Supported the mission of The JASON Project via a series of positions of increasing responsibility while it was under the direct control of National Geographic. JASON is a 501c3 non-profit with the mission of improving Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education by connecting students and their teachers to real scientists, explorers and technical professionals. The connections JASON created for children and K-12 educators consisted of full multimedia curriculum, live interactive events, live-streaming of real expeditions, citizen science, teacher professional development, and more.- Managed system engineers, software developers and content/QA personnel, ranging from 5 to 11 team members over this time period- Developed and managed technology-related and live-programming-related budgets- Developed and implemented strategies for internal technology and client-facing technology products, such as cloud migrations, tablet-optimization, game development and Flash conversion, etc.- Participated in JASON board meetings as needed.- Led system engineering lead design and implementation of an award-winning platform that evolved JASON from an annual expedition model to an “evergreen” model with an expanding resource set and year-round interaction. This system included alignment and search of all resources by a wide variety of educational alignment frameworks, including state, national and international frameworks.- Planned and completed a move from a colocation web infrastructure model to a cloud-based model, cutting costs by more than half while increasing scalability and redundancy.- Moved from Microsoft Exchange Server on-site to Google Apps cloud services.- Worked in a mixed-platform environment with Windows and Linux operating systems; .NET applications and PHP/Drupal open source applications; MS SQL, MySQL and Oracle databases, and Amazon and Microsoft Azure cloud services.

Provided services in-house, for client pre-sales, and for development engagements for this Microsoft Partner, which specialized in high-end online grant processing systems. Clients included “Howard Hughes Medical Institute”, “March of Dimes”, “Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation”, “Ellison Medical Foundation” and many others. Worked extensively with development project teams to design, implement, and maintain complex security and network infrastructures for web-based solutions and client internal networks.Hired, trained, and managed junior systems engineers. Provided pre-sales support. Primary resource for hosted solution network design, costing of hosting equipment and services, and labor estimates for system engineering components of projects. Worked closely with Development Technical Leads and Implementation Managers to resolve complex technical issues in situations that often involve very tight Service Level Agreements. Redesigned internal network and security infrastructure to prepare for company growth and addition of web hosting option for key clients. Provided extensive support of Microsoft products, including IIS, SQL Server, Exchange, DHCP, WINS, DNS. Assisted in planning and move to MS .NET development environment. Designed, implemented, and managed security for various networks, including internal LANs and web solutions. Security measures included firewalls, VPNs, IPSec Policies, Active Directory centralized authentication and authorization, file and directory level permissions, and other application-specific security. Installed, configured, and maintained Cisco PIX firewalls and routers. Established and maintained PKI services, using Thawte’s PKI program. Maintained VPN hardware and software configuration for remote access to internal network. Planned and led the move of hosting services to industry-leading colocation infrastructure provider. Maintained 24x7 coverage of hosted solutions, using real-time monitoring and alerts.

Worked with various retail and banking stakeholders in Lebanon on implementation of e-commerce solutions. Developed a set of E-Commerce solutions for a start-up company in Beirut, Lebanon. Obtained agreements from various businesses, including a well-known supermarket chain, to participate in our online “mall” and supermarket. Hired and managed two developers and a marketing resource. Developed database-driven Web solutions with Microsoft Site Server Commerce Edition and Microsoft SQL Server databases with heavily customized Active Server Pages (ASP). Utilized Visual Interdev and SourceSafe as well as application-specific management tools for software development. Created and customized ASP pages with HTML, Visual Basic Script, JavaScript, and XML. Created and customized SQL Server and MS Access databases for E-Commerce web sites. Created processes to import data from clients’ Informix and Sybase databases for use in Web applications. Worked with local and European financial services companies to arrange secure, real-time online payment services. Coordinated with local Internet Service Providers for the hosting of Web sites. Arranged contract with a US-based hosting company for the hosting of E-Commerce solutions.

Provided direct support for the production servers and frame relay network for the sales offices and engineering sites in the Central Region and Southern Region of North American Operations as well as pre-sales support for this server manufacturing company, which was eventually acquired by IBM. Also provided backup support for the other three regions in North American operations. Performed extensive administration of Windows NT 4.0 and 3.51 servers in a complex, multi-domain environment with Windows NT and UNIX servers. Installed and assisted in troubleshooting Cisco routers for Sequent’s international private network. Implemented and maintained security - including managing centralized authentication and authorization in a multi-master domain model, file and directory level permissions, and other application-specific security. Participated in the upgrade of all North American domain controllers and file servers to NT 4.0 Server. Assisted in development projects for Sequent’s intranet Web servers. Participated in the worldwide Year 2000 rollout, which involved traveling to each office and upgrading or replacing all servers and workstations. Handled second-level and third-level support for end-user laptop and desktop computers running Windows NT, Windows 95 and Windows 3.11. Assisted Sequent’s “Professional Services” consulting group in developing sales proposals and technical solutions for large-scale databases and applications on Sequent NT servers. Solutions included an Oracle 8 database solution for the telecommunications industry and a proof of concept with Windows Terminal Server and MS SQL Server for the travel industry. After two years in this position, I was presented a formal offer to join Sequent’s “Professional Services” consulting group, but decided to pursue an opportunity to start my own business overseas.