I am the founder of Foraging and Farming, a digital media platform based in Alabama. An agricultural writer and content specialist with over 15 years of experience producing informative and engaging content in the agri-business vertical. I leverage my expertise and passion for stimulating food and agricultural discussions to create compelling stories that educate, inspire, and entertain readers.Specializes in content development and ghostwriting. I develop Case Studies, New Product Specs, White Papers, Business Plans, New Business Proposals, RFPs/RFQs, Project Plan Writing, and Research.Content Management Systems: WordPress, Weebly, & WIX.

Designed and marketed an $80M pipeline of renewable energy systems for farms and food manufacturers. Monetized their food and hazardous waste into electricity, with an annual sales volume of $40M.Competitively prospected new business globally, (USA, Australia, and Chile) - with an average deal size of $10-15M per project. Created a full legal partnership (white labeled) with an Australian servicer to implement renewable energy systems at piggeries, supplying meat products to South American customers. Designed and sold a $1M packaged product solution, for microbreweries and distilleries. Implemented a long-range environmental program totaling $100M, with annual targets of $10-15M per year. Worked with policy leaders on permitting and grant development: CAL-OSHA, USDA, CDFA, EPA, Cal Recycle, Cal Air Resources Board, & NYSERDA. Drafted sales estimates, contracts, grant applications, and project plans for all deal opportunities.Grants: USDA Value-Added Producer Grants (VAPG)Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE)USDA Rural Energy for America (REAP)

Focused on the sales of industrial equipment for wineries, vineyards, good processing, dairies, and waste treatment plants throughout Northern California. Built a sales pipeline totaling $500k addressing new pump motor sales and pump motor re-build projects for industrial waste management, agricultural producers, and large-scale wineries.

Built an agricultural software trading platform to assist local and organic growers in facilitating the marketing and distribution of crops to restaurants and supermarkets.Designed and developed a turnkey software platform, Business Intelligence for Organics (BIO) - automating organic certification and efficient price discovery in produce trade.I learned a lot. Ultimately, I wound the start-up down for various reasons, including lack of funding, product development challenges, many mistakes made, and other things one can point to in hindsight. I did also have many successes to be proud of and what I attempted to do in this space.

Grew existing business from $8M annually to $26M (25% new client acquisition). Served as a key member of the financial technology sales team, developing sales strategies for Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) for Hedge Funds, Investment Managers, Stock Exchanges, and Broker-Dealers. Built a client reporting system to link to trade settlement platforms —enabled clients to save $1M per year in labor costs.Established a competitive onshore development team, consisting of seven staff, a solutions architect, a C++ developer, a project officer, and SQL subject matter experts.Formulated marketing, brand management, and business development strategies to drive revenue growth in asset managers valued at $25B-$100B in AUM. Led the growth of the Western Region, negotiating BPO and software development services, with a sales cycle of 12-24 months. The average deal size is $2M-$10M, the total contract value. Managed strategic relationships – closing $26M of deal flow in business process outsourcing (BPO) and software development. Drove new business initiatives with Hedge Funds, Buy-Side firms, and Investment Banks totaling $3M.

Onboarded new clients with up to $50 billion in AUM, and Led a global sales territory in the US, Canada, and Mexico. Closed $1.2M in Western Region Business, with an average deal size of $650k. Developed sales demonstrations on all aspects of the PORTIA solutions and collaborated with the global sales team on best practices for all client interactions.Provided product demonstrations for prospects alongside other Thomson Reuters sales and account executives and acted as a product expert in all aspects of the product offering including Portfolio Management, Reporting, Performance, and Reconciliation solutions.Conducted comprehensive workflow analysis of business models of clients and prospects. Identified inefficiencies, providing a written review recommending improvements.Created customized demonstration databases based on prospect requirements and business processes used for sales demos & training clients and used in all PORTIA global offices.Responsible for support of all internal and external sales opportunities for PORTIA, Varden Dashboard, Electra Information Settlement, and Thomson PORTIA BackOffice products. Managed all aspects of RFPs; accessed a Loopio library and led the completion of future RFPs using these libraries in the industry-leading RFP tool Loopio.

Implemented a $5M institutional trading system for all asset types over a 24-month project timeline. Noted as saving the company over $2M in software licensing year over year through the integration of a seamless trading platform across 5 asset classes and 20 industry sectors. Managed a $10M budget with 300 vendors for a San Francisco-based global banking asset manager. Managed operating budget and project roadmap for Union Bank executive oversight committee. Led all aspects of business resumption and disaster recovery for asset managers.Built and ran a 24x7 technical operation in asset management and trading for over 150 users in the Western United States. Supervised 6-9 direct employees on average with 20-30 dotted line reports. Lead all aspects of architecture, procurement, and systems development.Managed software implementation projects ranging from $5-10M. Successfully managed & negotiated over 250 technology contracts and licensing agreements.

Designed and built over 20 operational practices total cost savings of $3M. Built brokerage and trade ops to integrate with Bear Stearns and JP Morgan. Responsible for IPO trade settlement for Ravenswood wines, Salon.com, Peet's Coffee, and Google.Onboarded & managed new employees in a tight labor market, with limited resources. Assumed full responsibility for developing back office trade settlement infrastructure.Responsible for all Initial Public Offering (IPO) bids, settlement operations, and closing bid reconciliation.Built trade settlement processes SOPs for Institutional trading and technology employees.

Collaborated with institutional clients and partners, trading up to $10M with a deal flow to perform detailed workflow analysis and delivered sophisticated trade settlement reports to investment management clients. Earned Series 7 and 63 licenses to manage high-risk trades pre-market open. Balanced book of business by industry sector, and mitigate all risk patterns on block trades. Managed risk and trade settlements, supporting data management, client reporting, trade processes, and problem resolution for a trading team. Worked closely with the Trade Clearance team and brokers to clear and settle trades. Participated in annual regulatory audits and examinations.