Ben Hickman

Current

Technology Specialist at Microsoft

Past

CTO at Compli
Board President at Northwest Fencing Center
VP Engineering & Co-Founder at SoftSource Consulting

Senior Software Engineer at Webridge
Staff Software Engineer, Trainer at STEP Technology
Senior Software Engineer at Pierian Spring Software
Software Engineer at Micro Planning International

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Education

St. John's College
St. Mark's School of Texas

Recommended

6 people have recommended Ben

Connections

377 connections

Industry

Computer Software

Ben Hickman’s Summary

I am a software executive with expertise in shipping successful software products. I build, manage, and mentor engineering teams including recruiting, retaining, and managing developers, architects, program managers, and QA. From concept to completion, I lead the product specification, design, development, and QA processes across many different functional teams.

I have experience building, maintaining, and supporting both desktop and SaaS software products and I have deep knowledge of the Microsoft platform with a focus on secure programming.

Ben Hickman’s Specialties:

Engineering management, program management, project management, agile software development process, developing commercial products on the Microsoft platform, dynamic technical trainer and presenter.

Ben Hickman’s Experience

Technology Specialist

Microsoft

(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; MSFT; Computer Software industry)

April 2007 — Present (2 years 8 months)

Office Platform technical sales in the Enterprise Northwest district.
CTO

Compli

(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Computer Software industry)

October 2005 — April 2007 (1 year 7 months)

Responsible for the development and management of Compli’s software products. I recruited and managed a completely new software development team while supporting an existing customer base. I established software development and QA processes to accelerate product development and improve product quality. I evaluated, selected and managed the migration to a new data center.

My team improved product performance, customer satisfaction, and accelerated the product roadmap.
Board President

Northwest Fencing Center

(Non-Profit; 11-50 employees; Sports industry)

September 2005 — August 2006 (1 year )

Reorganized a non-profit business to prepare for 501c3 application, supported paying down debt and established cash reserves. Initiated policies & procedures, negotiated contracts, approved budgets, and created student scholarship programs. Managed the Executive Director.

The NWFC is one of the premier Olympic fencing centers in North America. Athletes include Olympians, national champions, and nationally ranked fencers of all ages (and a bunch of aging masters fencers, myself included).

www.nwfencing.com
VP Engineering & Co-Founder

SoftSource Consulting

(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Information Technology and Services industry)

April 2002 — September 2005 (3 years 6 months)

I recruited, retained, and managed an elite team of .NET consultants. SoftSource was the go-to partner for Microsoft in the Western region for .NET expertise. We helped companies start and complete challenging and highly visible .NET projects successfully, often on aggressive schedules. In 2 years our staff went from 2 to 18 consultants and our revenue increased 8x.

I had P/L level responsibility including setting compensation plans, cost models, and bill rates. I oversaw, managed, and staffed all projects. I established processes for project and program management based on agile methodologies.

At times I filled the role of senior consultant and trainer. I presented on .NET at over 20 events to groups ranging in size from 5 to over 3000 people. I was an instructor for 8 different technical courses for over 30 different customers. I served as a subject matter expert and author for Microsoft .NET Official Curriculum courseware and Microsoft .NET Certification exams.
Senior Software Engineer

Webridge

(Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Computer Software industry)

May 2000 — February 2002 (1 year 10 months)

Team member and lead for Webridge’s Extranet product on the core engineering team. Developed software in C++, C#, and Java using ATL, OLE DB, ADO.NET, ASP.NET, and WebStore.
Staff Software Engineer, Trainer

STEP Technology

(Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Information Technology and Services industry)

April 1997 — April 2000 (3 years 1 month)

Consultant and architect for customer projects using C++, ATL, COM, COM+, and SQL Server. Instructor for COM, ATL, C++, MFC, and Win32 courses at Oregon Graduate Institute and at customer sites. Presenter at multiple events for Intel and Microsoft.
Senior Software Engineer

Pierian Spring Software

(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Computer Software industry)

March 1995 — April 1997 (2 years 2 months)

Lead developer on a five-person team that developed one of the first 100% pure Java applications. We developed a cross-platform content creation tool for K-12 students. The product won multiple industry awards.
Software Engineer

Micro Planning International

(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Computer Software industry)

February 1991 — February 1995 (4 years 1 month)

Member of a team that developed a cross-platform project management application in C++.