Jim Gorjup Email & Phone Number

Mentor, Oh, Us

The Christopher Group (TCG) is one of the nation's largest boutique executive search firms. TCG is a retained executive search firm with two divisions, one specializing exclusively in the Human Resources field (TCG-HR) and the other specializing exclusively in the Information Technology field (TCG-IT). Our leadership team is comprised of former IT & HR executives at organizations known for World Class talent. Our institutional knowledge and our relationships provide us with a unique understanding and perspective of IT & HR careers and the current state of the marketplace for both IT & HR professionals.

Boutique consultancy firm with four service lines including Software Deliver, Coaching (Lean, Agile, XP), Training, and Staff Augmentation.Led fully integrated Operations including Finance, Recruiting, Human Resources, Legal, and Strategic Account Development across four service lines using Agile and Lean methodologies. Partner, company officer and Board member.• Contributed to fivefold revenue growth over 5 years, 495% and from 9 to 75+ employees.• Key contributor to winning Inc 500/5000 Award for 4 years in a row with 148% growth in 2014, 248% growth in 2013, 1,518% growth in 2012, and 1,055% growth in 2011.• Managed #1 strategic account and grew account 50+% in first year.• Key executive who developed relationships and negotiated formal partnerships.• Oversaw all aspects of accounting; designed budgeting and forecasting processes, worked with outside CPA for tax preparation, selected payroll firms, and generated monthly, quarterly & annual reporting.• Developed a recruiting process and hired majority of staff, W2 and 1099 and streamlined onboarding processes. Recruited leaders and staff including HR Manager, Controller, CPA, and Director of Sales.• Primary liaison to outside legal counsel and reviewed and signed all MSA, NDA & other contracts.• Selected and negotiated electronic and physical security, Internet, phones, and utilities.• Created employee handbook and policies.• Sold executive coaching in the areas of Lean, Transparency, and Communication.• Established KPI tracking for Finance (revenue, profits, COGS), Sales (growth, retention, pipeline), and Human Resources (fulfillment, retention, career development).• Facilitated using a Big Visual Room with company information communicating to employees about strategy, financial status, customers, projects, and people.

Privately held boutique Executive Search Firm specializing in a) the placement of senior level Information Technology professionals across all industries within the United States and b) providing executive coaching on agile organizational transformations.Sole responsibility for all aspects of a start up executive search organization including business development, search strategy/consulting, candidate indentification and assessment, and process management. Established a value added business model that aggressively approached the market and exceeded industry placement standards by 50% in first year of operation.• Coached and mentored clients involved in agile organizational transformations • Consulted with clients on talent acquisition needs and ideal competency characteristics• Identify targeted companies for new client development by building confidence with industry expertise• Placed high quality candidates at large to midsized companies by using a targeted selection strategy• Managed client and candidate experience with precise step by step process management

I.T. Group Manager (2001 to 2007)Responsible for development, technical direction, and implementation strategy for the company’s single largest program transformation. The policy administration system represented an 8 year, $247 million program requiring more than 2.1 million hours of effort.• Led group of senior architects and internal business customers, through Agile methodology, to develop the program strategy which included project planning as well as defining technical and business functionality.• Successfully integrated ITIL principles and practices into the system design / development providing a faster and more cost effective deployment of a production ready system.• Led efforts that resulted in the program transformation being classified as one of only 20 worldwide “Design Wins” projects by Microsoft. This designation allowed direct access to Microsoft’s SQL Server Product Team at the company’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington as well as $150,000 of onsite consulting from Microsoft Consulting Services. • Co-published, in collaboration with Microsoft, a SQL Server case study on complex and large database design and implementation. • Created an enterprise policy administration datamart which represented the largest ever deployment of mission critical data on Microsoft’s SQL Server 2005 platform.• Developed and implemented communications protocol for the program transformation effort which included Steering Team presentations (CIO & Senior business leaders), Enterprise Technology Group team meetings, and serving as the company’s liaison with Microsoft executives in Redmond, Washington.

I.T. Manager (1998 to 2001)Responsible for application development, technical implementation and forward strategy for the company’s proprietary pricing and product definition system. Reported to I.T. Director, managed 8 direct reports, a staff of 25 I.T. professionals, and a $4 million budget.• Formulated and implemented a 3 year, $2.5 million system rewrite for the company’s propriety pricing and product definition system which involved migration from a Smalltalk / Gemstone implementation to the C# / SQL Server platform.• Negotiated contracts, served as corporate liaison, and managed the ongoing relationship with Gemstone Systems (external database vendor) and IBM Smalltalk product team.• Created and facilitated an internal conference for all senior architects across the company to share information about emerging technologies and corporate direction.• Served as company representative for IBM’s Inner Circle Product Team to provide input and influence the direction of IBM’s future product development plans. I.T. System Consultant / Lead Architect (1994 to 1998)Responsible for long term product development strategy as well as overall system development and technical design of features, functionality, and product enhancements for the company’s propriety pricing and product definition system. Key duties also included training and coaching Programmers / Analysts on system complexities and object oriented principles / methodologies. Reported to the I.T. Group Manager and led a team of 12 developers.• Selected and implemented an object oriented database to ensure availability, reliability, and security for the company’s proprietary pricing and product definition system data.• Expanded capability of a proprietary system, which was previously developed for a single application, by allowing it to interface with multiple systems and created a framework that allowed newly designed systems to come on line more readily.

I.T. Senior Analyst / Developer (1992 to 1994)Responsible for analysis, design, and development of Smalltalk programs. This role provided the opportunity to move into object oriented design, coding, principles, and methodologies. • Developed a proprietary pricing and product definition system that was unique in the industry and served to create a strategic competitive advantage for the company.I.T. Analyst / Developer (1986 to 1992)Responsible for analysis, design, and development of COBOL, DB2, CICS programs. Served as internal business customer liaison and team lead for 6 developers. Also served as vendor liaison with MVR suppliers and the enterprise’s primary developer for all MVR issues and system maintenance.