Ross Patterson Email & Phone Number

Shepherdstown, Wv, Us

Since retiring from daily work, I am advising clients on software and software engineering topics on a limited basis.

Seattle, Wa, Us

My team and I automated manual activities related to accelerating AWS's entry into new geographic territories

Redmond, Washington, Us

Microsoft acquired Parature, Inc. in February 2014, and incorporated it into the Microsoft Business Systems Group’s Dynamics CRM product group. Parature’s various teams operated as a cohesive unit within Dynamics for several years, and were eventually dispersed and fully merged into the rest of the group. The group is currently known as the Microsoft Business Applications Group.As a Principal Site Reliability Engineering Manager, I reported to the General Manager of Site Reliability Engineering for Microsoft Dynamics. My team and I were responsible for deployment and operation of the entire Parature service, including colo-hosted and cloud systems and networks, as well as security compliance. Starting in 2015, I added responsibility for all operational aspects of the Dynamics365 Portals service, a consumer-focused, cloud-based web portal for Dynamics365 CRM instances. Starting in 2018, my team and I began automating manual operational activities for the core Dynamics365 product.

Reston, Va, Us

Parature was a small software company that developed a customer support application, and operated it in a multitenant, software-as-a-service model. The system was built using a combination of C#, .NET, ASP, Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Internet Information Server, Microsoft MQ, and a number of open source or third party components, and delivered a rich experience to customer support representatives and the customers they supported. Parature was acquired by Microsoft in February 2014 as a part of its Microsoft Dynamics business unit.I held several technical positions, starting as a senior software developer on the Quality Assurance team. In my final position as the Director of Operations, I reported to the CTO. My team and I were responsible for the deployment and operation of the entire product system, including colo-hosted and cloud systems and networks, as well as security compliance and disaster recovery.

Cernium developed several video-based security products for differing markets, based on a proprietary, patented video behavior-detection system, and sold them both directly, and through a variety of indirect channels. The products were built using either C#, .NET, ASP.NET, and SQL Server on Windows, or PHP, Python, and MySQL on Ubuntu Linux. Cernium’s Archerfish product was introduced at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Expo and was named one of the most innovative products in the Design & Engineering category.As the Director of Software Development, I reported to the CTO and was responsible for planning product release features in concert with several Product Managers, and for building and executing plans to deliver those releases on schedule and budget. My team and I were responsible for all of the product software with the exception of the firmware of the Archerfish hardware device.

Consulting on software product development and acquisitions of companies doing it.

Us

Q.Know was a software startup company that developed and sold an automatic, associative, tagged file storage and collaborative work system integrated into Microsoft’s Office product suite, especially in the Outlook email client. It was used by a number of small but high-risk insurance companies to manage high-valued contracts. The product consisted of over 500,000 lines of C#, Web Services, and SQL Server stored procedures, including a heavy client embedded seamlessly inside Outlook.As the Senior Director of Development, I reported to the CTO. I managed and grew a team of 10 senior developers with all the conflict and finesse that implies. I translated Product Management’s requirements into development plans and helped my team track against them.

Us

Consul was a Dutch security software company that built and sold products that help large companies ensure their compliance with security standards on a wide variety of network and computing platforms. The company moved most of its management operations to the USA, and was acquired by IBM’s Tivoli business unit in late 2006.I joined Consul just as it was acquiring the assets of a small network monitoring software company, and quickly became responsible for building a small team of developers to turn the assets into Consul’s InSight Security Event Manager (SEM) product.

NetPrecept was short-lived British startup company formed to ensure availability for high-volume web content providers using the CatchFIRE Systems model, delivered as a software-only solution.As CTO, I defined the business strategy in concert with my co-founders, and defined and executed technical plans to prepare us for entry into the market. I planned, and my lead engineer and I executed, a product turn-around from a hardware-focused network appliance to a pure-software product.

CatchFIRE Systems was an early-phase startup company providing patented Internet Demand Management capabilities to Internet service providers and enterprise organizations, via a custom-built network appliance, the FIRENode, and a highly modified TCP/IP implementation based on the NetBSD Unix system. The FIRENode's Visitor Management software provided real-time assurance of web application availability through visibility and control of the visitors and transactions at those applications.As the CTO, I defined and executed the technical strategy, and managed the technical relationships with our suppliers and overseas distributors.

San Jose, California, Us

Computer Associates was one of the largest software companies in the world in 2000. I joined CA with the Sterling Software acquisition in mid-2000, and was assigned as a programmer to a team charged with moving the company’s products from Linux on Intel hardware to Linux on IBM mainframes.Among other projects, I ported the open source Kaffe Java environment, allowing another team to port CA’s flagship Unicenter TNG network management system as the first Java application on mainframe Linux, well in advance of native Java support, and contributed the necessary changes back to the Kaffe community.

Sterling Software was one of the top 5 software companies at its acquisition by Computer Associates in mid-2000, with 12 product divisions and worldwide sales and development organizations.As the Senior Systems Architect, I was the only technical member of a small team chartered by corporate headquarters to create a new division focused on “web management”, including defining what that meant. I guided the technical strategy, functioning as the divisional CTO. I represented both the R&D and the technical operations aspects of the business both internally and externally. I identified and researched target companies for acquisition and partnership, performed technical evaluations, and engaged in CxO-level business and technology discussions.

Sterling Software’s VM Software Division was the dominant provider of system management and web application software products for mainframe computers running IBM’s VM family of operating systems. Its products were used by hundreds of large enterprises in mission-critical operations ranging from high finance to space travel.Over the course of ten years, I held a series of senior programming positions with increasing levels of responsibility and authority. I was involved in or oversaw the creation of six new products, and supported or enhanced five others. I designed the VM:Webgateway web server product, and was responsible for the VM Internet product technical direction.

New Brunswick, Nj, Us

The Center for Computer and Information Services was responsible for providing computing capabilities to most academic departments at Rutgers University. I held several positions of increasing responsibility and authority, culminating as an Associate Director responsible for system support and operations of the mainframe computing facility.

The New Jersey Educational Computer Network was a semi-independent corporation chartered by the State of New Jersey to provide computing facilities for all the NJ state colleges. I held a series of mainframe systems programming and supervisory positions over the course of six years. I was personally responsible for several system components, and was at times responsible for training junior staff.

Computer Science

Education record