Simon L. Email & Phone Number

Aberystwyth, Gb

Aberystwyth, Wales, United Kingdom

https://missingperson.appWe do what the URL says, we help when a person goes missing.

The Lakebed app combines your data from many sources into a central hub (data lake). Use it for dashboards, business intelligence, data-driven apps, and more.My experience at Optimum and Cansure taught me that many (most) companies have data in many different places and need to combine it into a data lake for visual business intelligence dashboards. I decided to start my own company, Lakebed.io, providing a very quick and easy data lake with drag & drop to add new data. I then build visual BI dashboards on that data using Metabase, Tableau, Power BI, R, Python, etc.In less than a day the Lakebed app can:- Be installed & setup a data lake.- Store a data dump from Google Analytics, accounting software, and open weather data.- Create a visual dashboard for easy analysis.

Sadly I was forced to terminate this contract as the company owed me $11,000+. The CEO was "sad to see me go", tried to convince me to stay, and ultimately did pay the money owed. It would seem this CEO is also not willing/able to provide a reference for my work.- Reviewed client legacy code and developed an agile project plan/estimate for upgrade, bug fixes, documentation, and maintenance. - Presented a maintenance plan and upgrade plan as requested, fixed bugs in legacy code, and ultimately rebuilt the application.- The legacy application was so old/out-dated it still uses HTML tables and jQuery AJAX calls. - Built an AR (augmented Reality) web app to allow 3D printing customers to preview their 3D file.- Built an AWS S3 file storage integration with WordPress for a religious organization.- Built an internal dashboard for managing information security event notifications.- Senior front-end (React/Bootstrap) and back-end (PHP, SQL, Bash) developer. - Coached an internal/junior dev in basic web concepts. Coached a PHP contractor on basic application architecture.

A newly created role designed to:1.) Build a Governance, Risk Management, and Compliance (GRC) framework.2.) Formalize business procedures.3.) Identify & leverage business efficiencies.4.) Ensure business resilience and introduce scalability where possible.5.) Streamline audit processes.- Built a standardized audit template resulting in faster audit responses and less need for discussion around audit response.- Audit response time decreased from 18+ months to 2 months.- Received praise from Lloyd’s markets and audit staff on the efficiency of the system, usability, and comprehensiveness.6.) Support efficient, effective use of technology.- Built, operated, and maintained a data lake on 2 distributed servers within the office network.- The data lake was able to import 1,800,000+ rows from 4,200+ Excel spreadsheets in less than 24 hours.- Brought the data from ~24,000 claims in ~2,000 spreadsheets into the data lake and built a tool for searching claims. Underwriters used this tool for renewals rather than discussing each renewal and each claim with the claims staff.- Built reports combining all spreadsheets of underwriting and claims data. These reports were used in Lloyd’s contract negotiations to show immediate impact of management decisions.- Built an online insurance quote tool in 2 months that worked within Lloyds’ requirements for human review of policies prior to binding. The tool was so efficient and easy to use it was preferred by internal underwriting staff as well.- Built an online policy renewal system in 4 months that was integrated in an associations website for the members’ use. Within specified criteria association members could fill out renewal details, obtain a quote, issue a policy, and pay by credit card.

Optimum’s head office was in Montreal and since the company was owned and operated by actuaries they loved their data. They had performance management requirements for all employees related to how quickly they handled insurance applications, the number quoted, the number of policies bound, and the speed of policy issuance. Unfortunately while head office required that these measures be met they did not have tools for management to see or understand employee performance related to the measures. Senior leadership in the Vancouver office had built workflows around Excel where every new application was entered a second time in a separate Excel file for the sole purpose of performance management. This proved incredibly inefficient, could not scale, and could not meet more complex requirements (identifying duplicate entries). Initially I built a data entry form and application for managing insurance applications. Over the course of 2 years I built the internal web application out to handle renewals, handle paperless file storage, and provide all the real-time reports as needed. It was estimated the application saved ~200 employee hours and ~10,000 pages of paper per month. At the end of my time at Optimum I was asked to translate the application into French and release it to the companies other 6 offices across Canada, which would have been a full time job in itself. I was also asked to meet with 300 insurance brokers over the coming year in my Business Development Manager role, which also would have been a full time job. I was also asked to produce $70,000 of newly bound insurance premium in my role as senior underwriter, which also would have been a full time job

Burnaby, Bc

- New and renewal commercial underwriting of hard to place property & casualty risks.- Handled all E&O renewals and majority of new business. Tasked with comparing wordings of existing and newly negotiated E&O contracts.- 95% approval rate for unique Lloyd’s submissions falling outside the contract authority and 50% quote rate for open market placements. Complimented by both liability contract underwriters for the professionalism and effectiveness of referrals.- Marketing including broker visits and tradeshow attendance.- Selected a dedicated server sufficient for financial services web applications and wrote a web application plan including security, programming language, database architecture, and server.- Responsible for office technology support including phone systems, network setup & security, virus protection & removal, patch management, and educating staff on IT risks. Currently upgrading the last 4 computers from Windows XP.- Responsible for corporate website updates, some social media, email marketing, and compliance with Can-Spam anti spam laws.- Finalized updating the last of 4 computers to Windows 7 from XP. - While it was expected that renewal terms were sent 30 days prior to renewal upon resignation I took care of all renewals up to 45 days in advance to ensure a smooth transition.- Upon resignation completed a program renewal 60 days in advance that accounted for $50,000+ annual premium, again to ensure a smooth transition.

- Entirely responsible for new Western office as previously the company only had a Toronto office.- Developed a new adventure tourism program using a domestic carrier, which carried a 3% loss ratio for the first 2 years.- Niche commercial underwriting including sports, leisure, special events, and some film risks. Primarily handled liability but did work on some challenging property floaters and technology E&O risks.- Responsible for all marketing and underwriting in Western Canada.- Initially had very few submissions each month and grew the office to 50+ submissions per month.- Assisted in training replacement prior to leaving and ensured a smooth transition.

IDEAS is a non-profit organization devoted to education & awareness of intestinal diseases such as crohns, colitis, ostomies, etc.

- My co-worker and I negotiated a new sports & leisure contract with Lloyd’s.- Created rates, underwriting, applications, underwriting manual, and marketing for new sports & leisure division.- Grew the new division from 0 submissions per month to 20-30 per month.

Lions Bay SAR is a non-profit search and rescue organization working in the Lions Bay area and North Shore of Vancouver, BC. They carry out land & shoreline searches under the direction of the Provincial Emergency Program and the RCMP in addition to fundraising events to fund the day-to-day operation of the society.

At KRG I was a general broker assisting clients with auto, personal lines, and commercial lines insurance policies. I was generally responsible for marketing submissions, obtaining coverage, and reviewing with clients.