Ari Davidow, PMP

Profile

• Technology Director experienced in web2.0, publishing, online community, knowledge management, information lifecycle management, and data preservation/migration;
• Certified Project Manager (PMP) able to set standards and transfer project management skills throughout organization;
• Analyst adept at solving problems by creating new opportunities with new and old technologies.

Professional History

Director of Online Strategy, Jewish Women's Archive, Brookline, MA, 2005 - current

• Creation of long-term Technology Strategy Plan;
• Introduction of new subsites including blog, online collecting;
• Initiated migration from static content to unified, web2.0-enabled CMS;
• Planning and inception of project to create Trusted Digital Repository using open source tools (Fez, FEDORA);
• Management of Web, Archival staff and outside freelancers and vendors.

Technical Project Manager, Massachusetts Medical Society, Waltham, MA, 2005

• Requirements/project management for next generation web news portal: new search engine interface & tools, extensive search engine optimization (SEO) analysis, RSS, Podcasting, AJAX, continuous publishing, Web 2.0 features;
• Creation of several new sites for New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM);
• E-Health Collaborative proof-of-concept project for storing and retrieving individual XML records in MS SQL Server using .Net environment;
• Mentoring of young project managers towards PMP certification.

Project Management Consultant, Newton, MA, 2004 - 2005

• Practice focused on sustainable non-profit web framework based on Drupal;
• Business plan outline for ISP to offer advanced community services to non-profits included Community of Practice (CoP) support.

Applications Administrator, Tufts University, Web Central, Medford, MA, 2001 - 2004

• Hired to manage failing project to create multi-server multimedia web environment on tight deadline. Implemented PM process, turned project around and met deadline;
• Led creation of new development infrastructure: sandboxes, dev/test/live servers including live streaming media, calendar-of-events services, formal software design procedures, business process re-engineering (BPR), and formal site upgrade procedures;
• Managed outside vendor software customization and development;
• Mentored staff in software development life cycle (SDLC) methodologies;
• Established university-wide sysadmin/webmaster Community of Practice to support and encourage standards, Use Case development, and common methodologies.

Application Technologist, ITworld.com, Westborough, MA, 1999 - 2001

• Managed on-time creation of new B2B portal based on Oracle, Vignette StoryServer, InktomiSearch, and WebCrossing from business analysis through implementation with bi-coastal staff and outside vendor for IDG-owned startup;
• Responsible for negotiating and managing tie-in infrastructure implementation with other IDG companies across country;
• Developed XML vocabulary and DTD as a tool for categorizing data and for making it easy to tie stories and resources together.

Production Manager, NetworkWorld, Framingham, MA, 1999

• Managed 3-person staff that provided targeted mass e-mail services;
• Introduced database-backed software to enable faster turnaround and greater accuracy to support rapid growth without an increase in staff.

Senior Systems Manager, Webmaster, Icebreaker Communications, Newton, MA, 1998 - 1999

• Oversaw Windows, Unix systems administration and desktop support for startup developing corporate knowledge management tool;
• Planned and implemented two office moves, including responsibility for phone, security, and computer networks;
• Architected an e-commerce portal.

New Media and E-Commerce Web Consulting Practice, Belmont, MA, 1996-1998

• Provided technology assessments and architectures for web portals, an online education delivery system, content management systems, and business process re-engineering;
• Established a Project Management Office (PMO) in an electronic publishing startup.

Online Systems Manager, The Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Palo Alto, CA, 1995 - 1996

• Developed first Addison-Wesley FTP site, mailing lists, and Web sites;
• Created online systems department;
• Integrated early web sites (including those of companies purchased by AW) while transitioning to a database-backed, commerce-enabled system.
• Set corporate standards for online services and led overhaul of main corporate site.

Production Technologist, The Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Redwood City, CA, 1991 - 1995

• Defined electronic production standards; initiated use of tools such as removable media, digital archives, Quark XPress, and FrameMaker;
• Implemented extensive author guideline program;
• Established training programs to make the knowledge generally available.

Related Activities and Professional Associations

"From Casual History to Digital Preservation," Museums on the Web, San Francisco, April 2007.

Project Management Institute, Mass Bay: first joined 1998.

Registration Manager 2004 - 2006.

PRISM member, 2000 - 2001

Sponsored by IDEAlliance, we developed XML asset management vocabulary standard.

Computers and Typography, Rosemary Sassoon, ed. (Intellect Press, UK)

"Digital Hebrew in a Monolingual World," 1st volume, 1993;

"Typography on the Web," 2nd volume, 2002.

Education and Certifications

PMP, Project Management Institute.

BA, Management and Community Planning, College of Public and Community Service, UMass/Boston.

Recent courses: Digital Preservation Management Workshop, Cornell University;
IT Strategy Management, XML, Software Development Methodologies, Brandeis University.

Foreign Languages: Fluent Hebrew.

Current Tools

Project Management: MS Project, MS Office, MS Visio

Programming: Python, SQL, PHP, XML, XSLT, CSS, XHTML, JavaScript.

Web: Apache, IIS, SharePoint, RealServer (audio/video), Search (FAST, InktomiSearch, Google Search Appliance), WebCrossing, WebEvent, LDAP, web analytic tools, Drupal community framework (PHP).

References are available upon request.