Individual Investor
Las Vegas, Nevada Area
- Past
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- Real Estate Investor at Usher REI
- EVP Technology Research at Countrywide Financial
- Principal Consultant at Messaging Systems Consulting (Sole Proprietorship)
- VP, Product Services at Computer Associates/Nantucket Corp
- Managing Director at XAT Software Ltd
- Senior PC Applications Developer at Thomas Miller Group of Companies (was Thomas Miller & Co Ltd)
- Developer (Research & Development) at Ashton-Tate (UK)
- Developer/Trainer at Stemos Ltd
- Investments Clerk at Thomas Miller Group of Companies (Was Thomas Miller & Co Limited Then)
- Recommended
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- Industry
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- Websites
Phil Usher’s Summary
Investor - Former Business consultant and Corporate IT Executive.
Phil is an Ex-Pat Englishman with technology executive background. Following a successful career in software and then financial services Phil moved to Las Vegas with intention of working locally. The idea worked fairly well until mid-2006 when work of any kind became harder to find and then so infrequent it couldn't really be called work at all.
Thus in late 2006 Phil swallowed his pride and began applying for all manner of minor managerial and technical roles. When he was able to gain interviews he rarely garnished follow-ups and notes that on one occasion was told;
"While I am sure you're the most capable and qualified candidate we may expect to see; we would rather employ someone climbing the corporate ladder rather than falling down it".
While it sounds funny Phil reports;
"It really took wind out of my sails... My friends and local acquaintances gave me all manner of reasons for my inability to obtain work like for example:
• You have the wrong accent (something like Oxford with perverted California syntax),
• Wrong clothes (they fit),
• Wrong demeanor (refined),
• Wrong resume ("dumb it down" says one),
• You’re in the wrong City (maybe some truth to this one).”
Phil compared his job search exploits with others and
concluded;
“If you're educated, dedicated, skilled but not from Las Vegas then you're probably unemployed and if not have the dirt on someone, you’re lying or very lucky.”
Yet Phil is encouraged he says;
"The failure of the mortgage market and subsequently the banks brought the world to rights. I once more have confidence in my own ability to forecast and thus starting in March 2009, I have turned my entire attention to trading stocks (penny mostly) to provide income."
Is Phil still available for IT work - Yes.
Phil Usher’s Specialties:
http://www.philusher.com - see 3 min video
Technology - Architecture, Integration, Research, Strategy
Software - Development, Configuration Management, Testing, QA
Product - Development, Management, Marketing, Sales
Leadership – Thought, Team, Management, Culture
Moderate to expert experience with:
C (most), Clipper, FinalBuilder, Fox, InstallShield, Lotus (Domino Notes LotusScript), Microsoft (VSS, Office, Basic, Studio), NCC Filetab, Perforce, QuickPlace, SQL, etc.
Phil Usher’s Experience
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Real Estate Investor
Usher REI
(Real Estate industry)
March 2004 — December 2008 (4 years 10 months)
Seeking personal financial independence through Real Estate investment.
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EVP Technology Research
Countrywide Financial
(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; CFC; Financial Services industry)
November 1994 — January 2004 (9 years 3 months)
Ascended quickly on the fast track through positions of increasing executive responsibility in a wide breadth of IT areas. Lead a staff of 70 and manage $10+ million budget to drive discovery and exploitation of emerging technologies through research and development, as well as the integration and extension of systems to provide competitive advantage. Manage and oversee enterprise-wide:
- Email and collaboration services (Notes, Internet, outbound marketing, employee portal)
- Notes infrastructure operations/support and application development (client/server and web-based)
- Voice call center systems and systems development (ACD, IVR, speech recognition, auto attendants)
- Other R&D efforts in relation to cellular wireless, PDA, and web services
Produce cost-effective, newsworthy technology providing strong ROI through access to publications and market segments otherwise difficult and costly to reach and through differentiation as compared to competitors. -
Principal Consultant
Messaging Systems Consulting (Sole Proprietorship)
(Sole Proprietorship; Myself Only; Information Technology and Services industry)
May 1993 — November 1994 (1 year 7 months)
Provided technology consulting within the U.S. and globally to clients such as The Capital Group, GE Capital, ARAmark, TravelEx, GKI, and Countrywide. For Countrywide, created a Lotus Notes applications for project reporting, loan underwriting, loan broker, and marketing tracking systems, and custom discussion databases, many still in use today.
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VP, Product Services
Computer Associates/Nantucket Corp
(Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; CA; Information Technology and Services industry)
June 1986 — May 1993 (7 years )
Hired originally as key staff member involved in creation of company’s first subsidiary based in England to serve Europe; Promoted to director then vice-president role to manage all non-development technical functions including technical and online support.
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Managing Director
XAT Software Ltd
(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Computer Software industry)
January 1985 — June 1986 (1 year 6 months)
Formed company to and secured exclusive rights to distribute, market and support “Clipper” in the United Kingdom
- Sales, Marketing, Distribution Agreements, Financial Management.
- Customer Service Center - Telephone Support.
- Demo Programs, Client Calls.
- Conference Speaker.
- Consulting, Ad-Hoc Development.
- Worked with Cambridge University to create networking add-on code.
- Created Third Party Development forum. -
Senior PC Applications Developer
Thomas Miller Group of Companies (was Thomas Miller & Co Ltd)
(Public Company; 501-1000 employees; Insurance industry)
January 1984 — January 1985 (1 year 1 month)
Hired back by Thomas Miller to significantly improve the quality of their PC development efforts.
- Applications Development in dBase II, dBase III.
- Applications Development in Wordtech (dBase II Compiler)
- Applications Development in Basic and Compiled Basic,
- Report writing in FCC Filetab (an ICL 3GL).
- Systems analysis, Applications Arichtechture review.
- Trainer (various computer languages).
Note: This was my second time with Thomas R. Miller – They were pleased to have me back even if it was for a short time. -
Developer (Research & Development)
Ashton-Tate (UK)
(Privately Held; 201-500 employees; Computer Software industry)
January 1983 — January 1984 (1 year 1 month)
- Technical Support for dBase II.
- Wrote demo programs, attended shows and other technical sales activities.
- Applications Development in Basic and Compiled Basic
- Wrote application to drive disc-creation system to dump dBase onto multiple formats (floppys 5.25 & 8”with different configs for different CPM machines)
- Used d-compiler (written while at Stemos) to convert “Friday” back to source code, then corrected bugs and recompiled to create “Friday UK” version.
- Used assembler to create add-ons.
- Handled Ports and Translations (localization) for European versions.
My time with Ashton-Tate (while short) was hectic, 100 hour weeks were normal. The salary was poor but the perks were great including very hot “company cars” -
Developer/Trainer
Stemos Ltd
(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Computer Software industry)
September 1982 — January 1984 (1 year 5 months)
Was offered job after I attended a dBase II training course and they determined that I was as qualified to teach as the current trainer.
- Applications Development in dBase II
- Wrote version 2 of AutoCode (very poorly named dBase II code generator) which sold quite well in the UK and Europe.
- Produced dBase II training course and provided training.
- Consulting and application development for several major UK accounts.
- Reverse engineered “dcode”an encryption (tokens) program from Ashton-Tate US. – Subsequently created improved (debugged) European version.
- Wrote Nest-Test – A program to check the nesting of dBase II code.
Stemos was a strange company, Arab owned and operated. -
Investments Clerk
Thomas Miller Group of Companies (Was Thomas Miller & Co Limited Then)
(Public Company; 501-1000 employees; Insurance industry)
May 1980 — September 1982 (2 years 5 months)
Started with “Millers” on my 16th Birthday, having secured the position with the “Group accounts” several months earlier based on mathematical ability and my interest in PC Computing.
- Investment recording (in ledgers with pens).
- Applications Development in Basic – wrote application to match forward currency contracts.
- Early access to “superbrain”and first UK copy of dBase II (Previously known as Vulcan)
- Wrote Specification for “computerization” of Investments department.
- NCC FileTab (an ICL reporting Tool).
- Often came back to work with Night Operators in computer center to gain access to additional CPU time (did not make me popular with those in computing department).
I was very fortunate with my first job. I found leaders who were encouraging and supportive. I spent 25% of my time attending courses (primarily computing but some general business, leadership, accounting and management).
Additional Information
Phil Usher’s Websites:
Phil Usher’s Interests:
Investment Opportunities New technology The usual technical stuff. Motor Racing
Phil Usher’s Honors:
Baron of Kinloch
Phil Usher’s Contact Settings
Interested In:
- career opportunities
- consulting offers
- new ventures
- expertise requests
- business deals
- reference requests
- getting back in touch
