Michele Richards Email & Phone Number

Santa Clara, Ca, Us

Santa Clara, Ca, Us

Red Tide Consulting provides CTO and operations consulting services to software companies as well as eTail consulting to eCommerce stores with the goal of having a significant effect on the overall success of the company and its employees. Areas of expertise include:Technology, Product and Operations • Building and improving software technology teams to consistently deliver quality software on time and within budget.• Customer-focused product innovation and delivery.• Ability to assess productivity problems and efficiently implement process improvement plans to reduce expenses.Leadership• Collaborative leadership style that demands passion, productivity and accountability from all.• Able to motivate and challenge all levels of the organization.• Ability to mentor others and develop more leaders.Revenue• Profitable decision making under pressure.• Contract negotiations and renewals.• P&L ownership.Style• Willingness to step in anywhere to help define and set priorities and achieve goals.• Strong Work Ethic, Self-Starter, Quick Learner, Problem SolvereTail / eCommerce• Traffic Driving• Search Engine Optimization • Social Media and Email Marketing• Pay-Per-Click Advertising (Product / Comparison Shopping Engines and Google Adwords)• Google Adsense• Google Analytics / Business Intelligence• Amazon and eBay Marketplace Selling• Basic Accounting with Quickbooks• Wordpress, Joomla, Drupal Site Creation with Focus on Effective SEO and Higher Conversions• Volusion Web Store Setup and Maintenance• Shipping and FulfillmentAlthough many entrepreneurs try to succeed in the eCommerce retail space and fail, I believe that I have the unique ability to help companies excel.

Mission Viejo, California, Us

Co-founded eCommerce retail store selling within three marketplaces – Volusion online store, Amazon and eBay.Consistently grew revenue and traffic each year since inception.Established product line and created online presence.Selected and implemented technology toolset.Manage SEO and SEM.Develop marketing plans to increase traffic and sales.Track ROI for product distribution channels.Utilize Google Analytics to monitor and improve business performance.Technologies: PHP, HTML5, CSS, WordPress, Volusion Web Stores

Carlsbad, Ca, Us

Hired as executive consultant to analyze & improve corporate performance. Brought on full-time within 1 month as VP of Client Services, promoted to CTO within 1 year with continued leadership of Client Services.Executive team member responsible for all aspects of technology & product strategy including product roadmap, software development, quality assurance, user experience, search engine optimization and information systems. Created a high-performing technology team by reducing head count of underperforming engineers, getting the best leaders in place and streamlining Agile processes resulting in an increase in products released, a decrease in deployment timeframes & an increase in the quality of products released. Reduced salaries and increased bottom line by $1M.Significantly increased software quality & stability reducing the number of platform defects by 96% which led to moral and product confidence improvements, an increase in client satisfaction and significant cost savings.Led development of multiple new revenue generating products including a suite of new niche job boards & the addition of a General Classifieds platform to the existing SaaS digital advertising offerings of Careers, Motors & Real Estate. Each product went from concept to production in less than three months. Collaborated with Sales to close 2nd largest client on a highly-customized Careers, Real Estate, Motors & General Classifieds platform for the Middle East market. Led development team and managed client to deliver project on time under extremely aggressive timeline.Served as interim General Manager for new CareerCast division running the day-to-day operations and growing this new sales outsourcing business. Managed 85% of company staff during this period and had P&L responsibilities for both Adicio and CareerCast divisions.Technologies: LAMP (Linux, Apache, PHP, MySQL), PostGreSQL, Solr, Drupal, Joomla.

Technology and operations consulting firm specializing in product design and specifications, software project management, engineering and delivery, development of high-performing teams and achieving efficiencies in the software development process and corporate operations.Ongoing consulting to NTN Buzztime providing leadership to the technology and operations teams. Also participating at the executive level on corporate strategy and initiatives.Supporting a social networking Internet start-up on product vision, specification creation and off-shore development contract negotiations and management.

Carlsbad, California, Us

Led all aspects of technology strategy, software development, quality assurance, information technology and operations including broadcast and ad operations, call center, field service, hardware configuration and repair, shipping and receiving, warehouse, distribution and facilities. Total team size 65. Total budget $12M.Top-graded and expanded software development team, improving system stability and frequency of deployments which resulted in a revitalized product and reduction in churn.Reduced operating costs year over year while improving hardware quality and shipping accuracy; reducing days to install, call center wait times and abandon rate; automated manual tasks with new technologies.Revamped internal controls which led to three successful Sarbanes Oxley audits. Platforms: distributed network, Internet, cable and satellite TV. Technologies: PHP, Java, C#, C++, VB, Torque game engine, MS, Linux and Solaris operating systems. MS SQL, MySQL databases.

Software engineering consulting firm specializing in product design and specifications, software project management, engineering and delivery, development of high-performing teams and achieving efficiencies in the software development process.Created and led software consulting firm providing project execution and delivery to a variety of industries and customers. Industries included eLearning, VOIP, stock trading, cable television and entertainment.Services provided included project management, vision and definition, specifications, software development, quality assurance, software deployment, system administration, online help, user manuals and training.Majority of applications were developed utilizing ASP.NET, C#, Java, C++ and Coldfusion.

Eagan, Mn, Us

Assisted in corporate level strategic planning and responsible for overseeing all aspects of technology strategy and product development.Developed innovative eLearning solution from concept to functional prototype in less than six months in order to introduce the new product at a key industry trade show. Named as co-inventor on three patent applications.Led, mentored and motivated technology team of 25 project managers, software engineers and quality assurance testers through the entire product development life cycle for all company software applications.Implemented formalized systems and product development processes resulting in shorter development and deployment schedulesEstablished and met aggressive development and deployment schedules within pre-planned project budgets.Platforms: Internet, handheld, PC and network based. Technologies: Java, C++, C#, Delphi, VB, MS, Palm and Linux operating systems, MS SQL and Sybase database servers.

Responsibilities included software engineering, systems administration and quality assurance team leadership. Also performed database design and administration, business development, corporate management, invoicing, AP/AR, payroll, and budgeting. Opened US office, including office space lease, equipment, banking and other resource development.Built profitable business base by utilizing personal network and business development skills.Performed system design, project management and product support including ongoing customer interaction to assure client satisfaction and adherence to requirements as well as delivery schedules.Developed online product for existing horse race wagering, and sports book for the New Zealand TAB. Led team that developed lottery website for the Australian lottery and two horse racing sites in the US, Penn National and Playboy Racing.Platform: Internet. Technologies: Java, C++, Linux and IRIX operating systems, Sybase database servers.

Acquired by eBet, Inc.

Management activities included design, development, quality assurance and implementation of applications written by a team of engineers under direct supervision.Development activities included Java coding, designing and maintaining databases.Led team that developed innovative Internet based product for international customer.Platforms: Internet. Technologies: Java, Perl, C++ and Linux operating systems.

Monmouth Junction, Nj, Us

Accountable for software development including project planning, tracking, budgeting, and staffing.Programming activities included designing, developing, testing, debugging, documenting, installing and supporting software. Emphasis on Windows-based applications written in C++. Also developed and supported both Tandem-based applications written in C with embedded SQL and MS-DOS programs written in C. Types of applications consisted of sales commissions, marketing analysis, data extraction, and report generation.Other responsibilities included updating and maintaining software libraries used within the organization.

Atlanta, Ga, Us

Responsible for software development and support at one of the largest cable television offices in the nation.Supported customer billing applications on a Tandem computer system and financial applications running on an IBM AS/400.In addition to supporting third party software packages, developed a variety of custom software applications in C and RPG including inventory, purchasing, accounting, marketing, data extraction, and reporting.Provided hardware and software support for the migration from an IBM System/38 to an IBM AS/400.Participated on a conversion team responsible for implementing a major customer billing software revision.Security Officer responsibility for the IBM AS/400.

San Diego, Ca, Us

Analyzed, designed, developed (COBOL), and documented online real estate database applications. Worked with management in the creation of new products and wrote complete project plans for product development. Provided direct supervision of project team members.

Bachelor'S Degree, Computer Science

Computer Science

Computer Science