Ben Wong Email & Phone Number

Milwaukee, Wi, Us

Mequon, Wi, Us

Serve as the de facto IT leader and is responsible for directing the architecture, development, and deployment of all software projects, from requirement gatherings to managing a team of developers. Work with the CEO to develop innovations and incorporate emerging technologies into new and existing products and services for the company.• Led the development of DiamondEye, a new patented technology to identify, protect, and verify diamonds using an iOS mobile app and a specialized viewer. The product comprises a mobile app, a consumer website, and a Java API backend deployed on AWS. The technology stack includes Java, Spring, Hibernate, RESTEasy, OAuth, Laravel/PHP, Vue.js, Objective C, and MySQL, leveraging OpenCV to analyze and process diamond images.• Planned, architected, and oversaw the migration of all company's applications to Amazon Web Services. An early adopter of EC2, Glacier, Beanstalk, S3, Aurora, and ElastiCache. Further developed and deployed numerous applications leveraging AWS services and technologies such as SAM, Lambda, Directory Service, FSx, SES, and SNS.• Developed a corporate technology plan and roadmap upon hire. Implemented the plan in two years, resulting in a complete overhaul of the IT environment and replaced a manual desktop application with a Java web application developed with the Spring and Hibernate framework. The new system eliminated production issues by 95%, saved an estimated 80 person-hours per week, and cut time to market by 60%. Total cost savings are estimated at hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.• Co-inventor and patent holder of Live Report (Patent #7414709), the first online evaluation tool of diamonds for the consumer in the industry. This technology further differentiates GemEx from other competitors and establishes the company as the premier innovator in the retail diamond market.

Serve as a fractional CTO of a new AI startup. Responsible for AI research, directing the architecture, leading the development, and deployment of the SaaS platform. • Rescued a struggling and poorly built AI SaaS project by turning it around in three months to launch the MVP. The turnaround includes establishing an agile development process with industry best practices, rearchitecting the Next.js and Python codebase, and fixing the project's myriad bugs and technical issues. • Continued researching, prototyping, architecting, and implementing new AI features into the product using OpenAI’s LLMs (ChatGPT 3.5 and 4) and Assistants API, prompt engineering, LangChain, and vector databases.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Us

One of the three co-founders of a SaaS startup. Initially served as the technical lead and built the company's MVP and early versions of the software. • Oversaw the development and launch of Boothy.co in 2022, a web-based customer engagement platform that allows stakeholders to interact with their audience in a customized virtual space called "booths." The SaaS platform is architected and built on a real-time messaging and video conferencing technology stack using Laravel/PHP, MySQL, Vue.js, GraphQL, Apollo, Tailwind CSS, and the Ably service.• Quickly pivoted the startup to have the ability to host virtual events by integrating a third-party video conferencing service in three weeks in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the cancellation of all in-person events. The addition was built using Vue.js, JavaScript, GraphQL, and Tailwind CSS. The change resulted in the company hosting over 400 virtual events with 100,000+ attendees since.• Signed on as a technical lead and made the hard decision to scrap a poorly designed and written PHP application and single-handedly rewrote it as a Laravel/PHP/MySQL application from scratch in 6 months. For speed to market, the SaaS platform integrates with other third-party services such as Stripe for payments, Algolia for search, Postmark for email, and Crisp for customer support.

Served as an independent technology consultant for numerous companies in various capacities, including building entire enterprise-based systems, recommending technology solutions, and conducting technical and systems training. Clients included McDonald's, Northern Trust Bank, Caremark, Acco Brands, Orbitz LLC, Cars.com, American College of Chest Physicians, Roundy's, Agency.com, Kemper Mutual Funds, and Strong Capital Investments.

Master Of Business Administration, Business

Bachelor Of Arts, Honor Economics

Bachelor Of Science, Computer And Electrical Engineering