Blake Williams

Sr. Director of Product and Community at Topix

San Francisco Bay Area

Current
  • Sr. Director of Product and Community at Topix
Past
  • Director of Product Management at Topix
  • Program Manager at PayPal / eBay
  • Sr.Technical Project Manager at AOL/TimeWarner
  • Project Manager - International at AllAdvantage.com
  • International QA Test Lead at Apple Computer - FileMaker, Inc
Education
  • Stanford University
  • Colorado College
Connections
292 connections
Industry
Internet

Blake Williams’s Summary

+ Proven ability to manage complex, business-critical products and deliver on schedule and within budget.
+ Proficiency in training and mentoring others in industry-standard processes and practices.
+ Certified PMP in Project Management.
+ Experience implementing standards for Product, Project and Software Development Lifecycles.
+ Diverse background; well-balanced approach to resolving technical and business problems.
+ Japanese language skills; considerable experience with software development for Japanese and European markets.

Blake Williams’s Specialties:

Technical Product, Program and Project Management of Internet and Software products, SDLC implementation, PMI member, PMP Certification, fluent in Japanese language.


Blake Williams’s Experience

  • Sr. Director of Product and Community

    Topix

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

    June 2007Present (1 year 5 months)

  • Director of Product Management

    Topix

    (Partnership; 11-50 employees; Internet industry)

    April 2005June 2007 (2 years 3 months)

  • Program Manager

    PayPal / eBay

    (Public Company; 5001-10,000 employees; ebay; Internet industry)

    February 2004April 2005 (1 year 3 months)

    Program Manager for PayPal’s Small-Medium-Business (SMB) suite of products – one of PayPal’s most critical strategic business initiative in 2005.

    + Led several teams, comprised of over 100 engineers and 30 QA, for an on-time launch of the initial SMB program in April, 2005.
    + Managed team of 5 project managers, with emphasis and coaching on industry-standard PM methodologies, such as risk, communication, and change management.
    + Initiated and developed the Advanced Portfolio Management initiative for planning optimization at PayPal.
    + Created in-house training materials for Project Management topics, including team building and PMP certification process.

  • Sr.Technical Project Manager

    AOL/TimeWarner

    (Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; TWX; Internet industry)

    March 2001January 2004 (2 years 11 months)

    + Lead Project Manager for “AOL Alerts & Reminders” product – a platform serving millions of daily online, wireless device, and email notifications (stock, news, weather, sports, etc.) to AOL customers.

  • Project Manager - International

    AllAdvantage.com

    (Privately Held; 501-1000 employees; Internet industry)

    January 2000February 2001 (1 year 2 months)

    + Managed web application and content engineers for major product releases. Acted as internal International consultant/evangelist for Product Development, Product Marketing, QA, IS&T, and Legal departments.

  • International QA Test Lead

    Apple Computer - FileMaker, Inc

    (Public Company; 501-1000 employees; aapl; Computer Software industry)

    June 1997January 2000 (2 years 8 months)

    + Lead tester for US, Japanese, and 9 European language versions of FileMaker Pro Database software, including core applications, networking, installers, ODBC integration, and Web Publishing features.


Blake Williams’s Education

  • Stanford University

    MA, East Asian Studies, 1997

  • Colorado College

    19871991


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