H. Lewis Francis, Jr.
1010 Parker St.
Falls Church, Va. 22046
703-855-6995
lewis(AT)lewisfrancis(DOT)com


--Summary:
Self-starting technical/creative strategist and problem-solver, specializing in user-facing newmedia technologies with an emphasis on creative risk management.  Keywords: team-player, usability, graceful-degradation, broadband, knowledge management, best practices, evangelist, mentor.


--Skills:
Proficient in: Macromedia Director, Flash, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, SoundEdit 16 II, Deck II, Screentime Cinemac, Equilibrium Debabelizer, Adobe Photoshop, Premiere, Discreet Cleaner, Bare Bones BBEdit, Bias Peak Audio, Microsoft Word, IEAK, Netscape CCK, Adaptec Toast, Aladdin Stuffit InstallerMaker, Hypercard , Opcode StudioVision, Galaxy, OMS, HTML, CSS, PICS, Javascript/JScript, Unix, Mac OS, OS X, Win OS, Palm OS, QuickTime, QTVR, Real, Windows Media, Shockwave, Flash Player, Beatnik, iPix.

Familiar with: Macromedia/Allaire HomeSite, Freehand, Fontographer,  Microsoft Excel, Powerpoint, Adobe Acrobat, Illustrator, GoLive, FileMaker FileMaker Pro, InstallShield, ResEdit, Apache, Perl, Python, JSP, Java, MSQL, XML, XHTML.


--Experience
Freelance Interactive Consultant
nwio, Falls Church , Va.
October 2001-Present

My time at a world-class interactive agency provided me with extensive experience in both developing and directing award-winning newmedia projects, experience I am now able to offer on my own. Recent and ongoing clients/projects include:

* Threespot Media, for whom I provided trouble-shooting, optimization, and cross-platform best-practices consulting on a CD-ROM project for the Peace Corps.  Following the successful first run of 50k copies, the Peace Corps has contracted Threespot to produce a second run of 100k copies.
* gooeyGUI, a startup for whom I am developing web-enabled persistent rich-media interface architecture for their proprietary product line.

Director of Media Technologies
AKQA, Inc. Washington, DC 
April 1997-October 2001

Formerly Magnet Interactive Communications, LLC, AKQA is an interactive agency that provides a complete range of communications, brand and media strategy, advertising, new media and technology solutions.

* Worked closely with CEO, CTO, VP of Technology and VP of Programming to determine technology goals and directions for the entire company.

* Worked closely with VP of Creative, Director of Media Services and the creative group at large in translating creative ideas and goals into implementable strategies.

* Worked closely with Quality Assurance and disparate groups with differing agendas to ensure a focus on quality, usability and the appropriate use and behavior of technology.

* Served as the primary authority on creative and technical risk management for matters concerning client-side applications and multimedia, assessing the parameters of given problems and recommending appropriate solutions and best practices.

* Consulted or acted as technical director on projects for the following clients: Accenture, Sprint PCS, WorldCom, Boston Scientific, Dupont StainMaster, Ryan Partnerships, Harley-Davidson, Kelloggs, Conservation International, Nissan/Infiniti, Mayo Clinic, Discovery Online, Univision, Chiat-Day, Energizer, Bank of America, Radisson Hotels, Oral-B Kids, Crayola.

* Kept the company and clients abreast of new web and multimedia technologies through authoring or managing demos, writing white papers, mentoring team members, leading seminars and participation in sales pitches.

* Created and led the Magnet Interactive Styleguide group, an interdisciplinary and interoffice effort at formulating and evangelizing web and CD-ROM development standards.

* Created knowledge base effort by authoring various technical reference documents aggregating my research and the experience of the technical and design staff from across the company.

* Evaluated new client-side multimedia technologies; when deemed ready for prime time, evangelized their appropriate use to clients and team members and assisted in planning and debugging implementation issues across platforms.

* Evaluated multimedia development applications including authoring platforms, graphics editing and format conversion, digital audio/video capture, editing, format conversion and encoding, and HTML/Javascript coding tools.  Analyzed impact to production flow for quality improvements and cost savings. Made recommendations and managed rollout of such tools to various departments.

* Managed source code repository of all Macromedia Director and Flash-based projects, ensuring the easy repurposing of code elements and realizing savings of 50 to 75% in development costs for new but similar projects.

* Championed and led the development of a technology demo, sales tool and product concept consisting of a customizable desktop application and back-end system that utilized Internet connectivity to accomplish a variety of useful tasks.  Such tasks ranged from custom content delivery, messaging and the gathering of technographic, survey and feedback data to behavior tracking and lead qualification.

* Created and led the development of the Software Intelligence Gatherer, the working name for a custom distributed data capture and reporting system for web site audience technographics analysis and CRM solutions. 

* Created and managed initiative to aggregate, analyze, and share within development groups standard web server logging data collected from our many clients hosted sites in commercial hosting facility on a quarterly basis. 

* Acted as Technical director for the award winning Kellogg's Pop-Tarts' Pop-Trivia site which showcased an interactive multi-user simulation of a pop culture trivia game show featuring Macromedia's Flash, Shockwave, and the Multiuser Server products interfacing with a Java servlet and an Informix database back-end.

* Worked closely with IT and Programming to help properly install, configure, maintain and debug web based applications such as web, proxy, and multiuser servers, database and Java servlet engines.

* Worked closely with IT to configure, manage and maintain the audio and video edit and capture facilities.

* Managed company's continued participation in beta testing new products from Macromedia, Apple, Microsoft, Terran Interactive, Electrifier, Netscape, Mozilla, Beatnik, Adobe, Real and others.


Senior Technical Director 
Magnet Interactive Technologies, LLC 
Jan. 1996-April 1997 Washington, DC

A division of Magnet Interactive, MIT provided APAT, Research and IT services to other Magnet divisions.

* Managed APAT (Advanced Products and Technologies) group with three direct reports. This group was tasked with researching, evaluating and developing new web technologies with a primary focus on extending authoring tools, Java, and a proprietary video compression codec based upon wavelet transformation.

* Acted as technology consultant for web development teams from Magnet Interactive Communications on projects for Kellogg's, Mercedes Benz, DeBeers, Hïagen-Dazs, American Greetings, Harvard Business School, Snickers, Sony, Matchbox, Digital Equipment Corp.

* Acted as Technical Lead in the development of the award winning National Geographic Online web site.  Interfaced with client, team members from production and design, external consultants and contractors to determine requirements and opportunities. Managed programming team of seven to develop a rich, CD-ROM like online environment and provide custom content management tools.

* Began developing company standards and guidelines for web and CD-ROM development and taught internal classes on web and multimedia development practices.

* Managed company's continued participation in beta testing new products from Macromedia, Apple, Microsoft, Netscape, Adobe, Real, and others.


Technical Facilitator: Edutainment
Magnet Interactive Studios, LLC 
March 1995-January 1996 Washington, DC

A division of Magnet Interactive, MIS developed award winning CD-ROM and other interactive products.

* Acted as liaison between client, senior management, producers, designers and the programming staff to insure that technically sound CD-ROM products were completed on time and within budget.

* Continuously evaluated multimedia technologies and authoring tools and determined technology direction for the Edutainment division as well as the company as a whole.

* Managed all technical staffing requirements for Edutainment group projects including hiring and selecting contractors.

* Kept abreast of industry developments and disseminated relevant information to Edutainment staff.

* Managed company's participation in beta testing new products from Macromedia, Apple, Microsoft, Adobe, and others.

* Clients: Time/Life, IBM, World Book, Virgin Interactive, Microsoft, and Dow Jones & Co.


CD-ROM Programmer
Magnet Interactive Studios, LLC 
March 1994-March 1995 Washington, DC

Magnet Interactive Studios developed award winning CD-ROM and other interactive products.

* Lead Programmer for the multi-award winning multimedia CD-ROM title Beyond the Wall, Stories Behind the Vietnam Wall.

* Engineered cross-platform multimedia CD-ROM development solutions to be used company wide, including database access, environmental adaptation and video encoding standards.

* Worked with producers, writers, quality assurance and designers to create specifications, test plans and schedules.

* Led or worked on projects for clients including MCI, Macromedia, Wells Fargo, Discovery Channel, and Compuserve.


Sales
Veneman Music Company, Inc.  
Oct. 1985-March 1994 Springfield, Va.

Veneman Music provided professional music, sound, and recording equipment to national and local acts and studios.  Recently acquired by Guitar Center, Inc.

* Consistently led in monthly sales figures. 

* Responsible for pro recording, digital audio editor, software, musical instrument and sound reinforcement sales & support.  

* Positions held: Keyboard Manager, Pro Sound/Recording Manager, and Software/Digital Audio Specialist/Buyer.


--Education:
Virginia Western Community College, Roanoke, Va.
1979-1981 

* Completed credit courses in Radio and TV Production Technology.
* Interned at Threshold Recording, Roanoke, Va.


--Interests:
* Electronic music composition and recording.  I am a published recording artist with two LP/CD releases on the Berlin label Dossier Records and numerous releases on both German and US artist compilations.

* Photography, digital film / video and other digital and interactive arts.

* Handheld and wireless computing.

* Collecting and refurbishing "antique" computers.

* Enjoying the great outdoors, mountain on and off-trail hiking, biking and camping, fossil collecting, and nature watching.

* An overarching interest in the sciences, especially astronomy and archaeology.

* Volunteering at my children's schools.


Alternate format versions of this resume @
http://www.lewisfrancis.com/resume/