senior staff technical writer -- October, 2009 to February 2014
publications manager -- September, 2006 to October 2009
senior technical writer -- April, 2005 to September, 2006

VMware Inc., Palo Alto, CA
For the global leader in virtual infrastructure software for industry-standard systems, I have written and illustrated a wide range of end-user documents, including user's manuals, in-product help systems, technical notes, knowledge base articles, and release notes. Among many other projects, I had sole responsibility for the end-user documentation of the version 1 releases of VMware Player and VMware Fusion, and for the major version 5.5 release of Workstation.

In 2006, I was promoted to manage the documentation team responsible for VMware desktop products, including VMware Fusion, Workstation, VMware Player, ThinApp, View, and ACE. During my tenure as manager, for dozens of major and minor releases, my team produced consistently excellent documentation, on time and on budget.

In 2009, I moved to a senior staff position, in which I documented installation and setup procedures for VMware vSphere. In 2014, I retired.

senior technical writer -- 2004 to 2005

Oracle Corporation, Redwood Shores, CA
For the world's leading producer of database software and information management systems, I authored and produced the online end-user help for the Enterprise Content Management module of Oracle's Collaboration Suite software.
 

contract & consulting work -- 1986 to 2005 

For a wide range of clients (software and hardware developers and manufacturers, accounting and legal firms, small businesses, publishers), I have provided a variety of communication and design services, including technical documentation, website design and development, white papers, marketing collaterals, technical illustrations, logos and other branding collaterals, graphic design, and newsletters.
 

senior technical writer & web developer -- 2000 to 2002

SBE, Inc., San Ramon, CA
For an OEM of high-performance communications hardware, I designed, developed, and maintained the corporate website. I also designed, wrote, edited, illustrated, and produced end-user technical documentation for SBE. I completely redesigned SBE's technical documentation, and successfully redesigned the corporate website three times. In February 2002, I received a company award in recognition of my redesign and production of the external website.
 

senior technical writer -- 2000

Coherent Medical Group, Santa Clara, CA
For the world's largest manufacturer of laser systems and products, I designed, wrote, edited, and illustrated user's guides, marketing literature, CD-based video demos, and web pages.
 

senior publications editor-- 1992 to 2000
publications editor -- 1987 to 1992

Ceon, Inc., Redwood City, CA
For a developer of telecommunications software, I designed, wrote, illustrated, edited, and produced a wide range of corporate communications. During my tenure there, I was responsible for the corporate website and intranet, users' guides, online help systems, product specifications, proposals, marketing literature, web- and WebTV-based marketing demos, newsletters, business plans, correspondence, training materials, and release notes. I played a key role in designing the user interface of the company's flagship software product.
 

editor -- 1987

Bechtel Publications, San Francisco, CA
For one of the world's largest construction companies, I edited a variety of technical communications. I co-edited a proposal for the company to undertake construction management of a project to redevelop New York's JFK airport. Working under extreme time constraints, on site in New York, I hired and managed temporary staff, coordinated, edited, and file-managed the written work of more than a dozen engineers and financial specialists, and served as liaison with the printer to produce this major proposal. Despite intense competition from a number of local construction firms, the New York Port Authority awarded the $2.7-billion contract to Bechtel.
 

applications and platforms

Word, Illustrator, FrameMaker, Photoshop, Flash, Dreamweaver, XMetal, Acrobat, WebWorks, Trisoft (content management system), Sharepoint, Perforce, CVS, Swift 3D, and many others.

I've used Macs for technical communication and graphic design since 1987 and DOS/Windows machines since 1986. I've worked with Unix/Linux operating systems since 2005.