SUMMARY:

• Thirty years’ writing experience on top of an extensive and varied IT background: project management, administrative management, system design, programming, cyber risk, information security, etc. Worked in both business and technology areas of client organizations.
• Excellent communication, management, and professional skills, extremely bright and focused, good perspective combined with mastery of detail, quickly adaptable to new situations and technologies, firm grasp of client perspective and requirements, strong verbal skills, fun to work with.
• Have written user guides, procedures (IT operations, IT finance, QA, securities trading front - and back office, etc.), production topology diagrams, workflows, IT security policies, standards and processes, business requirements documents, functional specs, system design specs, user acceptance test specs, installation guides, marketing brochures
• PowerPoint presentations, disaster recovery manual, online help, sales proposals, web content, responses to RFPs, etc. (User Guide received of from Society for Technical Communication.) Have also written features, reviews, and commentary for newspapers, magazines, radio, TV, and the Internet.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

Confidential

Technical Writer/Contractor

Responsibilities:

• Working with cyber-risk leadership and SMEs:
• Wrote/edited and maintained a suite of information technology policies in support of SOC2 compliance (the Information Security Management System, headed by a policy on information security management based on ISO27001 domains and controls)
• Edited the internal cybersecurity web site
• Edited various risk assessment and risk management documents
• Working with the CISO and SMEs:
• Edited a range of security standards documents (including a general cloud guide, cloud security standards, and AWS security guidelines)
• Edited responses to client inquiries regarding information security
• Wrote/edited client- and user-facing documentation
• Worked with a cross-functional team on the communication plan for informing users (via emails, the Intranet, lock screens, etc.) about revised password requirements, the rationale for the change, the testing strategy, and user impact.
• Working with system engineering leadership, SMEs, and operational staff:
• Wrote/edited an extensive library of technical and process documents aimed (successfully) at securing ISO of a new data center offering robust data analytics and other products/services to clients
• Wrote/edited disaster recovery procedures (process written in Word, operations procedures in Confluence)
• Wrote network topology documents
• Wrote a guide to enhancing the user readability of Confluence knowledge objects
• Working with product- and application development:
• Evaluated a new application from the user perspective (clarity of messages, ease of navigation)
• Documented the procedure for deploying applications on the Kubernetes platform

Confidential

Technical Writer/Contractor

Responsibilities:

• IT Dept. Documented IT Asset Management policies and processes. Documented IT Finance procedures (voice cost allocation, T&E reporting, monthly amortization, capital forecasting, etc.).

  Wrote IT contract negotiation/execution guidebook. Analyzed the contents of the Service Desk knowledge base for currency, correctness, clarity, and consistency; documented my findings. Edited various IT infrastructure documents, brochures, and templates. Developed PowerPoint scorecard for status reporting.

Confidential

Technical Writer/Contractor

Responsibilities:

• Worked with IT- and senior management to define a wide range of policies, standards, workflows and procedures aimed at making the Company compliant with Sarbanes-Oxley IT provisions. Created all related documents and manuals (information security, sign-on and access control, IT operations, backup & recovery, change management, production topology diagrams, help desk procedures, etc.). Ongoing responsibility for internal auditing of IT compliance (including network-, application-, and server access, new hire and termination processes, change management, etc.) and for maintaining the policies, procedures, and documentation.
• Completed four consecutive external audits with no major deficiencies.
• Worked with management in producing annual budgets for the four IT departments and the Facilities Department; analyzed actual expenses vs. budget and produced forecasts. Responsible for processing and approving invoices. Negotiated and administered contracts and managed vendor relationships. Revised and managed the procurement process for IT hardware and software acquisitions. Managed staff of 1-1/2.

Confidential

Technical Writer/Consultant

Responsibilities:

• For a major risk consulting firm, wrote contents pages for the firm’s web site, discussing risk issues and the services offered by the firm.
• For Morgan Stanley operations, evaluated current procedural documentation (for clarity, completeness, level of detail, etc.) and produced report with findings and recommendations.
• For CorPro, wrote informational/marketing brochure on long-term care insurance.
• For ASECMO, wrote English-language brochures for Windows-based biometric system-access software based on vendor’s original German-language brochures.

Confidential

Technical Writer/Consultant

Responsibilities:

• For subsidiary of Confidential Bank, wrote front office and back office securities trading and investment banking procedures for seven back - office groups and eighteen front-office desks. Developed most procedures from scratch based on interviews with subject matter experts; also reviewed and edited Confidential -written procedures.

Confidential

Technical Writer/Consultant

Responsibilities:

• Wrote: online help, user guides, functional specifications, system design specifications, interface control documents, installation guides, presentations, workflows and procedures; performed QA testing: evaluated system functionality and the user interface. (User guide received of from Society for Technical Communication.) Applications: asset securitization (mortgages, credit card receivables, auto financing), funds transfer, letter of credit, purchase order, foreign exchange, financial management information, on-line investment services.
• Presided over meetings/conference calls between the development group in New York and the users in the U.K. to assure clarity, consistency, and mutual understanding. My minutes of these proceedings served as specifications for both the development effort and user acceptance.
• For the asset securitization system, reviewed the lengthy and complex legal documents underlying the system design, comparing contractual provisions against system functionality to identify potential areas of non-compliance.

Confidential

Director of Consulting

Responsibilities:

• For a major life insurance company, consulted to the management office responsible for a very large, multi-year project to rethink and revise the way the Company services its clients.
• Managed a high-level voice and data communications strategy study for a regional bank in New England.
• Manager of a team of Logica consultants that undertook a communications strategy study for a large regional bank aimed at recommending the best approach for integrating and rationalizing the Bank's assortment of data communications networks based on cost and technical considerations.