Work Experience

November, 2005 - Present: Co-Founder, Plink Networks

• Plink aims to be online collaboration platform for groups based on these ideas:
  • Collaboration/project management tools like those prevalent in the open source community should be available and usable for non-technical projects;
  • Projects should not be siloed off from each other, but based on a platform that facilitates knowledge sharing and project discovery;
  • Knowledge-sharing communities need an effective, scalable way of filtering useful, relevant content from less relevant information, extending the smart moderation approach we pioneered at Slashdot;
  • As audiences increasingly become participating content creators, mechanisms should emerge to also enable them to become revenue sharers with the hosting provider.
• Plink has successfully worked as a consulting organization with expertise on collaboration, but is still seeking its first customer as a technology provider, and still seeking its seed funding.

November, 2004 - November, 2005: Product Manager, ManyOne Networks

• ManyOne Networks aims to create a partnership between researchers and the public to create the Digital Universe: a network of interlinked web portals intended to become the largest reliable public information resource in history. The first iteration of this ambitious project is the Encyclopedia of Earth, a scientist-backed rival to Wikipedia around the topics of the environment and environmental policy.
• Joined ManyOne to bring my expertise in collaboration and online community-building to a project that aimed to have broad public participation;
• Helped lead a product management team and product management process for a start-up that had no prior product management structure;
• Served as product manager for the Encyclopedia of Earth, ManyOne's key initial product:
  • Coordinated communication between ManyOne and the Environmental Information Coalition (ManyOne's first customer and sponsor of the Encyclopedia of Earth);
  • Developed product requirements and product specifications for each milestone launch; Supervised engineering work to develop the product;
• Led the only team in the company that hit all our deadlines and stayed within budget.

2003 - 2004: Freelance Writer and Marketing Consultant

• Edited and wrote contributions to Open Sources 2.0 (2005, O'Reilly Media), and essay collection from thought leaders in open source practice and business models;
• Wrote analysis and commentary articles on open source and collaboration for leading technology websites;
• Provided consulting to technology companies looking to deepen their relationship with software developers; consulting clients ranged from small start-ups to Fortune 100 companies.

2001 - 2003: Director of Developer Relations, OSTG (Open Source Technology Group)

• Served on the executive staff that turned a struggling dot-com into a profitable media company;
• Managed multi-million dollar line of business over three years that provided custom publishing and marketing services to technology companies looking to reach software developers; responsibilities included:
  • Developing new products and services from OSTG's network of websites (Slashdot, SourceForge.net, Linux.com, etc.)
  • Providing product management for this line of business, including supervising all client-facing activity and coordinating internally with engineering and web development teams Developing and launching new websites (DevChannel.org, SourceForge Foundries) as part of the OSTG network;
  • Developing new metrics and traffic analysis to demonstrate OSTG's impact with software developers.

1999 - 2001: Media Publisher, VA Linux Systems (renamed VA Software)

• Managed a staff of 20+ working on VA Linux's websites dedicated to open source evangelism;
• Developed and implemented editorial plans in support of VA Linux's open source mission;
• Served on transition team managing VA Linux's acquisition of Andover.net;
• Helped re-launch Andover.net as the newly formed OSTG.

1998 - 1999: Executive Editor, O'Reilly Media Inc.

• Managed a team of four editors in O'Reilly's Technical Publications Group;
• Set and met revenue goals for the open source editorial group, growing revenue from $500,000 in 1997 to over $2 million in 1998;
• Acquired and developed key book titles pertaining to open source technology;
• Edited and wrote contributions to the seminal volume Open Sources;
• Served as Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Linux Technology, a joint venture between O'Reilly, VA Linux Systems, and CMP

1996 - 1998: Editor, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers

• Determined strategy for Morgan Kaufmann books in two areas: web technology and operating systems;
• Acquired and developed titles in assigned topic areas, including identifying authors, negotiating contracts, developing manuscripts, coordinating reviews, coordinating with production for the layout and printing of each book, writing market analysis and catalog copy;
• Managed P&L for each book tile in assigned topic areas;
• One of my books, Practical File System Design, was Morgan Kaufmann's top grossing new title for the year it was published; another, Philip and Alex's Guide to Web Publishing, was Morgan Kaufmann's all-time top grossing title.

Education

• PhD in Philosophy of Science, University of Rochester, 1986
• MA in Philosophy, University of Rochester, 1985
• BA in Philosophy, University of Maryland, 1982