits and positioned the company for sale to First Choice Travel.
Streamlined employee system interface workflow to reduce overall operational costs.
Worked with CEO and other executive leaders to ensure business goals and IT visions were aligned.
Assembled and hired technology teams to handle network administration, help desk, enterprise software delivery and telephony.
Took company from 40% web transactions to 70% of total business conducted via automated web transactions.
Partly responsible for operation cost reduction and increase sales volume that caused a re-projection of earnings from $30 to $65 million.Took company from start-up to acquisition in 2 years.
Profitable year-end due to efficient technology decision-making, despite the dot com bust and the attack on the world trade center, both of which had a devastating impact on the travel industry.
Helped to position the company for acquisition by Hotels.com.
Designed technology systems to keep staffing level low by automation.
Designed and built data tracking systems, data analysis systems, search systems, online transactional payment systems, inventory management systems, content management system, web services, affiliates system, advertising management system.Implemented network technologies to integrate magazine publishing division, warehousing division, sales division and product research and development division.
Designed implemented COTS and custom developed systems for warehouse management, sales CRM, and magazine publishing.
Designed and implemented scientific systems for product research and development.
Implemented web presence as well as e-commerce and marketing systems.
Saw company through to successful acquisition by Body Art and Science.
Education
Year | Degree | Subject | Institution |
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Year: 2004 | Degree: BS | Subject: Information Technology / Web Technologies | Institution: University of Phoenix |
Work History
Years | Employer | Title | Department |
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Years: 2010 to Present | Employer: Undisclosed | Title: Technical Strategist | Department: |
Responsibilities:Emerging technology consulting for web 2.0, social media, rich Internet application, Geo-location development, SOA strategy and mobile platforms.Industry and technical consulting for institutional investors, hedge fund managers, private equity firms and venture capital. |
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Years | Employer | Title | Department |
Years: 2006 to 2010 | Employer: Marriott Vacation Club | Title: Senior Director Technology | Department: |
Responsibilities:Provide and produce architecture and development requirements for Marriott’s web development team, as well as interface with business units to translate requirements into software blueprints for distribution to the development team. Work with development teams to ensure code standards and understanding among the team. Manage defect resource assignment as well as provide resource estimates for project development as well as defect resolution. Lead effort to identify and implement proper SCM tools including Source Control and defect tracking. Lead effort to realign Release Management to fit into proper build and deployment enterprise controls. |
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Years | Employer | Title | Department |
Years: 2003 to 2006 | Employer: AccessUSA (Hotelbeds) | Title: Chief Technology Officer | Department: |
Responsibilities:Responsible for executive decision making on the design, development, testing and deployment of software systems, Management of development personnel, Project Management and estimating, as well as software and hardware procurement, communicating technical strategy to the executive team as well as the operations personnel, to ensure buy-in by all parties. Manage technical direction of the company as well as devise strategies to navigate the company out of several closed and exotic technologies that were constraining the business's ability to grow. After acquisition acting as a liaison between US, Mallorcan and other offshore teams to ensure that software standards and IT principals were upheld as well as that information flow being unabridged. |
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Years | Employer | Title | Department |
Years: 2001 to 2003 | Employer: Orlando.com / Internet Vacations | Title: Chief Technology Officer | Department: |
Responsibilities:Executive technology planning and leadership for the travel website Orlando.com and online travel and accommodation booking site InternetVacations.com. Responsible for personnel management, budget, procurement, project planning, software design, development, testing and deployment of both sites. Was responsible for high-level technical strategy as well as low-level implementation of details. Was given clear orders to maximize profit via automation, to constrain budget in an effort to rapidly work towards an exit for the VC backed venture, to which his team executed flawlessly. |
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Years | Employer | Title | Department |
Years: 2000 to 2001 | Employer: Body International | Title: Chief Technology Officer | Department: |
Responsibilities:Managing the technology strategies of Body International including: needs assessment, development cycle management, personnel management, and project management. Managed technical aspects and supporting systems for dietary supplement formulation research and development, manufacturing, inventory management, advertising (online, print, television), and magazine publishing. He also played an active role in custom software development for Body International. |
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Years | Employer | Title | Department |
Years: 1998 to 2000 | Employer: Modis Technologies | Title: Sr. Simulations Developer / Team Lead | Department: |
Responsibilities:Was responsible for the architecture and design of simulation software including scene graph management, level design and artificial intelligence logic.; Responsible for mentoring other developers as well as managing their day-to-day tasks. Hands on development with the following tools and technologies: C++, Java, OpenGL, Open Inventor, VRML, Mathmatica, HTML, CSS, Javascript, ObjectStore |
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Years | Employer | Title | Department |
Years: 1995 to 1998 | Employer: OCI | Title: Research & Development Architect | Department: |
Responsibilities:Was responsible for the evaluation and implementation of new tools and technologies into the company’s offerings. He was tasked with evaluation technology; making recommendation as well as designing the processes and conventions around newly adopted technologies. He also participated in development of ongoing projects as a secondary role. |
Fields of Expertise
application service provider, client/server architecture, client/server computing, client/server database access software, cloud computing, computer algorithm optimization, computer language, computer programming, computer software, computer software licensing, computer workstation, database, document management software, ecommerce, enterprise application integration, enterprise resource planning, enterprise resource planning software, hypermedia, hypertext, hypertext markup language, IBM software, Internet, Internet commerce, Internet infrastructure, Internet standard, intranet, Java, laptop computer, Linux operating system, Macintosh programming, Macintosh software, marketing software, Microsoft, Microsoft Windows 95, Microsoft Windows NT, Microsoft Windows programming, Microsoft Windows software, object-oriented programming, Oracle, relational database, relational database management system, software integration, SQL database, Structured Query Language, system software, systems integration, travel, word processing, word processing software, World Wide Web application, World Wide Web programming, World Wide Web software, JavaScript, internet security, information security, Internet marketing, Internet advertising, multidimensional database, Internet firewall, INFORMIX database, object-oriented database management system, computer networking, Apple Macintosh computer network, UniVerse, LAN/WAN interconnection, computer hardware, DB2/SQL, Apple Macintosh