Sean M. Madden

As a LinkedIn member, you'll join 300 million other professionals who are sharing connections, ideas, and opportunities.

See who you and Sean M. Madden know in common
Get introduced to Sean M. Madden
Contact Sean M. Madden directly

View Sean M.'s full profile

Sean M. Madden's Overview

Current

Co-Founder & CEO | Strategist | Web Designer at CreativeThunder.co
Writer-Educator | Photographer at Self-Employed

Past

Graduate Student at St. John's College
Independent Management Consultant at Self-Employed
Founder & Principal Management Consultant at Rent-An-MBA

Senior Financial Marketing Analyst at American Airlines
Financial Analyst / System Administrator at American Airlines
Budgets & Cost Analyst at American Airlines
English Teacher & Activities Monitor at English Summer, S.A.
Customer Service Agent at Delta Air Lines

see less

see all

Education

Texas Tech University

see less

see all

Connections

500+ connections

Websites

Are you a fellow entrepreneur with a new business venture or project to launch? Or a fellow author with a book, or books, to promote? Do you have an important message to share?

http://CreativeThunder.co

Strategic Websites. Visual Storytelling. Tribe Building.

We work with businesses and individuals, worldwide, to create:

1. Strategic, vision-centric websites with highly distilled content.
2. Visually rich, responsive designs that succinctly tell each client's story.
3. Customized tribe-building platforms which help to maximize reach, and profitability.

Like to talk, perhaps via Skype? Email us at fire@creativethunder.co.

_______________

I also blog at SeanMMadden.com and Mindful Living Guide, and have a dedicated website at Burgos2.com for Mufidah Kassalias's and my new book, Burgos², published December 2013.

I'm a US/UK citizen, and have been slow traveling in Europe with my partner Mufidah since May 2012. Mufidah is also my co-founding partner of CreativeThunder.co. You can check out her blog at MufidahKassalias.com. As you'll see, we share countless interests, personal and professional — and all of which come together beautifully in our many and varied creative endeavors.

You can learn more about CreativeThunder.co by clicking on the black and white hexagram image, below. Or visit Burgos2.com to see our new book of Instagram photographs.

Co-Founder & CEO | Strategist | Web Designer

CreativeThunder.co

July 2013 – Present (1 year 4 months) Worldwide

Writer-Educator | Photographer

Self-Employed

2000 – Present (14 years) Worldwide

The early part of this period covers my writer-in-training years, including those in which I completed two master's degrees in Western and Eastern philosophy and classics at St. John's College (see below). During this time I also tutored clients of all ages in writing and the general humanities.

In 2005, within 24 hours of starting my first blog, iNoodle.com, an article I wrote for it was picked up by Information Clearing House (ICH), a major alternative news site. Less than 2.5 months later, Jack Shafer, Slate's editor-at-large, cited iNoodle.com's reportage in his article critical of the mainstream media's orchestrated news blackout of the Jill Carroll kidnapping in Iraq.

In addition to ICH, my articles have been headlined by a wide range of quality online media outlets, including ProBlogger, HenryMakow.com, UPI's ReligionAndSpirituality.com, After Downing Street, Online Journal, Guerrilla News Network, Atlantic Free Press, Scoop, OpEdNews, and others.

By 2006, I held official UK press credentials and trained in London as an investigative journalist (Centre for Investigative Journalism, City University) and feature writer (National Union of Journalists).

Later that year, I founded Mindful Living Guide, a website and business focused on creative writing and mindfulness, as well as the powerful place where these two practices meet.

Since 2009, I've taught, on a full-time basis, a variety of creative writing and mindful living courses and workshops in the UK, and worked with one-to-one clients in person, and worldwide via the internet. Also, while slow traveling (since May 2012), I've organized and led writing workshops in Britain and France, and taught English privately in Burgos, Spain.

In April 2013, I published "An Essay concerning Human Enquiry: Exploring the Intersection of Hume and Kant — Perception, Causation and the Limits of Human Understanding," available via Amazon and other book retailers. Click the below image to learn more about the ebook.

Graduate Student

St. John's College

2002 – 2005 (3 years) Annapolis, MD & Santa Fe, NM

Top student throughout two intensive MA programs (detailed in Education section).

All SJC courses consist of seminar-style discussion classes, whereby each student assumes full responsibility for preparing for and participating in each extended classroom discussion, and is, therefore, accountable for the quality of his/her own education as well as the education of colleagues. Professors — called tutors, as they do not profess — have no special status in the classroom and are fellow participants. Founded in 1696 as King William's School, St. John’s College is a top-ranking private liberal arts college known for its unique and intellectually demanding curriculum.

St. John’s was deemed by Loren Pope, former education editor of The New York Times, as “one of the two most intellectual and indispensable” colleges (universities, in non-American-speak, of which there are approximately 1,400) in America, along with Reed College. What attracted Loren Pope to the college is what attracted me — the students’, and faculty’s, direct engagement with the seminal texts of Western (and, in Santa Fe, Eastern) civilization.

Independent Management Consultant

Self-Employed

1998 – 2001 (3 years) United States

Developed company concept paper for a proposed high-growth Internet company to provide young people with quality educational and informational content and products via the Web.

Advised the founder of a UK-based handheld-computer software company on a variety of startup-related issues. Subsequently offered the CEO position; turned down the offer, however, to continue consulting. The company was valued at $1.5M based on the initial round of seed-capital raised.

Completed a 9-month engagement as the interim Chief Information Officer (CIO) for a large, geographically dispersed division of a Fortune 100 company, specifically focused on exploring and exploiting leading-edge IP technologies and strategic business process improvements via highly-integrated business applications. This was identified by the company’s top executives as one of the two most strategic initiatives to pursue.

Developed operating plan and revenue forecast models for the Chief Financial Officer of a high-growth, capital-intensive startup based in Connecticut. These models provided the CFO and CEO with data critical for the successful implementation of the company’s high-volume, low-cost business strategy.

Assisted a Nasdaq-listed company (annual revenues: $400M+) in assessing the feasibility of entering a new line of business to improve shareholder value.

Founder & Principal Management Consultant

Rent-An-MBA

1994 – 1998 (4 years) United States

Founded a unique executive-level management consulting firm recognized by The Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, Success Magazine, HR Magazine, the Harvard and Columbia business school newsletters, and many other publications, nationwide. Rent-An-MBA became a largely web-based business in 1996 after I developed the company's website. Worked with a variety of high-growth startups, mid-sized businesses and global corporations.

Volunteered as the marketing director for a community nonprofit organization in Dallas, and as a board member of the SDDC Southern Dallas Entrepreneurial Institute. I was also a regular participant at the monthly SMU Cox School of Business Southwest Venture Forum, and various CEO/CFO breakfast meetings in Dallas/Fort Worth.

Member, Dallas and Fort Worth Chambers of Commerce.

Senior Financial Marketing Analyst

American Airlines

Public Company; 10,001+ employees; AAL; Airlines/Aviation industry

1994 – 1995 (1 year) Marketing Performance, Corporate Headquarters

Administered and redesigned various reporting systems, including a daily situation report for the CEO, measuring a wide variety of marketing performance and customer satisfaction metrics.

Financial Analyst / System Administrator

American Airlines

Public Company; 10,001+ employees; AAL; Airlines/Aviation industry

1992 – 1994 (2 years) Financial Planning & Analysis, Corporate Headquarters

Administered the financial planning system used, worldwide, by AA and its corporate parent, AMR Corp. Designed and delivered training, and provided ongoing consultation, for financial controllers, managers and analysts, company-wide, and liaised with a dedicated team of systems analysts and programmers for ongoing development and maintenance, for both mainframe and PC platforms.

Budgets & Cost Analyst

American Airlines

Public Company; 10,001+ employees; AAL; Airlines/Aviation industry

1990 – 1992 (2 years) Controller's Office, Dallas/Fort Worth Airport

Developed budgets and conducted financial and productivity analyses for various American Airlines departments at DFW Airport, AA's primary hub location. Also liaised with corporate Financial Planning group on behalf of the Controller's Office concerning issues relating to the financial planning system which I later administered.

English Teacher & Activities Monitor

English Summer, S.A.

Educational Institution; 201-500 employees; Primary/Secondary Education industry

June 1989 – August 1989 (3 months) Tarragona, Spain

Private summer school in Tarragona, Spain. Worked as an English teacher and activities monitor during the summer between graduating from university and traveling in Europe through January 1990. Returned to teach English in 2007 and 2008.

Customer Service Agent

Delta Air Lines

Public Company; 10,001+ employees; DAL; Airlines/Aviation industry

1985 – 1989 (4 years) Dallas/Fort Worth Airport

Worked 30+ hours a week while studying, full-time, for my BBA degree in Finance.

Blogging
Creative Writing
Entrepreneurship
WordPress
Social Media
New Media
Social Media Marketing
Photography
Social Networking
Copywriting
Newsletters
Marketing
Web Design
Books
Creativity
Writing
Teaching
Editing
Management
Storytelling
Published Author
Digital Media
Business Strategy
SEO

View All (24) Skills View Fewer Skills

Burgos² — A book of Instagram photographs by Sean M. Madden & Mufidah Kassalias
- December 3, 2013
Authors: Sean M. Madden, Mufidah Kassalias

“Absolutely brilliant!! It’s a fantastic book, congratulations! A very complete view on the city, its people and landscapes.” — Héctor Jiménez, Diario de Burgos

"I love the book, I love its story, I love the idea. Congratulations!" — Lohitzune Zuloaga

Hardcover. 144 pages. 367 images.

A fresh take on Burgos, Spain through the eyes of Mufidah Kassalias and Sean M. Madden, an Anglo-American couple who lived in the city for seven months from September 2012 to April 2013.

Throughout, they spent much of their time exploring Burgos on foot, getting to know its many nooks and crannies, and photographing everything from the Cathedral to the nitty gritty.

Using Instagram, they captured the city that captured their hearts. This book contains 367 of their 1,400+ Instagram photos of Burgos, both city and province.

Their photographs quickly attracted attention on Twitter and Instagram. By late November, Mufidah and Sean were featured in the Diario de Burgos, in “Burgos con Filtro” by Héctor Jiménez. A follow-up article was published exactly a year later, on 25 November 2013.
An Essay concerning Human Enquiry: Exploring the Intersection of Hume and Kant — Perception, Causation and the Limits of Human Understanding
- April 2013
Authors: Sean M. Madden

Available via Amazon (click title, above) and other major book retailers.

The study of metaphysics is not merely an activity of, or for, the speculative philosopher, whatever the activity, quality or temperament may be which would differentiate such a person from the rest of humanity. Nor is it quite right to say metaphysics is for all of humanity. More accurately, metaphysics is humanity. It is the search into existence, our existence within that existence, and our understanding of these existences. That is, how do we know what (or that) we know? This was a key question for Hume and Kant, and one which we shall consider. This essay, therefore, is a philosophical enquiry into human enquiry itself. We shall ask, how is it — and to what extent do — we understand our world?

St. John's College (NM)

Master of Arts (MA), Eastern Classics (India, China, Japan; Sanskrit)

2004 – 2005

Grade: A (GPA: 4.0/4.0)

Activities & Societies:

Privately tutored a variety of students in writing and the general humanities during my time at St. John's College, Santa Fe.

Organized and led a weekly reading and roundtable discussion group for two groups of economically disadvantaged and academically at-risk 5th-grade students as a volunteer tutor at Larragoite Elementary School in Santa Fe, New Mexico. According to the school’s principal, assessments showed that the students’ reading levels improved significantly as a result.

St. John's College (MD)

Master of Arts (MA), Liberal Arts (Literature, Philosophy, Politics, Mathematics & Natural Science; Ancient Greek)

2002 – 2003

Grade: A (GPA: 4.0/4.0)

Activities & Societies:

Extracurricular Courses: 1) publicly defended optional master's thesis on Hume and Kant, 2) two intensive semester-long Ancient Greek language courses, 3) Herodotus' Histories seminar, and 4) Paul Scott's Raj Quartet preceptorial. Regular participant in the Director-led Plato study group.

Invited by the Director of the SJC Graduate Institute to: 1) present traditional toast to the tutors on behalf of graduating class, and 2) recruit small group of fellow graduate students to meet with the head of the graduate Liberal Arts program at UNC-Charlotte, to discuss SJC Graduate Institute program.

Also played intramural sports and sang with the St. John's College chorus.

University of North Texas

Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA), Finance (Track: Financial Markets & Institutions)

1986 – 1989

Grade: A- (Overall GPA: 3.6/4.0)

Activities & Societies:

Finance (Major) Grade: A (GPA: 4.0/4.0). Completed 5 semesters of accounting, including tax accounting. Dean's honor role every semester. Member, Golden Key National Honor Society (as of 2001 renamed Golden Key International Honour Society). Worked 30+ hours a week as Delta Air Lines Customer Service Agent (1985-1989) while studying, full-time, for my BBA degree in Finance.

Texas Tech University

Computer Science / Core Curriculum

1983 – 1985

Websites:

Interests:

Entrepreneurship, start-ups, writing, photography, slow travel, new technologies, internet, blogging, learning how to code, mindful living, walking, swimming, cooking, eating, Bialetti coffee, variety of teas

Groups and Associations: