Summary

I am a technical communications and instructional design professional with over twenty years of writing, training, and management experience. I’m a quick study and can adapt to any environment.

Employment Experience

11/2001 to Present

SENIOR TECHNICAL WRITER
Siemens Health Services; Malvern, PA

q Document financial system software for large hospital networks. The application includes patient access, billing, collection, and reimbursement functionality. The position entails the analysis of customer needs and the creation of new documentation deliverables as needed.

q Collaborate with programmers, analysts, and other stakeholders to develop processes to integrate technical writing into an Agile Software Development environment.

10/1997 to 11/2001

CONTRACT WRITER AND INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGNER

2/01 to 11/01. Various Clients

q Documented a browser-based interface for a resource tracking system for the City of Philadelphia.

q Wrote a user guide and online help for a Windows-based employee attendance system for the City of Philadelphia.

q Wrote a technical marketing document for an e-commerce business.

3/01 to 4/01. Creative Resource Development; West Chester, PA
Designed training modules for a major cable company. Gathered information from technical sources, created technical documents, and developed classroom training modules on cable equipment, cable hookup, and basic electronics. Deliverables included student activities and facilitator notes.

8/00 to 12/00. Vanguard Group; Malvern, PA
Designed and developed instructional material for the customer service department. Created classroom lessons, student activities, and instructor notes. Participated in the development of a classroom simulation project.

2/98 to 8/00. ING Variable Annuities; West Chester, PA
Created self-guided Web-Based training materials in HTML and Macromedia Flash to teach new employees about variable annuities. Designed and maintained a customer service web site for the company intranet using Microsoft FrontPage and HTML. Documented procedures and FAQs in HTML. Created system diagrams using Visio and RoboHELP.

10/97 to 1/98. Advanta Corporation; Horsham, PA
Designed, wrote, and illustrated an internal marketing document using Word for Windows and Corel Draw.

12/1985 to 10/1997

DOCUMENTATION MANAGER AND SENIOR TECHNICAL WRITER

Computer Associates, Inc.; Mt. Laurel, NJ

q Planned, wrote, edited, and illustrated end-user documentation including user, reference, systems programmer, and installation guides for PC and mainframe software.

q Wrote online helps for PC products.

q Worked from specifications, with technical staff, and hands-on with products under development.

q Managed a documentation department of 20 people, during which time I did the following:

· Interviewed, hired, and trained employees; reviewed employee performance.

· Scheduled and managed projects.

· Developed and maintained documentation standards.

· Instituted usability testing of documentation and client evaluation of documentation.

Freelance Writing and Other Experience

q Taught French at a high school.

q Designed and produced a 8-12 page monthly newsletter for a religious institution.

q Wrote humor articles for newspapers and magazines.

q Wrote biographies based on oral histories.

Tools

Microsoft Word for Windows, Corel Draw, Corel Paint, Paint Shop Pro, Microsoft FrontPage, Macromedia Flash, Macromedia Dreamweaver, HTML, PageMaker, RoboHELP, Doc-to-Help, WinHelp, Adobe Acrobat, Visio, Information Mapping, IBM BookManager, Waterloo Script

Education

q University of Pennsylvania, B.A., French (cum laude)

q University of Pennsylvania, M.A., Education

Professional Affiliations

q Member, Society for Technical Communications (STC)

q Two-time presenter at STC annual conference