Rick Collins Email & Phone Number

The past 4+ years saw me start my own company (at the wrong time with the wrong business partner--with predictable results) and find whatever work I could following the company's failure. Being "lost" in Phoenix (a move made related to my start-up venture), I found that there were few VP jobs in the area--especially for someone with no contacts in my new.

Responsible for estimating, assigning and managing to completion the acquisition and implementation of hardware and operating system software for all new development work on distributed platforms (UNIX and Windows). Role was performed concurrent to the ramp of a start-up business I was establishing (in other words, it paid some bills while I was starting.

Senior management position with accountability for the design and engineering of all mainframe and distributed database systems at Schwab. Managed a staff of 65 senior managers and database professionals with an annual budget of $10 million.

Senior management position with accountability for all database systems (mainframe and distributed) at Visa International. Managed a staff of 40 database professionals with an annual operating budget in excess of $7 million. Among other accomplishments, led the reassessment of DBMS standards and negotiated enterprise license agreements for IBM’s UDB and.

Managed the database function with accountability for all mainframe and distributed DBMS products utilized at Bear Creek. Also defined and introduced formal end-user computing function. Leading a team of business users and IT professionals, developed department’s first IT strategic plan. The plan provided a prioritized roadmap for database and application.

Established and staffed a formal DBA function. Introduced Information Engineering concepts and created the system development methodology that guided all application and database development efforts. Created the Data Administration function. Led first West Coast implementation of DB2. Staff size varied from 10 to 20 professionals.

Following application development roles in the Marine Corps, Powerine Oil and Informatics, I moved to Union Oil where I was trained as an IMS DBA.