Swyfft is a fast-moving insurance company that totally gets why people don't normally use "fast-moving" and "insurance company" in the same sentence - and wants to change that.I'm the CTO there, which mostly means me trying to keep up with the amazingly smart people I get to work with.

Payboard increased signups and sales with automated conversion boosters, industry-leading path analysis, and innovative email campaigns. I met regularly with customers, controlled the product roadmap, managed the development process, and wrote the lion’s share of the code. Specifically:- Drove product strategy and vision, based on the intersection of business requirements and realistic technical capabilities. Provided technical feasibility analysis to guide marketing decisions and met regularly with customers to better understand their needs and our opportunities.- Successfully shipped a complex cloud solution. Architected and coded a horizontally scalable system based on Windows Azure, utilizing SQL and No-SQL data stores, tiered caching, asynchronous queueing, VM’s for batch processes, and a combination of web sites and worker roles. Achieved aggressive performance and scalability targets using parallel and asynchronous code patterns.- Established agile development processes and tools. Instituted best practices around unit tests and continuous integration. Evaluated, selected and implemented appropriate SCM and project management solutions. Wrote thousands of automated unit and integration tests.

Alanta is a startup dedicated to creating high-quality browser-based communication solutions. As a co-founder, I helped to define the business strategy, designed the overall architecture, managed the development team, and contributed significant portions of the code. Specifically:- Successfully shipped a complex product with > 100klocs. Architected and contributed significant amounts of code to Alanta’s client, website, web service, database, document server and media server. Refactored existing C++ media server from 25klocs to 8klocs, resulting in 50x performance improvement.- Developed the world’s first high-quality browser-based audio and video stack. Ported an existing C-based audio enhancement stack to C#, and integrated it into our Silverlight-based solution. Created a flexible video codec, optimized for webcams, with minimal bandwidth and CPU requirements.- Managed a distributed development team, with members in Russia, the Ukraine and Canada. Instituted best practices around collaboration, SCM and code reviews.

As one of the co-founders of Zango, I was responsible for providing strategic and technology leadership during the ups-and-downs of a fast-moving, highly dynamic dot-com existence. I designed and implemented the high-volume advertising and content delivery systems which enabled Zango’s revenues to grow from zero to $78MM annually. I built a department that placed a premium on culture, loyalty and trust, one of the key reasons Zango was repeatedly acknowledged by the Puget Sound Business Journal as one of the best companies in Washington state to work for.- Oversaw the technology due diligence and spear-headed the integration for four international acquisitions, two in Canada and two in Israel, with an aggregate worth of some $80MM. In each of these acquisitions, due to an aggressive technology integration, Zango was able to achieve planned revenue synergies within 4-6 weeks.- Responsible for Zango’s $10MM annual IT budget. Changing business conditions resulted in frequent adjustments to this budget, either up or down; we successfully navigated these changes by constantly reviewing expenditures, merging redundant data centers, renegotiating contracts, ruthlessly prioritizing, and, where necessary, adjusting our staffing levels.- Grew Zango’s IT department from startup to 90 employees, spread across four offices, three countries and 10 time zones. In doing so, we encountered all the problems you would expect: cultural differences, language gaps, inadequate and mismatched processes. We dealt with these by building trust: through regular travel, constant trans-Atlantic meetings, and the creation of a culture which valued fun and loyalty, experimentation and risk-taking.

As a senior architect in Mentor Graphics’ IT department, I was responsible for researching, recommending, architecting and piloting business technology solutions for Mentor Graphics’ global business. Specifically:- Provided architectural guidance and project management consulting when Mentor switched its 3000-node network from Unix and Mac to Windows NT and associated MS technologies. I worked with local staff to plan the upgrades to more than 50 offices, and toured the US, Europe and Asia to provide oversight during the actual transition process.- Researched and recommended solutions for numerous business and IT problems, including business workflow and document management, email and collaboration, desktop management, n-tier development architectures, ERP integration, CRM and SFA. This involvement gave me a wide range of hands-on experience with technologies such as DCOM/CORBA, MSMQ, Active Directory, LDAP, Documentum, Siebel, SMS, Exchange, SQL Server, Lotus Notes, and SAP. I had the opportunity to write both prototype and production code in a wide range of languages, including VB, VBScript, JavaScript, Perl, ABAP, and SQL.

IndyMac was a leader in providing innovative funding products for mortgage brokers and lenders. I was one of the first 50 employees at IndyMac, and was responsible for designing and implementing every aspect of their operational infrastructure.- Redesigned IndyMac’s infrastructure from the ground up. Designed and implemented a Windows NT infrastructure running on a switched TCP/IP network in a raised-floor server room. Managed IndyMac’s initial move onto the Internet. The resulting infrastructure supported $30MM in mission-critical transactions daily.- Hired and managed PC Support and Network Operations team, serving as team leader and ultimate technical escalation point.

After finishing my M.A. in 1992, I worked at several temp jobs before being hired at Countrywide as an end-user support analyst. This was an entry-level position, with high customer service requirements, and a great opportunity to improve my technical skills. Over the next year and a half, I learned everything I could about computers and networks, and positioned my career for further growth.