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What IS this thing?
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The story and technology behind this document
I recently retired from Black Diamond for the umpteenth time. Over the years since I left my tenure as CFO, they've kept asking me to come back to help out in various capacities. This last stint started with a management transition in IT and then segued into some technical work in business intelligence, e-commerce and PLM projects.
I have no problem leaving my Salaryman days behind me but I can't imagine doing nothing. I am very much looking forward to an occupation of self-directed exploration and engagement and will be actively looking for interesting projects and technologies to dig into.
We'll see what develops.
I decided that I should update my resume, more to satisfy my own curiosity than anything else. What I envisioned was less structured and formal than other resumes that I'd put together in the past... something more like a memoir but with a business/professional slant.
I started trying to piece together what I'd done over the last 45+ years and found this to be a very interesting and worthwhile exercise. It is quite humbling to rummage through a long career trying to separate the wheat from the chaff.
However when I fired up the word processor and started trying to cram my thoughts into the kind of document format that I'd used before, it just didn't work. It was too long and scattered (as you might expect if you know me and my history). It was not engaging... even to me. It just seemed static and lifeless.
I put my resume project on the back burner.
I've always been what I think of as a "technology freak". My interest started to focus on the WWW in the mid 1990's. I remember going into a local Barnes and Noble and only finding two books on the internet. It was not yet the next big thing.
My programming skills are totally self-taught. When I get interested in a topic, I dive in and try to learn as much as I can. How far I get in this process is typically a function of motivation and for me, my motivation is always strongest when I have an immediate application for my newly acquired knowledge or skill. A deadline doesn't hurt either.
Recently I have become interested in javascript and some of the
available new (and not so new) javascript technologies. As the go-to
scripting language of the browser, javascript is pervasive. I started
poking around, reading documentation and working through tutorials. I
also began looking for a project that would give mean excusea reason
to immerse myself and gain real experience with some of the core tech at the
heart of web 2.0.
Through Black Diamond's e-commerce project in which I had a peripheral involvement, I was introduced toIsotopewhich figures prominently in the Experience (community building) section of the new BD website. It is a very cool plug-in forjQuerywhich is one of today's most popular javascript libraries.
Isotope typically is used to inject some visual Wow! factor into a web page... eye-candy. But when I looked at Isotope, I saw, in addition to the interesting visual effects, some very interesting capability to filter, sort and expand information based on the specific interests and input of the reader, not the HTML programmer.
So I decided to use Isotope to present my resume. I could tick off my resume task from the ToDo list and also have the opportunity to dig more deeply into the tech... particularly javascript and CSS.
This document is the result.
In addition to expanding a thumbnail to get more related information, you can sort and filter the information presented by using the links at the tope of the page.
Use theElement Filtersto zero in on a single type of entry (e.g. Jobs versus Education).
Use theSortandSort Directionlinks to control the order the information is presented.
If you resize the browser window, the elements will rearrange themselves in the best-fit for the window size.
Have fun!
09/1966 to 06/1970
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Cambridge, Massachusetts - 09/1966 to 06/1970
I frankly do not understand how I ended up at Harvard. I'd never been a particularly serious student and I stood barely within the top 25% of my high school class. Ihaddone reasonably well on the college entrance exams and I was a jock. And I guess it didn't hurt that my father had gone to Harvard... but hewasa serious student.
My father drove me up to Cambridge for my freshman year and as he pulled away leaving me standing outside my dorm, I remember thinking that I was in over my head. Everyone would be brilliant and sophisticated. I would be the public school rube. At first I was quite intimidated but I quickly learned that I could hold my own.
Looking back, I wish that I had taken better advantage of the incredible educational opportunity that was largely wasted on me. But Harvard was where I started my transmogrification from clueless kid to reasonably competent and productive adult and I am thankful that I have this entry in myvitae.
My academic experience was good but undistinguished. I majored in Architectural Sciences, which was a misnomer because it was more "cutting and pasting" than engineering. I chose my concentration because it was interesting and fun but I recognized that I did not have the creative talent to make a living in design. My NROTC scholarship required that I serve at least four years in the Navy upon graduation and this relieved me of the responsibility of figuring out what I wanted to do when I graduated. I figured it was ok to be a dilettante.
I played tennis all four years at Harvard and although I was never the best player on the team, I was elected captain of the freshman team and three years later I was again elected captain of the varsity team. I also assumed leadership roles in a very different venue: Naval ROTC, where I was commander of the Drill Team/Honor Guard as a junior and a senior member of the battalion staff in my senior year. These were pretty low-key leadership positions but they came to me unbidden and gave me the opportunity to start to develop a management style that I would adjust and refine over the years.
In high school I was socially inept... a nerd (albeit a jock-nerd). At Harvard I think I made some progress on this front.
The truth of the matter is that little or nothing I studied at Harvard has really been of direct value in my professional life. I have, however, been totally blown away by how a Harvard degree, even more than my Wharton MBA, seems to open doors and spark interest. I am certain that this has helped me immensely over the years.
But my artsy-fartsy course of study did instill in me a great appreciation for the visual arts, particularly graphic and industrial design and modern (20th century) art. For this, I am very grateful.
A couple of years ago, at my wife's urging, I contacted my favorite professor, Toshihiro Katayama, with whom I studied graphic design in my junior and senior years. Priscilla and I flew to Cambridge and took Toshi and his wife to dinner to thank him and to tell him how much of an impression he made on me 40 years earlier. I think he was truly touched... he said that it was the first time any student had ever offered to takehimto dinner. I recently read that Toshi died early in 2013. I am very glad that, so many years after the fact, I had taken the time to express my gratitude to a great teacher.
The single most important thing that happened to me while at Harvard was I met and married my wife and partner, Priscilla. This would not have happened had I not been at Harvard.
07/1970 to 01/1975
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Various locations - 07/1970 to 01/1975
I knew that I had lead a sheltered life but the Navy made me realize that my life heretofore had been lived in a bubble. The armed forces then were a real cross section of America, much more than it is in today's "all volunteer" force. It was something I had not experienced before and it was a real education.
I think I could have gotten more out of my time in the Navy if I'd taken it more seriously but I knew I wasn't a career Navy officer so I did my time and got out.
I did, in spite of myself, learn something about how human organizations really work. I came in believing that you work together as equals to get things done. Some people might be more equal than others because of some particular skill or experience, but essentially teamwork carried the day.
This is not how the Navy or, as I later realized, most organizations work.
As a junior officer I got to experience, first hand, life working under various individuals in the Navy's middle management ranks. Some were good, many were not.
I've always found that I learned more from negative experiences than positive ones. I learned a lot about leadership while in the Navy.
02/1975 to 08/1975
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Mount Laurel, N.J. - 02/1975 to 08/1975
I needed something to do until Wharton's classes started up so I took my one demonstrable skill to the marketplace and landed a job at a tennis club doing administrative and maintenance tasks and teaching tennis.
Tennis paid the bills and kept me out of trouble until it was time to head back to school.
With the hard physical work and long hours on the court, I found myself consuming huge numbers of calories while staying in reasonable shape and sleeping very, very well.
Teaching a physical skill like hitting a tennis ball is an interesting challenge. I learned
that a successful teacher has to be a skilled communicator who can say the same thing in different ways
until the student gets it and the light bulb comes on.
I also learned that I am just not patient enough to be a good teacher.
08/1975 to 06/1977
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University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa. - 08/1975 to 06/1977
I treated graduate school much like a 9 to 5 job. My wife, two sons and I continued to live in south Jersey where we'd lived while in the Navy. I commuted into Philadelphia every morning and came home in the evening.
I found the academic pace to be relatively slow and was able to do reasonably well without the effort that many of my classmates seemed to put in. I must say that most of my classes did not captivate me but, as I've said, I thought of it as a job. I did the work and passed the tests and I learned, at least superficially, the concepts.
I concentrated in finance and accounting but I would not really learn how big the gap between my academic understanding and my practical ability actually was in these subjects until much later in my career.
I applied for and was awarded a Wharton Public Policy Fellowship which provided a dorm room at Georgetown University during the summer break between the first and second years of business school. It also gave me an in to some interesting governmental and quasi-governmental internship positions.
I took a summer position at the U.S. Railway Association (USRA) which was a watchdog organization formed by congress to oversee the formation of ConRail. This was a real plum of a job for a lot of reasons including the fact that it actually provided a small salary stipend which was not at all the norm.
As a junior financial analyst, I looked into various financial and accounting aspects of the financial erosion claimed by the estates of the bankrupt railroads (primarily the Penn Central) pending their inclusion in the reorganized entity.
The purpose of business school is to land a good job. The recruiting season starts early in the second year of the two year MBA program and consumes an incredible amount of time and energy.
My job search started with an interview with IBM in the fall. I was invited to HQ in Armonk and spoke at length to the guys charged with pricing decisions. Later they had me go to Binghamton and to Poughkeepsie and I talked to finance guys in the R&D side. It became quickly apparent to me that IBM was too big for my liking. I remember speaking to a very high level finance guy who had never worked with revenue in his 20 year career. Everything he did had to do with R&D expense. I decided to try to concentrate on smaller companies.
I ended up taking a job with a relatively small casualty insurance company not in finance, but in product marketing management. The job was described as very much like a GM position where I would help shape the product and then be judged on its performance. Isn't that the way business is supposed to work?
I've come to realize that I am not a very good learner in an academic setting. I can get good grades in classes but I don't seem to be able to really develop a working understanding of a subject until I have to use it. I guess this is a personal failing but I understand it.
When I am faced with a problem that I need to address, that is where I learn the most.
06/1977 to 03/1981
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Mayfield Village, Ohio - 06/1977 to 03/1981
When I joined Progressive in 1977 I think it had just finished a $30m year. It was tiny. By the time I left it was over $200m and on its way to becoming a $16+ billion company in 2012. I was hired as a part of a strategy to rapidly expand Progressive's sub-standard risk auto insurance lines into new geographical markets.
I started as a product manager and implemented high-risk auto programs in Virginia and Maryland. I then moved into the operations side of the business and was immersed in insurance policy processing hell. It was an incredibly low-tech and labor intensive process and the rapid growth that Progressive was experiencing put immense pressure on the manual processes and old batch computer systems that had been developed over decades.
I took over a small group of analysts charged with developing processes and procedures and identifying and analyzing systems problems.
At this same time, the IT department (which was headed up by a young and very ambitious and obnoxious Yalie) spawned a project to modernize Progressive's policy management systems. A project manager was hired to run the project.
On the plus side, he was not as obnoxious as his boss but on the negative side, he was clueless about the operations side of the insurance business.
Six months or so into the IT-lead project with nothing of any real value to show for the effort, I decided it was time to chime in.
I saw a huge need to completely revamp the way that Progressive's rapidly expanding auto policy administration organization worked. We were living in a world of hardcopy and microfiche records. Those responsible for policy administration had no access to the policy's computer record. This had to change. I started writing a blueprint for how I thought auto policy administration should work. I was totally unencumbered by the current reality... I described new workflows, high level system functional requirements to support the new workflows, and new organizational structures and responsibilities that would be needed to make it run.
Because my ideas basically trashed almost all of our legacy processes, I titled my memo "BLUE SKY" and sent it to Operations and IT management. The martinet IT VP was livid but the project manager and Ops management embraced my ideas and over night the project direction was set.
For the next two years I worked as the Ops liaison to the project and we implemented, almost to the letter, the system that I had described in my memo. After implementation I published another analysis that documented a 20% efficiency gain in policy administration operations.
While attending a document imaging and management conference many years later, I ran into someone I recognized as a junior programmer from my days a Progressive. He had stuck around and become an IT manager. I asked him what had happened to the systems that I had designed and I learned that Progressive was still using what was essentiallymysystem.
The lifecycle of computer systems tends to be relatively short. I was pleasantly surprised that the system based on myBlue Skyvision was still doing the job for Progressive a decade later.
03/1981 to 02/1984
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Sacramento, California - 03/1981 to 02/1984
My decision to leave Progressive was primarily based on my desire to escape my boss, the SrVP of Operations. Suffice it to say I thought he was a stupid jerk. I was recruited by a head hunter and accepted a position to get away from where I was rather than to get closer to where I wanted to be.
Cal-Farm Insurance is a wholly owned subsidiary of the California Farm Bureau which is essentially a political organization advocating on behalf of agricultural interests. The insurance company is a way to expand "membership" in the Farm Bureau. I found it to be a very conservative and unimaginative place to work.
I was recruited to run the Auto Group which was responsible for underwriting and administering Cal-Farm's automobile insurance business. I came in on the tail end of another major system implementation project and worked closely with Cal-Farm's IT group to get the system into production.
After about a year in operations I moved to IT to manage the team that supported Cal-Farm's financial and actuarial systems. This sounds more interesting than it was (if you can imagine that).
Dissatisfied again, I wondered why and I decided that I was a square peg trying to fit into the round hole jobs that seemed to be plentiful but unsatisfying.
I came to these conclusions:
· I should work for myself or at least be a core decision maker.
. I should look for work with both business and technical responsibilities.
I figured that if I was going to roll the dice again and change jobs, I should place the bet on myself. Then if I didn't like my boss, I would only have myself to blame.
As it happens, I met a very talented software engineer who was also working at Cal-Farm. He was trying to start a software company in his spare time and knew he needed help. We got together to explore joining forces... and we decided to give it a shot.
03/1984 to 04/1989
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Sacramento, California - 3/1984 to 04/1989
RD Labs was a small computer software development shop specializing in the IBM VM/SP operating system. Its primary business was software development for the USAF and Defense Communications Agency and it was involved in a series of contract efforts to develop telephone network management systems for the DoD's overseas telephone network, AUTOVON. It also had a line of VM system utility products.
RD Labs is where I discovered that work could be fun and totally engaging. I found that I loved the sense of urgency that comes with knowing that your hard work and decisions can make or break the company. I also found that in an organization of 20-30 people, I could wrap my head around everything that was going on. It was a blast.
I was working with smart, committed people. I was learning from them and they, I think, learned something from me. We worked hard and got things done. We were doing interesting and difficult work and I was exposed to and got involved in everything that was going on in the company.
And it was here that I had the new and incredible experience of playing a leading role as opposed to a bit part. I had a hand in setting, not only the direction of the company, but also the tone of the organization. My work and decisions made a difference. I was hooked.
When I joined RD Labs it was my partner and I in an an office the size of a linen closet and we were faced with need to build an organization from the ground up. We believed the old cliche about people being a company's most important asset and started looking for talent.
We started recruiting from people we knew and were very cautious. When we got our first government contract we were faced with the need to triple the size of our staff almost over night. We brought in a couple of experience engineers who we'd worked with in the past but decided to recruit people directly out of school for the bulk of the staff.
Our strategy was to invest heavily in training and to leverage the experience of our senior engineers by teaming them up with the new recruits. It worked and we were on our way. Diligent project and technical management got the work done and tight fisted financial management kept us in business.
Our first contract was very challenging, not because the work was difficult, but because we were so inexperienced in dealing with the government. The contract payment schedule was mismatched with our cash requirements. We were able to establish a small amount of working capital financing and watched our expenditures and project schedule very carefully. It was tough but we made it work and we never missed a payday. As we learned to better manage the business side of our government contract work, our lives got considerably easier.
Having proven ourselves in our first contract effort, we were awarded
two more contracts and grew to almost forty employees. All of the
contract deliverables were met and our customer was happy. Things were
looking up. But eventually the scope and the dollar value of our work got significant enough to interest some bigger players. We found that, to a large extent, the key to success in doing business with the government has more to do with your knowledge of the procurement machinery than your ability to deliver the goods and services.
About this time, the Soviet Union was collapsing and, for us at least, the government gravy train ground to a halt. With our primary revenue source drying up, I was responsible for ensuring an orderly liquidation of the company and making sure that the owners' bank accounts and homes remained in their possession.
08/03/1988
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Yosemite Valley, California - 08/03/1988
The first ascent of the East Buttress route was done in 1953. It is rated 5.10 but most of the climbing is very moderate unlike most of the climbs on this incredible chunk of granite. It is a beautiful climb in a wonderful setting.
It is climbed in eleven pitches and ascends about 1500 feet. It was a daring and perhaps foolhardy undertaking for a couple of relatively inexperienced climbers.
We started the approach on the valley floor in the dark and were climbing by 8am. It was brutally hot but we were psyched and we made good progress. As we climbed I recognized the locations of several photos I'd seen in the incredible book,Fifty Classic Climbs of North America.
We topped out at about 5pm just as we ran out of water. The descent requires a couple of huge, scary rappels with nothing under your feet but hundreds of feet of air. At the end of a long day it was quite intimidating. We got to the valley floor at dusk and stumbled into the Merced River.
After being introduced to climbing, it quickly became my primary avocation. It is hard to explain the attraction I felt to the sport but I was thoroughly hooked.
It had already become a big part of my life but climbing was soon to become even more important to me.
1984 - 1989
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And looking for the next opportunity
Putting RD Labs to bed was difficult. We had assembled a good team and done a lot of good work but we were at a dead end.
For me, this was certainly a disappointment. But it wasnota failure.
I had to make a living and so I started looking for a job. But I also knew that I would look for another entrepreneurial opportunity and eventually it would present itself.
When the right one came along, I would be ready and I would not be afraid to take another shot.
I called the ex-CEO of VM Software, a company that we had competed with in the mainframe software industry. He had moved to Peregrine Systems in Irvine, California as CEO. He was trying to get his hands around the problems in this small, highly technical company.
After some discussion, he asked me to come to Irvine as a consultant to help him build a plan to move Peregrine Systems forward.
06/1989 to 01/1990
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Irvine and Carlsbad, California - 06/1989 to 01/1990
Peregrine had recently gotten outside investment. A new CEO was brought in to address a myriad of problems and prepare the company to move into a new growth phase.
I'd met the new CEO while at RD Labs and he brought me in to help assess the situation. I first surveyed customers to find out their perceptions and when I submitted my report, the CEO asked me to help implement my recommendations.
I recommended that we establish a customer facing organization to solicit, interpret and prioritize customer feedback into product strategy and direction. Product direction had previously been set by the founders. Being techies, they had always favored development of new functionality over improving stability.
The feedback from the customers that I had surveyed was unanimous in insisting that before anything else, the reliability and stability of the system had to be addressed.
The CEO also wanted the Product Manager to be a Project Manager. I argued that these should be two different functions in the organization but I lost that argument. I was appointed Peregine's first Product Manager and my first responsibility was to help manage the effort for a major maintenance release of the product.
We shipped the new maintenance release on time but while that was being wrapped up, I saw a small help wanted ad inClimbing Magazine. It was for a CFO position in a new company that was being formed by a management group of the bankrupt rock climbing equipment company, Chouinard Equipment. I just had to look into it.
A little more than a decade later, theSEC would charge Peregrinewith "massive financial fraud" to inflate revenues and stock price.
02/1990 to 01/2000
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Salt Lake City, Utah - 02/1990 to 01/2000
Chouinard Equipment was founded in the 1950's by Yvon Chouinard when he started forging pitons in Ventura, California to use in his rock climbing adventures. By the early 1970's it had become the largest climbing equipment supplier in the US but remained marginally profitable. At around this time, Chouinard started selling clothing which had better margins than the equipment side of the business.
Clothing grew and the Patagonia brand was born. Eventually Patagonia was split off into its own company. Later, when product liability issues would threaten Chouinard Equipment, the separation of Patagonia into its own legal entity would allow Chouinard to isolate Patagonia from the problem.
In 1989, Chouinard placed Chouinard Equipment in bankruptcy. A management group lead by Peter Metcalf, who was then heading up the company, set about trying to pull together a deal to purchase the assets of Chouinard Equipment and form a new company. They started working with some investment bankers and put together a plan... and then started to try to raise the money to get Black Diamond Equipment, Ltd rolling.
By 1989 Chouinard Equipment was relying on Patagonia for all its Finance and IT functions. Someone would be needed to build and lead this part of the organization. In the summer of that year, a small ad was placed inClimbing Magazinelooking for a CFO. I saw the ad and sent in my resume. I arranged to meet with Peter Metcalf at the Outdoor Retailer Show in Reno, Nevada in August, 1989. After we got acquainted, he explained what he was trying to do and gave me a copy of the business plan he was using to raise money. We hit it off and I told him that I'd review the business plan and give him my feedback.
After looking the plan over I must admit I didn't think they had a chance in hell of raising the money. And even if they did, they'd have very a tough time making a go of it. But Peter was determined and we stayed in touch. Three months later he'd somehow cobbled together a deal and invited me to Black Diamond's birthday party. After the party he asked me to come help build the company. I agreed, thinking that I'd put my career on hold for a year or two to help BD get set up and off the ground. Although it didn't quite turn out that way, it was one of the best decisions I've ever made.
I joined BD about 60 days after its birth and set about trying to figure out what had to be done. It was a daunting task list. We needed to wean ourselves off of Patagonia's systems and move out of Patagonia's offices and warehouse within two years while we were working to build the organization and run the business.
BD had secured asset-based working capital financing per its business plan. It was provided by a commercial finance subsidiary of Far West Savings and Loan (which would shortly thereafter be taken over by the RTC... but that is another story altogether) and it was expensive and administratively onerous. It kept us on a very short leash but we made it work because we had to. BD never missed a payroll, we paid our bills and shipped product.
It was a struggle but by Fall, 1991, we were running our own systems and we had relocated to Salt Lake City into a derelict shopping center that we bought and refurbished under very favorable terms from a local Utah bank. And we were profitable and growing.
I had also laid the foundation for Finance and IT that would keep the fires fed and the wheels turning for the next eight years of my tenure and well into BD's second decade.
· Implemented new ERP systems (twice) and the second system is still in place
· Moved the company from Ventura, California to Salt Lake City, Utah
· Hired the next two CFO's
· Established a credit relationship with Zions Bank that has lasted over 20 years
· Personally built and deployed BD's first generation intranet
· Personally built and deployed a web-based sales forecasting system
· Advocated for and built BD's first public web presence
· Personally had input into every important strategic decision made in BD's first decade
. By the time I left BD, we had recorded ten straight years of growth and profitability
When I first started looking into the WWW, what I saw was simple, static HTML pages and I wondered what the big deal was. But with Microsoft's release of Active Server Pages (ASP), an add-on to Internet Information Server (IIS) in Windows NT 4 sometime in 1996, I saw the possibility of a dynamic, programmable web and I knew I had to jump in with both feet.
For the next six months I spent evenings and weekends teaching myself ASP, VBScript, SQL and putting together web applications. This was very challenging for me as I had essentially no programming training. But I was fascinated and made enough slow progress that I kept at it.
My interest in internet technology would drive much of my future career.
mid 1990's
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The dynamic web ignites my imagination.
I'd done a lot of system specification and user-side system implementation work over the years but I had never actually been in a position to build anything myself. I wanted to be able to understand a problem, imagine system functionality, and then actuallyBUILDthe system solution myself. I started teaching myself web programming.
Once I got past the cryptic server error messages and endless looping problems I started having a blast going from concept to viewable/usable code. I was already very comfortable developing systems requirements on a conceptual level based on my knowledge of the related business processes but with my newly acquired development capabiliites, I could build something end to end myself.
This was incredibly empowering. No more waiting in the IT development queue for me!
I started my course of self-study by dissecting the demo e-commerce site provided by Microsoft. It was, appropriately enough, a store that sold outdoor sporting goods equipment.
I then slowly started building my own applications using some of the basic building blocks used in the demo site: Active Server Pages (ASP) using VBScript, SQL with an Access DB and basic HTML. All of this was entirely new to me but it made sense and I eventually got to the point where I was pretty comfortable with the technology.
I started building a very crude PIM (Personal Information Manager). It had a shareable calendar, a task list manager, and a searchable knowledge database. When it was done, I made it available to employees at BD and it became the beta version of the BD Intranet. I still run this code at home and have used it extensively in the writing of this document.
Shortly thereafter a young graphic artist who was working at BD as a contractor saw what I'd done with the intranet and asked if I could build him an e-commerce web site to sell royalty-free images for his small startup, Rubberball.
At first I was a little apprehensive having never put a web site out in the "wild" before. After thinking about it I decided that this project would force me to really learn the technologies and develop and test my competence. It was just what I needed.
It was a big commitment but I am very glad I that I grabbed this opportunity with both hands.
1997 to present
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Have gun, will travel - 1997 to present
Rubber Productions was founded in 1995 and was a pioneer in self-publication and royalty-free stock photography. They started selling CD's via phone and mail order and wanted to set up a web site to sell on-line. They had talked to a few system integrators and development organizations but their small scale could not support the cost of entry.
One of the principals was working as a free-lance graphic designer at Black Diamond and saw what I had done with BD's intranet and asked if I would help them build a site. Neither they nor I had more than a very superficial understanding of what would be entailed but after six months of working nights and weekends, I had them selling on-line.
I built the site first in ASP/Access and later re-implemented in PHP/MySQL. The site has grown and evolved over time but my code is still in production. At its peak, I was told that sales of about $50k per month moved through the site.
I've been called back to BD several times since leaving my position as CFO.
· June 2001: helped evaluate a potential acquisition of MSR in Seattle, Washington.
· September, 2001: helped in a management transition in the BD warehouse.
After I completed my stint in the BD warehouse (11/2001) I wrote up a blueprint for a custom extension to the warehousing functionality in BD's Navision ERP. This included system functional requirements and the modified work and information flows that the new system would support. These were implemented after I left and resulted in a substantial efficiency gain in warehouse operations in BD's Salt Lake distribution center.
· January, 2007: evaluated some operational issues in BD's Asian Manufacturing Center.
Scarpa North America (SNA) is the US distribution subsidiary of Scarpa SPA of Asolo, Italy. Black Diamond had been Scarpa's North American distributor for ski boots, trekking and climbing shoes for many years but in 2006, Scarpa formed its own distribution company and hired an ex-BD employee to run the operation. I'd known the CEO from his days at BD and he asked me to come and help address some of the same problems that I had worked on at BD. Their top priority was a sales forecasting and inventory planning system.
They had chosen to use the SaaS ERP system, NetSuite. I was tasked with pulling historical sales, sales orders, current inventory and planned inventory receipt data from NetSuite and then presenting the data in a way that would allow SNA to:
· Forecast Style-level sales while viewing historical sales data from previous seasons.
· Explode Style-level forecasts to SKU-level using size, color and monthly spread factors.
· From SKU-level demand and projected inventory, determine inventory requirements.
This system is probably the most complex system I have ever built. It is still in use today.
SNA grew and eventually brought their warehousing function in-house from a 3rd party logistics outfit. The NetSuite warehouse management functionality was judged inadequate and I was asked to build a system that would help them get by until they would migrate away from NetSuite to an ERP with a more robust WMS. The specific requirements were:
· Inventory location tracking supporting multiple warehouse locations per item.
· Barcode item and location identification and mobile data input.
· Support for receiving, put-away, move, pick, pack, count and adjust transactions.
· Validation of picking/packing accuracy by barcode.
· Box level packing lists and full transaction audit log.
I built this system in less than two months. It is still in operation today.
There are many other consulting projects that I've worked on over the years. Here are a few:
· Consulted with the founders of Cloudveil (outdoors apparel) in 2001 prior to their acquisition.
· Built a ticket sales / donation website for a local modern dance company using PayPal.
· Installed an open source telephone system (Asterisk) for the Utah ACLU.
01/2000 - 10/2000
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Colorado Springs, CO - 01/2000 - 10/2000
I was recruited by the founder to help organize the efforts of a talented technical team engaged in building a promising secure email technology. By that time the end of the dotcom euphoria was in sight if I had bothered to look but I liked the technology and the people.
When I arrived, QV was struggling to complete a v1.0 of InterosaMail. I started to try to figure out where the project stood and quickly I found out that although all the bits and pieces seemed to be working, we were nowhere near ready with a production quality product.
About the time I arrived at QV, controlling interest was sold to a public company, Envision Development Corporation (AMEX: EDV). With the new owners looking over our shoulders, we prepared to unveil the product at the Electronic Messaging Association trade show.
With time running out I suggested a change of direction and set a more realistic goal... an alpha-level system that we could demonstrate at EMA. In July, 2000 InterosaMail was chosen by the Electronic Messaging Association as the Best of Show Emerging Technology.
The new owners started to bring in their own people and soon the company was in disarray. It was very evident to me that EDV brought nothing to the table besides a (very) little cash and a lot of impatience.
By the time they pulled the plug on funding, I had already left the company vowing to be much more careful in selection of business bedfellows in the future.
01/2002 to 06/2006
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Park City, Utah - 01/2002 to 06/2006
Soundtube's founder was totally focused on marketing and product design. After several years of growth he was hit hard by the downturn in 2001 and when his controller left, he found himself funding operations out of his personal checking account. This was his only insight as to how badly he was hemorrhaging. I was brought in to assess the situation and stop the bleeding.
SoundTube makes loudspeakers for commercial installations. When I joined the company it was still building speakers in Park City, Utah and it had a huge inventory overhang, primarily in raw materials. With most audio components sourced in China and all SoundTube's competitors manufacturing finished product there, it was obvious that some painful adjustments had to be made.
After taking a hard look at product costs and implementing some immediate downsizing and personnel changes, we were able to stabilize enough to attract some much needed investment. We then proceeded to re-structure the operation to reflect the realities of the current audio marketplace.
A new generation of core product was designed and after identifying a manufacturing partner, all production was outsourced to China. SoundTube continued to design, engineer, market and sell out of Park City but its manufacturing organization and attendant costs disappeared.
With manufacturing gone, our primary operational concern revolved around order management and fulfillment. Shipping accuracy of orders was a particularly persistent problem. As usual, there was no budget so I built a LAMP (linux, apache, mysql, php) intranet server on a surplus PC and implemented a system that:
· Imported sales order / pick ticket data
· Validate items picked and packed by reading the UPC barcode
· Kept tally of picked quantities and validated against sales order lines.
This little system is still in operation at SoundTube today.
I also implemented the first generation of SoundTube Spec, a speaker coverage and installation planning tool for use by audio contractors. I first implemented a web-based version for the SoundTube website and then taught myself enough MS Visual Studio to implement a standalone application in .NET.
The founder, like most entrepreneurs, liked to run the show. Eventually there was some friction with the investor and a buyout was negotiated and new management was brought in.
With my job done, it was time to exit.
01/2007 to 02/2011
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Salt Lake City, Utah - 01/2007 to 02/2011
I stayed in touch with my ex-partner from the RD Labs days. We always talked about the desire to give it another shot. As I said before, he was, and still is one of the most talented software engineers I've ever worked with.
In 2006 we started to seriously discuss the possibility of working together again and early in 2007 we formed RD Labs2 LLC. We both had contacts from previous lives that could generate consulting income for us until we decided upon ourraison d'etre.
We were quickly able to initiate two fairly substantial contracts for software development. The first was with Stanford University (Highwire Press) and another with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) the publisher of Science Magazine. Along with my personal work with Scarpa and Black Diamond, RD Labs2 seemed to be well underway.
We started looking for some compatible and talented individuals to bring on board and were stunned by how difficult this was.
Perpetually short staffed on our development contracts, it was impossible to devote any time to figuring out what we really wanted to do with the company.
It was pretty clear that we could continue to survive on consulting and software development for hire projects but this was not very satisfying to either of us. By late 2010 we had decided to wind down RD Labs2.
What is obvious to me now is that I have to have a specific goal beyond simple survival to remain engaged.
06/01/2010
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Overnight success twenty years in the making
Clarus Corporation was a public shell which, in addition to some cash, had a boatload of tax loss carryforwards. It had targeted the outdoor and lifestyle sports space as an area of interest for acquisitions.
Concurrent with the Black Diamond acquisition, Clarus also acquired Gregory Mountain Products. Combined revenues at acquisition were about $113m.
Black Diamond formed the foundation on which the new company would be built and BD management was tapped to direct the company into the future.
Black Diamond Equipment adopted a strategy of growth through acquisition, organic growth in existing lines and product line extension.
Black Diamond has subsequently introduced an outdoor technical clothing line and acquired POC Sports and Pieps, two establish brands in the outdoor equipment space.
09/2010 to 07/2013
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Filling some temporary management and technical gaps.
BD's transition to a public company precipitated a host of changes in the roles and responsibilities of senior management. Fallout from these changes was bound to occur and one facet of the fallout was the resignation of the Director of IT.
I was brought in to help keep the wheels on in BD's IT department and to help identify a new Director of IT.
After hiring the new head of IT and completing the transition, I was tasked with working on BD's business intelligence initiative. Having worked extensively with BD's data from both a management and a technical angle, this was a natural fit.
Working with IT and Finance personnel, we implemented an open source business intelligence platform, built a data warehouse, designed and built ETL processes to populate the data warehouse and a Sales and Margin OLAP cube for slicing and dicing.
I was then asked to help evaluate, select and implement an e-commerce platform. Demandware was selected and I consulted with IT and Marketing/Sales personnel during implementation.
This is the end result.
PLM has long been on BD's roadmap. As an innovation driven, product centric company, this is natural. With the creation of BD's new apparel product line, PLM became a requirement. Management of the SKUs and seasonal SKU turnover on the scale anticipated by the BD apparel team would be extremely difficult if not impossible, without a PLM.
But PLM is typically very expensive and complex and our need was immediate. While BD launched into a PLM selection project and started the long process of choosing and then implementing PLM, I was asked to come up with something to address the immediate need of managing product data for the Fall 2013 and Spring 2014 apparel lines.
After about 5 weeks of concentrated effort I implemented a system I dubbedBD miniPLM.
The Apparel Product Line Director was concerned about the management of the vast amounts of product data being generated in the development of his products. The apparel team, though centered in Salt Lake City, was dispersed all over the globe. Keeping everyone in synch and looking at the same data was imperative. Of primary concern were the bills of materials and by extension, the
materials and projected materials requirements. The specific issues addressed by miniPLM are:
· Shared access via the internet to "one source of truth" product data.
· Management of apparel style, material, color, and BOM data by season.
· Filtered views showing totals for projected sales (# / $) and margin (% / $).
· Rudimentary MRP calculations for projected usage of materials.
07/2013 to ?
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So many interests and now finally some time.
My wife and I will certainly take some time for travel. We have a bucket list of places to see and things to do that we've been working on for a while.
But we can't be traveling all the time and I will need to find ways to profitably occupy my time if I'm going to avoid slow deterioration to a vegetative state and keep from being under foot at home.
I've focused primarily on the server side in my web development work. Today users expect UI way beyond basic HTML. I want to dig much deeper into:
· Javascript on the browser and server.
· Single page web applications
Working with smart and interesting people is fun. Learning is fun. Helping out and adding value by applying skills acquired over a lifetime is fun.
For me, this is what it's about.
If you've got a project and you think I might be able to help, please get in touch.