Nathan F. Emerson
http://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanemerson
978 793 0440 nateemerson@mindspring.com
10 Musket Drive, Acton, Massachusetts, 01720
Summary
Senior learning professional with significant experience and expertise in strategic planning, development, management, and budgeting of global technical education programs and documentation portfolios in the software and high tech industries. Talented business-savvy leader accomplished in establishing department infrastructure, processes, tools, and standards from the ground-up. Highly successful in creating high performance global teams that develop and deliver education and documentation for complex software products in a fast-paced product development environment. Highly regarded by peers and senior management for integrity, work ethic, and commitment to obtaining results with constrained resources. 1 year -Started the Clean Energy Learning Group, a consulting company, advising clean energy companies and organizations about development and management of technical communications and learning products.
20+ years -Worked for technology and software companies as a learning professional, manager and individual contributor in the development and management of technical communications and learning products.
5+ years -Weston Sampson Engineers as an engineer and environmental planner working with municipalities, companies, and government agencies on environmental impact projects and water and wastewater engineering projects. Experience
Clean Energy Learning Group
Principal 2008-2009
Researching the clean energy software market and developing my consulting business.
Volunteer, advisor, organizer, and speaker coordinator for the First Massachusetts Green Career Conference held on October 2, 2009. Collaborated with partners to plan and host this conference for 300 attendees, speakers, and exhibitors. Web Content Writer and Information Architect for a start-up that is developing on-demand, green product design software and information services to bring sustainable product design into mainstream product design and manufacturing. Speaker at local networking groups about my transition into the clean energy tech space. Attending conferences, seminars, workshops, and networking with Clean Energy and Technology professionals.
Volunteer for the Green Acton environmental organization. Helped put on an energy fair for Acton residents. Teacher helping citizens become aware of global warning and reducing their carbon footprint and learning the joy of nature. Progress Software (and Sonic Software)
Senior Manager, Technical Education and Documentation 2006-2008
As part of Knowledge Services managed a principal-level technical course and documentation development team of 10 in India, Canada, and the US. Developed courses and documentation for the Actional and Sonic product lines, application infrastructure software that allows customers to develop, deploy, integrate, and manage their business applications. Identified clear roles and responsibilities for team members, set unambiguous expectations about deliverables and success criteria, and communicated performance feedback. Hired, negotiated contracts, and coached staff. Also defined priorities, did hands on editing, resolved problems, and rewarded employees.
Forecast expected annual expenditures and managed a $1 million plus budget for my team. Met or came under budget each year. Member of the product delivery team for the Mercury process
Defined customer-facing education business requirements for the Sonic and Actional product lines. Through stakeholder consensus developed the first comprehensive technical course curriculum of 16 courses for the Sonic product line. As part of a cross-functional product development team, defined product requirements with release stakeholders. Planned, scheduled, and updated the 10,000 page documentation set and Eclipse help system for several releases. Audiences included developers, administrators, and deployment specialists. Worked with localization vendors to obtain cost estimates for translating documentation into Japanese.
Developed an integrated Wiki with product development to manage documentation development which led to more efficient engineer-writer collaboration.
Manager, Technical Education and Documentation 2003-2006
Promoted to Senior Manager.
As a manager with Sonic software managed a global education team of 6 in the US and India and a US technical publications team of 4.
To address a dire need to train customers worldwide, reduce course development and customer costs, and expand Sonic’s US
education team, started and managed one of Sonic’s first outsourced teams in India. Hired a team of 5 e-learning designers
and developers, managed the India-based team in the US and traveled to India as needed. Determined a strategy for managing time zone differences, cultural differences and establishing long-distance manager-employee relationships. Led the development of Sonic’s first self-paced e-learning courses (WBT) resulting in the completion of 4 courses in the first year. This team was recognized by senior management as one of the best sonic teams in India. Conducted global team meetings using video conferencing, Webex sessions, and PowerPoint presentations. Posted elearning courses on the Learning Management System. Conducted performance reviews and learned about Indian employee expectations, salaries, and benefits.
Conducted training needs analysis with stakeholders. Determined the requirements and planned, scheduled, and managed the development of Sonic's first 4 multiple-day instructor-led (ILT) training courses. Managed the classroom training delivery and instructors and worked closely with technical consultants from professional services. To leverage limited resources, researched and led a trial initiative to develop a single-sourcing method for creating ILT and e-learning (WBT). Planned and implemented Sonic’s first help system for an Eclipse-based development environment to provide the developer
audience with easily searchable documentation. Grew the number of help topics from 0 to 5500. Our team, resourced constrained, met deadlines for numerous major and minor software releases for 10 products delivered within date-driven timeframes.
Set vision and goals for the team to effectively use limited resources. Put education and documentation development processes in place and selected authoring tools. Developed Sonic's first style guide.
eXcelon Corporation
Manager, Technical Documentation 2000-2002
Managed a senior-level technical documentation and translation group of 7 in the data management division. Designed, developed, and delivered large-scale documentation sets for Java/C++ developers and end-user audiences. Developed documentation and tutorials for an object-oriented database, J2EE cache manager, XSLT editor, XML application development environment, XML database management system, and business process management toolkit. Wrote topics about security, application performance, and business processes, Java APIs, developing XML applications, creating and administering XML Stores.
Determined requirements with marketing and scoped projects with the engineering management team. Developed different documentation development processes to accommodate three software engineering groups using varied product development processes.
Implemented a single-source authoring strategy. Integrated multiple documentation sets to create a single access point so that audiences could quickly search and navigate 6700 topics for multiple products. Automated the generation of documentation deliverables in order to rapidly update the documentation frequently and accommodate short software development cycles. Delivered Web Help, HTML Help, PDF, and Print documentation.
MultiLogic, Inc.
Technical Publications Manager 1999-2000
Started and managed a technical publications group of 4. Wrote print publications and help systems for a Windows-based application development environment. Wrote topic-base content about planning, developing, and deploying knowledge and rule-based expert systems for the financial services industry.
High Jump Software
Lead Technical Writer 1994-1999
Developed print documentation and online help systems for Windows NT and UNIX based Data Collection and Warehouse Management software and hardware products for diverse manufacturing audiences. Wrote documents about application development, system administration, configuration, and maintenance. Documented an ODBC-compliant database. Provided usability expertise to product development.
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Independent Consultant
Consultant, project manager, and writer 1991-1994
Skills and Knowledge
Social networking media and Web 2.0 technologies
Linkedin, Twitter, blogs, wikis, RSS feeds, online collaboration, Google docs, and webinars Software Product Development
Clearcase, Clear quest, MS Project, Product development methodologies and release cycle, Mercury Process, Service-Oriented Architectures (SOA), Enterprise Service Bus (ESB), Actional SOA Management, BPEL, SonicMQ messaging middleware, Eclipse, Web Services, event-driven processing, SOAP, XML, BPM, J2EE, C++, .net and Java APIs.
Instructional Design and Training
Instructor-led Training Courses, Training Delivery, Self-paced e-Learning, Content Repository, and Learning Management Systems, Student and Instructor Certification, and Macromedia Suite
Technical Communications
Information Development, User Assistance, DITA, Single-Sourcing, Localization, Translation, Web Help, HTML Help, Knowledge Transfer, Information Modeling, Information Mapping, Content Management, Eroom, VPN, Video conferencing, Webex, , People-click, PowerPoint, Microsoft Office Suite, Robohelp, FrameMaker, Homesite, Visio, and Acrobat Education
Renewable Energy: "Capturing the Sun", MIT Professional Institute, Cambridge, MA. (Aug 2008) Graduate Courses in Economics, Accounting, and International RelationsHarvard University Extension School, Cambridge, MA BS Environmental Studies, Springfield College, Springfield, MA
Conferences, Seminars, and Courses
Private Equity HUB Cleantech Panel: Cleantech & Washington: Making Sense of it All
Renewal Coaching: Sustainable Change for the Greater Good
Carbon Disclosure and Financial Risk - An Industry-University Seminar
MIT Enterprise Forum: Energy SIG Event Corporate in Cleantech Seminar
Konarka Solar Technology presentation
Building Transmission to Deliver Renewable Energy Resources June, 2009
Introduction to the Climate Registry June, 2009
Alternative Energy & Building Efficiency Exhibition May 2009
EBC and Nexus/GRT Present: Enviro101- Learning to LEED April, 2009
Babson Entrepreneurial Energy Conference March, 2009
MIT Energy Conference March, 2009
Building Energy 09, NESEA, March, 2009
Enterprise Carbon Accounting (ECA) and Regulations, Groom Energy Solutions, March, 2009 EBC Industry Summit on the Business of the Environment – Energy – Climate Change - Identifying the Business Opportunities,
2008
Clean Technology Conference, Boston, 2008
Performance Leadership for Managers course, Progress Software, 2007
How to Plan, Develop, and Evaluate Training, Clark Training & Consulting
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Speaker, “Career Preservation in a Volatile and Competitive Work Market” International Technical Communication Conference, STC, 2003 and “Management SIG Progression: Innovative Approaches for Managing People”, International Technical Communication Conference, STC, 2003
Best Practices Conference -The Center for Information-Development Management
FrameMaker Course -PUBSNET Inc.
The Help Technology Conference, Boston and Robohelp training, Weisner Associates
International Technical Communication Conferences, STC, 1989, 1995, and 2003
Human Factors and Information Mapping seminars, Unisys Corporation
Online Documentation Seminar, William Horton Associates
Team Building, Quality, and Conflict Management seminar and Leadership Training School, Burlington Northern Project Management Seminar, American Management Association and Documentation Management Seminar, Comtech Services
Professional Affiliations and Awards
MIT Enterprise Forum, Environmental Business Council, and Green Group Boston
Member, Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) and Boston Area Solar Energy Association (BASEA) Member, American Society for Training & Development (ASTD). Attending monthly meetings. The Center for Information-Development Management
Member, Society for Technical Communication former committee manager, volunteer of the year, and competition judge. Attending monthly meetings
Technical Writing Merit Awards, STC, 1992 and 1994
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