Robert "Bud" James

Functional Bio

Overview 

An accomplished Executive Manager of Information Technology with demonstrated success developing strategies and directing technology initiatives that produce high levels of performance and profitability. 

Track record for developing state-of-the-art system architectures with significant exposure to complex, multi-location systems, Storage Area Networks, security, and high volume environments. 

Extensive experience designing, modeling and managing the hardware and software development life cycle from inception to commercial delivery of world-class products. 

Established standards for NACHA ATM merchant eCommerce system, and processed the world’s first fully secure ATM debit card transaction over the Internet using Digital Signature technology.

Enthusiastic leader, with proven ability to build, challenge and motivate teams in order to maximize levels of productivity. 

Excellent communicator, skilled in documentation development, public speaking, training, proposal writing, and contract negotiation. 

Recognized for pioneering innovative solutions with deep understanding of how technology impacts business.

Industry Experience

Education

Bachelor of Science in Computer Information Systems, Excelsior College, Albany, NY, 2004

Additional Colleges: University of Redlands, Loma Linda University, U.S. Air Force Academy

Professional Certifications and Training

Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE W2K/NT, MCSA, MCP+I)  MCP ID# 1489659.

Unisys Enterprise ES7000, Server Sentinel, Application Sentinel  - Unisys Corporation

Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) Foundations

Rational Rose Fundamentals, Rational Corporation

Hewlett Packard training includes:

Pick training includes:

Attended numerous Sales and Management training programs given by:

Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) I.

Management Areas of Expertise

Technical Expertise

Systems:
Windows (Datacenter, Advanced/Enterprise Server, 2003, 2000, NT, 9.x, 3.x)
Unix (HP-UX, IBM AIX, SCO, Linux) 
Pick (UniVerse, Unidata, Ardent, Advanced Pick, Reality, and Mentor), Primos

Hardware:
HP XP256/XP512 and EMC Clariion SANs, Compaq Disk Arrays, HP Optical Storage Arrays, Brocade and Foundry Switches, Cisco Load Balancers, Nokia firewalls, Fibre Channel, Modems, Hubs, Routers, Proxy Servers, Firewalls, Repeaters, Multiplexers, Terminal Servers, Tape Stackers, Raid Arrays, DTCs, Point of Sale devices, Printers, customized Telecommunications Matrix and Line cards, and others

CPU / SPU:
Unisys ES7000, HP 9000, IBM RS6000 & RT, Sun Enterprise & UltraSparc, Compaq, Data General, Prime, McDonnell Douglas, ICON/Sanyo, Datamedia, Fujitsu, Adds 

Software:
Server Sentinel, Application Sentinel, CSSizer, NetIQ App Manager, MS Project, MS Office, MS IIS, MS Exchange Server, MS Front Page, MS Proxy Server, MS SQL 7.0, MS Back Office Server, Visio, Oracle 8i, Lotus SmartSuite, Word Perfect, MS Visual Source Safe, Xoftware, Via Duct, ProComm, pcAnywhere, Norton Utilities, and more

Languages:
UML, Rational Rose, HTML, XML, PTML, Info Basic, Inform, Proc, Pick Basic, UHL (4th GL), Unix C Shell Script, MS VB, MFC, FoxPro, dBase X

Networks/ Protocols:
LAN/WAN, NT/2000/AD, VPN, PPP, TCP/IP, Ethernet, Token Ring, IPX/SPX, FDDI, PPP, NFS, SNMP, UDP, NAS, SLIP

Public Speaking

Have appeared on television (TechTV, UPN, Microsoft TSP-TV) and numerous talk radio shows on various Internet security topics.  I have also been on number of panels as a key speaker and presenter.

Click here if you would like to see a video of Bud's discussion on Internet Security

Click here if you would like to hear a panel discussion on Internet Privacy with the Association of Internet Professionals

Certified member of  Toastmasters International (CTM) and am currently the VP Education of the Reveilliers Toastmasters Club in Sacramento

Bud is a Certified Instructor for the following, and has personally trained over 3,500 individuals within these programs at locations all over the world:

Publications

Professional Memberships:

Toastmasters, International
Silicon Valley Association of Start-Up Entrepreneurs (SVASE)
San Diego Software and Internet Council (SDSIC)
Association of Internet Technology Professionals (AITP)

Professional Experience

Mar 2002 - Present

Unisys Corporation

Lead Systems Architect

Sacramento / Silicon Valley, California

Recruited as the Lead Systems Architect for the Unisys Microsoft Practice Group in Northern California. Our team focuses on providing Microsoft and Best Practices services to large-scale customers in both the public and private sectors. We work closely with Microsoft Consulting Services and other partners to deliver state-of-the-art multi-million dollar Windows hardware and software platforms centered on the 32+ CPU Unisys ES7000. Was selected as key speaker for many workshops and presentations to clients and partners on system architecture and consolidation, including Microsoft Global Briefing (MGB). Key engagements include:

Jan 2001 - Mar 2002

The CMI - The Complete Market Interface

Chief Technical Officer

Walnut Creek, California

The Complete Market Interface ("The CMI") is a Software and Service Provider offering a disruptive patent-pending technology that provides the power to design and source multi-vendor systems in real-time. The CMI Intelligent Design System (IDS)© combined with The CMI Knowledgebase© supports users through the entire lifecycle of designing, analyzing, configuring, purchasing and maintaining complex, multi-tiered, multi-vendor systems.

May 2000 - Jan 2001

MySpace.com

Chief Technical Officer

San Francisco, California

Myspace.com was a B2C Internet start-up that provided 24+ Terabytes of disk space online to its ever-growing user-base of 6 million users. My staff of over 28 and I were responsible for all hardware and software in this primarily Hewlett Packard based infrastructure which at it’s peak supported a growth rate of 15-30k users per day, and consumed an additional Terabyte of disk space every 10-14 days.

June 1999 – May 2000

A-OK.Net

Chief Technical Officer

Los Angeles, California

I was asked to join this Internet start-up that focused on processing financial transactions over the Internet as CTO. In this role, I was tasked with moving the company from a pure research mode into a highly focused production company. While some elements of creating a successful and secure Internet transaction were outlined, many aspects were missing. To fully accomplish the mission, I designed the entire hardware and software infrastructure required for a highly secure, highly available online transaction processing system capable of more than 50 million Internet based financial transactions per month. With the help of Deloitte & Touche, we created the equivalent of “Fort Knox” on the Internet. After assembling the team necessary to build and implement the entire system, we processed the world’s first ATM transaction over the Internet using Digital Signatures.

Some highlights of my job included:

In April 2000, due to the drastic downswing in High Technology stocks, the company was unable to obtain it’s “C” round funding and was forced to close it’s doors.

April 1995 - June 1999

1mage Software, Inc. / Brook Hollow, Inc.

Director of Technical Services / VP of Technical Services

Englewood, Colorado / Sacramento, California

1mage Software was one of the leading Document Imaging providers to the transportation industry. I was initially brought into the firm as the Director of Technical Services to assist the President in turning around a somewhat out of control situation. 1mage Software had been creating a very powerful but rather buggy Imaging product that was causing a great deal of customer dissatisfaction. My department was basically responsible for everything except marketing and accounting.

At that time the President left the company and created Brook Hollow, Inc., as a VAR for 1mage. My duties increased to also being responsible for supporting all of 1mage’s resellers as well. In this capacity I was called on to train resellers both at the Englewood office and on two occasions was sent to London, England at Vmark’s recommendation to run week long training classes and assist our customer (Travis Perkins) programming team in utilizing the API interfaces to the 1mage product. This new stable platform has allowed 1mage Software to branch out their reselling activity into hospitals, manufacturing, distribution, automotive, and oil companies.

I was asked to join BHI as Vice President of Technical Services in 1996. In this capacity I was responsible for all software, hardware, installation, training, and support of all BHI’s Document Imaging sites. Our technical team consisted of three installer/trainers, four programmers, two customer service reps., and five consultants, located in California, Washington, Colorado, Texas, and New York. As of 1999 we had over 20 installed systems representing over $4 million in total hardware and software.

At the core of our Imaging System is proprietary AIX Unix based data mining and Legacy (AS/400, Unix, NT) interface software I designed and co-authored in Unidata/UniVerse which gives us a very powerful marketing edge over our competition.

To support our growth into new markets, I designed an entirely new Document Imaging product line (called Doc-Link©) using a three-tier COM methodology using MS Visual Basic and MS SQL Server on MS Windows NT fully integrated with MS Back Office.  Doc-Link© is fully Year 2000  compliant, and is getting rave reviews from the new users!

April 1992 - April 1995

Meridian Products, Inc.

Director of Management Information Services

Santa Fe Springs, California

I was recruited into this $250 million importer and distributor of seafood products as their very first MIS employee in March of 1993. Although this then 17 year old firm had an automated invoicing and accounting system for the previous 10+ years, many aspects of the company (including inventory) were manual. All MIS work was contracted out, and primarily to one contractor. My charter was to help Meridian "come into the 90’s", "increase capacity", and greatly enhance the information flow through the system.

After an exhaustive analysis, I proposed a complete new hardware and software environment to Meridian’s management team, including recommendations for a new commitment by management to the long-term growth and survivability of their Information Systems. They agreed and I began work on an entirely new approach to managing our data which I coined Global View. After writing the detailed specifications, I assembled a team of four consultants to work on Global View and hired a full time Senior Programmer to work on modifying and supporting the existing system. Further, I contracted with the previous consultant to do hardware interface work and supervise the changes needed to be made by the A/P & G/L subsystem’s vendor. The initial development work (Phase 1) took about 10 months to complete and provided the user with a "point and shoot" methodology to view anything in Meridian’s inventory anywhere in the world. Phase 2 was completed approximately 6 months later and provides a real-time, closed-loop order entry and inventory control system.

In order to support the users in all four of Meridian’s offices (in California, Washington, New Jersey, and Texas) and deal with the greatly increased overhead of a visually based software environment, I designed a wide area network (WAN) using full and fractional T1 connections to each of the branch offices. (Frame Relay or Internet will eventually replace the point-to-point system.) The network utilizes TCP/IP over HP routers, hubs and DTC’s, and is based on an HP U/X platform supervised by an HP Open View Network Controller. In order to insure total system survivability (a major concern in earthquake prone southern California) I replaced their IBM R.T. system with an HP 9000 series G60 minicomputer in the California office with a real-time "continuous hot-backup" system in their New Jersey office (an HP 9000 series E45). In case of a major failure, the User is automatically connected to the New Jersey system until the primary system is put back on line. Meridian’s unique success attracted a very favorable buy-out by ConAgra which prompted me to look for other opportunities.

January 1989 - April 1992

Voice Direct Inc./ ACCESS!, Inc.

Vice President of MIS / Vice President of Sales

Culver City, California

Joined as VP - Management Information Systems when Voice Direct was first formed. I was tasked with setting up their 200 user $1.2 million Prime 6655 and their $1.4 million Northern Telecom SL-1 PBX. The company’s initial charter was to create the largest Telemarketing firm on the West Coast. In the process of evaluating Predictive Dialing equipment for the company’s use, it became apparent that it would be more cost effective to acquire a Predictive Dialing manufacturer than to simply purchase their product. After finding a suitable company in Ohio, the President and I flew there for initial evaluation and acquisition. He returned to California, I remained in Ohio and spent the next 6 months re-organizing the company, supervising Dialer assembly, Telemarketers, and personally closed nearly $250K in Dialer sales. I also supervised and assisted in authoring the complete redesign of the Dialer from a CP/M, C-Basic, S-100 system to a PC DOS based platform using Microsoft C, Assembler, and FoxPro.

After my return from Ohio, I helped organize, author, and implement a $1.5 million telemarketing campaign for a Long Distance Telephone Carrier company. The campaign was successful but short-lived, and Voice Direct’s efforts were refocused to strictly manufacturing Predictive Dialers. I was laterally promoted to VP - Sales and closed another $150K of systems within 6 weeks. Due to severe mismanagement of the firm by the President, the Investor group decided to close down the venture.

Three of the remaining employees and I created a new company (ACCESS!) to provide sales service and support to the then existing client base. I wrote the business plan for the firm and helped launch the company. We did very well, but the scaled-down venture was not capable of supporting four salaries. I opted to sell out my share to my partners in order to assist in their financial success. They are doing quite well today and have over 100 clients nationwide.

1983 - 1989

Multiple Access Software Co., Inc. (MASCo)

Systems Analyst, Programmer, President - Owner

Chino, California

Developed a successful computer software development and consulting company (which I sold in 1989) specializing in Pick, Pick on Unix, Prime Information, and DOS. My primary duties were to provide the Client with a complete analysis of their company and define how to best automate their business. In addition to Sales and Marketing, I did system level analysis work on all packages and authored many of them.

Some of the larger projects included:

For Lehman Medical, a $30 million Out Patient Medical Clinic:

Replaced a LAN based microcomputer with a mini utilizing Prime Information and a 4th Generation Language called UHL. I personally re-designed the entire Medical Billing and Patient tracking system for the six-clinic environment. The new system was operational in 60 days and billing $4 million per month with the aid of only one additional programmer. I later created a highly detailed Insurance Claim tracking and billing sub-system which analyzed claims and maximized Insurance reimbursement. Written in Prime Information on a Prime 50 series system.

For Swift-Cor, a $50 million Aerospace Manufacturer:

Installed and custom modified two separate Bid Estimating, Shop Floor Control, and Inventory Control systems in their two locations. Written in Pick on an Ultimate and a PC based system.

For BDO Seidman, the (then) ninth largest CPA firm in the world:

Designed and authored the Airport Statistics and Reporting sub-systems for the AMS (Airport Management System). Designed, implemented and co-authored a programmer/analyst time tracking and billing program which saved BDO hundreds of dollars per month in expenses and increased billable time by thousands of dollars each month. Written in Reality (using a modified version of Results+) on a McDonnell Douglas system.

For Bungee International, a $4 million Stretch Cord Manufacturer:

Complete System Analysis, System Design and custom coding to automate all aspects of the company, including Order Entry, G/L, A/R, A/P, Inventory Control, and MRP. Written in Pick on a C.Itoh system.

For Cross State Electric, a $7 million Electrical Sub-Contractor:

Complete System Analysis, System Design and custom coding to automate all aspects of the company, including Bid Estimating, G/L, A/R, A/P, Inventory Control, Job Costing, and Payroll. I wrote the initial system in dBase II and later converted the entire application to R90 Pick on a C.Itoh system.

For Phenomenex, a $12 million Manufacturer of Chromatography columns:

Complete System Analysis, System Design and custom coding to automate all aspects of the company, including Order Entry, Shop Floor Control, Purchasing, G/L, A/R, A/P, Inventory Control, and MRP. Written in Pick on Unix using UHL on an Icon/Sanyo system.

For Action Medical, a $4 million Medical Clinic:

Complete System Analysis, System Design and custom coding to automate all aspects of the company, including Patient Billing, Insurance Claim Tracking, G/L, A/R, A/P, and Purchasing. System was converted from Prime Information to R83 Pick on a PC.

1981 - 1983

Telewire, Medical Accounts Control, MEDAC, & Electronic Medical Systems

Vice President of Data Processing

Norwalk, California

Was asked to join this $25 million conglomerate of 3 Credit Collection Agencies after I completed a successful consulting project for their new start-up direct mail company (Telewire, Inc.). I provided them with a detailed analysis of how to best automate and market their unique services to Hospitals. As VP - DP I was given the responsibility of developing, implementing, and managing Telewire, and at the same time completely automating three manual card-based Credit Collection Agencies. After reviewing all the major packages then available on the market, we decided to purchase source rights to a relatively unknown Pick based 4th GL product (UHL) and completely re-write it to better fit our needs. I single-handedly brought the system up to operation within 3 months and within 6 months was able to reduce Client reimbursement time from 45 days to less than 5 with a significant reduction in errors and staff. By 1983 we had 4 minicomputers and 60+ personnel, with consolidated gross sales exceeding $45 million. The firm relocated to Palos Verdes and I returned to full time consulting.

Joined this $25 million distributor of electronic components when sales were $17 million. I initiated weekly training sessions and re-trained the in-house sales force of 8 to improve technical presentations and improved the Order Desk's paper flow and Client handling techniques. As a result we broke every sales record established for the company each month for 9 straight months, and needed to hire 6 additional Order takers. I was personally responsible for over $3 million in sales in the School and OEM divisions, also a company first. Assisted in designing new sales reports and product analyses on our Prime computer using InfoFlo.

Joined this beautiful Hotel and Resort in the US Virgin Islands in hopes of starting a career in Scuba instruction. As Training Director I completely renovated previous training procedures from nearly non-existent to state-of-the-art by developing SEA PACE, a very extensive program for aquatic training and safety. Finances and reality dictated my return to the US to pursue my other interest, electronics and computers.

1973 - 1978  United States Air Force    Combat Controller, Special Operations

Volunteered for Combat Control (Air Force Special Operations Command) while attending Air Traffic Control Training. Primary job duty was to provide Air Traffic Control in a combat environment. Needed to be highly mobile and was trained in: SCUBA, (Master Instructor); Parachuting (Jump Master); Mountain Climbing; Cross-Country and Downhill Skiing; and Desert, Forest, and Ocean survival.

Awarded Airman of the Month out of 4,000 applicants, received Key to the City of San Bernardino. Stationed for 18 months in the Philippines and Thailand, and was decorated for service in Vietnam. Was later selected to attend the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs where I received training in small team tactics, crisis management, and computer science. Held a Secret clearance.

http://bud_lite.tripod.com/buds_resume.html