Rick Barley Email & Phone Number

Asheville, North Carolina Area

Kapchorwa, Uganda

At the start of 2016, I followed an unexpected opportunity to eastern Uganda, where I managed all business operations at Sipi River Lodge on Mount Elgon. My primary areas of focus were prioritizing excellent customer service and community relations, managing major building and renovation projects, and implementing new, appropriate technologies to streamline key business functions. Sipi River Lodge upholds a reputation as the premiere destination for visitors to the famous Sipi Falls region of Uganda, offering accommodation, meals, world class arabica coffee, and adventure activities. In all aspects of its business, Sipi River Lodge strives to maintain a strong, positive presence in the local community.• Supervised 35 staff in seven departments and managed all business operations during the highest revenue-generating fiscal year in the company’s ten year history• Managed the development and launch of a Wordpress website to satisfy the requirements of lodge ownership and better meet customer needs• Created, tested, and implemented an electronic, direct deposit payroll system to replace cash-based monthly wage payments to staff• Implemented a zero-cost, online gateway to accept credit card payments, bank transfers, and mobile money deposits from clients• Managed new-building construction and renovation projects, coordinating all related resources• Organized bulk coffee purchases by meeting with farmers, evaluating coffee type and quality, and instituting a single-stream, small-batch roasting process to satisfy on-site restaurant and resale requirements

New York, Ny

In my time at Bard Graduate Center, I was fortunate to take on an evolving set of responsibilities and technical challenges that proved enriching, both personally and professionally. In my most recent role as Director of IT, I handled departmental budgets, hiring and recruitment, project management, strategic planning, system evaluation and implementation, and vendor relations.• Supervised BGC’s IT department, including two full-time staff members, eight student assistants, and numerous integration partners• Managed a team of contract engineers during major technology replacement projects, including virtualization of 19 legacy servers using VMware on IBM hardware; migration of file server data; introduction of PaperCut print management software; launch of a Citrix XenApp environment for remote access; and configuration of an AdTran BlueSocket vWLAN for institutional wireless• Coordinated a staged transition from an on-premises email server to Google Apps for Education, including user account and password synchronization between Active Directory and Google• Successfully directed BGC’s upgrade from an aging on-premises phone system to a hosted VoIP solution• Researched, tested, and implemented a comprehensive, cost-effective video streaming infrastructure for broadcasting BGC's public events live on YouTube• Established a help desk ticketing system to improve issue tracking and management of support requests, while keeping it easy for end-users to request help

Greater New York City Area

Recognized as a top performer, I was promoted and given a management role within BGC's IT department. This step forward coincided with the development of a strategic plan for IT. With the help of a consultant, we established a multi-year work plan to upgrade the institution's infrastructure, and I agreed to take ownership of that plan's execution.Over the next several years, I led a systematic effort to upgrade BGC's email, server, network, phone, and print systems by issuing RFPs, evaluating vendors and proposed technologies, and implementing the chosen solutions.

Greater New York City Area

After concluding my Peace Corps service, I moved to New York City and began working at Bard Graduate Center, a small but intellectually powerful Bard-affiliated institute on Manhattan's Upper West Side. As Academic Computing Specialist, I provided technical support and training to BGC's user community, aiming to ensure that our technology resources were always enabling and never obstructing their work.

Baltimore, Maryland Area

As part of my computer science coursework at Loyola, I was exposed to the potential of database-powered websites, and my enthusiasm for that branch of coding shaped the first six years of my professional career. My role at Maryland Institute College of Art, initially focused on technology training, soon became dedicated almost entirely to web development. I built numerous significant web applications from scratch using ColdFusion, SQL Server, ASP, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. • Designed and developed a series of robust, database-driven web applications to extend functionality of campus systems (e.g. Peoplesoft, LDAP) and streamline business processes such as institutional purchasing, equipment loan management, online class registration, and website content administration• Created a library of reusable code using which could be referenced to quickly add user authentication or content management to new web applications• Organized and facilitated training presentations for faculty and staff of the college, focused on the utilization of software and other technological resources to improve efficiency in both classroom and office settings.

Baltimore, Maryland Area

In the course of my web development work, primarily at MICA, I met numerous artists and entrepreneurs who needed help with their online presence. The custom websites I offered were always coupled with a back-end, web-based content management system. In the days before WordPress, Squarespace, and Wix, my homemade CMS offered clients an easy way to take full control of their site's content.• Consulted with numerous business- and arts-based clients to translate their design and end-user experience requirements into a web-based solution with extensively customized content management controls• Designed and programmed websites and custom-built content management systems using ASP, ColdFusion, SQL, JavaScript, and CSS, while encouraging client involvement throughout the site development process to verify site functionality and ensure satisfaction