
Senior IT Consultant | Business Analyst | Technical and Professional Writer
Greater Atlanta Area

Senior IT Consultant | Business Analyst | Technical and Professional Writer
Greater Atlanta Area
My talent is balancing a grasp of details and a focus on results. Over 20 years experience and a rare combination of technical, business, communication, and people skills contribute to my capacity to identify and align client business and technology needs.
I am at my best when designing, communicating, and facilitating solutions. My success often lies in my ability to help stakeholders see things in new ways and from new perspectives. I am trained in both quantitative and qualitative research methods, and I am driven by a passion for user-centered design and usability.
In addition to multiple IBM and HP certifications and a long history of IT experience, I also have practical business and management. I love all things geeky, but I'm more into the big picture and strategy than I am the guy who sits and codes for days on end. I prefer to work on the analysis, design, writing, and usability ends of the project, and I thrive when I can experience a variety of new challenges and projects. I prefer to work with people than to hide from them.
Master communications skills with executive demeanor; Flair for communicating technical information to non-technical audiences and vice versa; User Centered Design & Usability; Instructional Design; Technical Writing; Veteran Facilitator & Instructor; ISO 9002 Admin & Auditing; Quality Assurance; Content & Learning Management Systems; InDesign; Photoshop; Dreamweaver; Illustrator; mySQL; CSS, XHTML; Mac OS; Microsoft Server; Sharepoint; Exchange; Trac; TracWiki; KnowledgeTree; AIX/Unix/Linux.
(Information Technology and Services industry)
January 1988 — Present (21 years 7 months)
As an independent contract consultant, I helped organizations develop effective technology, business, and communications strategies, usually responsible for implementation and project management. I have done business under several names over the years, most recently Proxigy. I have listed a representative sample of my contracts as separate positions here no LinkedIn. I was self-employed most of the time, but did hire and manage a staff for a period, also.
(Information Technology and Services industry)
June 2008 — June 2009 (1 year 1 month)
General IT consulting, network security, and web design/development.
• Exceptional record of delivering cost effective, high performance technology solutions to meet challenging business demands.
• Involved in the full consulting life cycle in both SMB and Enterprise spaces, including sales, needs analysis, scope preparation, pricing, project management, implementation, and follow up.
• Led transition from in-house to SaaS service order solution. Successful implementation improved labor utilization, significantly increased receivables speed, and increased customer satisfaction.
• Developed strategic vendor relationship with SonicWALL, culminating in current Gold Partner status.
(Educational Institution; Higher Education industry)
January 2007 — June 2008 (1 year 6 months)
(Facilities Services industry)
January 2002 — June 2008 (6 years 6 months)
I provided IT management and communications services for this company since their inception in 2002. They are now a client of the consulting firm I've joined: ProMAS.
(Educational Institution; Higher Education industry)
January 2007 — June 2007 (6 months)
I conducted informal usability testing and wrote help files for an online application developed in-house at Georgia State University by the Writing Across the Curriculum program.
(Privately Held; Computer Software industry)
April 2007 — June 2007 (3 months)
At this software firm serving organizations with large-scale data center needs, I analyzed development, change, and issue tickets for documentation impact, often interviewing developers and product engineers. I also wrote, designed, and maintained documentation for Racemi's product lines.
(Educational Institution; Higher Education industry)
January 2006 — June 2006 (6 months)
I assisted with numerous projects: writing, design, and production of marketing collateral; planning and executing (lodging, campus facilities, computer lab preparation, etc.) on-campus orientation for the 2006 cohort; meeting with University System of Georgia Instructional Technology staff to assist in evaluating and selecting future technologies to enhance the distance-based instructional model of the program; and assisting in the startup and maintenance of a successful Google Adwords campaign to promote the program.
--- I continued to provide ongoing consulting for the WebMBA program through December, 2006.
(Information Technology and Services industry)
June 2004 — December 2005 (1 year 7 months)
After leaving ProMAS, I continued to provide ongoing consulting for ProMAS until rejoining the firm in June 2008. Please see the newer entry for more information about my work there.
(Newspapers industry)
January 2004 — December 2004 (1 year)
Covered city council beat and wrote features part-time.
(Religious Institutions industry)
June 2001 — June 2004 (3 years 1 month)
• IT director.
• Web designer and manager.
• Editor and writer for both the denominational magazine and denominational theology journal.
• Supervised all computer, audio, and visual media production and dissemination.
--- Continued to provide contract consulting through 2007.
(Facilities Services industry)
November 1998 — June 2001 (2 years 8 months)
• Administered broad aspects of ISO 9002 accreditation including internal auditing.
• Engineered workload engineering for prospective and existing major contracts. Performed walkthroughs and specifications analysis, then worked with internal operations and sales stakeholders to develop service delivery scope and costing.
• Provided sales and operations with unbiased guidelines for service delivery, labor allocation, and costing standards.
• Prototyped workload engineering and efficiency analysis software.
• Key member of executive presentation team, joining CEO and several Senior Vice Presidents in presenting service proposals to firms including FedEx, Boeing, and Neiman Marcus.
• Assisted with business assimilation of acquisitions.
• Oversaw training standards and instructional design.
• Authored sections of corporate operations manual.
• Continued after resignation as contract project manager assisting in rollout of new telecom and data infrastructure throughout the U.S.
(Facilities Services industry)
January 1995 — January 1998 (3 years 1 month)
• Novell and Windows based systems and network integration and maintenance.
• Wrote and implemented a custom quality control system, implemented in over 50 locations, utilizing hand-held bar code scanners.
• Produced all sales collateral, including RFPs, brochures, Powerpoint, etc.
(Facilities Services industry)
January 1994 — October 1994 (10 months)
Managed operations for accounts in across the Southeast, responsible for 13 management level direct reports. Interfaced with customer representative at all levels negotiating contract modifications, resolving concerns, and acting as point of contact. Led company in profitability through innovative approaches to increase labor efficiency and employee moral.
(Facilities Services industry)
February 1989 — January 1994 (5 years)
Worked my way through Personnel Recruiting and Training, Personnel Director, Sales, Operations Manager, and finally General Manager. In some ways, I view this as my MBA. I had a one-year break in this employment period while pursuing contract consulting opportunities.
(Newspapers industry)
April 1987 — February 1989 (1 year 11 months)
Worked as a reporter and photographer, writing everything from the daily police blotter to feature stories in Jimmy Carter's home county.
During the last year of my work here, I freelanced while also working as contract consultant for several political campaigns.
(Educational Institution; 201-500 employees; Higher Education industry)
August 1985 — June 1986 (11 months)
I worked as a writing tutor specializing in helping college athletes prepare for first or repeat attempts to pass the writing component of the Georgia Regents Exam, a minimum reading and writing skills examination required of all students in the University System of Georgia.
Ph.D. , Rhetoric, Composition, and Professional and Technical Writing , 2006 — 2010 (expected)
MA , Professional Writing , 2005 — 2006
Primary Concentration: Rhetoric and Composition. Secondary: Creative Writing.
Thesis: “Remediation, Genre, and Blogs: A Reexamination of Blogs as Genre.” Starting with Carolyn Miller’s theories of genre and rhetorical hierarchy and proceeding to Miller’s examination of blogging as genre, co-authored with Dawn Shepherd, I argue that blogging is not in and of itself a new genre, but a complex of emergent technologies that together form a new medium. The blog as medium supports numerous genres: personal diary blogs, citizen journalist blogs, and corporate blogs to name a few. Thesis Committee: Professor Robert Barrier and Professor Robert Hill.
BA , English , 2004 — 2004
Magna Cum Laude
AA , Journalism , 1990 — 1992
N/A , English , 1985 — 1988
Tech, Reading, Movies, Photography, New Media, The Mountains, The Beach, Writing, Writing Creative Nonfiction, Writing Poetry
Sigma Tau Delta National English Honor Society, Sigma Beta Phi National Honor Society, Blue Key Honor Society, Outstanding Young Men in America, SAMLA, SoCon07, SoCon08
Magna Cum Laude Arkansas Tech University, Sigma Tau Delta National English Honor Society, Sigma Beta Phi National Honor Society, Blue Key Honor Society, Outstanding Young Men in America