Benjamin Hwang
Summary
Highly systematic and quality-driven engineer and solutions creator with broad base of technical and managerial experience in both large, global companies and small, entrepreneurial businesses.
Drive value throughout product development process from innovation through operational development to product launch and customer value optimization.
Produce tangible technical solutions that drive product value and therefore revenue opportunity by focusing on:
User Experience - Understand needs of end user and translating those needs into engineered solutions that provide viable, profitable outcomes.
Resource Priorization - Effectively analyze and allocate available resources (innovation, technology, human capital, cash flow, etc.) to generate greatest value at lowest marginal cost.
Project Optimization - Address multiple stages of complex projects and requirements for each stage, from entry requirements (business case) through closure requirements (end state).
Management Communication - Implement open and clear communications across organization including key stakeholders, senior management, customers, and vendors in order to assure maximum performance.
Personal traits that have ensured success include:
• Results-oriented, accountable leader
• Determined, focused goal setter
• Collaborative, open communicator
• Process-driven, innovative problem solver
• Customer-centric, big-picture thinker
• Positive, proactive team player
• Balancing multiple priorities
Specialties
data center management, engineering management, RF optimization, network design, market and trend analysis, online strategy development, social media, information research, Solaris, Linux, cloud computing, troubleshooting, cost accounting, budget planning, crisis management
Experience
Senior Technical Strategist
Firelace, Inc.
Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Financial Services industry
October 2009 – Present (3 years 8 months) Winston-Salem, NC
Co-founded firm, which creates financial solutions for international and service-based small businesses such as time tracking and accounting software.
Held responsibility for both short- and long-term strategic planning and day-to-day operations for the company's flagship product, Merchant's Mirror until the sale of the assets to Issuer Direct Corporation (August 2012).
• Delivered 200% sales increase as direct result of business reengineering and critical decision making to pursue international expansion.
• Achieved 93% cost savings by successfully removing non-essential expenses and bringing business from red back into profitable operations.
• Identified diverse opportunities and introduced white label solution targeted at international emerging markets, ultimately delivering 200% increase to sales revenue.
• 33% improvement to load time achieved after implementing cloud solutions and JavaScript optimizers to dramatically simplify load processes.
Senior Market and Product Strategist
Five18
February 2008 – Present (5 years 4 months) Winston-Salem, NC
Niche marketing and new product development consultancy guiding companies in areas of search engine optimization, internet strategy, and holding firm for new internet technology projects.
Lead decision-making efforts as related to strategy development and niche product marketing dealing with internet businesses. Provide services in information research and security in addition to assisting in multitude of technology issues.
• 27% savings for overall customer solutions costs achieved by evaluating and consolidating vendors into same space.
• Increased client communications efficiency 29% after successfully consolidating email and office tools under cloud applications.
Senior Systems Engineering Consultant
Nokia Siemens Networks
Public Company; 10,001+ employees; NOK; Telecommunications industry
August 2010 – December 2011 (1 year 5 months) Charlotte, North Carolina Area
Recruited to assist in critical 15-month project for international cellular infrastructure provider.
Performed VPU/SDU integration into Southeast markets in addition to training and leading engineering teams on 4812 and UBS Ethernet backhaul conversion projects. Leveraged excellent customer management skills to directly interact in customer support settings. Worked alongside program management in scheduling and project expansion planning as well as writing shell scripts to assist in consistency during projects.
• Drove 700% improvement in site maintenance efficiency by redesigning development procedures, effectively eliminating document complexity and confusion.
• Developed stronger teams capable of delivering full projects on-time as result of assessing vendor weaknesses and pairing teams with strong field engineers.
• Saved organization hundreds of thousands of dollars in project costs after identifying and rapidly rectifying problems to salvage mission-critical project.
Senior Strategy Analyst
Firelace, Inc.
Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Financial Services industry
July 2005 – October 2009 (4 years 4 months) Greensboro, NC
Leveraged abilities to shift between technology and overall company strategy on daily basis, building short- and long-term strategic plans to maximize profitability. Optimized systems to work more efficiently with latest deployment technologies, in addition to holding responsibility for business development and client resolution.
• Rapidly deployed server-level systems onto approximately 100% of cloud platforms as result of personally engineering self-contained solutions applications.
• Spurred 65% sales increase by leveraging market pricing understanding to eliminate process of underbidding contracts by large margin.
Senior Systems Engineer
Motorola
Public Company; 10,001+ employees; MMI; Telecommunications industry
December 1998 – March 2009 (10 years 4 months)
One of the world's largest cellular infrastructure providers.
Senior member of CDMA systems engineering team for both Verizon and Sprint accounts working on historical trends and new technology development as well as feature testing and troubleshooting for CDMA deployment nationwide. Analyzed issues in first application markets, developed solutions for clients, maintained direct marketing interactions, and created custom tools from system encryption to integration. Managed and lead multi-national teams on projects spanning across data centers nationwide.
• Improved time needed to identify system problems 65% through implementation of new troubleshooting techniques and data storage facilities.
• Accelerated engineering process time more than 30% as result of working offline to create Linux interface between Unix and Windows platforms.
• Provided 100% of vendor tool protection after eliminating access to clear text coding by customers, thereby avoiding duplication without payment of licensing fees.
• Resolved critical market shortage though leadership of crisis project teams, avoiding tens of millions of dollars in potential fines and losses in customer relationships.
• Dramatically reduced lead time while increasing performance across multiple projects simultaneously as result of using time periods within projects to further train engineering teams.
System Administrator
Motorola
Public Company; 10,001+ employees; MMI; Telecommunications industry
June 1997 – June 1998 (1 year 1 month)
Worked as help desk and Windows security expert within division specializing in semiconductor development as part of larger Information Technology department.
• 70% improvement to Windows security achieved by accurately identifying, communicating, and developing solutions for Windows platforms in predominantly MacOS environment.
• Successfully reduced help desk ticket volume as much as 27% through effective remote desk management.
Certifications
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Six Sigma Yellow Belt
Languages
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English
(Native or bilingual proficiency) -
Chinese
(Limited working proficiency)