making the X better for users through written and spoken content

summary

I am a technical writer, trainer, and narrator plus a few other things. My role in organizations is to provide high quality output in multiple ways that vary depending on the organization's needs but always with the goal of ensuring the best user experience—the X—for its users. I have accomplished this in federal and state contracting for healthcare and defense, financial services, gaming, and sales enablement using a variety of skills, tools, and applications. In addition to my customer-facing roles, I work within organizations as a SME for writing and communication, and a mentor and coach to strengthen individuals and build teams.

skills and applications

Technical Writing • Training and Development • Voiceovers • Knowledge Acquisition • Managing and Team Building • Mentoring and Coaching • Customer Relations • Course/Curriculum Creation • User Guides • Instruction Manuals • Software Documentation • Online Help/On-screen Text • Presentations • Review and Copyediting • Microsoft Office • Adobe Creative Cloud • Agile Scrum • Confluence/SharePoint • Medicaid • HIPAA • 508 Compliance

professional experience

DSI  Westerville OH
Professional Technical Writer    2024–Present
    Key Elements: Documentation and Standards, Instructional Design, Web Design, Medicaid, HIPAA, 508
Technical writing and instructional design for the Ohio Medicaid system.

• Designing training and curriculum for a new payment model system.
• Performing 508 compliance and remediation.
• · Writing and maintaining documentation, graphics, and business diagrams.
• · Designing landing pages and user interactions for new websites.

ORACLE  Austin TX
Sales Enablement Technical Writer    2019–2023
    Key Elements: Documentation and Standards, Instructional Design, Narration, Sales Enablement
Technical writing and instructional design of manager and sales enablement training presentations, materials, and tools to ensure they are instructionally sound and adhere to standards and corporate branding. Consistently added innovative elements to PowerPoint presentations and materials such as interactive PDFs to enhance learning and the user experience.

• Collaborated with content creators and subject matter experts on instructor-led and electronic training.
• Narrated training and information videos, and edited, rewrote, and reviewed scripts and training videos.
• Revised a graphic using 508 compliance tools to be color-blind-friendly and branding-compliant which enabled a colorblind learner to fully experience and participate in management training.
• Reviewed and copyedited team and department materials, and standard operating procedures (SOP).
• Conducted regular training presentations to team members on a variety of topics ranging from application usage and techniques to presentation elements and methods.

CSRA/GENERAL DYNAMICS IT  Menands NY
Technical Writing Manager    2011–2018
    Key Elements: Managing, Training and Assessments, Documentation and Standards, Healthcare, HIPAA
Managed a team of technical writers for the NYS Medicaid Fiscal Agent software development group. Developed and presented training materials for internal and external audiences.

• Successfully directed the semi-annual preparation and publication of the NYS Medicaid technical documentation deliverable covering its multiple subsystems plus related programs such as MEIPASS (EHR).
• Prepared instruction manuals and technical reports, responses to customer inquiries, online help and on-screen text for web-based projects developed under Agile Scrum.
• Worked on proposals, responses to customer inquiries, and conducted regular training of the documentation team and other groups.

GLOBAL CREDIT SERVICES  New York NY
Technical Writer/Trainer    2008–2011
    Key Elements:  Training On-Site and Remote, Online Help, Documentation, User Contact, Financial Services
Trained users and conducted sales demonstrations using web collaboration tools, on-site customer visits, and presentations at trade shows. Wrote product and company materials and communications.

• Produced online help using Madcap Flare, user guides, marketing materials, and proposals.
• Narrated training videos and edited/revised scripts.
• Collaborated with technical staff to produce material that was understandable by non-technical customers.
• Social media presence and communicator with user base for product announcements.

SUBCONTRACTOR  Waterford NY
Technical Writer    2007–2008
Worked on small independent contracts providing technical writing and content development.

DOCUMENTATION STRATEGIES  Rensselaer NY
Technical Writer/Trainer    2006–2007
    Key Elements: Training, Online Help, Documentation, Video Tutorials, Government Contracting
Contract with a New York State agency to train users and create online help systems for a new web application to be used by state agencies and their vendors.

• Created and conducted training sessions and demonstrations, and wrote system documentation.
• Produced multiple online help systems using Madcap Flare, and video tutorials including narration.

GENERAL DYNAMICS  Pittsfield MA
Senior Specialist - Technical Writing, Defense    2004–2006
    Key Element: Documentation
Wrote and edited paper and online training documentation, and maintenance procedures.

COMMERCEHUB  Albany NY
Technical Writer    2003–2004
    Key Elements: Online Help, Documentation, Video Tutorials, eCommerce
Created multiple online help projects using RoboHelp and video tutorials using Captivate for a web-based retail supply chain management system.

• Customized the help projects to the configuration for each retailer’s installation and included descriptions.
• Wrote and edited user documentation, product updates, state diagrams, and technical specifications.

additional experience

NITORUM CORPORATION  Norwalk CT
Training Specialist/Sales Support
    Key Elements: Training, Documentation, User Contact, Professional Services
Produced and delivered PowerPoint and hands-on training sessions at customer locations for all levels of users including administrative assistants, employment vendors and department vice presidents.

• Implemented training sessions that were tailored for individual user roles.
• Produced documentation that included white papers and other submissions.

education

Bachelor of Arts (BA), Geography/Minor in Computer Science
University at Albany, State University of New York

certifications

CERTIFIED SCRUMMASTER, Scrum Alliance
Certificate ID 000704038, Issued October 2017