I grew up as part of a large family (10 kids) in Rockville Centre, NY on Long Island. I had a terrific, active childhood. I played as much ball as I could and worked at the local country club, and other jobs all throughout my school years. Attended SUNY Oswego and served as the Chief Operating Officer of the Student Government. Joined a great fraternity, made many lifelong friends and worked hard for Miller Brewing Company, establishing sales records that would stand for many years.
A Long Career at Oppenheimer & Co., Inc. (1986 - 2002)
I joined the management training program at Oppenheimer and had a wonderful 17 year experience at the firm. I worked in many areas of the firm, focusing on initiatives to expand the firm's growth by opening several new branches and continuously improving products and client services. I was proud of being able to make many important contributions in the areas of client relationship management, operations/service delivery, vendor management, change management and project management. My teams developed and supported many mission critical applications, including several award - winning, industry leading client reporting and portfolio management platforms. I was a key part of the management team that revived the firm after the events of 9/11 destroyed our HQ. I took tremendous pride in heading up the Management Training Program and mentoring many who would go on to become valuable contributors to the firm's success.
Assent LLC - (2003 - 2010)
I joined the rapidly growing, industry leading electronic brokerage firm Assent LLC in 2003. (The firm would later be purchased by SunGard.) My responsibilities were many, and focused on managing and optimizing relationships with clients. I headed up the Branch Services Team, and also directed the firm's PMO (Project Management Office). I was instrumental in propelling the firm's explosive growth, and coordinated the opening of 8 new locations and added revenue enhancing features to trading applications. Along the way, I developed many controls and repeatable processes. I established and executed the firm's internal and external communications efforts. I built and transformed websites, established Disaster Recovery Programs, oversaw the firm's relationships with service providers, and instituted numerous protocols to ensure that flagship trading applications were regularly enhanced with new features while navigating regulatory requirements. The firm's parent company withdrew from the proprietary trading business, so I spent the latter part of my tenure overseeing an orderly winding down of the firm's operations.
Lightspeed Trading (2010 - 2012)
After closing down Assent, I was one of the few employees retained when Lightspeed purchased Assent's trading business. I focused on developing and executing innovative client retention strategies. I am proud of my contributions in developing special incentive programs tailored to the firm's VIP Clients. I led many projects and teams, and personally oversaw a major project to locate and renovate new state of the art headquarters for the firm, while simultaneously executing coordinated plans to consolidate several office locations. I coordinated an extensive trading platform conversion project, that resulted in enormous cost reductions and many features upgrades. I worked with some terrific professionals!
Super Storm Sandy Recovery (2013)
I coordinated the efforts to rebuild several properties in NY and on the Jersey Shore that suffered catastrophic damage from Sandy. These efforts took enormous patience and planning, and every project management and insurance claim adjusting skill known to man.
Neat Heat & Cooling (2013 - 2015)
Next, I joined an industrial equipment business on Long Island. The business was growing rapidly and needed someone experienced who could focus on developing management controls and introducing a best practices mindset. I made substantial contributions to the firm by implementing a CRM system, and re-designing and automating many of the tools used by the sales force. I also focused on numerous expense management initiatives and developed innovative inventory management systems that directly catapulted ROI and the firm's overall profitability.
Molod Spitz & DeSantis (2015 - 2017)
I was recruited into a newly created position of Executive Director. Structured similar to a COO role, I was responsible for everything, from daily operations, revenue optimization, client services, human resources, financial controls, budgeting, insurance, employee benefits and business development. I enjoyed the opportunity to be a difference making professional every day I was with the firm. I focused on developing KPI's and analytical metrics to dramatically improve revenue forecasting and expense reductions.
I directly tackled employee turnover concerns by instituting employee performance measurement metrics, which increased billable hours and employee productivity. I spearheaded an extensive IT infrastructure upgrade and developed many operating procedures and accompanying documentation. I quarterbacked a major initiative to leverage an important firm milestone into an effective marketing campaign. I revamped the firm's bookkeeping procedures and handled all regulatory and balance sheet matters. Although I enjoyed my time at the firm, and left on good terms, and received many accolades, the structure of the position and dynamics evolved to a point where it was best to move on. I'd be happy to get into more specifics, time and circumstances allowing.
Management Consultant (2017)
I was retained by a law firm on Long Island to assess and improve operational productivity. I introduced numerous workflow enhancements, improved training, established referral and incentive programs and follow up measures addressing payment delinquencies that directly improved the bottom line.
Following a series of significant medical emergencies, I stepped in to serve as a primary caregiver for my mom. Orchestrated many hospital admissions surgeries, rehab plans and much more. Coordinated property management and extensive renovations of family properties as well as property liquidation efforts raising capital for longer term health care support programs. Supplemented care giving experience by volunteering, completing professional development classes, spearheading an extensive family genealogy project, organizing several high profile alumni events and fundraisers, creating web sites and researching and writing an extensive documentary book.