Michael Witherspoon

Experience

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  US Army

  Jun 1986 - Jun 1990

  Operations Officer, Platoon Leader

  Commanded Apache Attack Helicopter Platoon consisting of 12 pilots, 9 mechanics, 2 trucks and 6 AH-64 helicopters worth over $80 million.Led attack helicopter platoon to exceed all standards for aerial gunnery, maintenance and volume of flight hours while maintaining a perfect air safety record.As Squadron Assistant Operations Officer streamlined operations procedures reducing man-hours by over 80%.Responsible for all training and flight operations records for an Air Cavalry Squadron with over 350 personnel.Planned all simulated combat missions for company and squadron operations including a 3-week field training exercise hundreds of miles from home base. Show less

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  LA Salle Partners Management

  Jun 1990 - Jun 1993

  Management Associate

  Developed capital project plan for fifteen simultaneous projects valued at over $3.0 million.Led all teams involved with property management, maintenance, administration, cleaning, and security at a 17-story, class A office building in Manhattan, a 12-building complex in suburban New Jersey, and a 14-story class A office building in Dallas, TX.

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  Groupware Resources, Inc.

  Jun 1993 - Mar 2000

  Chief Executive Officer, Technical Consultant, Technical Trainer

  Project manager for more than a dozen custom software development and consulting projects.Managed and operated a small software training and services company with over $600,000 in annual sales.Developed a training course for Lotus Notes Security and another course for using JavaScript in Lotus Domino web applications. I was one of the Senior Technical Trainers teaching Workflow Designs' Advanced Domino Web Applications Course aka Top Gun the year they won the Lotus Beacon Award for Excellence in Training. Show less

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  Bowstreet

  Mar 2000 - Sept 2001

  Lead Technical Instructor

  Led a team of 4 instructors in course development and training for a start-up software company.Established standards for quality and course content for all Bowstreet courses.Led development of the Train the Trainer program to ensure quality and consistency across the Bowstreet trainer community.

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  Spoonware.com

  Oct 2001 - Jan 2007

  Business Owner, Project Manager, Technical Trainer, Course Developer

  Project manager for all software development, consulting, and training projects.Project manager and course writer for two online, self-paced training courses for Lotus Notes / J2EE application integration.Lead Developer for a Lotus Notes / JBoss Server integration project for start-up company Brightline Technologies.

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  Davalen, LLC

  Feb 2007 - Aug 2012

  Lead Architect, Lead Instructor, Course Developer - Portlet Factory

  I was in charge of the Portlet Factory development projects and Davalen's Top Gun training program for Portlet Factory. Wrote the 5-day Top Gun Portlet Factory Development course which enjoyed great success in its day.

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  Otter Web Systems

  Jan 2013 - May 2015

  Project Manager,Portlet Factory Developer, Sr. Technical Trainer

  Continued using my vast field experience with IBM Portlet Factory / Web Experience Factory to bring quality architecture and design practices to companies doing IBM WebSphere Portal projects as an independent trainer and consultant.

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  Vault Solutions LLC

  Jun 2015 - Apr 2018

  Software Development Manager and QA Manager

  Managed two teams tasked with the design, development, and testing of proprietary software products supporting electronic document and message storage for regulatory compliance.Provide direction and vision to the whole company to improve software quality and to adopt effective policies and procedures for software development.Established new standards for planning, scheduling and professional behavior to ensure that all projects were planned properly, implemented to specifications and delivered on time. Show less

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  Elliasen Group

  Sept 2018 - Feb 2019

  DevOps Consultant / Instructor

  Worked with a large telecom business consulting engineers and management on their current DevOps transformation. The work included understanding the value of DevOps, security in DevOps, and engineering practices such as Unit Testing, Mocking, and code quality / craftsmanship.

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  Amazon Web Services (AWS)

  Sept 2019 - Oct 2021

  Sr. Technical Trainer

  Delivered AWS Cloud Training courses to AWS Customers. IMHO, Amazon Web Services has achieved something so impossible that I cannot believe they were able to create their tech stack without help from Aliens from another planet.I've been in Software Development and Software Technical training for roughly 30 years and I have never seen such a great tech stack. There are over 175 services and every one of them is remarkable in so many ways. I cannot even think of a feature of any AWS service with which I am familiar that isn't spot on. Spending endless hours learning as much as I could about AWS services was loads of fun, too.AWS was founded, built and developed by Andy Jassy, the most Amazing CEO in the history of CEOs. His bar-raising leadership was my North Star. I went to AWS hoping to deliver my career's crowning achievement, my Magnum Opus. At AWS I did some of the best work I have ever done. Show less

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  Acxiom

  Mar 2022 - now

  Senior Technical Trainer

  Technical Trainer / Technical Program Manager for internal Cloud Certification Training and internal product training for Developers and Solution Architects working with our cloud-based MarTech / AdTech platform. This role is a new role I am pioneering. The goal is to create and deliver these new training programs.