Ron Rhodes

Current

Senior Communications Specialist at Exceptional Innovation, LLC

Past

Freelance Writer at Freelance marketing & copywriting (Self-employed)
Training Consultant and Technical Communicator at Huntington
Freelance Grant Writer at Wright Choice

Freelance Grant Writer at Joan’s Fund
Published Fiction Writer at Freelance Writer (Self-employed)
Communications Manager, Technical Writer, Instructional Designer, and Web Developer at Chase Bank
Instructional Designer at JP Morgan Chase
Consultant at Wendy s International at Sarcom
Consulting Technical Writer at Fourthchannel, Inc
Courseware Developer at Pathlore (while contractor through People Unlimited)
Lead Technical Writer at Fourthchannel
Consulting Technical Writer and Team Leader at Compuware
Technical Writer at John Alden Life North Star Marketing
Software trainer and course developer at PPI/Mentor Technologies

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Ron Rhodes’s Summary

I have been a professional writer for over 16 years, and I am experienced in many genres, including blogs, email blasts, fiction, marketing copy, scripts/storyboards, tech-writing, and many others.

Ron Rhodes’s Specialties:

**On-Line Development**
HTML
Dreamweaver
Flash
Front Page
Adobe Acrobat Exchange and Acrobat Reader (for making PDF files)

**Graphics Packages**
Adobe Photoshop
Paint Shop Pro
Fireworks

**Microsoft Applications**
Microsoft Word – know all versions (former Microsoft Word Instructor)
Excel
Powerpoint
Access

Ron Rhodes’s Experience

Senior Communications Specialist

Exceptional Innovation, LLC

(Privately Held; Computer Software industry)

January 2008 — Present (2 years )

Online Training Developer/Senior Communications Specialist
Project Lead, Content Author, and co-Developer. Wrote 16 on-line lessons for Life|ware University. I was also the project lead and co-developer for many of the Flash and Captivate pieces that we used in these courses. I serve as the LMS Administrator for the Communications department. We are currently writing new courses for our latest software version.

Wrote ad-copy for email blasts that informed Life|ware dealers of our latest hardware, new software features, and upcoming trade shows appearances. I continue to write copy for many marketing “slicks” and product brochures.
Freelance Writer
Freelance marketing & copywriting (Self-employed)

(Self-Employed; Marketing and Advertising industry)

2007 — 2009 (2 years )
Training Consultant and Technical Communicator

Huntington

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

September 2005 — January 2008 (2 years 5 months)

Communications and Web-Design Project Lead for Two Intranet Web Sites
Project Lead for designing the new Training and Development web site, a "portal" where the company can access training information for any line of business. I also manage the HR web site and make updates using as they are requested. Use Rythmyx, Dreamweaver, Photoshop, and some hand-coded HTML.

Writer and Design Editor for the HR Newsletter
Re-designed Huntington’s HR Newsletter using Microsoft Publisher. I have acted as Design Editor on several issues.

Project Lead for the New Associate Performance Review Form
Project Lead for re-formatting the Associate Performance Review form. The form was eventually given to our Lotus Notes team for development. I assisted the Lotus Notes team in testing, editing, and designing (Note: I currently do not perform any programming in Lotus Notes).

Project Leader for 360° Leadership Assessment

Project Lead for Employee Engagement Survey
Freelance Grant Writer

Wright Choice

(Non-Profit; 1-10 employees; Education Management industry)

July 2006 — July 2007 (1 year 1 month)

Volunteered my services for WrightChoice.org to write “templates” for their grant proposals. I also identified potential funding sources. The WrightChoice Intern Program, Inc. is a non-profit organization designed to promote and facilitate internship opportunities for persons with disabilities and students of minority status.
Freelance Grant Writer

Joan’s Fund

(Non-Profit; 11-50 employees; Medical Practice industry)

January 2006 — November 2006 (11 months)

Volunteer my services for Joansfund.org (based out of The James Cancer clinic at The Ohio State University) to write templates for their grant proposals and to identify potential funding sources. The Joan Bisesi Fund for Head and Neck Oncology Research helps to fund research and raise awareness on head and neck cancer.
Published Fiction Writer
Freelance Writer (Self-employed)

(Self-Employed; Myself Only; Writing and Editing industry)

August 2005 — September 2005 (2 months)

HardBoiled Magazine
Was paid for a fictional detective short story that was published in the twentieth-anniversary issue of “HardBoiled” magazine (September 2005).

Writer's Post Journal
Was paid for a fictional short story that appeared in the August, 2005 edition of "Writer's Post Journal."
Communications Manager, Technical Writer, Instructional Designer, and Web Developer

Chase Bank

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

September 2001 — September 2005 (4 years 1 month)

Communications Manager for the Retail Line of Business
Was manager for all email communications to our Financial Advisors in the field. My communications often reached several thousand people per week (accuracy of the writing and of the information was very critical). Dealt with senior-level management on a daily basis. In addition, I also performed web development for the department and often acted as the manager of the web site when our current manager was unavailable.

Project Leader and Senior Instructional Designer (Commercial Education Department)
Project Lead for a high-profile, web-based training initiative. Used Dreamweaver and hand-coded HTML. Much of my project involved working directly with my clientele and delivering quality documents.

Project Lead and Senior Web Developer for a web-based reference guide. I used Dreamweaver and hand-coded HTML.
Consultant II (Senior-Level Technical Writer and On-line Developer for National Enterprise Operations Department)
Instructional Designer

JP Morgan Chase

(Writing and Editing industry)

2001 — 2004 (3 years )
Consultant at Wendy s International

Sarcom

(Public Company; 201-500 employees; Computer & Network Security industry)

July 2001 — September 2001 (3 months)

I pursued freelance work until I found a job that best matched my skills.

Wendy s International - Training Development (While at Sarcom)
Wrote, formatted, and edited a large portion the training manual for the Accounting department s new accounting system the system was developed by Deloitte & Touche . I used Microsoft Word, Visio, Snag It, and PowerPoint during this project.
Consulting Technical Writer

Fourthchannel, Inc

(Computer Software industry)

May 2001 — July 2001 (3 months)

I returned to fourthchannel as a consultant. See below for job details
Courseware Developer

Pathlore (while contractor through People Unlimited)

(Privately Held; 201-500 employees; Computer Software industry)

February 2001 — May 2001 (4 months)

Pathlore laid off all of their contractors due to economic conditions. I was the last contractor to be laid off.

CCH Medical Group
Responsible for managing my own courseware projects. I authored in Macromedia Authorware, Adobe Photoshop, and MS Word. The healthcare-related courses that I authored for CCH are not aimed at one specific client. They are published and sold in the open market. I have also used Robohelp and some Flash in this assignment.
Lead Technical Writer

Fourthchannel

(Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Computer Software industry)

September 1999 — February 2001 (1 year 6 months)

I left on my own volition because 50 percent of all jobs were going to be eliminated.

Lead Technical Writer
Was responsible for two other technical writers. Set milestones and tracked progress of each writer. Defined a technical direction for each writer. Cooperated with management in delivering performance reviews. Was the liaison between technical writers and upper management.

Also Web-Based Training
Designed and developed a web-based training course with Macromedia Authorware. The course instructs students how to use Fourthchannel s software, Profitbuilder, to create their e-commerce catalog. I performed needs analysis including several requirements meetings and interacted with all levels of management and several Fourthchannel clients.

Also User Manuals and Technical Manuals
Consulting Technical Writer and Team Leader

Compuware

(Public Company; 5001-10,000 employees; CPWR; Computer Software industry)

June 1997 — September 1999 (2 years 4 months)

Team Leader internal Compuware position
Was responsible for 5 consultants. Helped consultants resolve issues between themselves and their clients. Met with each consultant on a monthly basis to discuss open issues, answer questions about benefits, and voice concerns. Evaluated the performance of each consultant at the end of an assignment.

Nationwide Insurance- Web-based training while at Compuware
Developed three large sections of a computer-based training course CBT . The CBT also served as a mentor for those who were just beginning to learn Authorware.

Internal Compuware Project -Web-based training
Created a CBT for the Compuware office staff that instructs consultants on entering their resumes into BMS, a centralized database. Received "Employee of the Month" for my efforts.

Cendant Corporation - Interim Training Manager while at Compuware

Bank One - On-Line Help while with Compuware

Internal Compuware Project - Robohelp
Technical Writer

John Alden Life North Star Marketing

(Insurance industry)

March 1996 — January 1997 (11 months)

Server Documentation
Wrote several manuals describing the layout of North Star's Novell servers. The manuals include hardware documentation, directory structures, groups rights, trustee assignments, etc. Used Microsoft Word to develop manuals

On-line Help Desk Procedures
Used Hot Metal Pro to create standard procedures that the help desk uses for supporting their users in all 60 offices. These procedures are saved to the file server and then accessed through a Netscape browser. Procedures included things such as running tape backups, building a NetWare server, running database queries, in-house software, batch routines, etc.

User Manuals
Wrote several short user manuals on how to operate North Star's in-house software. Used Microsoft Word to develop manuals. Used Acrobat Exchange to convert manuals to PDF.
Software trainer and course developer

PPI/Mentor Technologies

(Computer & Network Security industry)

June 1993 — February 1996 (2 years 9 months)

Professional Trainer
Was a professional trainer for end-user applications. I trained all MS Office applications, several database programs, and several internet based applications. Also training the entire Lotus and WordPerfect Office suites.

Ameritech - Course Designer and Trainer While with PPI
Wrote an overview manual about ISDN technology Integrated Systems Digital Network and delivered training. I was the only ISDN instructor for all of Ameritech. Used WordPerfect.

South Eastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority - Course Designer and Trainer
While with PPI
Wrote reference manual for software that controlled and dispatched the entire fleet of aboveground passenger trains for all of Philadelphia. I was also an important part of the training team. Used WordPerfect.

CompuServe - Technical Writer While with PPI
Wrote manual for Windows version of CompuServe Information Manager. Used WordPerfect.