Hongkie Town

My Résumé

Following my previous employer’s decision to outsource almost all MIS functions worldwide, I have been unemployed since November 2009.  I’m primarily seeking a position as a senior regional MIS director, VP or CIO.  I would also happily consider a role such as service delivery manager or country manager with a consulting company.  I’m open to contract positions as well as permanent.  My first preference is to remain in Hong Kong but I would give consideration to other locations in Asia.

What follows is a redacted version of my CV.  To receive the complete document, please send an email to hongkietown at gmail dot com.  Thanks for taking a look!

Executive Summary

• A history of progressive leadership experience developing information technology solutions that drive revenue or reduce costs for major multi-national corporations.
• Results-oriented leader who builds high performance teams, has proven success in the management of global resources, excellent relationship building skills and the ability to influence stakeholders at all levels.
• Proven record of delivering IT services across a broad spectrum of functions, including Finance, Data Warehousing, Supply Chain, Sales and Marketing.
• Strong writing and presentation skills.

Career History

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group  (Hong Kong)     2001 to 2009

Executive Director, Application Services - Fast Moving Consumer Goods

With US$5 billion in global annual revenue, the home entertainment division of this studio is engaged in the distribution and sales of home video products in multiple formats including physical (DVD and VCD) and digital (Internet downloads).

Accomplishments include:

• Successfully transitioned support of business critical applications from the U.S. and U.K. to Asia, driving down support costs for Asia by approximately 20% while at the same time increasing service levels to the business.  Response time for urgent support requests went from one week to same day; backlog of enhancement requests went from one year to one month.
• Managed all technology components in the establishment of a home video distribution joint venture in China.  Designed the applications architecture, negotiated with vendors and retailers, ensured legal compliance.  The multiple implementation projects completed on schedule and below budget.
• Managed all technology components in the establishment of a home video affiliate branch in Taiwan.  The multiple implementation projects completed on schedule and below budget.
• Successfully introduced Vendor Managed Inventory to key retailers in China, Japan and Australia, leading to the regional roll out of our Retail Inventory Management System, significantly decreasing distribution costs and returns.  VMI in Australia now represents approximately 40% of gross revenue in that territory.
• Managed a progressive series of modernization projects in Japan, automating manual processes, resulting in increased processing efficiency, lower supply chain costs and head count reduction; gross revenue increased by 15%.
• Other major projects have included localization and roll out of a Category Management data warehouse system to Australia and Japan; localization and roll out of B2B marketing web sites across the region; new Order-To-Cash and Inventory Management systems in the Philippines.
• All projects within the region completed on or ahead of schedule, on or under budget.  Unplanned downtime for critical systems at less than 1%.
• Responsible for driving change as one of only three MIS staff chosen to participate in a Global Business Transformation project, a multi-year project that resulted in corporate restructuring and business process reengineering, leading to streamlined operations and increased profitability.

Responsibilities:

• Manage all application development, localization and support for Asia Pacific region.
• Applications cover supply chain and logistics, vendor managed inventory, product management, sales, marketing, financial reporting and decision support systems.
• Supporting a full range of technologies including Internet-based applications, EDI, data warehousing, legacy technology (COBOL).
• Key member of Asia Pacific management team, working with Country, Regional and Global management on business strategy, supply chain, technology trends and digital opportunities.
• Partner with regional business management to ensure all project and enhancement requests have a valid business case and are approved by global management.
• Build and actively maintain strong relationships with business stakeholders, end-users and peers.
• Created and manage the Asia Pacific Application Services team; 15 developers and managers based in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo and Sydney.  The team was recognized as the most productive team in the AS group and staff turn-over has been under 10%.

Yipes Communications  (San Francisco, CA)     1999 to 2001

Senior Director, Systems Management

A US$300 million funded start-up that offered managed Gigabit IP fiber optic Metro Area Networks (MAN) and Wide Area Networks (WAN).

• Managed development and support for all application development, including systems for Sales, Finance and Customer Relationship Management, as well as all development for Internet, Intranet and Extranet sites.
• Managed support for Siebel, Oracle Financials, Portal Infranet and in-house development of web-based applications.

Charles Schwab & Co. (San Francisco, CA)     1999

Director, Program Management, Capital Markets & Trading Business Technology Unit

• Initiated and managed Decimalization Project, when the U.S. investment banking industry moved from fractional to decimal pricing.
• Served as member of Securities Industry Association Decimalization sub-committees on Testing, Implementation and Vendors.

Merrill Lynch (Hong Kong)     1996 to 1999

Vice President, Technology Group

• Manager, Core Processing Group:  Managed back office application development and support in Hong Kong across a wide range of technologies.
• Country Service Manager:  Responsible for coordinating technology support for offices in Seoul, Taipei, Manila, Bangkok, Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Mumbai, Shanghai and Beijing.

Sybase (New York & Hong Kong)     1993 to 1996

Principal Systems Consultant

• Clients in Asia Pacific region included Hongkong Telecom ITV (Video on Demand), Hong Kong Police Force, Hong Kong Jockey Club, Bank Bumiputra, Time Telecom (Malaysia) and Jardine Matheson.
• Clients in the U.S. included AT&T (6 projects including design of a 2 terabyte data warehouse), Pepsi Cola, Merrill Lynch and SIAC.
• Two time recipient of Consultant of the Quarter Award.

Barclays Bank (New York)     1990 to 1993

Database Analyst

• Developed logical and physical database models for a suite of applications to manage the commercial loan process.  Devised strategies and processes for mapping data from legacy systems over to a relational database and client/server application.

Digital Radio Network (New York)     1986 to 1990

Systems Administrator

• Created database of all available information on Compact Discs (titles, credits, release dates, reviews, etc.), which was then used as the basis for a syndicated radio service known as the CD Hotline.  The service later became the Muse system, used as the basis for web-based stores such as Amazon and with terminals in retail stores around the world).
• Led the company from a start-up with a single rented PC to a networked operation with 25 workstations.  Supervised data input and responsible for all maintenance and back-ups.

Education

Emerson College – Boston, Massachusetts

• Bachelor of Science, Mass Communications, 1975

Columbia University School of Continuing Education – New York City

• Certificate in Computer Technology and Applications, Major in Relational Databases, 1990

Personal

• Hong Kong Status:  Permanent Resident
• Citizenship:  United States
• Featured columnist in BC Magazine
• My blog Hongkie Town named one of the top English language blogs in Hong Kong by the South China Morning Post; averaging over 10,000 unique site visits and 35,000 page views per month
• References available upon request