Online Help

Some pens are mightier than others.

Résumé

Use the following links to view the various parts of my résumé.

If you have any questions or comments, please contact me.

My résumé is also available for download in the following formats:

Summary

  • Broad experience in both salaried and project-based positions as a technical writer, illustrator, information architect, UI designer, online help developer, and multimedia author
  • Deep expertise with a wide range of tools and delivery models for text, illustration, photo, video, audio, online, context-sensitive, print, and live presentation
  • Comprehensive knowledge of Linux, MacOS, Windows, Solaris, iOS, and iPadOS operating systems and development environments
Click to view an alphabetical list of employer names

Recent employment

Ab Initio, LLC

Lexington, Massachusetts

Technical documentation & illustration, consulting solutions, information architecture, graphics tools, QA testing

  • Embedded for five years (March 2016–February 2021) at JPMorgan Chase (JPMC) as part of several field consulting and development teams
  • Spent another five years documenting other custom consulting solutions: Customer Interaction Platform (CIP); Active>360 (A360); Co>Relate; Ab Initio-on-Cloud and Site Mover (for Capital One); Metadata-Driven Warehouse Platform (MDWP), and Productivity Pack
  • Was “loaned” to JPMC for a non-Ab Initio Sheltered Harbor project (a voluntary set of emergency contingency protocols and standards under the auspices of the US Treasury Department)
  • Was part of the Control>Center documentation team through several product release cycles
  • Wrote sections of Co>Operating System Configuration Variable Reference and Component Reference.
  • Established and led documentation graphics standards team
  • Cataloged and analyzed over 4500 images from the product documentation to assess effectiveness, inconsistencies, and workflows
  • Created Snagit Profiles, Quick Palettes, and Stamps, and created Illustrator, Photoshop, and Visio templates, styles, stencils, and primitives
  • Wrote PHP, KSH, and CSS scripts to generate nightly and on-demand image galleries from nightly documentation builds; configured and maintained an Apache HTTP server for graphics tools

June 2011–Mar. 2024

Oracle Corporation

Burlington, Massachusetts

Technical documentation & illustration, information architecture & tooling, German translation

  • Documentation lead on Web Space Server project
  • Wrote documentation for commercial and open source versions of first major release of fully Oracle-branded GlassFish Server product
  • Contributed illustrations and German localization of code samples for the Java EE 6 Tutorial
  • Performed product assessments, workflow analysis, tooling and script support as part of the Sun-to-Oracle transition team

Feb. 2010–June 2011

Sun Microsystems

Burlington, Massachusetts

Technical documentation & illustration, multimedia authoring, coding standards, information architecture

  • Documentation lead for Web Space Server project; wrote and illustrated open source and proprietary; created and narrated screencasts, gave trade-show demonstrations
  • Led Sun’s XML website for over two years; created overall information design, wrote and illustrated numerous technical articles and executive summaries, shepherded more than 20 products through packaging, presentation, copyright, and export control
  • Contributed text, illustrations, and editorial services for public and internal Sun API specifications and W3C draft proposals, including WSCI, JAXB, WSPL, XML Pipeline, Java Management Beans, StAX
  • Documented Sun Java Application Server and GlassFish server, including first wiki implementations
  • Documentation lead for Java Compatibility Test Suite and TCK documentation sets for 24 individual Java technologies
  • Wrote scripts against SGML DTD to migrate documents from FrameMaker to SGML and automate document production and management
  • Documentation lead for Sun Social software; wrote and illustrated documentation; created and narrated screencasts
  • Awarded co-patent for online help mechanism used in Solaris Management Console
  • Documentation lead/liaison on joint Sun/Tivoli Corona project to develop a Java-based network application management framework
  • Wrote online help systems and Web-based programming guides for Solaris Enterprise Manager, Solaris Management Console, Solaris DHCP Server, NT-NFS, SunPC
  • Documentation lead/liaison for Wabi developers and ISVs; wrote diagnostic guides, newsletters, and technical questionnaires
  • Founder and co-lead of Online Help Development and Technical teams
  • Member of SGML tagging standards team; developed corporate-wide style guides and tagging structures

Mar. 1993–Feb. 2010

Louisiana Energy Services, National Enrichment Facility

Eunice, New Mexico

German translation, technical documentation & illustration, courseware, content management

  • Wrote German-to-English translations of technical whitepapers, specifications, regulations, facilities procedures, and legal correspondence on nuclear medicine, nuclear safety, accident planning, nuclear enrichment plant design and maintenance, building codes and regulations
  • Wrote English summaries of German sources (abstracts, TOC, LOF, LOT) for fifteen nuclear enrichment plant, environmental, and health specifications
  • Translated UF6 Compendium (an introduction to uranium hexafluoride production and its roles in nuclear enrichment and reprocessing) from German into English
  • Co-developed information architecture for company-wide Documentum implementation

June–Dec. 2007, Jul.–Dec. 2006

Older employment

Atrium Salon & Spa

Nashua, New Hampshire

Website development, logo design, internal training

  • Designed and authored website, designed company logo
  • Performed staff training

June–Sep. 2009

Infant Jesus School

Nashua, New Hampshire

Network infrastructure, software installation & configuration, staff training

  • Designed network topology and physically installed all networking cabling, switches, routers, computers, and software for entire school (≈75 nodes)
  • Installed and configured software on all school computers
  • Performed staff training

Sep. 2005–May 2006, Sep. 2006–April. 2007

Marguerite’s Place

Nashua, New Hampshire

Video authoring & production

  • Created and produced promotional and fundraising video for women’s transitional shelter

Dec. 2004

PeerDirect

Bedford, Massachusetts

Technical documentation & illustration, online help

  • Wrote and illustrated documentation and online help for the PeerDirect Database Replication Engine

Feb.–Mar. 2003

NuSphere Corporation

Burlington, Massachusetts

Technical documentation & illustration, information architecture

  • Wrote Getting Started guide, MySQL Advantage Installation Guide, and MySQL Advantage User’s Guide for three MySQL product releases
  • Updated MySQL Reference Manual for three MySQL product releases
  • Wrote beta and FCS documentation for GEMINI MySQL table handler

Feb.–Oct. 2001

Torrent Systems, Inc.

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Technical documentation & illustration, online help, information architecture

  • Wrote Orchestrate Web House Operator’s Guide for clickstream processing, data warehousing, and data-mining operator APIs
  • Wrote functional specification for Orchestrate parallel processing Client/Server API
  • Designed and wrote quick reference cards for Orchestrate/APT parallel processing classes and macros
  • Wrote portions of Orchestrate Operator’s Guide
  • Redesigned and updated Orchestrate WinHelp online help system

June 2000–Jan. 2001

Hurley Communications, Inc.

Norwood, Massachusetts

Technical documentation & illustration, online help, information architecture, website development

  • Wrote and illustrated Message Pro 3000 Operator’s Guide for integrated hospital switchboard system
  • Wrote HTML-based online help for TM2000 Web Messaging hospital messaging software
  • Designed and illustrated Hurley’s marketing website

Oct. 1999–May 2000

Thomson Financial

Boston, Massachusetts

Technical documentation, online help, information architecture

  • Designed and wrote online help for Java-based financial transaction management application
  • Edited and redesigned API and programming guides for client-side development toolkit for financial transaction management applications
  • Wrote online help for Alert Institutional financial transaction management software
  • Developed context-help structure for Alert Bank and Alert Broker productsList items

Aug. 1998–Mar. 1999, Nov. 1992–Feb. 1993

Electronic Industries Data Exchange Association

Arlington, Virginia

Technical documentation & illustration

  • Illustrated, and edited specification for EIDX API for managing electronic financial transactions

July–Sep. 1998

Gemsoft Corporation

Nashua, New Hampshire

Technical documentation & illustration, online help, information architecture

  • Wrote and illustrated online help systems for Emerald user and administrator products and Preview
  • Wrote prototype demo for browser-based implementation of Emerald product
  • Co-authored Emerald Administrator’s Guide

Jan.–Feb. 1996, Apr.–Oct. 1995

Scan Centers of America

Natick, Massachusetts

Technical documentation & illustration, publication design

  • Designed, wrote, and illustrated Electronic Document Management: A ScanCenters Primer for Real People, a primer on electronic document management concepts

Feb.–Apr. 1995

Xerox Imaging Systems

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Audio scripting, narration & production, online help

  • Narrated and wrote intro/outro material for audio cassettes for Reading Edge User Manual, Reading Machine Upgrade Guide, Reading AdvantEdge User Manual, and Reading AdvantEdge Scanner Installation Guide
  • Arranged all details of audio recording, tone indexing, and production
  • Arranged all details of audio cassette production, including Braille labeling
  • Design consulting for Windows‐based online help system

Apr.–May 1993, Nov. 1992

Attitash Software, Inc.

Nashua, New Hampshire

Technical documentation & illustration, online help, automation tools, information architecture

  • Wrote and illustrated documentation and online help for SlingShot, WideAngle, and InfoPanel products
  • Developed style guide, PDF print specifications, and Microsoft Word templates for all documentation
  • Converted Remote Office User’s Guide from WordPerfect 5.1 to Microsoft Word

Jul.–Oct. 1992

Credit Technologies

Waltham, Massachusetts

Technical documentation & illustration, information architecture, QA testing

  • Wrote and illustrated user guides for Remote CAS and Core CDS products
  • Wrote and illustrated beta/promotional documentation for CDS and 800/4-CREDIT products
  • Performed alpha and beta testing on Remote CAS, CDS, and 800/4-CREDIT products

May–Jul. 1992

Keyfile Corporation

Nashua, New Hampshire

Technical documentation & illustration, online help, automation tools, information architecture

  • Wrote and illustrated documentation for OS/2-based network document server product
  • Wrote documentation for Windows-based document management/office automation system
  • Designed and wrote online help system; included developing an extensive set of WordBasic macros

Feb.–Apr. 1992, June–Oct. 1991

Inmagic, Inc.

Woburn, Massachusetts

Technical documentation & illustration

  • Wrote and illustrated user manual for relational database product

Nov. 1991–Feb. 1992

Archetype, Inc.

Waltham, Massachusetts

Technical documentation & illustration

  • Wrote and illustrated user manual for Netware-server/Windows-client image management product

May–June 1991

Kurzweil Computer Products/Xerox Imaging Systems

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Technical documentation & illustration, information architecture & tooling, usability testing, German translation

  • Designed, wrote, and narrated (for audio cassette) all Reading Machine user documentation
  • Developed information architecture, editorial standards, and document formats specifically optimized for use with screen reader software
  • Arranged audio production, tone indexing, Braille labeling, cassette production and packaging
  • Performed extensive in-person usability and design testing with vision-impaired users
  • Worked with Underwriters Laboratories (UL) to shepherd all documentation procedures targeted for vision-impaired users through UL safety review processes
  • Wrote and illustrated user documentation for commercial optical character recognition products
  • Performed German translation and technical editing of German-language products

May 1989–June 1991

Project Software & Development

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Technical documentation & illustration, information architecture, internal training, test management

  • Wrote and illustrated user documentation for graphics portion of VAX and IBM mainframe-based project management system
  • Designed and wrote tutorials and online help for DECwindows-based project management system
  • Wrote in-house tutorials for desktop publishing with VAX and PC WordPerfect and PostScript print files
  • Responsible for beta-testing Kurzweil scanners and software

Feb. 1988–May 1989

Massachusetts Senior Action Council

Quincy, Massachusetts

Newsletter

  • Conducted interviews, wrote articles for Massachusetts Senior Action Council newsletter

Feb. 1988

IMEC Corporation

Charlestown, Massachusetts

Technical documentation, German translation

  • Translated hardware manual for logic-driven electric servo motors into German

Jan.–Feb. 1988

AT&T

Boston, Massachusetts

Technical documentation, internal training, office automation

  • Conducted in-house training, wrote instructional documentation for various office productivity tools
  • Developed DOS batch files and SAMNA IV keyboard macros to automate billing procedures

Nov.–Dec. 1987

Boston Center for Computer Applications

Boston, Massachusetts

Technical documentation & illustration, courseware development, system configuration

  • Wrote curriculum specifications for AutoCAD and Aldus PageMaker software training
  • Taught customer classes (basic and advanced) in WordPerfect 4.2; trained staff in Lotus Freelance
  • Configured PC hardware, wrote DOS batch and instructional files for in-house and customer sites

Sep.–Nov. 1987

Little, Brown Company

Boston, Massachusetts

Editorial services, internal training

  • Performed in-house staff training on MultiMate, Lotus 1-2-3, and DOS
  • Provided editorial services for several large internal reference publications

Apr.–June 1987

Arthur Andersen/Mass. Department of Revenue

Boston, Massachusetts

Editorial services, office automation

  • Performed editorial services for training materials for MASSTAX auditing system
  • Developed DOS and WordPerfect batch files to automate office procedures

Mar.–Apr. 1987

Keystone Provident Life Insurance Company

Boston, Massachusetts

Technical documentation, office automation

  • Wrote internal documentation; developed WordPerfect macro and merge files to automate tracking and billing procedures

Feb.–Mar. 1987

Wang Laboratories, Inc.

Lowell, Massachusetts

Technical documentation, editorial services, German translation, production automation

  • Performed technical editorial services and German translation for converting four hard-copy lexicons into CD/ROM-based reference disks: Random House German/English Dictionary, Random House Unabridged English Dictionary, Random House Concise English Dictionary, Duden German Thesaurus
  • Developed extensive Wang glossaries (Wang scripting language) to automate editorial proofing and CD/ROM production

Feb. 1986–Jan. 1987

Blackfoot Productions

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Editorial services

  • Script editor for “Vig,” a play by Paul Hapenny

June–Aug. 1986

Solomon Shechter Day School

Newton, Massachusetts

Multimedia scripting

  • Wrote audio/visual script for annual fundraiser

May–June 1985

Greater Boston YMCA

Boston, Massachusetts

Multimedia scripting, narration

  • Wrote and narrated two public service announcements for radio
  • Wrote audio/visual script for annual meeting/fundraiser

Jan.–Feb. 1985, Oct.–Nov. 1984

Seiler Corporation

Waltham, Massachusetts

Newsletters

  • Wrote two corporate newsletters

Dec. 1984–Feb. 1985

General Electric/Media 1

Lynn, Massachusetts

Multimedia production

  • Key Grip for 30-projector audio/visual production for GE “Family Fair Day”

May 1984

The Yacht magazine

Newport, Rhode Island

Writing, photography, editorial, production management

  • Editorial production manager for first edition
  • Wrote copy, shot photos for miscellaneous feature sections
  • Established stringer contacts and editorial library

Aug. 1983–Mar. 1984

Roger Vaughan

Newport, Rhode Island

German translation, biographical research

  • Performed German translation and biographical research for biography of Herbert von Karajan

Nov. 1983–Feb. 1984

SAIL magazine

Boston, Massachusetts

Copywriting, photojournalism

  • Wrote and took photographs for “Visual distress signals,” an article about safety flares and other visual distress signals

Dec. 1980

Fluor Corporation/Daniel Construction

Greenville, South Carolina

Architectural drafting, technical illustration

  • Architectural and technical draftsman for industrial process piping and design facilities

May 1978–Sep. 1978

Nikon World magazine

Garden City, New York

Photojournalism

  • Took photos for photo essay about transatlantic yacht race

Jan. 1977

Publications

  • “The Java EE 5 Tutorial”; Addison-Wesley, 2006, 2008, 2010 (contributing author); ISBN-13: 978-0321490292
  • “The Java Architecture for XML Binding (JAXB) 2.0”; Java Community Process (JCP) specification, April 19, 2006 (contributing editor)
  • “Web Service Choreography Interface (WSCI) 1.0”; World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Note 8, August 2002 (contributing author, editor)
  • “XML Pipeline Definition Language Version 1.0”; World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Note 28, February 2002 (contributing editor)
  • “Wabi 2: Opening Windows”; Prentice-Hall, 1996 (wrote, illustrated, designed; named a “Best Book of 1996” by Unix Review magazine, June 1997); ISBN-13: 978-0134616179
  • “Visual distress signals”; SAIL magazine, December 1980, Volume 11, Issue 12 (writing and photographs for article about safety flares and other visual distress signals)
  • “Cross-Atlantic Yacht Race”; Nikon World magazine, January 1977, Volume 9, Number 3 (photographs for article about transatlantic sailboat race)
  • “A Seaman They Called ‘Young Boy‘”; Long Island Newsday magazine, April 25, 1976 (photographs and was interviewed for article about transatlantic sailboat race)

Education

Tufts University

B.A. English

Medford, Massachusetts

1982

  • Minor focuses in Fine Arts and Engineering Sciences
  • Completed five Independent Studies (Tufts credits) through Boston Museum of Fine Arts School:
    • Animation
    • Choreography (x2)
    • Painting (x2)
  • Fulfilled University Language Requirements in German and Spanish

Software tools

The following are some of my favorite software tools. This is not a comprehensive list of all of the software that I have used over the years. If you have questions about my experience with any software that is not listed here, please ask me about it!

Writing & authoring

  • Arbortext
  • Bear
  • Byword
  • Drafts
  • Editorial
  • Emacs
  • FrameMaker
  • FreeMind
  • LibreOffice
  • Notepad++
  • NoteTab Pro
  • oXygen
  • Scrivener
  • SimpleMind
  • Sublime Text
  • TEXShop
  • TEXstudio
  • Ulysses
  • vi/vim
  • Word

Graphics & illustration

  • Affinity Designer
  • Affinity Photo
  • Amadine
  • Concepts
  • Focos
  • GIMP
  • Illustrator
  • Inkscape
  • Lightroom
  • Photoshop
  • Pixelmator
  • PowerPoint
  • Procreate
  • Snagit
  • Visio

Audio & video

  • Audacity
  • Camtasia
  • Ferrite
  • ffmpeg
  • HandBrake
  • ID3 Editor
  • MakeMKV
  • Premiere
  • Reaper
  • Subler
  • TMPGEnc
  • Vegas Studio

Markup & tagging

  • CSS
  • HTML
  • JSON
  • Markdown
  • SGML
  • TeX/LaTeX
  • XML
  • YAML

Content management

  • Confluence
  • Drupal
  • GitHub
  • SharePoint
  • WordPress

Scripting & coding

  • Bash/KSH/ZSH
  • CGI
  • Java
  • JavaScript
  • Perl
  • PHP
  • Python

Source control & issue tracking

  • CVS
  • Git
  • Jira
  • Perforce
  • Subversion

Deployment containers & automation

  • Ansible
  • Docker
  • Helm
  • Kubernetes

Ab Initio suite

  • Active>Data
  • Authorization Gateway
  • Co>Operating System
  • Co>Relate
  • Control>Center
  • Customer Interaction Platform
  • Enterprise Meta>Environment
  • Express>It
  • Graphical Development Environment
  • Metadata Hub
  • Query>It
  • Technical Repository