Author Business Operations Expert
Over the course of the last 30 years I have been lucky enough to be involved in a wide variety of opportunities that have ranged from military, higher education, corporate business and multiple startups.
During this time I’ve experienced success and challenges that have provided me with invaluable insights that can only come from experience.
I have been able to be successful across many different disciplines and opportunities, military, higher education and business have all taught me about how important planning and perseverance to executing the plan is.
Each of the areas I’ve worked in have taught me valuable experiences that will help me to be successful running Express Roll Off Dumpster.
The military
I was an officer in the US Navy and during my time I was assigned multiple duties with wide ranging responsibility. The positions I held that are directly related to Express are maintenance officer, operations officer, crew coordination officer, quality assurance officer.
As maintenance officer I was responsible for the maintenance that was conducted on the detachment aircraft. This meant I was in charge of all personnel that performed maintenance, the maintenance schedules and making sure that parts were available for high tempo operations.
I was also a quality assurance officer which dovetailed with maintenance duties. As quality assurance officer I was responsible for ensuring that maintenance was being performed in accordance with requirements and properly inspected.
My job as operations officer required me to track and manage all squadron operations, manage the monthly, quarterly and yearly budgets. Schedule aircraft to meet mission requirements and maintenance requirements. Instituted programs that brought the squadron from a readiness that was below requirements to well above in under 2 months.
Crew coordination and safety officer for the squadron made me responsible for the safety record of the squadron and while I held the position we had no mishaps or injuries. I was also responsible for training aircrews in proper safety and search procedures.
Higher Education
After leaving the Navy I obtained a graduate degree in computer science and took a position as a professor with DeVry University. This gave me a strong background in both in person and online forms of education. I was made department chair and made responsible for program development. In this position I was able to improve student retention and satisfaction and build association with outside organizations to hire students for internships. As a professor in the classroom I regularly received 5 out of 5 on student evaluations and high evaluations. Working as a professor many of the projects we did required teamwork and teaching students how to work in teams and develop their projects was always a great joy of mine.
Business
Over the years I have held many executive and ownership positions with a number of different organizations. Running my own business has always given me the most satisfaction as I am in control of my future. I am able to make decisions and my business sinks or swims based on those decisions. I’ve learned that if you want to have an easy life then go work for someone else because the owner of a small business is always working.
The first business I started was a flight school in Mississippi, called Leatherneck Aviation. I started this business with the purchase of two light aircraft and was responsible for all aspects of the business including:
Sales and marketing both digital and print.
Operations day to day and longer term. Required fuel purchases, maintenance and parts sourcing.
Scheduling of flights students and instructors.
All accounting and financing.
This business was positive cash flow and growing past 300,000 in revenue. We were looking to purchase the next aircraft when we were forced to shut down due to a natural disaster that was brought on by the BP oil spill.
After Leatherneck I began working with Davanticorp as VP of business development. This position required me to review and select business opportunities and partners that would be outside Davanticorp’s normal revenue stream.
For each opportunity selected a complete strategy, along with a business plan that included financial projections and detailed marketing.
While acting as the VP of business development I was also responsible for website development and digital marketing. We were able to rank page one for multiple keywords through SEO. At this time I also became familiar with Google Ad words and Bing Ads, Google analytics. I have taken multiple search engine optimization courses along with attending the Google University now called Skillshop.
- Management
- US NAVY
- Inspections
- Budgets
- Personnel
- Professor
- Dept chair
- Personnel
- Retention
- Program administration
- Course development
- Program development
- Course interconnections
- Dept chair
- Healthy Products
- Product development
- Personnel
- Marketing
- Leatherneck Aviation
- Training program
- Personnel
- Marketing
- Accounting
- Equipment purchase
- Davanticorp
- Marketing
- IT services
- Business development
- Retail
- Branding
- Design
- Management training
- Personnel development
- Marketing
- US NAVY