Michael Portwood

HALO Recognition

, New York, NY

2013 - present

Director, Client Facing Technologies

While working directly for the Chief Operating Officer, architected and led the modernization of this leading global employee recognition company’s e-commerce and social recognition service offerings by leveraging cloud computing coupled with service-oriented architecture (SOA) and responsive web design to deliver optimized smartphone, tablet, and immersive desktop experiences via Software as a Service (SaaS). Managed the technology portfolio, accounting for over 85% of the division’s income. Technologies include Atlassian, Node.js, Yarn, Webpack, TypeScript, Perl, PostgreSQL, Linux, Apache, Talend, T ensorFlow, Bootstrap, and HTML5. Responsible for business analysis, architecture, engineering, quality assurance, infrastructure, systems administration, and data development functions. Managed vendor relationships, including offshore and near-shore contractors, usability consultants, and compliance (GDPR and SOC) auditors.

• Architected, developed, and deployed the next-generation employee recognition applications using Python, Ruby on Rails, Java, D3, and SASS with Continuous Deployment (CD) and Continuous Integration (CI) pipelines.
• Led the development of machine learning (ML) approaches to improve the customer experience.
• Developed strategies that delivered zero downtime on all critical systems for over forty-eight contiguous months.
• Managed and led full remote teams since 2017.
• Migrated data centers to Amazon AWS, realizing operational flexibility and 49% cost savings.
• Architected and delivered application improvements to leverage cloud computing infrastructure.
• Increased development efficiency by over 400% by implementing a customer-centric agile methodology.
• Reduced delivery cycle frequency to 2 weeks, realizing early revenue generation opportunities.
• Improved customer application issue resolution time by 99%.
• Developed an engineered quality program based on behavior-driven development (BDD), multi-tiered regression, and automated architectural quality analyses.
• Deployed an ITIL framework, improving organizational quality and reliability.
• Implemented a professional talent development program emphasizing soft skills and full business engagement.

The Nielsen Company

, Lancaster, PA

2003 - 2012

Team Manager and Vice President, Application Development

Directed the transformation of this consumer insights company’s offerings into a platformed web and mobile-based global presence, leveraging the multi-tenant Software as a Service (SaaS) model. Delivered client-facing services via web browsers, web services, and smartphone devices. Responsible for business analysis, architecture, engineering, quality assurance, release management, technical, and customer support documentation departments distributed across seven locations. Managed the technology portfolio, accounting for over 95% of the Spectra brand’s income.

• Developed an agile leadership methodology that addresses issues with agile execution, enhances corporate governance, and contributes to improved staff performance and satisfaction with low turnover.
• Built an employee engagement model for a technology team, resulting in a 1% annual turnover.
• Increased development efficiency by over 1,700% without staffing increases by implementing agile development methodologies that yield $50M in annual efficiency savings.
• Improved delivery cycle frequency from 18 months to 2 weeks, realizing early revenue generation opportunities.
• Reduced fielded defects to 1 per 100,000 lines of executable code, resulting in $6M annual cost savings.
• Replaced 23 products with a single platform architecture that met budget and timeline, resulting in no customer loss.
• Directed deployment improvements, resulting in essentially zero service downtime.
• Selected and led the implementation of the Deming corporate quality program.

Exuberance

, Baton Rouge, LA

2000 - 2003

Chief Technology Officer

Delivered the product technology roadmap for this enterprise's rapid application development (RAD) software tool company. The Exuberance™ product simplified software development by automatically creating extensible internationalized Java-based applications that i nteract with enterprise resources, like databases and CORBA, RMI, EJB, and COM objects. Exuberance applications auto-determine configuration and change behavior, allowing delivery as web applets, desktop, client/server, handheld, and Internet applications running on most modern operating systems without modification.

• Conceptualized, researched, architected, and developed the Exuberance platform.
• Served as a product evangelist by presenting the Exuberance platform at international conferences and associated technologies, including advanced Java, wireless (including Bluetooth), and peer-to-peer networking.
• Mentored the technical staff on the development methodology and Exuberance platform.
• Built domestic and international channel partner relationships.
• Demonstrated value leadership by managing expenses at or below budget, creating a virtual office culture that realized a 60% savings on rent, and working with patent attorneys to economically secure international intellectual property rights.

Delphinus

, Baton Rouge, LA

1996 - 2000

Chief Technology Officer

Directed the architecture, technology selection, and development for this automated patient pharmaceutical compliance services company. Nereus™ provided a high-availability medical information service that connects physicians, patients, and insurance companies, using the Internet and wireless technology to improve patient health while reducing healthcare costs.

• Architected the Nereus service platform and worked with patent attorneys to secure intellectual property rights.
• Oversaw and participated in developing software components in Java utilizing EJBs, JDBCs, servlets, and JSPs.
• The technology/business model was featured as case studies at three international conferences in Asia.

The Portwood Group

, Baton Rouge, LA

1994 - 2000

Practice Principal

Helped global clients create a technological competitive advantage through specialized rapid application development tools and techniques, emphasizing the integration of emerging technologies into existing business frameworks.

Texas Instruments

, Dallas, TX

1984-1994

Computer Engineering Manager

Functioned as a technical manager, customer technical liaison, individual contributor, and rapid response team member for this Fortune 50 technology conglomerate.

Optics Design Center:

• Directed the hardware and software modernization of real-time automated optical system testing.
• Participated in budget oversight, delivering all milestones as scheduled with a 20% cost savings.

Office of Governmental Affairs:

• Liaised between international government customers and project management, improving both project efficiency and customer satisfaction.
• Led the implementation team responsible for earning the Baldridge quality award.

Automatic Video Tracking Systems:

• Designed, developed and delivered the first object-oriented real-time test equipment, written entirely in Smalltalk.

MS Applied Cognition and Neuroscience (Artificial Intelligence)

1992

University of Texas, Dallas, TX

Focused on computational neuroscience and cognition theory emphasizing artificial neural networks and Bayesian statistics.

BS Computer Science

1990

University of Texas, Dallas, TX