Linda G. Branagan

133 Noriega Street - San Francisco, CA 94122 - h:415.661.3018 - c:415.860.7983
lgb@well.com

Summary:

A senior project, department, and executive manager with experience in both engineering and marketing roles and a proven ability to plan and deliver Internet technology products.

Education:

Alliant University, Alemeda, CA. MA in Organizational Psychology expected June, 2002.
University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson TX. Graduate level credits in Cognition and Neuroscience.
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA. BA in Professional Writing.

Experience:

Construct Internet Design was a highly technical Internet professional services company with a substantial blue-chip client base. The 18-person company was acquired by IllusionFusion! in March of 1999.

Acting General Manager, San Francisco, February 2000 - August 2000.

Tracked and reported staff utilization and project costs.
Lead the project acquisition process, provided authorization to pursue or abandon sales leads, worked actively to evaluate client needs, develop proposals and cost estimates, negotiate contracts.
Functioned as Account Manager for projects acquired by our office, maintained and protected client-company relationships.
Worked with managers at other corporate locations to ensure that resource requirements for all projects are met.

Acting General Manager, New York, December 1999 - February 2000.

Implemented a process for authorizing pursuit or abandonment of sales leads.
Implemented weekly management meetings to communicate project and team status, identify and resolve issues.
Negotiated graceful termination of multiple legacy projects that no longer represented significant strategic or financial opportunities.
Restructured departments to be more appropriate for company size and direction, eliminated four positions.
Implemented weekly project status reporting process.

Director of Engineering, April 1998 - November 1999.

Participated actively in the new project acquisition process, by determining technical feasibility, scope, and risks for project proposals.
Established quality assurance guidelines for projects as appropriate to their revenue structure, client, and end-user requirements.
Managed five software developers, often each working on multiple projects. Prioritized and assigned tasks based on client needs, revenue structure, and technical requirements and limitations.
Functioned as Producer for highly technical or risky projects; worked directly with clients to develop specifications and delivery schedules and communicate issues and status.
Helped project Producers successfully communicate technical issues and limitations to clients.
Worked actively with the CFO to track actual project costs and accuracy of pre-production estimates.

Intervista Software, Inc. developed 3D Internet applications based on the Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML). They were acquired by Platinum Technology in May 1998.

Product Manager, August 1997 - March 1998.

Managed planning, development, and release of two products: WorldView 2.5 (a VRML browser for use within Netscape or Internet Explorer) and WorldView for Developers (an Active X control for use by component-based application developers). Determined market requirements and product positioning, negotiated features and schedule with engineering, determined licensing strategy and price points, coordinated beta testing, assisted with key sales presentations, analyzed competing products.
Negotiated features based on difficulty of implementation, time and resources required, and value to end-users. Worked with upper management to predict and track actual project costs.
Wrote white papers, data sheets, and reviewer guides. Developed product marketing procedures, technical support policies, bug escalation procedures.

Project Manager, November 1996 - August 1997.

Managed project schedule for a six person programming team for a seven-month development effort involving five planned beta releases.
Determined, prioritized, and assigned tasks based on input from engineering, sales, beta testers, and OEM clients.
Implemented weekly project team meetings to discuss status, priorities and schedule changes.
Wrote functional specifications, test plans, and product documentation.
Implemented procedures for bug tracking, advised QA staff on testing procedures.
Provided technical support for beta testers.

Light Source, Inc. developed the Colortron, a hardware and software product used for color measurement primarily in the graphic arts and publishing industries. It was acquired by X-Rite, Inc. in March, 1997.

Project Manager, February - October 1996.

Facilitated the development of market requirements documents and engineering specifications. Managed input from cross-functional team members to resolve critical issues and fully establish product specifications and risks.
Held weekly project review meetings to communicate status, schedule changes, and potential challenges to all departments. Created agendas and minutes and tracked action items.
Revised the product development process to be more appropriate to company size. Reduced the number of development phases to five from fourteen. Minimized document requirements to essential elements to allow development to move ahead as quickly as possible.

Z-Code Software developed Z-Mail, a cross-platform electronic mail application. Acquired by Network Computing Devices in March 1994. Product Marketing Specialist,Quality Assurance and Technical Publications Manager, August 1993 - January 1996.

Convex Computer Corporation manufactured high speed mainframe computer systems and was acquired by Hewlett Packard in December 1995. System Engineer, Documentation and Training Developer, January 1989 - August 1993.

Publications and Professional Activities:

Panel Member, National Research Council Board of Assessment for the National Institute of Technology. This 20-personal panel of academic and industry specialists meets twice annually to evaluate the quality and nature of work done in the Information Technology Laboratory at NIST. Our evaluations are used both internally by NIST administration and externally as part of the federal program review and budgeting process.

Author, VRML: Low Tech Illusion for the World Wide Web, chapter 7 in Digital Illusion: Entertaining the Future with High Technology, edited by Clark Dodsworth, Jr. and published by Addison Wesley. Ghost-written for Tony Parisi.

Producer and Chair, Computer Animation Festival, SIGGRAPH 1996, often referred to as "the Academy Awards of Computer Graphics". Responsible for conceiving and implementing a risky and non-traditional theme and vision; assembling and managing a jury of experts, a volunteer staff of ten, and a six figure budget; supervising film editing and video post production; editing and approving conference publications; conducting press interviews.

Author, The Frame Handbook, with M. Sierra. Published by O'Reilly & Associates.