RESUME

Personal Details

Objective

Challenging opportunities to garner attention and interest through outreach to particular audiences, in projects, campaigns, and ideas that can improve people's lives and make a positive difference in bottom-line results.

Summary of Qualifications and Competencies

·         Expert Content Developer and Communicator

·         Savvy Marketing, Advertising, and Public Relations Strategist, Writer, Campaign Director

·         Successful Customer/Client Developer

·         Experienced Market Researcher, Customer Experience Manager

·         Proven Online/Offline Product/Service Strategist and Leader

·         Knowledgeable Corporate Communications / Media Writer and Producer

·         Veteran Business Operations, Productivity Improvement Strategist and Director

·         Organization and Project Management Expert

·         Savvy Print Writer, Editor, and Publisher

Employment and Professional Activities

President
Crown Communications Group, Woodland Hills, CA, 1987-Present
Advertising, public relations, and communications company.
Upon the retirement of Madison-Fielding's owner, I opened my own public relations and marketing consultancy to continue working with some of my existing clients and to provide a vehicle for finding and working with new clients. I am centrally involved as chief strategist, or chief practitioner in product launches, positioning efforts, crisis management, and communications audits and inventories, as well as nuts-and-bolts campaigns and ongoing image management. In recent years, I am increasingly involved in helping to design, develop, promote and market a variety of Internet start-ups, with specific responsibilities for: content development, business plans, and fine-tuning business models and marketing strategies.

President
Key Publications, Woodland Hills, CA, 1991-Present
This is a book publishing company I founded to make the most of several book ideas I did not want to give away to the publishers of my other books. I hired book designers, editors, book printing houses, and fulfillment houses to produce and deliver the book. I developed marketing and promotional strategies, as well as supporting materials, and executed the strategies. Because of promotional efforts, I have done countless newspaper, radio, and TV interviews as an author and expert. The books continue to sell, and I plan to add to my product line as I regain rights to materials I wrote and sold to other publishers in previous years.

Managing Editor
Real Estate Financial Planning Institute, Move.com, May 2007 – April, 2008
When Allan Dalton, a legendary marketing hero in the world of real estate, relinquished his presidency of Move’s primary revenue generator, Realtor.com, in order to develop his 20-year-old vision for a revamped and revitalized relationship between real estate agents and homebuyers/sellers, based on a totally new, interactive, database-driven, ultra-personalized website, he hired me to help with outreach, as well as to develop and manage all the content. I created and implemented content strategies, and contributed to both online and offline marketing strategies and materials.

Vice President
MoneyTours.com/.net, Encino, CA, April, 2002-April 2006
This is a Web-based company offering high quality personal finance information to HR departments, credit unions, small banks, CPAs, financial planners, and others who want their stakeholders and constituencies to have a better grasp of personal finance concepts and opportunities. I manage content for the site and also work with the marketing department to find, sign, and satisfy clients. I am responsible for syndicating our content to others, and for making strategic alliances. I am also on the team that controls the customer experience.

Vice President, Editor-in-Chief
InnerWorth.com, Canoga Park, CA, April, 2001-April, 2002
This was a Web-based company that offered unique, original, and proprietary content and applications for serious, professional stock, bond, commodity, and option traders. I was hired by the founder and primary source of funds for the Web site, himself a very successful trader, to create and manage content for the site. In this role, I developed sources for various categories of relevant information, made assignments to professional writers, and provided a consistent, quality "eye" on every element of content posted on the site. I also negotiated and contracted with prominent experts in the field to join InnerWorth's Editorial Advisory Board, worked with them to provide content, and provided editorial direction and final editing of their contributions to the site's content. I was involved in InnerWorth's communications strategy, including public relations, online and offline advertising, outreach to members, customer and market survey work, digital rights management, and promotional efforts on behalf of the site. In addition, I was a central player in defining and developing the customer experience at InnerWorth, including all online community efforts, and (working closely with the CTO) was responsible for quality control on all aspects of the Web site.

Director of Client Development
GlobalNetFinancial.com, Santa Monica, CA, March, 2000-December, 2000
This was a post-IPO international company that created and maintained Internet financial portals featuring original news content and transaction platforms in local languages, in 9 countries across Europe and North America. I was hired by the CEO as a "global guru" to educate and empower people to control their finances via the Internet, as well as to monetize the company's content, brands, and web site traffic through digital resource management. I designed and directed significant improvements in the customer experience and community-building efforts. Working closely with IT and others, I rationalized, strengthened, and tweaked the functionality of the web sites, and put visitor survey and feedback tools in place, improving enough to win the Outstanding Web Site from WebAward.org in the Financial Services category for the year 2000. I initiated and developed a content-sales strategy, and signed contracts with leading syndicators of that period, including Comtex, i2go, Screaming Media, and iSyndicate. I also pursued co-branded partnerships and e-commerce alliances.

Vice President, Client Services
Madison Fielding Public Relations, Los Angeles, CA, 1984-1987
Public relations company.
I worked closely with the company's founder and president, Ron Smith, in developing public relations programs, executing those programs, and managing ongoing relationships with both small and large clients in many fields, including healthcare, financial services, computers and software. Responsible for profit and loss, for developing new business, and for managing client service teams and client relationships.

Senior Consultant
Hill and Knowlton, Los Angeles, CA, 1981-1984
Public relations company.
I was brought aboard as a "Senior Consultant" by Tom Eidson (later H&K's CEO; at that time heading the Los Angeles office) to fill a need for a skilled communicator and strategist who was also familiar with high technology issues, markets, and opportunities. I managed several ad-hoc teams that handled the public relations component of several dozen product launches, re-positioning efforts, and product marketing efforts for large-scale clients offering database software, operating system, and mini-computer products.

President
Personal Productivity Center, Philadelphia, PA, 1975-1981
I opened this consulting business to build on my research and expertise in time management and white collar productivity. In addition to on-site consulting and training services, I developed and sold to Fortune 1000 customers large quantities of the Personal Productivity Audit, a computer scored and reported test of an individual's work patterns, effectiveness and productivity that could be administered to large numbers of people within an organization that would yield an individualized report for each one, plus an overview report for management.

Self employed, 1970-1975
Magazine writer, newsletter writer and publisher.

Editorial Director
Prentice Hall Publishing, Executive Reports Division, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1968-1970
I wrote, edited, and supervised the production of six monthly newsletters on business management, sales, and wealth-building topics for this business newsletter and book publisher. For the last six months of my employment, I changed jobs and wrote 4-page direct mail sales letters that earned 3-4% response rates from Prentice-Hall's in-house lists of book buyers.

Other Accomplishments and Activities

Speaker/Presenter (Highlights)

• Vienna, Austria; April, 1994, BankAustria's Syposium on Online Business Systems. Topic: The Future Of Telecommuting.
• Vienna, Austria; February, 1995, Global Integrated Village Environment WorldWide Conference. Topic: 75 Ways To Make Money On The Internet.
• Bad Kleinkirchheim, Austria; October 1995, Austria's First Internet Conference. Topics: The Internet For Journalists, and 75 Ways To Make Money On The Internet.
• America Online's "Your Business Lunchtime Conference," May 2, 1996, Topic: Making A Successful Business Plan; July 10, 1996, Topic: Effective Supervision.
• "Virtual Radio Tours" of some 25 radio stations at a time (lists available), 1995, 1996, USA, talking about such topics as: Balancing Work and Family Life, Telecommuting, and Caring For Aging Parents
• KOCE-TV's "Dollar$ and Sense" telecourse encompassing 26 half-hour shows on personal finance; performed as the on-air host covering computer and Internet resources for personal financial management; July -September, 1998. Aired nationally through 2001 and beyond. Winner: 1998 Los Angeles Area Emmy, Instructional Programming.
• WatchIT.com's "Managing Remote IT Development Teams", and “Supporting Remote and Geographically Dispersed Employees,” two separate recorded presentations I wrote and delivered covering the respective topics, sold to Fortune 2000 IT departments on CD and VHS for training and reference, published February, 2000 and 2001.

Commentator, occasional opinion/editorial appearances in the Los Angeles Times, on CNBC Television Network, and elsewhere, 1992-1998.

Writer, director, and producer of industrial films and videos, including Time Management For Supervisors, which won the Silver Medal at the New York Film and Video Festival, 1979.

Writer, director, and producer of public radio shows that aired on WUHY, Philadelphia, between 1972 and 1978, covering such topics as energy policy, nuclear power, and family dynamics.

Founder and Past President, Public Interest Media Project, 1973-1979 Non-profit, tax-exempt corporation actively providing promotional, media, and training services to community organizations and individuals in the Philadelphia area.

Founder and Past President, American Telecommuting Association, 1993-present - The first and largest membership association for telecommuters, actively providing educational, training, testing, and motivational materials that help employees and employers reap the benefits of telecommuting.

Teacher, Courses in Business Management, in Productivity, in Small Business Computing, in Caring for Aging Parents, in Savvy Investing, and in Communications
Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, Extension Program, 1972-1977.
America On Line, computer information service, 1993-1998
The Internet, 1995-present
Lecturer, Caring for Aging Parents, Continuing Education Seminars.

Reviewer, Articles in The Journal of Accountancy, published by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

Books and Book Length Audio Programs

How To Organize Your Work and Your Life, Doubleday, New York, 1981 (revised,1993), selected as a Fortune Book Club Alternate.

Parenting Your Aging Parents, Key Publications, Woodland Hills, CA, 1991. (Soon to be a series of television shows.)

Out On Your Own -- Everything You Need To Know Before, During, and After Leaving The Nest, Key Publications, Woodland Hills, CA, 1999.

Eliminate Your Commute -- The Official Handbook of the American Telecommuting Association, Volume 1: "How To Increase Your Personal Effectiveness and Job Satisfaction by Telecommuting"; Volume 2: "How To Increase Your Effectiveness and Satisfaction as a Telecommuter Through Advanced Techniques"; The American Telecommuting Association, Washington, DC, 1993.

The Small Business Computer Book -- A Guide in Plain English, Upstart Publishing Company, Dover, New Hampshire (a division of Dearborn Financial Publishing, Chicago, Illinois), 1993.

Real Estate Investors Toolbox, and Financial Planning When Your Time Is Limited (cassette programs), Hume Financial Publishers, Atlanta, GA, 1985-1888.

Total Time Management, Creative Problem Solving, Effective Team Building, Assertiveness for Career and Personal Success, Personal Selling Skills, Successful Delegation, How to Evaluate Performance and Assess Potential, Using Managerial Authority, Setting and Achieving Personal Goals, Basic Business Psychology (cassette and workbook programs), American Management Association, New York, 1970-1980.

Knowledge Management, a one stop resource to bring readers up to speed on the valuable information assets companies possess but generally don't exploit. Contains in depth analysis of Knowledge Management, how to implement it and value its contribution to a company. Giga Information Group, Inc., Norwell, MA, 66 pages, December, 1998.

Other Published Works

Hundreds of magazine and newspaper articles for dozens of national magazines, including business publications, such as: Hemispheres (United Airlines), Investor's Business Daily, Journal of Accountancy, Sylvia Porter's Personal Finance, Your Money (formerly Money Maker, the financial sister publication of Consumer Digest), The Capitalist Reporter, and Free Enterprise; as well as virtually all the top computer publications, like: PC Times, Computer Decisions, Datamation, Software News, Popular Computing, PC Week, ComputerWorld, InfoWorld, MIS Week, CIO; and others; 1968-present.

Computers and the Internet for Small Business and Parenting Your Aging Parents, columns presently in syndication to various Web sites; 1999-present.

Practical Supervision, eight page monthly newsletter edited and published for front-line supervisors in some 26,000 organizations, contract, 1994-2000.

Tele-News, eight page newsletter edited and published for members of the American Telecommuting Association, contract, 1993-1999.

Computers In Marketing, Chapter in: Marketing Handbook, Volume 2: Marketing Management, edited by Edwin E. Bobrow, Dow Jones Irwin, 1985

High Profit Investing, eight page newsletter edited and published for 1,000 subscribers, self, 1983-1987

Executive Productivity, eight page newsletter edited and published for 8,000 subscribers, Newsletter Management Corporation, 1978-1981

Education

Bachelors Degree
Electrical Engineering/ American Civilization
(Moore School / The College ) University of Pennsylvania, 1968

Graduate Work
History, Anthropology, Computer Sciences
New School for Social Research, 1970-1971

Professional Affiliations

Authors Guild
Independent Writers of Southern California
PEN (Poets, Essayists, and Novelists)
The American Telecommuting Association