Bruce Boston

Current

•  AppleCare Analyst at Apple, Inc

Past

• Senior Business Analyst, Business Intelligence at CNET Networks
• Senior Business Analyst at There.com
• Reporting Consultant at Pearson, Fisher, and Associates LLC

• Business Analyst at There.com
• Small Business Investigation at Self-Employed (Self-employed)
• Market Analyst at Takagi Industrial USA
• Asst-Manager, Inside Sales Administration at Panasonic Electronic Components
• President at Masumi Enterprises
• Japan Office Manager, Toyota/Honda/Nissan Accounts at ASC, Incorporated
• Jr. then Sr. Account Executive; Toyota Account at ASC, Incorporated

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Education

• University of Washington
• Keio University

Recommended

9 people have recommended Bruce

Connections

500+ connections

Industry

Consumer Electronics

Bruce Boston’s Summary

- Always interested in opportunities to combine hard core data analysis, gut instinct and hard work to create simple, yet powerful systems of data feedback.

- Enjoy translating business objectives into tools, technologies and strategies that harness multi-department synergies.

Bruce Boston’s Specialties:

Data Analysis, Data Farming, Business Model Design, Business Process Improvement, Pricing, Reporting Planing and Design, Database Design, Business Development, Business Strategy, Partner Relations, Internet Community Relations, Brainstorming, Internet Billing, Fraud Control, Conflict Resolution, Change Management, Branding, Market Research, Online Marketing and anything Japanese.

Bruce Boston’s Experience

•  AppleCare Analyst

  Apple, Inc

  (Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; AAPL; Computer Hardware industry)

  April 2007 — Present (2 years 4 months)

  * Primary responsibility is AppleCare Engineering Feedback reporting for iPhone, iPod touch, iPod classic, iPod nano, iPod shuffle, iTunes, iTunes Store, App Store, and AppleTV using AppleCare Call Center data. Over the past year, I've worked with AppleCare Engineering to identify, document and pursue over $20 million in support costs reductions, over $12 million of which have already been implemented on current products.
  
  * Key Metrics include: Contact Rate by Product, Configuration, Geo. Support Costs per Unit by Product, Configuration, Geo, Component, Issue, Sub-Issue, trended over time. Introduced statistical financial modeling techniques learned from Toyota Finance to AppleCare which has greatly increased the speed and accuracy of the sw engineering recommendations made by AppleCare SW Engineering.
  
  * Current Tools include Tableau, Excel, Oracle, Teradata, SAP, Business Objects, iLog, iLog Trigger, Omniture, Discussion Forum Data and internal data from a multitude of sources.

• Senior Business Analyst, Business Intelligence

  CNET Networks

  (Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; CNET; Online Media industry)

  November 2005 — April 2007 (1 year 6 months)

  • Primary responsibility is to manage programs and projects focused on taking corporate level metrics and KPI and translating them into informative systems that help internal analysts make better decisions.
  • Working with the Data warehousing team to document and expand best practices across the organization, including 5 Business Units, 15 properties, and 45 sites.
  • Current Tools include Tableau, Microstrategy, mySQL, MS Excel, XML Web Services, Xcelsius, Flash, Adobe Flex, Hitwise, Offermatica, Nielsen Net Ratings, COM Score and Omniture, as well as a number of internally produced analytical tools and systems.

• Senior Business Analyst

  There.com

  (Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Entertainment industry)

  May 2004 — November 2005 (1 year 7 months)

  - Working directly with member base through weekly live chat sessions and forum postings to discuss economic development programs, commerce tools, member concerns, economic progress/trends, property rights, and various community topics.
  
  - Tuning systems in the product directly including Skills Levels, Skill Points, Skills Gifts, Skills Bonuses and Privileges, Pricing/Availability/Attributes for several thousand items, Real Estate Rental Systems, Event Management Systems, Club Management Systems, Item Rental Systems, Catalog System, Auction Systems, Billing System, Member Program Systems, Fraud Detection Systems, Billing Systems, Credit Card Processing Systems, Customer Service Systems, Help Documents, Product Physics/Scripts, User Created Content Submissions Systems, Marketing Communication Plans, Product Promotion Planning, New Product Release Plans, In-World Communication Plans, etc, etc.

• Reporting Consultant

  Pearson, Fisher, and Associates LLC

  (Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Computer Software industry)

  August 2004 — July 2005 (1 year)

  - Consulting on a part-time bases.
  - Reporting, Data Management, Database Design, Data Analysis.

• Business Analyst

  There.com

  (Privately Held; 201-500 employees; Entertainment industry)

  May 2003 — May 2004 (1 year 1 month)

  - Primary responsibility was to use data and statistical analysis to solve business problems and to communicate research findings to executive teams.
  
  - Statistical / Data mining techniques included using SQL and Collaborated with SparkPR to publicize economic incentives and economic findings. Publications included Wired Magazine, The Boston Globe, Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, USA Today, Popular Science, etc.
  
  - Built Macro Economic models for the virtual world economy, to measure and monitor in-world economic activity, money supply and some non-economic activity.
  
  - Worked directly with hundreds of people inside the company (Executive Team, VPs, Producers, Art Team, Engineers, QA, Front Line Customer Service, Customer Service Management, Marketing, Partner Relations, Business Development, Operations, and Back-end Management) to ensure all aspects of the economy worked smoothly with the many other pieces in the product, and had as few design conflicts as possible.

• Small Business Investigation

  Self-Employed (Self-employed)

  (Self-Employed; 1-10 employees; Leisure, Travel & Tourism industry)

  November 2002 — July 2003 (9 months)

  - Took time out to investigate franchise and small business acquisition opportunities in the Las Vegas, Sonoma and San Diego areas.
  
  - Worked with various business brokers to perform due diligence studies of some 35 businesses.

• Market Analyst

  Takagi Industrial USA

  (Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Import and Export industry)

  May 2002 — January 2003 (9 months)

  - Coordinated with Advertising companies to produce print ad campaigns, direct mailers, trade show promotions, show room displays, contractor education program and radio and direct sales presentations.
  
  - Worked with sales mangers to formulate a programs to quickly connect interested consumers with local plumbers and contractors promoting the Takagi brand and Tankless Water Heating related products.

• Asst-Manager, Inside Sales Administration

  Panasonic Electronic Components

  (Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing industry)

  April 2001 — August 2001 (5 months)

  - Managed the 6-person team of trilingual professionals responsible for formulating forecasts, POs, shipments, RMAs and invoicing for the Otay Components Division
  
  - Created processes to confirm orders/quotes and confirm accuracy and completeness, including part numbers, prices, terms and conditions and other important details.

• President

  Masumi Enterprises

  (Partnership; 11-50 employees; Consumer Goods industry)

  July 1999 — June 2001 (2 years)

  - Sold over $1.3 Million in Japanese Pokemon, Japanese PlayStation and Japanese Ty Beanie Babies through a home-based Yahoo internet store in the two-year period.
  
  - Set-up a cash management system to procure product in Japan, take orders over the internet, process credit card payments through a US bank and transfer proceeds back to a business account in Nagoya, Japan.

• Japan Office Manager, Toyota/Honda/Nissan Accounts

  ASC, Incorporated

  (Privately Held; 1001-5000 employees; Automotive industry)

  June 1997 — January 2000 (2 years 8 months)

  - Opened the Nagoya Japan Office to further Convertible Technology company's ties with Toyota Motor Company and Honda.
  
  - Responsibilities included working as a customer liaison to coordinate efforts between the various Toyota groups including design, engineering, research and development, finance, production planning, sales, purchasing, evaluation and executive teams within both companies.
  
  - Projects included Toyota Solara Convertible Conversion, Toyota Celica Service Parts, Lexus RX300 Showcar, Honda S2000 Convertible, Nissan 300ZX Japanese Limited Edition, Mitsubishi GT2000, etc

• Jr. then Sr. Account Executive; Toyota Account

  ASC, Incorporated

  (Privately Held; 1001-5000 employees; Automotive industry)

  January 1996 — May 1997 (1 year 5 months)

  - Set-up and maintained sales orders and quotations.
  
  - Worked directly with customers for price and availability, orders, inquiries and marketing information.
  
  - Kept records of sales order status, shipping dates, availability and backlog.
  
  - Translated meetings between Japanese to English when Japanese customers would visit from Japan.

Bruce Boston’s Education

• University of Washington

  BA , Japanese , September 1994 — December 1995

  Activities and Societies:

  Internship with US Department of Commerece.
  Worked at local Japanese Resurant.

• Keio University

  Scholarship , Japanese , 1993 — 1994

Additional Information

Bruce Boston’s Honors:

GMAT, San Jose, CA - 1/2004
Verbal and Quantitative Combined Score: 690 (92nd percentile)
Analytical Writing Essays Score: 6.0 out of 6.0 (97th percentile)

Media Quotes:
The Boston Globe: "Boston's entrepreneurship and his analysis of the growing There economy in member forums impressed the game's creators so much that they hired him as their economic analyst, the Alan Greenspan of There."

Wired.com: "Boston began as a member. With years of financial experience working for companies like Toyota, Honda, Panasonic and Sony, he quickly developed a reputation in There's member forums as an economic sage. So There hired him. Now, he spends his time as the Alan Greenspan of There's economy, analyzing its money supply and applying traditional economic theories."