Richard Bullington-McGuire

Current

Director of Technology at Three Pillar Software, Inc.
Webmaster and Classroom Aide at Arlington Unitarian Cooperative Preschool
President / Founder at The Obscure Organization

Contributor at Various Free / Open Source Software Projects

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Past

Managing Partner at PKR Internet
Chief Technology Officer at Microstate
Chief Technology Officer at Intelligent Decisions

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Education

George Mason University
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Recommended

9 people have recommended Richard

Connections

197 connections

Industry

Computer Software

Websites

Richard Bullington-McGuire’s Summary

I am an entrepreneur and technology generalist experienced in start-up companies, software development, non-profit management, internationalization, and design. Working in a series of small companies has given me the opportunity to learn how a handful of people can create value through good ideas and hard work. The skills I've developed in organizational start-up, programming, project management, system administration, sales and marketing, accounting, human resources, and technical support have helped these companies thrive.

Seeing how technology affects society and business fascinates me. I am lucky to have had both for-profit and non-profit outlets for this interest.

I hope to spread my knowledge of computing and through consulting, mentoring, and publishing. I wrote two articles that appeared in Linux Journal, one in June 2006 on RAID and LVM recovery, and one in July 2007 on SELinux and Mambo. I'm also teaching elementary school kids about design and programming in an arts enrichment class.

Richard Bullington-McGuire’s Specialties:

Business: project management, small business accounting, task and time tracking, non-profit governance
Computer Systems: Linux, Internet security, object-oriented programming, database administration, and internationalization
Software: Linux, Apache httpd and Tomcat, OpenLDAP, PostgreSQL, MySQL, Access
Programming Languages: Java, C++, ANSI C, Perl, bash, PHP, XHTML, CSS
Art: graphic and web design, drawing, digital painting

Richard Bullington-McGuire’s Experience

Director of Technology

Three Pillar Software, Inc.

(Computer Software industry)

2008 — Present (1 year )
Webmaster and Classroom Aide

Arlington Unitarian Cooperative Preschool

(Non-Profit; 11-50 employees; Primary/Secondary Education industry)

2003 — Present (6 years )

At this parent-run preschool cooperative, I have worked as a volunteer both in the classroom and in governance of the organization.

I've worked as a classroom aide, assisting the teacher in setting up and cleaning up the classroom each day, helping the teacher implement the lesson plan, wiping runny noses, changing diapers, and keeping watch on the playground.

As webmaster (and de-facto CIO and DBA), I have created a student information system in MS Access that tracks applications, students, staff, parents, and classes over multiple school years. The organization makes heavy use of the e-mail lists that I set up and maintain. I regularly attend board meetings as an involved parent, and give guidance on financial and technology policy.
President / Founder

The Obscure Organization

(Non-Profit; Myself Only; E-Learning industry)

February 1995 — Present (14 years 10 months)

The Obscure Organization promotes creativity and community through technology. I started Obscure in 1995 to help share a full-time Internet connection among people that wanted to learn more about technology. Obscure gives out free accounts to people who ask nicely. In 2002, we reorganized as a non-profit corporation and applied for (and were granted) a 501(c)(3) non-profit tax exemption as an educational organization.

Since October 2007 I've been leading a new Obscure program that teaches elementary school students programming and design skills through Scratch, a learning tool produced by MIT's Lifelong Kindergarten Project.

We're also supporting the OLPC project by providing a Jabber server.
Contributor

Various Free / Open Source Software Projects

(Non-Profit; Myself Only; Computer Software industry)

January 1995 — Present (14 years 11 months)

Over the years I have contributed patches and fixes to many different Free / Open Source software projects, including:

* MRTG (Perl 5 strict refactoring)
* PostgreSQL JDBC driver (SQL date escape processing, along with Owen Davis)
* JPackage.org project (Updates to various Java RPMs, including JBoss startup scripts, JRefactory fixes, and Velocity packaging)
* jabberd2 (proper daemonization of components from Perl startup script)
* diradmin (RPM packaging and source cleanup)

As an advocate for Free / Open Source Software, I believe strongly in giving back to the community.

I've been the chief architect of two software projects that for-profit companies I've worked for have released under the GPL:

* Hamilton, the first Open Source Java application server (while CTO at Microstate)
* Taskjitsu, a professional services automation system (first at Microstate, then at PKR Internet)
Managing Partner

PKR Internet

(Computer Software industry)

May 2001 — August 2008 (7 years 4 months)

As the Managing Partner of PKR Internet, LLC, a privately-held software consulting firm specializing in web applications, I was responsible for project management, sales and marketing, accounting, and customer relations.

I founded the company with two partners when Microstate failed in the dot.com crash of 2001. In less than three months, I negotiated contracts with Morgan Stanley that provided a stable funding source to fuel our expansion and research.

I lead the company's efforts in developing both web and desktop software, exploring multiple architectures and platforms for delivering solutions for our clients. I had to wear many hats as Managing Partner.
Chief Technology Officer

Microstate

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

July 1997 — May 2001 (3 years 11 months)

I joined Microstate (then known as Objectlinks) in 1997 as employee #3. I led the team that built data-driven web sites for international finance, insurance, and e-commerce clients.

I steered the company away from Windows NT, Visual Basic, and Windows CGI to Linux, Java, and Servlets. We built one of the first open source Java application servers, called Hamilton; I served as the principal architect for that project. I recruited our technical staff, including programmers and a system administrator.

My contributions to the company included:

* Using software engineering methods, including quantitative estimation tools, to manage risk
* Teaching our programming staff object-oriented development techniques using Java
* Introducing CVS version control
* Building the network, software, and hardware infrastructure needed to support a growing company
Chief Technology Officer

Intelligent Decisions

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

June 1993 — July 1997 (4 years 2 months)

At Intelligent Decisions, an SBA 8(a) computer integrator and reseller, I supported the company as it grew from 10 to 45 people in 4 years. I worked in these areas:

* Pre-sales engineering support
* Network administration
* Customer support
* Database programming (both desktop and web-based)
* Linux system administration
* Operating system provisioning (I built a lab to mass-install Windows NT, and a Linux-based SCSI disk duplicator)
* Troubleshooting hardware / software interaction problems

I connected the company to the Internet in 1994 by running a web proxy server on my desktop connected to my personal SLIP account. In 1995, I started an ISP line of business there, providing both Internet access and custom web programming. I created database-driven web sites for customers, including the Illumination Engineering Society of North America, using Perl and msql. When I moved on to ObjectLinks (the predecessor to Microstate), this business unit moved to that company.

Richard Bullington-McGuire’s Education

George Mason University

Computer Science 1994 — 1994

The computer science classes I had at George Mason were top-notch. One of the best things about GMU for me was using the engineering computer labs where I could install the Netscape 0.9 browser on my Solaris account. I learned HTML and CGI programming on my own time there.
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Computer Engineering and Studio Art 1990 — 1993

At Virginia Tech I learned the core of the computer science, engineering, and design skills that have sustained me professionally. I left school early to take a job in industry, at Intelligent Decisions, where I ultimately became the Chief Technology Officer.