Download Resume of Michael James Ellsworth

Resume of Michael James Ellsworth
St. Louis Park, MN 55426
952-525-1584
[email protected]
Summary
Experienced tech-savvy Program Director and Project Manager with 23 years’ experience in Web software
product, program, and project management, wireless networking, emerging technology strategy, software
development, documentation and training.
Experience
7/06 – present Program Director, CareerOneStop, State of Minnesota Department of
Employment and Economic Development, St. Paul, MN
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Took over 9-year-old $8.5M/year Web site program and instituted best practice project management and
other program processes.
CareerOneStop Website development program required a turnaround effort including:
o Renegotiated an InterAgency Agreement with Minnesota State Colleges and Universities for
content management and project management services
o Wrote, published, evaluated, and awarded an RFP for technical services ($4M/year)
o Instituted best practices set by the State PMO; set up MS Project Server and SharePoint;
initiated training in business analysis, UML, project management, usability concepts, and Web
writing for staff
o Wrote PM plans (risk management, configuration management, project management, and so on)
o Created and instituted a new end-to-end work process including work request/change
management system and a content management lifecycle
o Planned and managed a multi-phase redesign of the Web site, including implementation of a
content management system, a site search engine, and an extensive user experience project to
better understand the users
o Obtained $1.1M in additional funding for the program
o Implemented a User Centered Design Program and trained staff
Managed relationships with program managers of grantor – US Dept. of Labor
Created plans and managed the technical aspects of the successful phase-out of partner site America’s
Job Bank, including minimizing the loss in traffic for the CareerOneStop site, advocating the replacement of
some job bank functionality, and assisting US DOL personnel in managing the transition
7/03 – present President, The WiMAX Guys, LLC, St. Louis Park, MN
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2003 Identified market segments to attack, including hospitality industry, property management, home
remodeling, and high end home builders.
2004 Installed Wi-Fi coverage in the Grand Hotel, a four star hotel in downtown Minneapolis and the Grand
Rios Resort as well as several other properties.
2005-2006 Consulted with other companies on wireless strategies, including municipal wireless.
9/00-present Principal, StratVantage Consulting, LLC, St. Louis Park, MN
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8/04 – 2/06 Ran Web (.NET/SQL Server) development for IT market research startup Evalubase Research as
their CTO.
o Took over existing project to develop a Web-based survey application; handled transition from
third party project manager
o Identified and led rewrite of several basic modules due to poor code construction
o During 6 month transition, managed three coders from two organizations
Michael James Ellsworth
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Established DEV, TEST, PROD and intranet (SharePoint) environments
Managed transition of system to production: alpha, beta, release
Managed numerous point releases as well as doing requirements, design, and project
management for a major release involving significant re-architecting using AJAX
o Managed all content on the Website, including designing and implementing a major home page
renovation
2000-2001 Created the eMarketplace strategy framework for Sterling Commerce
2000-2001 Recommendations led to establishment of wireless practice, two email newsletters, a white paper
series, and the first digital marketing efforts at Geneer Corporation
9/99-8/00 Vice President, Strategic Planning, VirtualFund, Inc., Eden Prairie, MN
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Developed product plans, business plans, investor presentations, and strategy for business-to-business
electronic commerce offerings, including writing a product plan for Palm VII and other wireless devices.
Communicated strategy to analysts, investors, and employees.
Prepared investor briefings and presented at industry conferences.
Served as interim VP of Product Marketing and led effort to develop business requirements for flagship
software/Web site.
1/15/85-9/24/99 Various positions ACNielsen Company, Minneapolis, MN,
in Systems, Sales, Marketing, and Documentation departments.
Summary of ACNielsen Results:
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Initiated ACNielsen’s Web effort in 1994; released Consumer Packaged Goods industry’s first
Web product in February 1995
Created the first integrated data warehouse/decision support system for the CPG industry
1992-1993
Conceived, led, and managed project that created ACNielsen’s fastest growing Web product
1997-1999
Helped shape Dun & Bradstreet’s electronic commerce strategy 1994-1995
Increased productivity by 29X by converting mainframe-based reporting and charting system to
networked PC-based system, increasing output from 420,000 pages/year to >6 million pages/year
while reducing staff from 70 to 17 and decreasing other costs dramatically 1990-1992
Selected ACNielsen Highlights:
11/96 - 9/99 Senior Project Manager - Internet Development, Systems Department,
ACNielsen
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Responsible for charting ACNielsen's Internet strategy, developing new Internet products, and
managing project teams from concept to launch.
Led a large cross-functional team (25 to 30 people) that developed Category Planner, a complex
integrated application involving Red Brick and SQLServer databases, Windows NT middleware, and a
Java client that offers interactive database reporting over the Web.
Led 6-person cross-functional team that created first company intranet site.
Result: Released ACNielsen’s fastest growing Web product
7/95 - 11/96 Manager, Advanced Technology, Systems Department, ACNielsen
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Developed requirements, designed and led projects to release information delivery solutions involving
client/server computing, data warehousing, application automation, and the Internet.
Conceived and led 5-person project team to develop the consumer packaged goods industry's premier
Internet delivery service: NetDispatch.
Michael James Ellsworth
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Part of cross-functional team to create the ACNielsen Corporate site and served as Webmaster in
addition to other duties for two years.
Result: Released Consumer Packaged Goods industry’s first Web product in February 1995
Michael James Ellsworth
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12/93 - 7/95 Product Manager, Platform and Delivery, Marketing Department, ACNielsen
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Designed Windows NT-based Nielsen Application Server Architecture product and led 6-person crosscompany project to implement a Windows-based report production and delivery system, integrating
existing technology from two sister divisions: Sales Technologies' Communications Server, and D&B
Software's SmartStream.
Designed and led project to deliver BrokerNET, the industry's first report and chart delivery service via
the World Wide Web in 1995.
Served on D&B Electronic Commerce Special Interest group in 1994-1995 and helped shape D&B's
electronic commerce strategy.
Result: Automated LAN Production System Increased chart department productivity by 29X
11/92-11/93 Project Leader, RDBMS Development, Marketing Department, ACNielsen
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Established and managed 8-person project team to develop an ACNielsen data warehouse product
using RDBMS technology rights ACNielsen purchased (Time Machine).
Managed all aspects of project, including software development and design, quality assurance,
hardware selection and procurement, resource management, business and marketing plans, pricing,
vendor relations, OEM relationships, and client benchmark testing.
Result: An integrated analysis workstation/data warehouse product that won a shootout
against Red Brick and Teradata
2/89-1/91 Project Leader, Product Development Group, Information Delivery Department,
ACNielsen
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Conceived and implemented five applications: two data conversion systems that linked existing
applications, and three graphics systems (two for end-users, one for production).
Took over Automated LAN Production System project and led implementation that replaced a
mainframe system.
Result: ALPS System produced 6 million pages of customer report output a year and exhibited
a twenty-nine-fold increase in productivity.
Education
B. A. in Psychology, Duke University, Durham, NC 27706.
Keane Productivity Management Training, Schaumburg, IL
Project Management Training, Snyder Consulting, Schaumburg, IL
Intensive nine-month training on project management techniques involving classroom instruction, hands on
project management and mentoring.
Advanced Microsoft Enterprise Portfolio Manager/MS Project Training, Eagan, MN
Michael James Ellsworth
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