Summary

• Three and a half years as Senior Editor for the web site of top chess player Garry Kasparov
• Eight years in a challenging software support environment
• Assistant Manager of 100-technician department, telephone team leader, and Manager of the Electronic Support Department
• Extensive editing and writing experience.

Recent Job History

2004-2005

Internet Chess Club
Headquarters: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

After incarnations of the Kasparov site mentioned below ran into financial difficulties, I moved ChessWatch to the oldest and most prestigious chess club on the Internet, the Internet Chess Club. (website: http://www.chessclub.com) I also joined a new media section of the club, Chess.FM, which broadcasts chess-related shows over the Internet. For six months, I produced and hosted the only chess-related radio news show in the world. Now I work as a chess commentor and host for Chess.FM, broadcasting live coverage of major chess tournaments around the world. The current web address for ChessWatch is http://www.chess.fm/chesswatch.php.

1999-2004

KasparovChess Online
Manhattan, New York, and Moscow, Russia

I began a web site, "ChessWatch," that soon became internationally well known. I was contacted by Kasparov Chess Online and offered a job in Manhattan, which I accepted. There I edited articles by leading chess players from around the world, reporting on tournaments in their regions, such as Russia, Saudi Arabia, India, and South Africa. I also reported on ongoing tournaments, posting results on the site immediately following important events. On many occasions I wrote key articles on late-breaking chess news involving Garry Kasparov, who was closely associated with the site. I moved ChessWatch from my own site to the Kasparov site, and it was one of its popular features. In June, 2001, the site encountered funding difficulties and I was the only employee sent to Moscow after the Manhattan office closed. There I continued these duties.

2001-2004

Additional Projects

Moscow, Russia

While in Moscow I also started the only daily chess radio program in the world in association with the Internet Chess Club (www.chessclub.com). Though it was primarily produced in Moscow, I also broadcasted from Tallinn, Estonia, and Barcelona, Spain. I moved my daily column, ChessWatch, to the Internet Chessclub site. I also edited the English-language Moscow magazine Commercial Real Estate.

I am a skilled user of Dragon NaturallySpeaking Professional, a program that translates spoken words into text documents and also enables the creation of spoken macros that are used to automate computer tasks.

Other software programs I am particularly familiar with: Windows NT 4.0, Windows 95, and Windows 3.1, DOS, OS/2, and UNIX. MS Office, especially Word 6.0 and 7.0 and Excel. WordPerfect and XyWrite. dBase programming. Paradox and Ventura Publisher. I have programming experience in AWK, Perl, C, Pascal, Basic, and REBOL. I am very familiar with troubleshooting memory management, TCP/IP, communications problems via modem, and network problems in a Novell Netware environment. I know the basics of HTML and designing web pages. I wrote a dBase IV program that keeps track of more than 20,000 phonograph records and CDs in my house.

Certifications

Microsoft Certified Professional
  Implementing and Supporting Microsoft Windows 95
  Networking Essentials

Earlier Job History

1997-May, 1999
Protection One
Chatsworth, CA

I supervised the Help Desk, which responded to telephone calls from businesses and residences across the nation that required assistance in troubleshooting alarm problems. While at Protection One, I developed spreadsheets that were adopted throughout the Call Center, changing employee evaluation forms and telephone call observation forms from complex, calculation-filled operations into easily completed spreadsheets. I received special training in Nashville, Tennessee on using the TeleCenter System scheduling software.

1988-1996
Quarterdeck Corporation
13160 Mindanao Way
Marina del Rey, CA 90292-9705

I managed the Electronic Support Department. The department provided technical support for all Quarterdeck products, via CompuServe, the Internet, Smartnet, and the Quarterdeck BBS. Every week, in public forums and private messages, we communicated with five to ten thousand customers, leaders, opinion makers, and members of the press. I oversaw the team's operations, making policy decisions, providing guidance on effective communications strategies, and coordinating the team's efforts to find the most accurate and useful solutions to customer inquiries.

As Assistant Manager of the Technical Support Department, I received advanced training in telephone communications so I could provide feedback to team leaders about coaching their team members on good telephone techniques. I was a founding member of the PRPL ("purple"--Problem Resolution and Prevention Liaison) team specializing in solving the most difficult problems and in designing easier methods of handling them), served as a Pirate (individual leader specializing in solving the most difficult problems), and was the sole representative of Quarterdeck on CompuServe for two years. I started as an entry level technician.

1986-1988
Sage Publications
2455 Teller Road
Thousand Oaks, CA 9132

I was a copy editor for numerous academic journals, such as the Journal of Contemporary Ethnology. Sage specializes in social science publications. After journal articles or book chapters were approved by an academic editor, I corrected grammar and spelling, changed typographical style so that it conformed to the approved format, and rewrote copy as necessary to enhance its effectiveness.

1987-1988

Gambling Times
16140-B Valerio Street
Van Nuys, CA 91406-2912

I started as Book Editor and was promoted to Senior Editor. I designed and copy-edited books, magazine articles (Gambling Times) and articles for Poker Player, a weekly newspaper.

Other Employment

I was an editor and proofreader for a legal publishing firm, a proofreader at Litton Data Systems, and a customer service representative at the Los Angeles Herald Examiner. I also spent a year as a reviewer for the West Coast Review of Books.

Education

I attended the University of California at San Diego, Mesa Jr. College in San Diego, and Los Angeles City College, where I won many journalism awards. In 1986 I submitted my credits to the University of the State of New York, Regent's External Degree Program, and after outscoring 90% of seniors taking the Graduate Record Exam in Literature in English, I was awarded my Bachelor of Arts degree.

Other Interests

I am a U.S. Chess Federation-rated chess expert. I have been an amateur spelunker and enjoy backpacking. I have run a half marathon and many 10K runs.