Colin Bowern

Current

Senior Consultant at ObjectSharp Consulting

Past

Enterprise Architect at Meridian Credit Union
Vice President, Technology at officialCOMMUNITY
Senior Consultant at Microsoft

Principal Consultant at NetSolutions Canada / Idein Systems
Programmer/Analyst at Dufferin Game Room Store
Programmer/Analyst at Dolfin Developments

see less...

3 more...

Education

University of Liverpool
University of Waterloo
Wilfrid Laurier University

Recommended

10 people have recommended Colin

Connections

277 connections

Industry

Information Technology and Services

Websites

Colin Bowern’s Summary

An avid technologist and solutions architect based in Toronto, Canada. Colin's work on pragmatic solutions spans technology, financial, music, and public sector industries. Recognized by the community for interactive contributions in public speaking, community building, and writing Colin is a Microsoft MVP for ASP.NET along with a recipient of several internal Microsoft awards. His work appears across books from Microsoft Press, Addison-Wesley, and Syngress Publishing. Past webcasts and talks for Microsoft's developer and IT professional community both in Canada and internationally span topics from web development to infrastructure deployment challenges.

Colin Bowern’s Specialties:

.NET, Windows Infrastructure, Web Development, Problem Solving, Agile Teamwork

Colin Bowern’s Experience

Senior Consultant

ObjectSharp Consulting

(Privately Held; Computer Software industry)

April 2009 — Present (9 months)

* Consulting into medium to large sized organizations undertaking custom application development as a competitive advantage.

* Working with senior and executive management to build technical teams that align and support their business goals.

* Coaching IT and development teams on software design, development, and deployment patterns and practices.

* Championing intuitive user experience design and pragmatic architectural approaches that maximizes business value while minimizing overall complexity and easing maintainability.
Enterprise Architect

Meridian Credit Union

(Privately Held; Banking industry)

September 2008 — March 2009 (7 months)

* Worked with the stakeholders to identify gaps in IT capabilities needed to deliver on the short term needs and long term vision of the business. Focused on the roadmap for core banking (Open Solutions Ovation / Probe) and financial systems (Business Objects Cartesis, Fiserv IPS Sendero Risk Products, Sage ACCPAC).

* Championed sustainable innovation and user empowerment balanced with the need to protect and simplify the business, information, and technology landscapes.

* Worked with IT team to refine the language and approach when interacting with the business to better connect with the needs and challenges of the user.

* Provided guidance through one-on-one, team lunch-and-learn, and regular communications to infrastructure and development teams on technical skills and best practices for development and infrastructure lifecycle for a small environment. Participated in technical review of project design and deployment plans.
Vice President, Technology

officialCOMMUNITY

(Privately Held; Music industry)

September 2003 — August 2008 (5 years )

* Design, development, and deployment of the technology infrastructure based on the Microsoft platform to support the online communities and commerce for established record artists. Communities ranged in the millions of page views weekly and $3M+ annually in revenue.

* Growth and management of a technology team from inception to eleven individuals to build and support the infrastructure necessary to manage the day-to-day business. Provided leadership, mentoring, and introduced peer review processes to enable effective scaling of the team.

* Management of various service providers along the supply chain to optimize technology and business process integration resulting in the foundation for hiring additional personnel to scale the business.

* Delivered technical infrastructure and development presentations to local and international user groups and conferences (DevTeach, Toronto Code Camp, Great Indian Developer Summit) on Microsoft technologies. Feedback generally ranged in the eighty fifth percentile and higher.
Senior Consultant

Microsoft

(Public Company; MSFT; Computer Software industry)

May 2000 — September 2003 (3 years 5 months)

* Consulted into large enterprises (40,000+ users with 1,000+ sites) in various vertical industries (financial, utility, logistics) at project management and senior levels on infrastructure and software development activities to support business objectives.

* Delivered technical infrastructure and development presentations in person across North America and via webcasting on Microsoft technologies. Audiences ranged from five to fifteen hundred senior technical staff and business decisions makers.

* Went beyond responsibilities to develop award-winning tools and workshops for re-use by consulting force world-wide, planning guidance for product groups, and contribute to Microsoft Certified Professional exam content.
Principal Consultant

NetSolutions Canada / Idein Systems

(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Information Technology and Services industry)

January 1995 — May 2000 (5 years 5 months)

Consulted into small to medium sized businesses in various vertical industries (retail, legal, financial, manufacturing) at project and senior levels on infrastructure and software development activities to support business objectives.
Programmer/Analyst

Dufferin Game Room Store

(Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Retail industry)

January 1994 — December 1995 (2 years )

Administered corporate and retail outlet networks including development of automated management process.
Programmer/Analyst

Dolfin Developments

(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Information Technology and Services industry)

June 1993 — August 1993 (3 months)

Developed data conversion software for inventory management equipment