Professional
I am a manager with over 20 years building Information Technology expertise. I have
built my career by being able to move beyond Information Technology to business
operations. Constantly building IT governance to align Information Technology with
business strategy and bring essential elements of information within the normal
decision making cycle. I have been selected for multi-national teams collaborating
with other functional managers. I have repeatedly demonstrated the ability to get
to a known state and establish a clear path to success. Recognizing that the important
aspect of Information Technology is the Information - the Technology is the means,
not the end.
I have had several exciting opportunities over the years. At a previous employer
I was able to work with a foreign embassy on one of their financial solutions. We
brought an expense management solution to their embassies here in the US. I interviewed
staff onsite at their embassy in Washington D.C. and did collected requirements.
For this particular project I worked closely with international banks and card processing
agents as well as the direct customer. My team successfully met functional requirement
time and again, and cleared security requirements for both financial and governmental
auditors. This was accomplished with careful planning and discipline to stick
to the schedule. I was also very proud of the collaboration across functional
areas and worked well with the sales manager, QA, and our executive team including
the VP and president whom we represented.
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...In both cases (and many others) what allowed me to enjoy any measure of success
at all was the willingness to listen and to learn.
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On a more recent occasion I was assigned
to go to Hong Kong to meet with a local company on
a very exciting sales opportunity. We had entered into a joint venture and systems
needed to be updated and changed to accommodate language, currency, and sales agent
arrangements. This led to several great business discussions and I am proud to have
represented not just IT but the whole company in our conversations. Issues covering
sales, memberships and even accounting were routed to the appropriate functional
managers as they came up through preparation up to, and including the visit. I traveled
with the regional VP from our company which allowed me to expand my experience throughout
the world.
In both cases (and many others) what allowed me to enjoy any measure of success
at all was the willingness to listen and to learn. I had already been measurably
successful in IT as a technologist. In these cases, what was needed was a informationist
- if you will - that focused on business and information more than tools and technology.
Quickly learning from accounting, sales, and even cross cultural experts, I let
some of my ego go to allow myself to learn from others. Soon I was able to anticipate
issues and share insights of my own. I am very grateful for the many wonderful people
with whom I have worked.
It all started with the ability and willingness to learn...