Wharton Research Data Services

2008 - Present (Multiple Roles)

• Technical leader who has introduced new technologies enhancing the WRDS platform. These technologies have impacted hundreds of thousands of users across the world and include the four core technologies of the WRDS platform: Python, Django, Wagtail, and PostgreSQL.
• Led the six-year project to convert WRDS from ColdFusion to Django in concert with the WRDS Web Team. This project was a very significant undertaking, requiring communications across the team, buy-in from all sides of WRDS, and commitment from our leadership to realize the benefits of such a broad endeavor. I led many sub-projects, trained our staff, was available for consultation, and built out the infrastructure.
• Championed Python and Django to become Wharton's preferred web technologies through the Wharton Computing DevTAP process. Served as co-lead on the Wharton implementation team and helped Penn's ISC with their implementation.
• Joined the Query Manager project midway: led a team of software engineers to see the project to completion as a success. Built workers for SAS, PostgreSQL, and SOLR which run over one million WRDS queries per year.
• Architected and developed the new WRDS permissions system, which ensures users and subscribers only have access to the data they subscribe to. Conceived and developed the new Compound Products system, which allows certain permissions to only be given when subscribed to a certain combination of other products.
• Directed the introduction of PostgreSQL, which allowed WRDS to replace SQL Server, Oracle SQL, and MySQL with a single database. Worked with the team to migrate WRDS research data to PostgreSQL and led the conversion to UTF-8 to support international character sets.
• Designed and implemented the WRDS web infrastructure, including Ansible, Apache, mod_wsgi, and integration with HA Proxy for load balancing.
• Led the technical team of the WRDS Salesforce implementation, designing a repeatable data export system to migrate data from Microsoft Dynamics, and synchronizing data through the Salesforce API. Found a major bug in Salesforce in 2022 that affected the entire world and worked with Salesforce for three months to compose a solution.
• Worked with colleagues in Penn's legal department, ISC, and SEAS to negotiate a contract with GitHub to offer GitHub Enterprise Campus to Penn at no cost. Implemented Single Sign-On with PennKey and provided promotion and assistance to migrate various groups on campus to the centralized service which helps Penn faculty, staff, and students break down silos and collaborate on projects.
• Led the conversion from HTML and Perl to ColdFusion as the director of the Web Team.
• Wrote the winning proposal to host DjangoCon US 2016 at Wharton and assembled a team of ten Wharton volunteers to host and worked with Wharton Operations. Served as liaison between Wharton the the DjangoCon US organization team to ensure the conference was a success. (https://2016.djangocon.us)
• Upgraded and modernized OTIS, the WRDS Online Trading and Investment Simulator, including a responsive design and payment integration with CyberSource.
• Created the software packages for processing credit card payments with CyberSource in Python, PHP and ColdFusion used across the University.
• Developed and deployed the Classroom by WRDS website, along with working on various teaching tools.
• Conceived and developed the WRDS API, initially for Goldman-Sachs, which now powers the WRDS data browser and other WRDS web features.
• Helped run the 2018 TBSr conference, hosted by WRDS.
• Worked to release appropriate products as open-source, accepting code from contributors, and built relationships with the open-source communities of key products in the WRDS technology stack.
• Promoted collaboration across the University as an organizer of DEV-SIG. Created tools for developers, such as a Vagrant and an on-server development environment.
• Created Ansible playbooks for installation of full Python/Django environments on Linux, to ensure installation and configuration was consistent across all instances.
• Serves as the WRDS SQL Administrator, version control administrator, and domain administrator. Oversaw or participated in upgrades from ColdFusion 8 through 16, SQL Server 2005 through 2019, Django 1.8 through 4, PostgreSQL 9.4 to 14, Wagtail 0.4 to 3 and RedHat Linux 6 to 7.6.
• Developed a system to automate Unix system tasks through a web-based control panel.
• Championed and helped implement a single sign-on LDAP solution which allowed our interactive service for 40,000 users (SSH) to move to Oracle Grid Engine on our private cloud, replacing a legacy single server (Sun E20000).
• Managed a team of three developers. The team also developed a Community based section using WordPress, BuddyPress, and custom plugins to make it appear seamless with the rest of the web site, a private "Stack Overflow" type of question-and-answer system.
• Developed a new Company Identifier Search across 200 data products with about 30 million individual companies spanning the globe.
• I continue to mentor junior developers across Wharton and the University and recommend candidates for many positions. Many of these candidates have gone on to become key contributors across the University.

Crompco Corporation

2003 - 2008 (Principal Software Engineer, IT Director)

• Led the team from my former company as we transitioned to create an award-winning web portal, recognized within the industry as the gold standard of maintaining testing records for environmental compliance of retail gasoline stations for clients such as Exxon-Mobil, Conoco-Phillips, and Amerada Hess.
• Used PHP, MySQL, JavaScript, and Flash to remotely gather data from the field and automatically export to many popular formats for reporting, such as Excel and Crystal Reports.

Digital Content Solutions, LLC

2001 - 2003 (Founder, Chief Technology Officer)

• Founded the company with a partner and served as Chief Technology Officer.
• Led the technology team, building distance learning content management solutions and field data collection and testing web portals.
• Clients included The Einstein Academy, Flashlink, TRM Corporation, and Crompco Corporation.
• Company was sold to Crompco Corporation in 2003, our largest client, becoming their first in-house technology team.

BankPhiladelphia / USABancShares.com

1999 - 2001 (IT Director)

• Hired as a Senior Software Engineer to create the website for the bank, and promoted to IT Director after a year.
• Created private-label banks and MasterCard integration for David Bowie and the New York Yankees.
• Built a reverse-auction for Certificates of Deposit.

CDnow.com

1998 - 1999 (Senior Web Developer)

Skillset

I believe learning is a life-long endeavor and always try to improve my skillset.

• Expert Language Proficiency: Python, Perl, PHP, JavaScript, C, Bash, LSL, ColdFusion, SASS. Markup/Structure: JSON, XML, HTML, CSS, YAML.
• Additional Language Experience: Java, C#, Lua, PL/SQL
• Frameworks & Systems: Django, Django REST Framework, Ansible, Wagtail, Bootstrap, Amazon Web Services (S3, EC2, RDS, Lambda, Route 53, API Gateway), Salesforce, CyberSource, ReactJS, jQuery, jQuery-UI, WordPress, Upstanding ClientBanking, MISER core banking solution
• Developer Toolbox: git, GitHub Enterprise, GitLab, RESTful APIs, svn, Vagrant, bash, emacs, vi, cURL, Open SSL/SSH/SCP, XML-RPC, ImageMagick, sed, awk, TCP/IP, TLS
• Expert Database Experience: PostgreSQL; Microsoft SQL Server; MySQL; SQLite.
• Additional Database Experience: Oracle SQL & PL/SQL, Salesforce SOQL, BDB (LDAP), SAS.
• Other Technical Abilities: Linux system administrator; OpenLDAP; VSCode; Sublime Text 3 & Plugins; cron; sendmail; postfix; Apache administrator; Nginx; Gunicorn; mod_wsgi; advanced Second Life content creator (building, texturing, scripting); advanced knowledge of video, audio and image formats, compression, and automation; cross browser compatibility; Google Apps administrator; Windows domain administrator (including Server, Exchange, SQL Server, & Veritas Backup); Adobe Photoshop.
• Non-Technical: Excellent team player and communicator; served as liaison between tech departments and other teams; team lead of many projects; experience in start-up environments and large, corporate environments; have negotiated complex contracts and worked with attorneys on technical contracts; described as friendly, enthusiastic, and social; have planned large-scale events and conventions.

Leadership, Speaking, and Media

I have been involved in technology communities since I was young, and believe in giving back.

• Conference Speaker (2003 - Present): I have spoken on technical topics around the world, including the United States, England, Canada, and the Dominican Republic as a representative of Wharton.
• Publications & Media (2005 - Present): I have been published in academic journals and featured in the press on CNN, CNBC, BusinessWeek, MTV, The Guardian, Technical.ly, and many more.
• Philly Python Users Group (Lead Organizer: 2015 - Present)
• Philly PostgreSQL Users Group (Lead Organizer: 2016 - Present)
• Python Software Foundation (Member: 2015 - Present)
• Django Software Foundation (Member: 2016 - Present)
• BarCamp Philly (Organizer, Host: 2011 - Present)
• Code for Recovery (Volunteer, 2015 - Present, Secretary of Board 2023 - Present)
• Penn Web and Dev Special Interest Groups (Organizer: 2009 - 2021)
• DjangoCon US (Host, Organizer, Program Chair: 2016 - 2019)
• Philadelphia Area New Media Association (Vice President: 2008 - 2014)

Package Maintainer

I am a primary maintainer for many packages in the Python ecosystem. These are used by thousands of developers across the world.

• Django: django-cybersource-hosted-checkout (process payments with CyberSource in Django), django-click (utility for creating command line programs), django-ssh-deployer (for Django project deployment), django-tempus-dominus (date and time picker web interface), django-s3-sqlite (AWS lambda tool for storing databases on S3 storage), django-pg-copy (utility to allow developers to backup and restore databases)
• Django REST Framework: automagic-rest (creates automated endpoints for all tables within a database), drf-excel (generates spreadsheets for any RESTful endpoint)
• Wagtail: wagtail-code-block (syntax highlighting for content editors), peregrine (blogging platform), wagtail-gridder (interactive card-based grid layout interface), wagtail-error-pages (automated contextual error pages)

University of Pennsylvania

B.A., Individualized Major: Computer Aided Information Acquisition (Comp Sci/Psychology) (Class of 1996)

Self-created major combining psychology and computer science to study human-computer interaction. My senior thesis and project included computer program interface studies on middle and high school students, and development of an "expert author" system: devised as a planning scheme for information structure design. Included research into use of emerging three-dimensional technologies for use in education.

The Episcopal Academy

High School Diploma

Kindergarten through graduation. Award winner of the Vincent R. Michael Memorial Prize for proficiency and originality in Computer studies.