Heath Howard Email and Phone Number

Current responsibilities include-Effectively leading multiple concurrent custom software design and implementation projects, using cross-functional teams and the Agile development methodology. -Architecting, designing, and implementing complex, secure, and scalable, cloud-based software.-Analyzing market data and trends to cast product vision, develop strategy, and foster innovative solutions to meet business objectives.-Evaluating business and technical solutions to ensure they meet high standards for quality, stability, security, and performance.-Creating and developing client relationships. Gathering client requirements and writing proposals and Statement-of-Work contracts.-Managing project costs and ensuring work stays in-scope to keep within client budget and meet tight deadlines. -Managing department budget and resources.-Evaluating project feasibility and cost-effectiveness both internally and for clients.-Overseeing recruiting, training, and development of team members to build innovative and high performance teams.-Engaging in every aspect of the sales cycle from initiating leads to closing sales.-Researching and evaluating new technology and best practices to provide direction for continuous improvement and growth.-Promoting an open and creative work environment which encourages new ideas, calculated risk-taking, and a lean fail-fast mentality.-Regularly reporting metrics and status of various projects to executives and Board of Directors.-Working closely across teams, including project management, finance, support and with external stakeholders, clients, partners, and vendors.

At Wolters Kluwer I have created a high performance software development team made up of developers, quality assurance engineers, business analysts, and web designers. Using Agile we developed and maintained a market leading CMS and secure file sharing application serving tax and accounting professionals throughout the United States and Canada.Accomplishments• Migrated SaaS application and thousands of client websites from IBM data center to the Azure Cloud, saving hundreds of thousands of dollars each year and creating a more secure and scalable application environment for thousands of accounting firms.• Transitioned team from procedural based programing to modern modular RESTful Object Oriented Programing (OOP) with Test Driven Development (TDD) and automated unit tests making our technology lean, interoperable, scalable, and easier to maintain.• Transitioned team from LAMP stack to Microsoft C#/.NET/SQL technology stack aligning our team with the rest of the enterprise business. • Deployed Barracuda Web Application Firewall preventing malicious activity from even touching our applications.• Managed SaaS application rewrite from a standard server based platform to highly scalable Microsoft Azure Cloud Services making our platform nimble and cost efficient.• Directed training and focused team on security best practices, regularly conducted application security audits, defined and applied Minimum Security Baseline which along with other measures drastically reduced application vulnerability footprint.• Created high performance teams by fostering an open and creative work environment that encourages calculated risks, new ideas, and a lean fail-fast mentality.• Analyzed market data and trends to cast product vision, develop strategy, manage project goals and resources in order to execute business objectives.• Added multilingual support to existing application resulting in increased sales opportunities in new geographic locations.

Software Development Team Lead for CCH Site Builder, a market leading Content Management System for accountants.• Led a High Performance Team in the rapid-release Agile development of a market leading website content management system and secure file sharing tool• Directed team through the complete software development cycle, including design, implementation, launch, and maintenance.• Built a design team from scratch and created a user centered design process and customer intimacy program for Agile software development• Ensured timely and quality delivery of user stories using Agile development methodologies • Organized the transition of thousands of existing client websites from an older application to the new application• Served in role of project manager for continued application development• Crafted departmental web design standards and procedures in order to improve team efficiency and ensure consistent quality in delivered content; produced detailed documentation of these standards and procedures• Developed project plans, statements of work, and detailed cost proposals for both customers and executive team• Compiled data regarding departmental output capacity, revenue, resources, and budgetary needs and presented to senior management and executive team• Interacted with clients, especially with any concerns that were escalated or sensitive in nature• Managed strategic vendor relationships• Provided training, creative direction and technical expertise to team members• Interviewed candidates for open positions, selected candidates for hiring, and negotiated salaries • Administered any necessary disciplinary actions for team members including verbal and written warnings; oversaw Performance Improvement Plans and reported employee progress to senior management; terminated employees when necessary• Produced employee performance reviews and rankings • Managed the support website for a leading provider of professional CPA software

• Created custom and semi-custom websites for some of the top accounting firms in the nation• Utilized knowledge of HTML, CSS, and Javascript to modify websites within Site Builder’s content management system to meet customer specifications• Selected and trained new web designer• Managed client custom web design projects including, gathering requirements, designing graphics, and coding the website.• Maintained database of custom work orders, prioritized and updated as needed• Multi-tasked to progress on numerous client projects at once and to complete orders in a timely manner• Managed Site Builder Monthly Member Update newsletter for distribution to 4000+ clients

Internet and web development, graphic design, programming, server and email management, customer service, sales... pretty much everything you have to do as a small business owner.